May 9, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
577 
which is made in the fruit ; thus prepared it is 
considered a delicious food. The production of this 
article, which was thus limited, has been greatly 
increased, due to the American fruit companies which 
began to fit up vessels to go to Mexico, Central 
America, Colombia, the Guianas, and the West Indies, 
making monthly trips, and paying heavy prices for the 
fruit. The sudden rise in the price of an article which 
was for the growers almost valueless, induced the latter 
to start small plantations. The success obtained on the 
trial, together with the moderate amount of capital, 
labour, and enterprise required, encouraged them and 
some foreign firms to establish large plantations. 
These are generally situated near the railway, on the 
banks of rivers, or on the coast, thus saving labour and 
expense for transhipment, and avoiding excessive 
handling of the fruit. The lands chosen for the 
production of the Banana are those that contain 
extensive alluvial deposits, composed chiefly of blue 
clay impregnated with marine salt, and rich in 
decomposed vegetable matter. On the large plant¬ 
ations, where more capital is expended and the labour 
is better organised, the trees are usually planted from 
12 ft. to 15 ft. apart in the form of squares, and 
where irrigation is required, trenches are dug between 
them to admit the water passing through as often as it 
is necessary. In places where the rain is abundant, or 
where the soil is damp, the Bananas grow best. It is 
generally at the end of nine months that the plants 
mature, and after that time the fruit can be gathered 
every week in the year, provided the plantation has 
been well kept, and has had a good start. All that 
time the trunk of the tree attains a height of 8 ft. or 
10 ft., and about 36 ins. in girth. From the 
trunk, which is porous and yields an excellent fibre, 
palm-like branches are thrown out to the number of 
six or seven. The bunch of fruit appears at the 
juncture of the trunk and branches, and consists of 
from four to twelve of what are termed “ hands,” each 
hand having eight to twelve bananas on it. A bunch 
of eight hands or clusters is counted as a full bunch ; 
while those that have from five to seven are taken as a 
half bunch ; bunches not less than five hands are 
styled third class, the others respectively first and 
second class. From the root of the tree several shoots 
or suckers sprout, each of which in turn becomes a 
tree, and bears a bunch of bananas, or they may be 
transplanted. After the bunch has been cut, the tree 
is felled, in fact the tree is more frequently cut to 
gather the fruit. The manner in which the Banana 
is cultivated is most easy, as very little skill or labour 
is demanded, nature doing almost all the work. The 
first cost of planting an acre of land is from £10 to £12, 
the production being from 600 to 800 bunches to the 
acre, which makes a cost of about 3 ^d. to id. per 
bunch, and they are sold at the plantations to the 
American fruit companies for from 2 s. to 2s. 6d. per 
bunch. They in turn sell them in the United States 
for from 4s. to 12s. per bunch. —Society of Arts 
Journal. 
-->$<-- 
ON FIGS AND THEIR CULTURE 
AT CHISWICK. 
The collection of Figs in the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens at Chiswick is probably the largest 
and finest that is to be found in the country. They 
were for the most part collected by Dr. Hogg in the 
south of France, and for many years a considerable 
amount of attention has been given to their cultivation 
—especially in pots—and careful observations made as 
to their distinctive merits, &c., the Fig house at 
Chiswick forming, during several months of the year, 
a special feature of attraction to the gardens. 
The home of the cultivated Fig would seem to be 
Syria and along the shores of the Mediterranean 
through Northern Italy and Southern France and 
Spain. In this country, excepting along the South 
Coast and in sheltered situations near the sea, Figs do 
not ripen their fruit without protection. At Tarring, 
Arundel, &c., on the coast of Sussex, many trees are 
grown in the orchards as standards and annually bear 
immense quantities of fruit, and on the walls in similar 
localities an abundance of large and fine fruit is 
obtained. In the Channel Islands Figs do well and the 
trees attain a large size, and being trained in many 
cases as arbours, afford delightful shade and have quite 
a picturesque appearance. In the neighbourhood of 
London, Figs seldom ripen out-of-doors. The plant is, 
however, quite at home and makes a capital shrub in 
many parts of the City itself. The original trees 
introduced into this country may still be seen growing 
in the Bishop of London’s garden at Fulham. 
