432 On the Management of the Fig Tree in the 



I before observed, " these trees always producing their fruit 

 upon the upper parts of the young wood." The Rev. Mr. 

 Lawrence, in his Clergyman's Recreation * limits the fruit 

 to the three last eyes. 



The line or circle of separation between the spring and 

 midsummer, or rather post-midsummer, parts of the year's 

 shoots, is less remarkable in the Fig tree than in many other 

 trees. Mr. Wickham has described the midsummer shoot 

 to be commonly in the proportion of one to six or eight in 

 length, when compared with the shoots of the spring. I am 

 disposed to assign to the post-midsummer shoots in general 

 only the three or four last eyes. Now it is obvious that in 

 the specimens sent you, not one Fig appears on the post- 

 midsummer shoots of the last year ; and the reason of this I 

 presume to be, that the wood of those shoots on which two 

 of the embryo Figs had been prepared, i. e. those at the very 

 extremities, was not sufficiently ripened, and that those em- 

 bryos immediately beneath were in too forward a state ; and 

 therefore all those which I assign lo the post-midsummer 

 shoots were destroyed by the winter's frosts. The present 

 appearance of these specimens suggests this to have been the 

 cause of the failure. The fact of failure, however, is evi- 

 dent. 



I have said above that I do not conceive covering Fig 

 trees in the winter to be absolutely necessary, because I can 

 obtain Figs without this precaution ; and I have sent a 

 branch as a proof of this : on it you will find two Figs (one 

 of them nearly ripe), on the lower part of a last year's shoot, 

 a considerable part of which, to the amount of at least twelve 



* See 5 th Edition, page 52. 



