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FIGURE 1
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FIGURE 1 .-Fruiting See also:Branch of Fig, Ficus Carica; about' nat. See also:size. 1. Unripe See also:fruit cut lengthwise; about z nat. size. 2. See also:Female See also:flower taken from 1; enlarged. 3. Ripe fruit cut lengthwise; about s nat. size. most striking forms of those tropical forests to which they are chiefly indigenous. They have alternate leaves, and abound in a milky juice, usually acrid, though in a few instances sufficiently mild to be used for allaying thirst. This juice contains caoutchouc in large quantity. Ficus Carica (figure 1), which yields the well-known See also:figs of See also:commerce, is a See also:bush or small tree—rarely more than 18 or 20 ft: high,—with broad, rough, See also:deciduous leaves, very deeply lobed in the cultivated varieties, but in the See also:wild plant sometimes nearly entire. The See also:green, rough branches See also:bear the solitary, nearly sessile receptacles in the axils of the leaves. The male See also:flowers are placed chiefly in the upper See also:part of the cavity, and in most varieties are few in number. As it ripens, the receptacle enlarges greatly, and the numerous single-seeded pericarps or true fruits become imbedded in it. The fruit of the wild fig never acquires the succulence of the cultivated kinds. The fig seems to be indigenous to See also:Asia See also:Minor and See also:Syria, but now occurs in a wild See also:state in most of the countries around the Mediterranean. From the ease with which the nutritious fruit can be preserved, it was probably one of the earliest See also:objects of cultivation, as may be inferred from the frequent allusions to it in the See also:Hebrew Scriptures? From a passage in See also:Herodotus the fig would seem to have been unknown to the Persians in the days of the first See also:Cyrus; but it must have spread in remote ages over all the districts around the See also:Aegean and See also:Levant. The Greeks are said to have received it from See also:Caria (hence the specific name); but the fruit so improved under Hellenic culture that See also:Attic figs became celebrated throughout the See also:East, and See also:special See also:laws were made to regulate their exportation. From the contemptuous name given to in-formers against the violation of those enactments, avIO feveai (avKov, (See also:Palace), our word See also:sycophant is usually derived. The fig was one of the See also:principal articles of sustenance among the Greeks; the Spartans especially used it largely at their public tables, From Hellas, at some prehistoric See also:period, it was trans-planted to See also:Italy and the adjacent islands. See also:Pliny enumerates many varieties, and alludes to those from Ebusus (the See also:modern See also:Iviza) as most esteemed by See also:Roman epicures; while he describes those of See also:home growth as furnishing a large portion of the See also:food of the slaves, particularly those employed in See also:agriculture, by whom See also:great quantities were eaten in the fresh state at the periods of fig-See also:harvest. In Latin myths the plant plays an important part. Held sacred to Bacchus, it was employed in religious ceremonies; and the fig-See also:tree that overshadowed the twin founders of See also:Rome in the See also:wolf's See also:cave, as an See also:emblem of the future prosperity of the See also:race, testified to the high value set upon the fruit by the nations of antiquity. The tree is now cultivated in all the Mediterranean countries, but the larger portion of our See also:supply of figs comes from Asia Minor, the See also:Spanish See also:Peninsula and the See also:south of See also:France. Those of See also:Asiatic See also:Turkey are considered the best. The varieties are extremely numerous, and the fruit is of various See also:colours, from deep See also:purple to yellow, or nearly See also: 18-2o), which Jesus cursed and which then withered away, has been much discussed among theologians. The difficulty is in Mark xi. 13: " And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon; and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for the See also:time of figs was not yet." These last words obviously raise the question whether the expectation of Jesus of finding figs, and his cursing of the tree on finding none, were not unreasonable. Many ingenious solutions have been propounded, by suggested emendations of the See also:text and otherwise, for which consult M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature (sub " Fig ") and the See also:Encyclopaedia Biblica (" Fig-tree ") ; the former demurs to the unreasonableness, and contends that the See also:appearance of the leaves at this See also:season (See also: A sort of cake made by mashing up the inferior kinds serves in parts of the See also:Archipelago as a substitute for See also:bread. See also:Alcohol is obtained from fermented figs in some southern countries; and a kind of See also:wine, still made from the ripe fruit, was known to the ancients, and mentioned by Pliny under the name of sycites. Medicinally the fig is employed as a See also:gentle laxative, when eaten abundantly often proving useful in chronic See also:constipation; it forms a part of the well-known "confection of See also:senna." The milky juice of the stems and leaves is very acrid, and