Naturally the Fig grows as a low bush or tree similar 
to a sturdy Apple, but where supported or grown 
against a wall the branches are more slender and 
dependent. 
Mode of Fig-growing in France. 
In the neighbourhood of Paris Figs are grown in the 
open ground in a very unique manner. The winters 
being too severe for the plants, shallow pits, 4 ft. or 
5 ft. in diameter and 18 ins. or 20 ins. deep, are formed 
in some warm situation, in which the trees are planted. 
The first year they are cut down pretty closely, so that 
they may produce a number of strong shoots, which are 
allowed to grow freely during the summer. When the 
leaves have fallen in autumn, four trenches, radiating 
from the root or stool in the form of a Maltese cross, 
are dug out, into which the shoots or branches, divided 
into four equal bundles, are bent down and covered 
with 10 ins. or 12 ins. of soil, a similar covering being 
placed over the crown. Here they remain until the 
danger of frost is past, when they are released from 
their winter’s burial. In this way they are treated 
year after year, the shoots or branches being thinned 
where necessary, and they bear enormous quantities of 
fruit. 
Fruiting of the Fig. 
Differing from the majority of fruit trees the Fig will 
bear two, and sometimes, under very favourable cir¬ 
cumstances, even three crops in one season. There is 
the “ first crop,” which is borne on the shoots of the 
previous year ; the little round buds may easily be 
observed before leaf-growth commences. The “ second 
crop ” is borne on the growing shoots of the current 
season. Some people are 'under the impression that 
the half-grown fruits which remain on the trees after 
the fall of the leaf are intended to form the next year’s 
“first crop.” But it is not so; they are simply late 
“ second crop ” fruit that failed to come to maturity 
through want of heat, &c. In the Fig-growing coun¬ 
tries there are the recognised “ first crop ” and “second 
crop ” Figs, some varieties being suited for the one 
purpose, some for the other. In this country it is 
only the “ first crop ” varieties which come to maturity 
in the open air, the season of summer warmth being 
too short to do more ; but under glass excellent crops 
both of the “first crop” and “second crop ” Figs may 
be obtained where suitable varieties are grown. A 
singular point to be noticed is the markedly different 
shape of the fruits of the “ fitst ” and “ second crops ” 
off the same trees—the fruits of the “first crop ” being 
long, nearly twice as long as those of the “second,” 
which are frequently almost oblate. 
The Setting of the Fruit. 
The fruit, or edible portion, of the Fig is very curious, 
being the common receptacle of a congeries of flowers, 
which consist of numerous small florets lining the 
internal walls or surface of the embryo fruit, so that 
they are not visible without cutting the fruit open. 
Some of these florets are male, some female. With 
regard to the manner in which the hidden flowers or 
florets are set, we know little or nothing. 
Casting of the Fruit. 
The casting of the fruit without ripening, which is of 
very common occurrence, is attributed to the non¬ 
setting of the flowers. That it is so may easily be seen 
by cutting open the fallen fruits and examining them, 
when it will be observed that the flowers are unde¬ 
veloped. Many reasons have been assigned as to the 
cause of this defect. Some ascribe it to a sudden 
check, to coldness, to dryness at the root, or to the 
reverse—of too much moisture, &c., &c.—all or any of 
which conditions may be injurious to the plant, and 
may tend towards the evil, but are certainly not the 
true or primd facie cause. It may be noted that some 
varieties are more liable to cast their fruit than others, 
and that under all sorts of treatment, whilst others, 
receiving exactly the same treatment, do not do so. 
It is generally with plants that seem to be in the best 
possible health, and it is almost always with the “ first 
crop,’’ and not the “ second,’’that failure occurs in 
this manner. 
Caprification. 
In many parts of Italy, Spain, &c., in order to prevent 
this ‘ ‘ non-setting ” feature, recourse is had to what is 
termed “ caprification,” which is firmly believed in by 
those who practice it, but condemned by most modern 
scientific writers who have studied the subject as an 
absolutely useless waste of time. The process is simply 
this : young Figs of^ the Caprifig (a wild species 
which is planted in almost every collection) are taken 
and placed on the shoots of the Fig trees it is desired 
to set, and in these Caprifigs a certain insect is said to 
be generated which, it is alleged, enters the eye of the 
unripe, and as yet unset, fruit of the cultivated species, 
thus facilitating the entrance of light and fertilising 
vapour, thereby enabling the fruit to set and ripen. 
