FIGS IN POTS. 
233 
some of the best and certainly the most useful fruits being taken from the 
young wood. Overcrowding in every instance should be studiously 
avoided, there should always be a free play of air between the plants. 
The shoots are kept pinched at the fourth or fifth joint ; this applies 
equally to all of the stock, whether early or late. Some varieties do not 
make shoots of any great length under pot treatment, remaining more 
sturdy and compact in habit. Some again may not show for fruit so 
readily as others upon the young wood. These may be forced into 
pushing forth their fruit by rubbing out the young points of growth as 
they successively appear. Some varieties also differ in their tendency to 
split when the fruit is ripening. For instance, Negro Largo rarely ever 
splits a fruit ; hence this and similar varieties will always bear more atmo- 
spheric moisture at that stage than will Nebian or Yiolette Sepor, both 
of which are fine Figs. When the tendency to split becomes at all serious 
our plan is to sever the fruit partially at the stem, rather than keep the 
plant too dry and thus cripple the later fruits. During the summer no 
fire heat is needed for the late Figs, except when it is dull or rather chilly 
in the morning, as it was, for instance, for a time in August of this year. 
Unless it be quite warm it is best to employ fire heat onwards from the 
beginning of September, in a moderate degree at least. What has to be 
aimed at is to avoid a check such as will cause the foliage to fall pre- 
maturely. When this occurs the fruits, as a matter of course, suffer also. 
If kept too dry at the roots, if attacked by insect pests, or if a chill super- 
venes, this will happen. As these late Figs cease to be productive they 
are transferred to a cooler house, such as a vinery, where with a slight 
warmth for a short time and ventilation they become sufficiently hardened 
to stand in a cool house where the frost is excluded. It is not advisable 
to expose them to direct frost, although a few degrees would not injure 
them. 
Potting. — We treat our Figs in pots practically the same as the other 
fruit trees so grown, viz., repotting every season. The early forced ones 
should, if possible, be potted in August or early in September, leaving them 
still out of doors until required for starting at the end of October. The 
late Figs, on the other hand, are potted as they ripen off during the winter, 
but, as just stated, these are still left indoors. When first starting with 
Figs in pots I was advised not to pot annually, and that by more than one 
grower. We find, however, that it is beneficial to do so. It does not by 
any means follow that larger pots need be used. This is only done when 
extra vigour is indicated. By reducing the balls it is nearly always 
possible to keep to the same size of pot for at least two or three seasons. 
If potted into larger sizes too frequently, they become more unwieldy, 
besides which there is more liability to become ultimately unhealthy at 
the roots. Fresh soil of the right kind suppKed to the plants in this 
annual potting is much better than any excess of animal or artificial 
manure minus the potting. We pot as firmly as possible, after having 
carefully reduced the old ball so that the fresh soil can be worked around 
between the ball and the pot without any injury to the root. It is well 
to note that the balls are not too dry. 
Soil. — ^The Fig thrives well in a calcareous loam ; hence where this is 
not obtainable it becomes all the more necessary to add something like 
