82 PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



siderable distances apart — too far for the trees to properly assist each 

 other in sustaining the insect through the year. Occasionally, a grower 

 is met with, and fortunately the number is very small, who has. perhaps, 

 mistaken his calling in becoming a fruit grower. One such, in speaking 

 of his small Smyrna crop, was asked if he had a good supply of capri 

 figs and the fig wasp. Replying, he said. " there was a good many bugs 

 flying about his place and he thought he was getting his share.'' It is 

 not surprising that his crops are small. 



In that portion of the San Joaquin Valley mentioned, the principal 

 capri varieties are Roedings Nos. 1, 2. and 3. While these varieties are 

 excellent in some respects, others can be added to the list that will give 

 much value to the whole. Some think that No. 1 is the best of the three, 

 and it is valuable in producing an early profichi or spring crop. No. 2 

 seldom bears a mamme or overwintering crop, though an abundant pro- 

 fichi crop, and must therefore be planted where it can be fertilized by 

 other capri trees. No. 3 generally carries a fair mamme and a good pro- 

 fichi crop. As some capri trees fail to produce all the crops required for 

 the support of the blastophaga through the year, it is recommended that 

 several varieties be planted, that they may fertilize each other and thus 

 with more certainty furnish an abundant supply of profichi wasps in 

 early summer when required by the Smyrna trees. 



THE MILCO CAPRI. 



Among the most valuable capri trees is the Milco, named after the 

 late G. N. Milco of Buhach fame. This tree has been under observation 

 by one of the writers for some years in widely separated localities and 

 under varying conditions of soil and climate, and he has never found it 

 to fail to carry an abundant mamme, a fair mammoni and a large pro- 

 fichi crop. As a striking evidence of the value of this variety it may be 

 mentioned that a number of old trees, giants among their fellows, have 

 been found that have carried the insect unaided by the proximity of 

 other trees, for forty years. Some growers rely on this variety alone 

 and never fail to have an abundance of fertilizing material. While 

 being one of the earliest producers of profichi figs, it is also one of the 

 latest, and possesses the virtue of giving a steady succession of profichi 

 from the beginning to the end of its season. Most capri trees when 

 under five years of age fail to carry an overwintering crop, but the 

 Milco is one of the most precocious in this respect of the whole list under 

 observation. This tree, then, with our present knowledge of the hundred 

 or more varieties now in cultivation in this State, is confidently recom- 

 mended as one of the most desirable to plant. 



HISTORY OF THE MILCO CAPRIFIG TREE. 



In this connection it may be of interest to give a brief history of the 

 first introduction into this country of the caprifig tree and the blasto- 

 phaga. On the ranch of Samuel Gates. 10 miles west from Modesto, 

 stands an ancient capri tree about 45 feet high with a spread of branches 

 of 40 feet and a trunk 8 feet in circumference just below the branches. 

 The tree was planted in 1867 by Lewis Adams of Stockton, who pur- 

 chased it with other trees from the late W. B. West, an enterprising and 

 intelligent nurseryman of the same place, well known to many of the 

 older fruit growers of the State. Of these old capri trees, of which the 

 Gates is one of the oldest, more than fifty have been located by one of the 



