186 



THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



caprification be a powerful aid in causing the fertile trees to be polli- 

 nated. 



Now, in orchard culture of figs of the Smyrna type, where all capri- 

 fication is performed artificially, the female Blastophagas have no choice 

 but to enter the Smyrna fig buds. In commercial fig culture it would 

 be an advantage to have capri fig trees that did not show, any break 

 between the spring and summer generations -of insects, as it would be 

 much easier to keep up a full supply of the Blastophaga. 



NEW TYPE OP CAPRI FIG TREE ORIGINATED BY MR. E. ^V. MASLIN. 



By a most curious coincidence, within a few days after I first thought 

 out this point, in August, 1906, and communicated it to Prof. S. C. 

 Mason, who was then studying caprification in California, he found 

 just such a capri fig in the ^Maslin orchard at Loomis, Placer County. 

 California. 



In 1885, Mr. E. W. Maslin planted the seeds of the best grade of 

 Smyrna figs to be obtained in the market. Several hundred of these 

 seedlings were set out in orchard form on his place at Loomis. This 

 orchard was not a commercial success, and it was soon noticed that 

 many of the trees were more like capri figs than Smyrna figs. In the 

 fall of 1899 I found several promising capri figs there and in the 

 summer of 1906 Professor Mason found a very curiaus variety, a sort 

 of hermaphrodite tree, that had enough of the qualities of a capri fig 

 to support the Blast oplKKja and enough of those of the fertile fig tree 

 to produce an abundant crop of summer generation buds just as the 

 spring generation capri figs were ripening. It also bears numerous 

 fertile seeds mingled with the insect-bearing galls. 



By planting this variety among the other capri figs the Blastophaga 

 will be able to breed uninterruptedly throughout the year and not. as 

 is now the case, almost completely die out in midsummer. 



THE CAPRI FIG ORCHARD. 



It is clear from what has preceded that the Blastophaga has a very 

 much better chance of breeding in a special capri fig orchard composed 

 of a number of varieties. Some sorts of capri figs not particularly 

 valuable for use in caprification, may, nevertheless, be extremely 

 valuable in furnishing suitable breeding places for the insect at some 

 critical season, as, for instance, the new variety noted above from ]\Ir. 

 Maslin 's seedling fig orchard. 



Since March, 1898, I have realized the importance of securing all 

 obtainable varieties of capri figs, and this object has been kept steadily 

 in view ever since. A number of capri figs were secured by me in 

 Naples in 1898 and others in 1899 in Algeria, Greece, and Asia Minor, 

 and in 1901 Mr. Carl S. Scofield made a special trip to the fig region 

 in the Kabylie Mountains of Algeria to secure the many capri figs that 

 occur there. I secured some of the Italian sorts in 1902. In the mean 

 time the Maslin seedling orchard has pointed out a way to obtain still 

 more and ultimately still better sorts. 



