OOORYARD VARIETIES 



45 



every night during dry weather in a very small 

 stream from a garden hose, and the ground was 

 of such nature that there was no " water logging" 

 nor accumulation in the subsoil. Such practice is 

 not recommended except in occasional cases, when 

 conditions permit, but from a conservative estimate 

 not less than four bushels of ripe fruit was gathered 

 in one season from this single tree. On the other 

 hand, without moisture they invariably drop both 

 fruit and leaves during long drouths, and then 

 make new growth when sufficient rains follow each 

 dormant period. This feature of maturing fruit 

 and then becoming dormant in the summer has led 

 to a general belief that there is usually but one 

 crop, that some varieties produce two crops, while 

 a few mature a third. Writers constantly maintain 

 that fig trees have periods of fruiting, with intermit- 

 tent dormant times each season, and they call the 

 first of the season the choicest, or brebas figs. But 

 during the summers of 1906 to 1909 observations 

 in the South at a number of orchards, where ade- 

 quate soil moisture and good tilth were maintained, 

 determined that crops ripened continuously from 

 the beginning of the season until cool nights inter- 

 rupted growth, while the quantity of fruit gathered 

 each day varied no more than other orchard trees 

 with the weather. Notwithstanding these opinions 

 it was found that under favorable conditions figs 

 bear uninterruptedy in the South during the months 

 of July, August and September, and until cold 



