SMYRNA FIG CULTURE. BiB) 
will grow, while if 2-year-old wood is used and the work carefully 
done 95 per cent of them will grow. This is the experience of A. H. 
Brydges, a skillful horticulturist and caretaker of the demonstration — 
fiz orchard of the Department of Agriculture at Loomis, Cal. 
Experienced fig growers are now thoroughly convinced of the supe- 
riority of Smyrna figs over any other kind as a profitable crop, and in 
many places they are grafting over their Adriatic trees to Smyrnas, 
thus about doubling the value of the product. If the tree to be 
changed, is large, it is best to take two years for the work, as to 
remove the whole top in one season often proves too much of a shock 
to the parent tree. If the grafts do well, they will produce some 
figs the second, year. 
FREEDOM FROM DISEASES AND INSECT PESTS. 
The fig possesses several advantages over other deciduous fruit 
trees. One is that little thinning is required to produce large-sized 
fruit, as is necessary with peaches, apricots, etc., since the size of the 
crop can be regulated by the number of caprifigs applied. The crop 
is never cut off by late spring frosts, for the reason that it pushes 
long after the last frosts occur. Up to the present time the fig tree 
in California has also been virtually free from insect pests and dis- 
eases, so that spraying has never been necessary. : 
A few cases of fungus on Adriatic and Mission trees have been 
reported, but they are not regarded as serious. A blackish smut or 
_ fungus sometimes is found in dried figs. Its appearance is not unlike 
the smut in cereals, and it can usually be detected by a discoloration 
of the skin. It may also be detected when no outward discoloration 
occurs by squeezing the figs, which ruptures the inclosng membrane 
and forces out the spores in a dark dusthke powder. As the spores 
are blown about by the wind, it is important that all affected figs be 
immediately destroyed by burning or depositing them in a receptacle 
containing a weak solution of formalin or corrosive sublimate, or 
even hot water. All refuse figs and trash from the orchard should be 
cleaned up and burned. | 
Large fig-eating beetles, known as June bugs, are troublesome in 
parts of Arizona, but have not been observed in California. Nema- 
todes, minute worms infesting the roots, are found in many localities, 
but as yet they have not become a serious pest. 
A small spotted beetle (Carpophilus hemiplerus) works in souring 
and fermenting figs, prunes, etc., and is really a packing-house insect. 
The little fly which frequents souring figs is the well-known vinegar 
fly. These insects can be abated to a considerable extent by cleaning 
up and burning the refuse leaves and decaying fruit from the orchard. 
