INTRODUCTION 



11 



the effect of prevalent opinions upon the minds of 

 average men, that growers are more or less unfitted 

 for making impartial statements about the history 

 of each orchard. The field is not yet cleared of the 

 litter of exaggeration, not to mention the baseless 

 descriptions of promoters. The industry will not 

 recover from these injuries until there is a spread 

 of general knowledge and public opinion is created 

 that will forestall imposition. There are many in- 

 tellectually honest farmers in every community 

 from whom the truth can be learned about their 

 work and profits, and when this class shall have 

 learned definitely the merits as well as the ob- 

 stacles to be overcome by mastering the details of 

 fig raising on a commercial scale, the day of im- 

 postors will have passed. When the culture is 

 placed fairly upon merit alone it will stand far 

 more securely with the people than it now does, suc- 

 cess then depending upon the application of simple 

 processes of intelligent horticulture. 



The writer has undertaken to study a number of 

 fig orchards at first hand, and by keeping a record 

 of each for a number of years, to ascertain the re- 

 sults of cultivation, mulching, fertilization, irriga- 

 tion, drainage and pruning, to observe the effects 

 of windbreaks and drouths and conditions which 

 produced or modified freezes and frosts. These per- 

 sonal remarks are merely reminiscent, and simply 

 suggest the necessary course to others who may wish 

 knowledge of the subject from actual work in the 



