482 



On the Cultivation of Fig-trees. 



next the fire to be too warm, or the other extremity not warm 

 enough. Three trees at equal distances from each other 

 now occupy the whole extent of the back wall, and no other 

 plant is cultivated within the house * The trees are all of 

 one kind, that which, Mr. Torbron believes, is commonly 

 called the Brown Ischia, but which, to avoid the risk of using 

 a name erroneously, is for the present known in the Garden 

 of the Society, under the name of the Ashridge Forcing Fig. 



Mr. Torbron states, that he usually shuts up the house, 

 and begins the application of fires about the end of January. 

 His treatment, as to temperature and admission of air, is si- 

 milar to that which he has recommended,+ and practises in 

 forcing Cherries. The first crop of fruit begins to ripen early in 

 J une, and this lasts till the middle of August. The commence- 

 ment of the second crop varies either according to treatment 

 or the nature of the season, from the middle to the end of 

 September, but it is always contrived to have it last till Christ- 

 mas. Thus from this one house, there is a supply for the 

 table of Figs during six entire months, and part of two others. 

 During the summer season, Mr. Torbron admits air in the day, 

 when the solar heat rises to sixty-four degrees of Fahrenheit, 

 and he keeps the temperature at night in the more early 



* Note by Mr. Torbron. In November, 1817, I found twelve trees planted 

 against the trellis, which by their foliage seemed four different kinds ; they had 

 completely furnished the lower part of the wall, and for eight or ten feet upwards ; 

 some had even reached the top : but they bore little or no fruit ; I immediately 

 thinned them out to the three which now occupy the whole length. It had been 

 intended to have erected another Fig-house adjoining to and eastward of the 

 present one : but that has hitherto been found unnecessary, as the present one 

 'nas yielded an ample supply of two crops every year. 



f See Horticultural Transactions, Vol. iv. page 116. 



