552 



FKUIT GARDEN. 



with another must be had recourse to ; and this 

 is not accomplished without skill and care on 

 the part of the operator, in consequence of the 

 parts of fructification being placed within the 

 fruit, and not developed prior to its formation, 

 as in the case of the other fruits we have de- 

 scribed. The fruit of the fig is an excellent 

 example of what botanists call an aggregated 

 fruit — that is, a fruit formed by an intimate or 

 apparent union, proceeding in reality from dif- 

 ferent flowers. In the case of the fig it is either 

 a hollow pedicle, or rather a kind of fleshy in- 

 volucrum, formed of a great number of thick 

 bracts intimately united at the base, either with 

 each other, or with the top of the pedicle, and 

 very slightly free at their extreme apex. The 

 flowers are very numerous within this involu- 

 crum, " or what in the fig we call the fruit ; the 

 female ones, which are the most numerous, and 

 more central, are transformed into as many cary- 

 opses as there seems to be seeds." — Vegetable 

 Organography. The flowers, therefore, being 

 enclosed within this fleshy involucrum or fruit, 

 cannot easily be reached so as to apply the 

 ordinary process of crossing, with a view to pro- 

 duce cross-bred varieties, and hence few if any 

 are artificially produced. With the fecundat- 

 ing operations in the fig we practically know 

 very little. This subject many years ago attracted 

 the attention of Sir Charles Monck, who, after 

 many interesting experiments, came to the fol- 

 lowing conclusions : first, That fig trees never 

 bear figs which contain both kinds of florets in 

 an efficient state ; secondly, That figs in which 

 the anther-bearing florets only are perfect never 

 come to be eatable fruit ; thirdly, That you 

 may pronounce, from the external shape of a fig, 

 which kind of floret prevails — the stigma-bearing 

 in the pear-shaped, the anther-bearing in the 

 squat-shaped figs ; and, fourthly, That fig trees 

 which put forth crops of figs, and cast them, 

 most probably do so from defect of setting. 

 (For more of his experiments, see " Hort. 

 Trans.," vol. v.) Cuttings, however, strike root 

 freely, and these are chosen in autumn from the 

 best-ripened wood of the same season's growth, 

 selecting those that are from 8 to 10 inches in 

 length, retaining about an inch of the older wood 

 at the base, and planting them at once in light 

 sandy soil, and without taking anything off their 

 tops. They should be planted in pots, and 

 these plunged in a dry warm sheltered place, 

 and protected from frost during winter. In 

 spring they should be placed in a more open 

 and airy situation, and by the autumn following 

 they will be fit for shifting into larger pots, or, 

 if upon a large scale, into nursery rows. The 

 young plants require little pruning, only train- 

 ing them to one stem to the height of a foot, if 

 for dwarf standards, or to 3 or 4 feet if for 

 training in the stellate form, or as elsewhere 

 noticed, after which the branches should ramify 

 into their natural habit, thinning out only in 

 cases where they may become too thick. If 

 the trees are intended for training against 

 walls or espaliers, training for the first and 

 second year is necessary. If properly attended 

 to, figs from cuttings will begin to produce fruit 

 the second and third year. The nursery prac- 



tice is to have stools— that is, established fig- 

 trees, planted out — and from these they ob- 

 tain stock by laying the young branches into 

 pots sunk in the ground, and often into the 

 ground itself, removing them, the autumn fol- 

 lowing, either into nursery rows, or into pots, to 

 facilitate their being sent to a distance during 

 their growing season. It is better, however, 

 when they are sent out while in a dormant state, 

 to send them without pots altogether, which 

 lessens the expense of carriage, and in no way 

 injures the roots if they are properly packed. 

 When fig plants are required to meet any press- 

 ing demand, branches of two, three, or more 

 years' growth may be made use of for layers. 

 They root readily, and in ten months will be 

 ready for separating from the stool, and plant- 

 ing in their permanent position. Figs propa- 

 gated by suckers are apt to send up suckers ever 

 after, and, besides this, they seldom make such 

 short-jointed well-formed wood as those origi- 

 nated from cuttings. It is a process, therefore, 

 which should not be encouraged. The fig is 

 grafted in the same way as the vine, that variety 

 called inarching being justly preferred, and it is 

 equally readily but rarely budded. Indeed, 

 unless it be in the case of receiving grafts or 

 buds from a distance, where it might be incon- 

 venient to transport a whole plant, these latter 

 modes of propagation are scarcely worth atten- 

 tion. The fig may also be struck from single 

 eyes the same as the vine (which see), and it is pro- 

 bable in the one case, as it is well known to be so 

 in the other, that better and shorter-jointed 

 wood might be produced. 



SoU. — The fig is not difficult to accommo- 

 date with a soil, provided it be dry at bottom ; 

 but this must be considered as an essential con- 

 dition for securing success in its cultivation. In 

 all dry light sandy loams, without the addition 

 of manure, the fig prospers ; and if there be a 

 preference to any other, it is certainly one of a 

 calcareous nature. With figs grown in pots, 

 with their roots circumscribed, and subjected to 

 the excitement of forcing, a richer soil is neces- 

 sary, and such will derive much advantage if 

 supplied occasionally with liquid manure. For 

 such, however, as are to be grown in the open 

 air no such stimulants are required, as they 

 would have the effect of causing the trees to 

 make too much wood, and that long-jointed and 

 too gross to insure its ripening in our short- 

 growing and cold seasons. 



Planting. — In all cases where the fig is grown 

 as a dwarf standard or espalier in the open air, 

 unless it be in the southern and warmer parts of 

 England, such as the Isle of Wight, along the 

 Sussex coast, about Arundel, Worthing, &c, 

 where they attain a large size, and ripen in 

 great perfection, they should be confined at the 

 roots by walling them in, allowing each tree 

 from 16 to 20 cubic feet of soil to grow in. 

 When growing against walls, they may be 

 allowed from one-third to a half more space 

 for root room. There are few places, however, 

 in Britain where the fig ripens satisfactorily 

 unless against walls; and in the majority of 

 cases they require, particularly in Scotland, a 

 southern exposure. The fig bears transplant- 



