171 the North-ioest of France. 
97 
land in the same commune does not fetch more than half that 
amount. 
Although there are a number of so-called " sorts " of aspa- 
ragus, M. Godefroy-Lebeuf thinks that there are really only 
two — the early and the late. The former has the advantage 
in price, and the latter in the quantity of produce. 
Figs. — An outline of the mode of cultivation of the fig, 
carried out on a large scale in the neighbourhood of Paris, 
may be interesting to English fruit-growers. 
Two slanting trenches are made in the spring so as to form a 
letter V, and slips one year old are planted in them so as to 
make an angle with the earth of about 45°. The first year they 
are allowed to gi'ow naturally and without pruning, but in 
October the side branches are cut off, and three or four weeks 
later the main stem is bent down to the ground, and all the 
new wood, including the growing point, is placed in a shallow 
trench, and covered with a sufficient layer of earth to prevent 
the frost from getting access to the plant. In the spring, on a 
dull day, the earth is removed, and a few days afterwards, the 
growing point is cut off. As soon as it is possible to dis- 
tinguish the fruit-buds from the leaf-buds, which grow side by 
side from each axil, all the leaf-buds are nipped off except one 
on each side close to the old wood. The fruit-buds thus left on 
last year's wood will produce fruit this year ; and in the autumn 
the fruit-bearing wood will be cut down to the new branches 
which have been produced by the two leaf-buds selected in the 
spring for the purpose. Similar operations are performed every 
year, and particular attention is given to cut off any shoots which 
may grow on the old stem. New stems or suckers from the roots 
are allowed to grow to a limited extent, and are treated in the 
same way as the original shoot. When grown on a large scale, 
the trees are planted in lines about 20 feet apart in each direc- 
tion. M. V. F. Lebeuf, in his little book, entitled ' Les Asperges, 
les Fraises, les Figues, les Framboises, et les Groseilles,' men- 
tions a curious but simple method of hastening the ripening of 
the fig, namely, when the eye is yellow, and apparently about 
to dilate, the skin being also brilliant and inclining to yellow, 
it is sufficient to put on the eye the least touch of olive oil in 
the early morning or evening, and in nine days the fruit will 
be ripe. He adds a caution that if the operation is performed 
before the fig is ready, or in a blaze of sunshine, it does more 
hiarm than it would otherwise do good. 
ViNE-CULTUKE. 
It would be impossible to describe the various methods of 
cultivating the vine, as practised in the several vine-growing 
VOL. XVI. — S. S. H 
