AREAS CULTIVATED 



count of the necessity for arid conditions during 

 the fruiting and drying season. In moist localities 

 the fruit must be cured in evaporators. But the 

 San Joaquin Valley from Stockton for three hun- 

 dred miles south, as well as the interior north and 

 northeast from Los Angeles, where frosts are not too 

 severe, afford attractive areas for this culture, The 

 sensitiveness of blastophagae to cold, perishing in a 

 hard frost, has led to their protection in elaborate 

 and expensive winter quarters, where they are thor- 

 oughly sheltered from the weather. 



The ease with which Calimyrna figs are dried, 

 and the demand for them in their home State, has 

 caused the crops to be cured in that form, rather 

 than used for preserves. It may be that in the coast- 

 al districts where humidity prevents successful out- 

 of-door drying, they will be utilized as preserves; 

 no objection can be foreseen, and it would afford 

 an opportunity to considerably enlarge the area of 

 their production in commercial quantities. The size 

 and superior sweetness of the Calimyrna over every 

 other variety suggest distinct advantages ; and it is 

 difficult to find any reason why they are not adapted 

 not only to every purpose for which other varieties 

 are now grown, but also to many uses which Adriat- 

 ics are not suitable for. 



There is a plant in Los Angeles, and a few small 

 concerns at other places in the State, which preserve 

 figs, these being put up without attempting any uni- 

 form results. Some make a spiced article, similar to 