In some parts of the south of France it is said to be a 
common practice for men who are termed caprifigvArs 
to prick the eye of the fruit with a straw or quill dipped 
in olive oil. Brandy also is applied by dropping a 
little in at the eye or through a puncture in the skin, 
which is, moreover, believed to hasten the maturity of 
the fruit and to improve its flavour. 
Training and Formation of the Plant. 
The training and formation of the plant is a very 
simple matter. The prettiest and most natural form 
for Figs in pots is that of dwarf standards. These 
should have a clear stem of from 8 ins. to 12 ins., and 
should on no account be allowed to produce suckers or 
to become many-stemmed, as such plants do not fruit 
so well. Duringthefirstseason the plant may be allowed 
to grow with a clear stem to the required height, when it 
should have the point pinched out—an operation, if 
the season is not too far gone, which will have the 
effect of causing three or more of the top buds to break, 
and when these have grown 3 ins. or 4 ins., they 
should be again stopped in the same manner, and in 
the second and following years (if they have grown 
sufficiently) the same process of pinching out the points 
of the young shoots when 3 ins. or 4 ins. long should 
be pursued. The plant thus formed should, at the end 
of the third year, have all the shoots pruned back to 
about half their length, and ought the following season 
to become a fruiting plant. A great deal, of course, 
depends upon the cultivation and condition of the 
plants, &c.— A. F. Barron. 
(To be continued.) 
-- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
- -i —— 
A Wonderful Calanthe. 
There was recently in flower in the collection of 
Orchids belonging to J. A. Rolls, Esq., Hendre, Mon¬ 
mouth, a plant of Calanthe vestita oculata gigantea, 
having a spike 6 ft. 4 ins. long, and carrying forty-eight 
fine flowers. The plant was grown in a 32-size pot, in 
a compost of peat and loam of equal parts, with a little 
sand and decayed manure added, and we must con¬ 
gratulate the gardener, Air. Coomber, upon his method 
of cultivation.— H. JV., in Orchid Album. 
Oncidium lamelligerum. 
The general appearance of this small-lipped Oncid 
reminds us of the allied O. superbiens in the size and 
colouring of the sepals and petals. The upper sepal is 
sub-orbicular, wavy, crisped, auricled at the base, and 
of a warm brown with a clear yellow margin ; the lateral 
ones are much narrower, ovate-oblong, and of the same 
colour as the upper one, but the margin is narrower. 
The petals are rather smaller than the lateral sepals, 
and pale yellow with a number of large brown blotches 
at the base sometimes arranged in transverse bars. 
The small three-lobed lip has the lateral lobes of a deep 
purple, and the middle one tending to purplish brown 
and yellow. The species is a native of Ecuador, where 
it grows on the branches of trees in cool and moist 
situations, developing long climbing flower stems that 
are branched, and bear large and showy flowers much 
in the same way as the well-known O. macranthum. 
Under cultivation it should receive similar treatment 
to the latter. There is a beautifully coloured illustra¬ 
tion of it in the Lindenia, pi. 278. 
Cypripedium Bragaianum- 
The seed parent of this hybrid was C. Boxallii 
atratum fecundated with the pollen of C. hirsutissimum 
cceruleseens, and the result is a plant of no mean 
beauty. The foliage is vigorous and of a rich dark 
green colour. The upper sepal shows a marked 
affinity with that of the seed parent, and is of a rich 
blackish brown, shaded towards the sides with green, 
also spotted with brown along the sides of the lower 
half, and having a broad white margin. In the 
spotting it undoubtedly shows the effect of the pollen 
parent, and this is much more evident in the long 
petals, which are yellowish green in the lower two- 
thirds, abundantly dotted with black, and rosy violet 
on the apical half. The lip is greenish yellow, more or 
less suffused with pale brown, so that the petals and 
upper sepal constitute the glory of the flower. The 
hybrid will, no doubt, soon find plenty of admirers. 
A coloured figure of it in the Lindenia,, pi. 279, shows 
it to be a conspicuous and showy plant. 
