JUNE. 
m 
the branches. One of the trees here I have root-pruned with the most bene¬ 
ficial results. Short-jointed wood and only moderate vigour of growth are 
well-known accompaniments of fruitfulness in this tree, and proper care and 
precaution must be taken to secure them. 
The young Figs on the last year’s wood are now swelling nicely on the trees 
here. They will begin to ripen about the beginning of August, and will con¬ 
tinue in bearing until October. The summer management of the young wood 
requires some attention. Disbudding and thinning of the shoots must be done 
freely. Anything like crowding of the young shoots must be guarded against, 
as the air should pass freely among the leaves. The young shoots must on no 
account be nailed to the wall during the summer. This is a matter of very 
great importance, as the young Figs would, if the shoots were nailed to the 
wall, get too large before the autumn to stand over the winter, consequently 
they would all drop off, and the crop the following season would be a failure. 
By allowing the shoots to hang loosely from the wall, and the farther the 
better, the young Figs will not get too large to stand over the winter. If the 
young shoots are thinned sufficiently no further attention is required until the 
autumn, except protecting the fruit from the attacks of wasps and birds. About 
the beginning of November, when the leaves are all off, I prune the trees; but 
in general little pruning is required, as all young shoots not required for next 
year’s crop are removed in the summer management, but there will be some¬ 
times a naked shoot here and there that requires removing. I then take the 
terminal bud out of all the shoots. This 1 also consider a very important point 
in the culture of the Fig, as the removal of the terminal buds causes a greater 
number of the embryo Figs to swell than would be the case if they were 
allowed to grow. The young shoots are then all nailed neatly to the wall, and 
the trees are well thatched with straw to protect them during the severity of 
the winter. If trees were in a conspicuous place this mode of covering would 
be objectionable on account of its unsightly appearance. Instead of being 
thatched against the wall the trees may all be loosened from the wall, the 
branches tied into bundles and laid at the bottom of the wall, where they could 
be protected by something less objectionable than straw. I make it a point to 
uncover the trees as early in March as the state of the weather will allow, as 
the covering if left on much later would blanch the young Figs, which will 
then be beginning to swell, and many of then would in consequence drop off*,. 
Whilst the trees are covered they should be occasionally examined, as rats and 
mice are apt to eat the bark off* the branches, especially in bad weather. 
One large branch on the Brunswick Fig tree here had the bark eaten off* by 
rats completely around it the winter before the last, in consequence of which it 
made very little growth last season, but the Figs it bore were as fine as any 1 
ever saw—indeed they were admired by the gardeners who saw them. 
From the foregoing outline of my management of the Fig it will be seen 
that the following are the essential points :—1st, the production of short- 
jointed wood of moderate vigour; 2nd, the timely disbudding and proper 
thinning of the shoots ; 3rd, the letting the shoots hang from the wall during 
the summer and not nailing them, which would cause the young Figs to swell 
too large to stand over the winter, and which would inevitably drop off*. Thus the 
tree would lose a portion of its organised matter, and the crop the following 
season would be light, if not a complete failure; 4th, the removal of all the 
terminal buds from the young wood in the autumn previous to nailing-in and 
covering ; 5th, the protection of the young wood from frost during winter. 
This should be perfect, as if the wood was the least injured the fruit also 
would suffer; and 6th, the removal of the covering as early in spring as it can 
be safely done. 
