304 
FIG TREE. 
plants were propagated : in other kinds it is the 
flower which contains the embryo of the fruit ; in 
this, on the contrary, it is the fruit which encloses 
and conceals the flower. The mode in which the 
fig trees are made to produce their fruit, is called 
caprification , and this we shall proceed to explain in 
its proper place. 
Among the several species of this genus which 
have been enumerated by botanists, the common 
fig is by far the most useful, and is cultivated in 
many parts of Europe for the excellence of its fruit. 
The wild as well as the cultivated kind is supposed 
to have been originally brought from Asia, from 
whence they have been spread over the southern 
parts of Europe, and are now to be met with in 
Languedoc, in Provence, in Spain, in Italy, &c. ; not 
to mention those of England, which are merely 
raised for the table, and not cultivated, like those 
abroad, for commercial purposes. 
Where the climate is congenial to their nature, 
figs seem to thrive in almost any soil ; but Du- 
hamel observes, that they produce the most succu- 
lent fruit when growing among the rocks. They 
require a certain degree of heat : for although this 
gentleman saw figs of a monstrous size at Brest, yet 
they rarely became perfectly ripe for want of the 
necessary warmth. The trees are generally raised 
from slips or layers, which readily strike root ; and 
the manner which is often practised to effect this 
is simple enough, though rather singular. When 
it is proposed to propagate the plant by layers, a 
