THE FIG : 
ITS NATURE AND CULTUEE UNDER GLASS AND IN THE OPEN AIR. 
The Fig is one of those singular kinds of 
frnit that are totally useless unripe, and how- 
ever near they may come to perfection, any 
thing short makes them worthless. When 
thoroughly ripe they are very delicious, — when 
but a little short of it, they are mawkish, sickly, 
and even rank. It would appear that the last 
few days of solar heat changes the entire cha- 
racter of the fig, and if the fruit be gathered 
before this change, they are unfit to eat, and, 
unlike almost every other of Pomona's gifts, 
they will do for nothing but the pigs ; they 
are of no use in tarts, they cannot be made into 
wine, and so far as we have been able to dis- 
cover they are good for nothing. Strictly 
speaking, they require protection to bring them 
forward, although they will fairly ripen in a 
hot summer, on the open wall in a southern 
aspect, and we have even known them, in very 
favourable seasons, to ripen on standards. 
They are sometliing like the vine fur bearing 
frost, and bringing fruit, and the season that 
vrill ripen the black Hamburgh grape, will un- 
questionably perfect the fig. Of the different 
modes of growing the fig, we shall speak in the 
proper place. They are often grown in a house 
adapted exclusively to them ; the back walls of 
a vinery, if the grapes are not allowed to cover 
the glass entirely, is a very good situation for 
a tree planted out. They may be grown in 
50. 
pots in any part of a grape-house. They do 
well in front of a stove — we mean outside — for 
the wall being always warm helps them on a 
good deal, and being near the ground they have 
the advantage of the reflected sun's rays. On 
a south wall they will require but little cover- 
ing, and that is from the frost, when they once 
start ; any thing short of a southern aspect 
lessens the chance of their doing well ; and as to 
standards, although we have gathered them, or 
rather picked up a few fallen fruit under tlie 
trees, the great bulk have remained on and 
with no very ready prospect of coming to per- 
fection. Under these circumstances, we will 
give a few directions to those who wish to cul- 
tivate the fig, premising, that first, the sorts 
must be well chosen, well potted or planted, 
well protected, and well attended, to give us any 
chance of success. We will treat of them under 
the several heads, dividing the subject into — 
I. — The sorts to be chosen. 
II. — The soil they grow in. 
III. — Their treatment on walls. 
IV. — Their treatment in pots. 
V. — Their treatm.ent planted under glass. 
It will be seen that there is no more difficulty 
in growing figs than in growing grapes ; that 
the same general principles govern the one as 
govern the other. That is to say, the plant that 
has too many fruit to swell and ripen will not 
B 
