IHE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
shipbuilding; hence the forests would always be 
renewed from the young trees. Great damage 
must, however, have been done by the mines which 
were so extensively worked by the Phoenicians 
and the Romans, as trees of ail sorts and sizes 
would be used for fuel. With the cessation of the 
mining, the forests must have again recovered 
themselves; and the true causes of the modern 
destruction of the forests are stated to be three in 
number, viz. fitful cultivation, fire, and the grazing 
of goats. 
It is beyond the province of this paper to enter 
into detail on these points. They have been most 
ably dealt with by a French gentleman who was 
for three years the principal forest officer of 
Cyprus. But it may be interesting just to draw 
attention to the manner in which Cyprus is over- 
run by goats, which are the greatest enemies to 
forests in every country where they exist. 
Taking five Mediterranean countries where 
goats abound, we find that there are: — 
In Italy 14 goats per sq. miles, 63 per 1000 inhabitants. 
„ Sicilf 16 „ 74 „ 
„ Portugal 27 ,, 210 „ 
,. Sardinia 25 374 ., 
„ Cyprus 64 ,, 1430 ,, 
Cyprus, in fact, contains more goats in proportion 
to its area and population than any country in the 
world. 
(To he continued.) 
The Culture of Figs, 
W. F. Massey. 
A large portion of North Carolina is well adapted 
to the culture of the fig, and in every part of the 
State a supply for home use can be had by taking 
a little trouble in growing the trees in proper 
shape for protecting them in winter. The writer 
for many years succeeded in growing, fine crops of 
of figs in a cold and elevated locality in northern 
Maryland, where the mercury dropped below 
Zero nearly every winter. The method used -will be 
explained further on. All over the low country of 
eastern and southern North Carolina the fig thrives 
luxuriantly, and needs little, if any, winter protec- 
tion, except in unusually severe winters. In all 
this section the culture of improved varieties 
gmiht he made profitable, 
With a view to distribute among the cultivators 
of the States, the North Carolina Experiment 
Station has procured, through the United States 
Department of Agriculture at Washington, cut- 
tings of the best varieties from fig-growing 
countries of southern Europe and Asia Minor, 
These include all the famous sorts used for 
drying and exportation. 
In tropical countries the fig is an ever green tree, 
growing and bearing fruit almost perpetually, but 
in countries where sharp frosts occur in winter it 
assumes the character of a deciduous tree. 
When the frosts are not too severe, or when 
the trees are protected from them, the rudimen- 
tary figs, borne on the young branches in late 
autumn, instead of falling off, as most immature 
fruits would do, seem to rest dormant, and in the 
Spring renew their growth and ripen off into the 
first crop, which always gives larger and finer fruit 
than the late summer and autumn crops. If we 
give the trees protection in winter, these imma- 
ture figs can be carried through quite severe 
winters, but with the careless culture which the 
fig receives in North Carolina they are usually 
lost. The fig may be grown from seed, cuttings, 
or layers. The seed of the freshly imported dried 
figs will usually grow readily, and will generally 
reproduce a variety vrith certainty from cuttings of 
well ripened one year old wood, or layers must be 
used. 
In propagating from cuttings, young shoots 
growing on the sides of older stems, and not the 
rank and pithy shoots from the base, are best. 
These should be cut off in autumn after the 
leaves fall, with a “heel” of the older wood. Set 
the cuttings at once in dry sandy soil nearly their 
entire length, and then make a ridge of soil over 
them thick enough to keep out frost. When Spring 
opens, carefully scrape away this cover of soil so 
as to expose the tops of the cuttings, and they 
well soon break into growth and make fine plants 
by autumn. Layers are made by binding down a 
shoot of last year’s growth, cutting a slit in the 
side of the shoot nearly half way through, so that 
the end of the shoot can be turned up and tied to 
a stake, and the incision buried in the soil. This 
should be done in Spring, and by Autumn the 
layer can be separated from the plant with a good 
supply of its own. Where there is a greenhouse 
