206 FIG CULTURE 



low. A deficiency of fertility promotes loss even to 

 the extent of fermentation forming around the eye 

 several days before the neck is ripe. Smyrna and 

 Calimyrna figs seldom sour, being unusually sweet 

 and grown in arid climates. The Celeste is freer 

 of this objection than others in the Southern States. 

 The Magnolia, or Brunswick, is a fair keeper, being 

 of average sweetness, and it is usually picked just 

 before juice exudes while firm enough to be readily 

 handled. When deficient in sugar acetic bacteria 

 swarm through the eye and quickly set up an acid 

 fermentation, even in green fruit. As an illustra- 

 tion a very remunerative fig orchard rapidly dete- 

 riorated in the quality of fruit during years it 

 should have been at the height of productiveness as 

 the soil gradually became deficient in texture and 

 humus, until at length it was impossible to find any 

 that ripened at the neck before the lower half rotted 

 and became offensive; the swarms of vinegar flies 

 indicating the form of fermentation. The Adriatic 

 fig of California is especially liable to. sour when 

 grown near the coast, but, like all others, an open 

 eye, or bursted skin, always precedes the entrance of 

 either fungi or bacteria. While extremely wet 

 ground increases the liability of fermentation, that 

 too dry is equally objectionable. The orchard just 

 referred to, as an illustration, was so out of condi- 

 tion as to have no water storage capacity, the earth 

 cracking open a few days after each rain, and fruit 

 was not only deficient in sugar, but so lacking in 



