10 BULLETIN 732, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
fact that the egg of the Blastophaga is just as essential to make the 
caprifig hold on and mature as is the pollen to do the same for the 
Smyrna fig.. This fact was observed in California by E. A. Schwarz, 
of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agri- 
culture, as mentioned in the proceedings of the meeting of the 
Hntomolonical Society of Washington, D. C., December 6, 1900 
(45, p. 503). 
Careful investigations extending over a period of several years 
indicate that the ability of a tree to support successfully the mamme 
crop through the winter is more a question of variety than of climate. 
Several instances are known where in the frosty portions of the San 
Fig. 5.—The Samuel Gates Milco Sane tree, 10 miles west of Modesto, Cal., which has carried the 
Blastophaga since 1868, unaided by any other tree. 
Joaquin Valley, Cal., single isolated trees near Modesto and Lathrop, 
unassisted by others in the neighborhood, have carried the different 
crops uninterruptedly for more than 40 years (fig. 5). The pos- 
session of such trees by the grower is of supreme importance. 
THE FIG FLOWERS. 
Count H. G. Solms-Laubach and Dr. Paul Mayer, the German 
botanists; Olivier, the Frenchman; Gasparrini, Gallesio, and Ponte- 
dera, the Italians; and later Dr. Gustav Eisen are all agreed that there 
are four kinds of flowers in the fig. It may seem presumptuous to 
take exception to these authorities, but it is nevertheless a: fact, 
easily demonstrable with the abundant material now accessible in 
