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XXV. On the Cultivation of Figs. By Thomas Andrew Knight, 

 Esq. F. R. S. President. 



Read Feb 21, 1837. 



Few attempts have been made to cultivate the late fine varieties 

 of the Figs of Italy in England ; and those which have been made, 

 have not, as far as my knowledge extends, been very successful. 

 Our climate is too cold to ripen them in the open air ; and in the 

 stove a very large part of the fruit usually falls off abortively, and 

 that which remains to ripen rarely or never, owing to the confined 

 and damp state of the air, acquires nearly the greatest state of 

 perfection, which it is capable of acquiring in the climate of 

 England. 



I made, during several successive years, attempts to ripen one 

 of these, the Nerii Fig, which is one of the best, if not the best, of 

 the Figs of Italy : and I have ultimately succeeded ; and as the 

 mode of management, which I have adopted, is peculiar only, and 

 not difficult or expensive, and nearly similar to that under which 

 the peach and nectarine will be found to acquire the highest state 

 of perfection, I have thought the following account of it, worth 

 communicating. 



I begin to heat the house in the middle of February, and con- 

 tinue the fire till the fruit has acquired its first swelling in May. 

 If artificial heat be still applied, the first formed fruit will fall off, 

 and will be succeeded by other fruit which will also fall off abor- 

 tively. The fruit, therefore, after it has acquired its first swelling is 

 subjected to the influence of confined solar heat only, till it begins 



