184 



THIKTY^-FOrRTH FRT'IT-GROWERS ' CONVEXTIOX. 



of Blastophagas were present and were then entering and laying eggs 

 in the young buds of the winter generation capri figs. During the 

 following year,. 1900,* the Blastophagas were abundant enough to be 

 of use in caprifying and producing the first crop of figs ever produced 

 by the splendid Smyrna fig orchard which had been for many years 

 kept up at a total loss — a standing monument to Mr. Roeding's faith 

 in the ultimate success of the industry. 



I might say that after making my first efforts to introduce the 

 Blastophaga, in the spring of 1898, I received many suggestions, but 

 neither the California growers nor the entomologists of Washington 

 had any faith in my system, being of the opinion that a small tree 

 covered with capri figs should be dug up and shipped over. The 

 trouble was, as I soon found, that it was impossible to find young and 

 small capri fig trees bearing winter generation capri figs. Only large 

 trees bore them, and the expense of moving them would have been 

 enormous. 



Another drawback, not realized by its adherents, of this plan, is that 

 for reasons to be given lateV only rarely if ever can the Blastophaga 

 breed the year round on a single tree, and the chances of its living in a 

 tree weakened by a long- voyage would be almost nil. The net result of 

 sending over a large rooted tree, bearing winter generation capri figs, 

 would, therefore, have been merely to land the Blastophaga in this 

 country. It would still have had to seek breeding places in other capri 

 fig trees, so that, after all, nothing more would have been accomplished 

 than by sending a half dozen capri figs wrapped in tinfoil by samples 

 post at a cost of a few cents. 



''It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," and one good result of 

 the lack of faith in my method of introducing the Blastophaga and 

 subsequent neglect of the infected tree was that the principal parasite, 

 or, rather, messmate of the fig insect, Philotrypesis ficaria, which in the 

 Old World often takes up one third or even one half the space in the 

 capri figs (and which can not caprify the figs at all), failed to get 

 established in this country, so California has the only simon pure 

 colony of Blastophaga in the world. It would be a calamity if any 

 further introductions were made, as there would be grave risk of intro- 

 ducing Philotrypesis,^-hich if once here could not be exterminated. 



NEW -POINTS IN THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE FIG AND CAPRI FIG. 



In a lecture on Caprification. delivered before the Marine Biological 

 Association at Woods Hall, Mass., on August 14, 1899, and again in a 

 paper published in October, 1899, f I called attention to the fact that 

 the Blastophagas that issue from the spring generation capri figs (in 

 June in most countries) enter the young budding figs of the female 

 or fertile fig tree, though they can not breed or even lay their eggs 

 there. However, if the female Blastophaga were intelligent enough to 



*From the middle of March to the end of September, 1900. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, a 

 most competent and conscientious entomologist and naturalist, stayed at Fresno 

 studying the Blastophaga and caprification. These studies published in part only 

 in Dr. L. O. Howard's paper "Smyrna Fig Culture in the United States" (Yearbook, 

 TJ. S. Department of Agriculture. 1900. pp. 79-106. pi. 1-8) are the most complete 

 ever made on the life history of the fig insect, and have also cleared up many points 

 in the natural history of the fig and capri fig. 



t"The Dioecism of the Fig in its Bearing upon Caprification," in Science. N(^w 

 Series. Vol. 10, pp. 570-574. No. 251. 20 October, 1S90. 



