THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
This subject will be discussed at the coming horticultural 
society meetings, and when the fruit growers and the nursery¬ 
men meet next summer at the Pan-American there will be a 
display worth going far to see. There will be more laurels to 
be won. 
FAITH IN NURSERYMEN. 
A Hudson, N. Y., correspondent of the Rural New Yorker 
expressing his faith in nurserymen says that last spring he 
sought some sweet cherry trees of a certain variety. There 
was a scarcity of that variety and prices advanced considerably. 
He wrote in all directions ; in several instances his remittances 
were returned with the explanation that the firms were sold 
out of the kind wanted or could only partly fill the order. 
“ They could have shipped other stock similar in appearance 
but they did not,” says this correspondent,” and I am now 
convinced that as to honesty the nurserymen are on the 
average well up to any other business men, preachers not 
excepted.” 
This is a deserved tribute to the honesty of the majority of 
the nurserymen. The standard of honesty in the nursery bus¬ 
iness is on a par with that of any business and it is far above 
that of some lines of trade. 
FIG GROWING IN AMERICA. 
We received last month a box of genuine Smyrna figs from 
the Fancher Creek Nursery, Fresno, Cal., which proved con¬ 
clusively that this delicious fruit can be grown in this coun¬ 
try. Not only this, but George C. Roeding, the proprietor of 
the nursery, has produced fruit which has been shown by 
analysis to be sweeter by 1.42 per cent, than the imported 
Smyrna fig. The samples sent were certainly the finest we 
have ever seen. 
Mr. Roeding states that these are the first produced on a 
commercial scale in the United States. The trees were grown 
from cuttings taken from the famous Aidin district, in the in¬ 
terior of Asia Minor, distant about seventy-five miles from 
Smyrna. W. C. West was sent to Smyrna in 1885 by F. Roed¬ 
ing for the purpose of making a personal examination into this 
subject and bringing over cuttings of the very best Smyrna 
figs. The expense of the trip and the securing of the cut¬ 
tings amounted to $3,000. 
These figs represent experiments extending over a period of 
fourteen years, and the care and cultivation of sixty acres, or 
4,200 trees from 10 to 14 years old. They have never been 
sulphured or processed in any way—the color is natural. They 
are sweeter than any figs ever produced in the United States. 
They contain fertile seeds, giving them an exquisite nutty 
flavor found in no other fig grown in the United States. Each 
seed represents a single flower. 
To produce a fig which, when dried, would equal in flavor and sweet¬ 
ness the fig of commerce so universally esteemed, has been the desid¬ 
eratum of every horticulturist interested in fig culture. 
To all outward appearances, the fig tree, unlike other trees and 
plants, develops fruits without first producing flowers. But these ap¬ 
pearances are misleading, for on cutting the fruit open it will be found 
that it contains a large quantity of inconspicuous flowers closely 
grouped around the rind, which is really the receptacle for them. 
Furthermore, there are four distinct kinds of flowers found in the 
figs, namely: male, female, gall and mule flowers. Male, female and 
gall flowers are found in Capri or wild fig, the number varying in 
greater or less degree in the various crops. 
U9 
The essential point of difference between the Smyrna class of figs 
and the Adriatic class, lies in the fact that the Smyrna contains noth¬ 
ing but female flowers, and that unless they are pollinated, either arti¬ 
ficially or through the agency of the fig wasp, Blastophaga psenes, the 
fruit never reaches maturity, but shrivels and drops from the tree when 
one-third grown. The Adriatic, of which there are 100 varieties grow¬ 
ing in California, contains mule flowers which cannot be pollinated, 
but which, nevertheless, develop and mature edible fruits, although 
the seeds are sterile. 
In other words, the Smyrna fig is valueless unless the flowers have 
been caprified, while the Adriatic, and that embraces all varieties of 
figs which have matured their fruits in the past without the aid of the 
insect, cannot be improved upon nor benefited in any way, for their 
flowers cannot be fertilized. 
The first Smyrna figs grown in the United States were produced on 
the Fancher Creek Nursery in a very limited number, in the year 1890 , 
by transferring the pollen from the Capri figs and introducing it into 
the Smyrna fig by means of a tooth pick. All figs treated in this man¬ 
ner developed into large fine fruits with perfect seeds, while untreated 
figs shriveled up when about the size of a marble and dropped to the 
ground, thus proving conclusively that caprification was an essential 
factor in the production of this fig. 
The Capri fig stands in the relation of male to the Smyrna or edible 
fig. It occasionally produces an edible fruit but without flavor, its 
principal value being that it is the habitat of the Blastophaga, for with¬ 
out it the insect cannot exist. 
FOREIGN REGULATIONS. 
The U. S. Department of Agriculture has published a cir¬ 
cular giving in brief the requirements in foreign countries re¬ 
garding the admission of nursery stock, in view of fear that 
San Jose scale may be introduced on such plants: 
Austria-Hungary—Prohibits the importation of American plants or 
fruits or their wrappings, which show presence of the scale. There are 
three ports of admission. 
Belgium—Permits the importation of American plants and fruits 
through Antwerp, Ghent and Ostende if the shipments bear certificates 
from competent authorities; otherwise the shipments are held for in¬ 
spection and destroyed if found infected by scale. 
British Columbia—Requires inspection at wharf or station by her 
own officials. Infected shipments are ordered disinfected or destroyed. 
Canada—Prohibits importation of nursery stock from the United 
States, Australia, Japan and Hawaii, requiring the destruction of stock 
arriving. Green-house plants, herbaceous plants, conifers, bulbs and 
tubers are exempt. During certain periods prohibited stock may be im¬ 
ported through designated ports after fumigation. 
Cape of Good Hope—Prohibits the importation of all plants and fruits 
from the United States. 
France—Prohibits the importation of living plants from the United 
States and admits fruits only after inspection. 
Germany—Prohibits the importation of plants, also fruits when in¬ 
spection shows presence of scale. Dried or evaporated fruits are ad¬ 
mitted at certain ports without inspection. 
Netherlands—Prohibit the importation of American plants unless ac¬ 
companied by certificate of inspection at port of shipment. 
New Zealand—Admits live plants only at Dunedin, Christ Church, 
Wellington and Auckland, when accompanied by certificate or after 
fumigation. 
Switzerland—Prohibits the importation of plants. 
Turkey—Prohibits importation of trees, plants and fruit from the 
United States. 
“what more can we wish ?” 
P. Ouwerkerk, Jersey City, N. J., Oct. 18 th, 1900 .-“Please find en¬ 
closed one dollar. With pleasure I renew my subscription for your paper 
which is no doubt , the best in the trade. I read with pleasure your 
articles which are plain and impartial ; the print is nice and the paper 
fine ; what can we wish more ? ’* 
