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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMRANION.— Ootorer 21,1850. 
<■ There is a somethin", either in our soil or climate, which 
I suits the culture of the Fig and out-of-door Grapes. 1 have 
some now in my little garden which would not disgrace a 
greenhouse, although only under the management of a 
common labouring gardener, who has very little of the 
appliances of scientific gardening ; Cucumbers of large size 
and good flavour, Tomatoes, and Capsicums, all without a 
frame; Magnolias in excellent bloom, all in the open 
ground, in which our Geraniums remain untouched during 
most winters.” 
Those of our readers who have not taken the matter 
of climate into consideration may feel astonished at 
such a glowing description of the climate of this highly 
favoured county; but I am assured that many parts of 
it will fully bear out the remarks of “ Salterton.” Who 
has not beard of their famous Orange-trees bearing fine 
crops on the open walls? of their huge Myrtle-trees, 
and many other tender things, which those of the mid¬ 
land counties or the north never think of but as 
greenhouse plants? But the fact is well pointed to by 
Capsicum culture, Tomatoes, and other tender vegetables. 
I was scarcely, however, prepared for “ Salterton’s ” 
remarks as to Geraniums, which “remain untouched 
most winters.” But the query of “ Salterton ” has 
reference to the Fig, and the success recorded but adds 
another feature confirmatory of the above facts. Before, 
however, attempting to account for the precise fact re¬ 
corded, let us for a moment look over the position of 
out door Figs in Britain, and inquire a little about their 
habits, &c. 
We have all heard of the famous Sussex Figs, in 
regular Fig-orchards, at Tarring, near Worthing. This 
tree is said to he a native of Asia, and there is very gene¬ 
rally to be found ; hut some parts of Africa boast of their 
Figs, whether native or not; indeed, they may, no 
doubt, he found in most parts of the civilised portion of 
the globe where sufficient heat prevails, and where the 
winters are not excessively severe. It is stated by 
various travellers, that Fig-trees in certain parts of the 
Continent may he met with as large as our orchard 
Apple trees. Without staying to question such enormous 
growths, it may, at least, he affirmed that the Fig-tree is 
capable of producing what we have a right, I suppose, 
to call timber. 1 name this here, as an important 
consideration for those unacquainted with the habits of 
the Fig, and may have to refer to the fact again in the 
course of my remarks. The cultivation of Figs, as our 
readers will remember, is an important commercial 
consideration in the islands and marginal parts of the 
Mediterranean, and some parts of France would appear 
to be equally well adapted to their culture; so that all 
I have quoted is at once calculated to show, that below 
a certain average of summer temperature the Fig may 
not he expected to thrive out of doors in Britain. If I were 
asked an opinion as to that temperature, I should, at a 
venture, not having reference-tables at baud, say that 
an average of at least 04° by day is almost indispensable 
through June, July, and August. As for night tem- 
i perature, that we need scarcely concern ourselves about; 
it is high temperature with light in which we have the 
chief interest. But to enable Figs to flourish, and to be 
worth talking about, and worth eating, too, we must 
expect such occasional indulgences as a thermometer 
at 80° to 90°. 
We will now consider the matter of temperature as 
proved, and proceed to other considerations connected 
: with out-door Figs. One thing is notorious ; the same 
! kind of Fig may ho met with in different quarters, or 
| oven different gardens in the same neighbourhood, as 
i much unlike in habit of growth as it is possible to con- 
j ceive. The chief difference to which 1 allude is the 
| length of the annual growths, and the distance the eyes, 
buds, or joints are apart. In one case wo may see a 
tree making from a foot to half a yard of young growth ; j 
in another only three inches; the buds or joints in 
the former four or five inches apart; the latter possess¬ 
ing as many or more, eyes in a length of little more than 
two inches. Now, it may fairly he inferred by even those 
not conversant with Fig culture, that the results from 
wood so differing in character must of necessity he very 
different; and so it is. The half-yard growth is a pam¬ 
pered tree; the two-inch growth about in the condition 
nature intonded, more especially when we consider 
what the tree has to relinquish in point of climate, as 
regarding heat and light, compared with its native 
country. Here, then, is at least one prime reason why 
the same kind of Fig should in one situation produce ex¬ 
cellent fruit, and in another, perhaps equally favoured, 
anomalous results. The results that might very fairly 
be expected, and which do actually occur, are as follows : 
—The young Fig does not form on these gross shoots, or 
if it does, it forms too late, aud is so ambiguous in cha¬ 
racter, on account of had organisation, that it is difficult 
to discover whether the hud is a fruit or a shoot. Indeed, 
the unfolding of a subsequent spring most frequently 
shows too plainly the ill-effects arising from a gross 
habit, acted upon by a climate too deficient of heat and 
light to meet such an extravagant case. And why not 
such circumstances modify or thwart the power of the tree 
to retain the autumn-formed Figs, about the premature 
casting of which, in the ensuing spring, we have hoard 
so much during the last thirty years? 
If there be one fact connected with hardy fruit 
culture more proved than another, it is, in my opinion, 
this—that in the case of tender fruit (for the highest 
culture of which our climate is confessedly inadequate) 
the more they are stimulated the worse they succeed. 
This has been my theme for years since I have had the 
honour of addressing the reader's of the ever-busy 
CottacjE Gardener, whose motto I am persuaded our 
good and facetious friend Beaton would agree might 
very fairly he N’unquam dormio. 
However, 1 proceed. When I spoke of the absence 
of what we call stimulants 1 do not for a moment mean 
that all tender fruits must be planted in a barren soil. 
A soil may he tolerably generous in a way that wo little 
dream of, and yet not contain a particle of any kind of 
manure, and, perhaps, as little as may he of any 
organic matter. Nevertheless, it is not a question of 
mere soil or stimulants, as I have often urged iu these 
pages, hut the relation the chief hulk of the roots hear 
to the ordinary ground level of the district is a thing of 
much more importance than is commonly imagined. If 
the climate is confessedly somewhat deficient, of wliat 
use is it forcing such a vast amount of fluids into the 
system of the tree? and what can he expected but 
watery wood, unfruitfulness, and disastrous results? 
These facts, if they he worthy of consideration, hear 
at once on the Fig; and although it may appear to 
some fancies going a round-about route to prove a case, 
yet I am convinced that this is the soundest view of 
the subject; and, as has been often said, “ the farthest 
way round is the nearest way home,” aud so I seize on 
this old saying to defend my position. 
I will now come to the exact fact of “ Sai.terton’s” 
case as far as I. can throw light on it. Many kinds 
of Figs produce a second crop, which, in our odd 
climate, may he found, according to kind, &c., from the 
size of a Boa to that of a marble, or even more 
advanced still. These Figs are ever difficult to secure 
on the tree; it is a common complaint that three- 
lourths of them fall off; and why ? Here is tlio rule. 
If the Fig wood itself is proved to have an aversion to 
some of the extreme winters of Britain, why should we 
expect that this young embryo Fig, witli a skin as fine as 
a delicate Beach, and a tender, half-organised, half- 
j solidified pulp—if such wc may term it—should endure, 
j in regard of temperature and its accompanying con- 
