THE FIG. 



495 



which is called, and finally becomes, the fiftiit. The flavor of the fig is 

 exceedingly sweet and luscious, so much so as not to be agreeable to 

 many persons when tasted for the first time ; but, like most fruits of 

 this kind, it becomes a great favorite with all after a short trial, and is 

 really one of the most agreeable, wholesome, and nutritious kinds of food. 

 It has always, indeed, been the favorite fruit of warm countries, and the 

 ideal of earthly happiness and content, as typified in the Bible, consists 

 in sitting under one's own fig-tree. 



Its cultivation was carried to great perfection among the ancient 

 Romans, who had more than twenty varieties in their gardens. But 

 the Athenians seem to have prided themselves most on their figs, and 

 even made a law forbidding any to be exported from Attica. Smug- 

 gling, however, seems to have been carried on in those days, and a curi- 

 ous little piece of etymological history is connected with the fig. The 

 informers against those who broke this law were called sukophantai, 

 from two words in the Greek, meaning the " discoverers of figs." And 

 as their power appears also to have been used for malicious purposes, thence 

 arose our word sycophant. The fig was first introduced from Italy 

 about 1548, by Cardinal Poole, and to this country about 1790, by Wm, 

 Hamilton, Esq. 



Propagation. This tree is very readily increased by cuttings taken 

 off in the month of March, and planted in a light soil in a hot-bed, when 

 they will make very strong plants the same season. Or they may be 

 planted in a shady border in the open air, quite early in April, with tol- 

 erable success. In either case the cuttings should be made eight or ten 

 inches long, of the last year's shoots, with about half an inch of the old 

 or previous year's wood left at the base of each. 



Soil and Culture. The best soil for the fig is one moderately deep, 

 and neither too moist nor dry, as in the former case the plant is but too 

 apt to run to coarse wood, and in the latter, to drop its fruit before it 

 is fully ripe. A mellow calcareous loam is the best soil in this climate 

 — and marl, or mild lime in compost, the most suitable manure. 



As in the Middle States this tree is not hardy enough to be allowed 

 to grow as a standard, it is the policy of the cultivator to keep it in a 

 low and shrub-like form, near the ground, that it may be easily covered 

 in winter. The great difficulty of this mode of training, with us, has 

 been that the coarse and over-luxuriant growth of the branches, when kept 

 down, is so great as to render the tree unfruitful, or to rob the fruit of 

 its due share of nourishment. Happily the system of root-pruning, re- 

 cently found so beneficial with some other trees, is in this climate most 

 perfectly adapted to the fig. Short-jointed wood, and only moderate 

 vigor of growth, are well-known accompaniments of fruitfulness in this 

 tree ; and there is uo means by which firm, well-ripened, short-jointed 

 wood is so easily obtained as by an annual pruning of the roots — cutting 

 off all that project more than half the length of the branches. In this 

 way the fig-tree may be kept in that rich and somewhat strong soil ne- 

 cessary to enable it to hold its fruit, and ripen it of the largest size, 

 without that coarseness of growth which usually happens in such soil, 

 and but too frequently renders the tree barren. The mode of perform- 

 ing root-pruning we have already described, but we may add here that 

 the operation should be performed on the fig early in November. "When 

 this mode is adopted but little pruning will be necessary, beyond that 

 of keeping the plant in a somewhat low and regular shape, short- 