has been used in some countries for raising blisters. The See also:wood is porous and of little value; though a piece, saturated with oil and spread with See also:emery, is in France a See also:common substitute for a See also:hone. The fig is grown for its fresh fruit (eaten as an See also:article of dessert) in all the milder parts of Europe, and in the See also:United States, with See also:protection in See also:winter, succeeds as far See also:north as See also:Pennsylvania. The fig was introduced into See also:England by See also:Cardinal See also:Pole, from Italy, early in the 16th See also:century. It lives to a great See also:age, and along the' southern See also:coast of England bears fruit abundantly as a See also:standard; but in See also:Scotland and in many parts of England a south See also:wall is indispensable for its successful cultivation out of doors. Fig trees are propagated by cuttings, which should be put into pots, and placed in a gentle hotbed. They may be obtained more speedily from layers, which should consist of two or three years old shoots, and these, when rooted, will form See also:plants ready to bear fruit the first or second year after planting. The best See also:soil for a fig border is a friable See also:loam, not too See also:rich, but well drained; a chalky subsoil is congenial to the tree, and, to correct the tendency to over-luxuriance of growth, the roots should be confined within spaces surrounded by a wall enclosing an See also:area of about a square yard. The sandy soil of See also:Argenteuil, near See also:Paris, suits the fig remarkably well; but the best trees are those which grow in old quarries, where their roots are See also:free from stagnant See also:water, and where they are sheltered from See also:cold, while exposed to a very hot sun, which ripens the fruit perfectly. The fig succeeds well planted in a paved See also:court against a See also:building with a south aspect. The fig tree naturally produces two sets of shoots and two crops of fruit in the season. The first shoots generally show See also:young figs in See also:July and See also:August, but these in the See also:climate of England very seldom ripen, and should therefore be rubbed off. The See also:late or midsummer shoots likewise put torth fruit-buds, which, however, do not develop themselves till the following spring; and these form the only See also:crop of figs on which the See also:British gardener can depend. The fig tree grown as a standard should get very little pruning, the effect of cutting being to stimulate the buds to push shoots too vigorous for bearing. When grown against a wall, it has been recommended that a single See also:stem should be trained to the height of a See also:foot. Above this a shoot should be trained to the right, and another to the See also:left; from these principals two other subdivisions should be encouraged, and trained 15 in. apart; and along these branches, at distances of about 8 in., shoots for bearing, as nearly as possible of equal vigour, should be encouraged. The bearing shoots produced along the leading branches should be trained in at full length, and in autumn every alternate one should be cut back to one See also:eye. In the following summer the trained shoots should bear and ripen fruit, and then be cut back in autumn to one eye, while shoots from the bases of those cut back the previous autumn should be trained for See also:succession. In this way every leading branch will be furnished alternately with bearing and successional shoots. When protection is necessary, as it may be in severe winters, though it is too often provided in excess, spruce branches have been found to See also:answer the purpose exceedingly well, owing to the fact that their leaves drop off gradually when the See also:weather becomes milder in spring, and when the trees require less protection and more See also:light and See also:air. The principal part requiring protection is the See also:main stem, which is more See also:tender than the young wood. In forcing, the fig requires more See also:heat than the See also:vine to bring it into See also:leaf. It may be subjected to a temperature of 5o° at See also:night, and from 6o° to 65° in the See also:day, and this should afterwards be in-creased to 6o° and 65° by night, and 70° to 75° by day, or even higher by sun heat, giving plenty of air at the same time. In this temperature the evaporation from the leaves is very great, and this must be replaced and the wants of the swelling fruit supplied by daily watering, by syringing the foliage, and by moistening the See also:floor, this atmospheric moisture being also necessary to keep down the red spider. When the crop begins to ripen, a moderately dry See also:atmosphere should be maintained, with abundant See also:ventilation when the weather permits.
The fig tree is easily cultivated in pots, and by introducing the
plants into heat in succession the fruiting season may be consider-ably extended. The plants should be potted in turfy loam mixed with See also:charcoal and old See also:mortar rubbish, and in summer See also:top-dressings of rotten manure, with manure water two or three times a See also:week, will be beneficial. While the fruit is swelling, the pots should be plunged in a See also:bed of fermenting leaves.
The following are a few of the best figs; those marked F, are See also:good forcing sorts, and those marked W. suitable for walls: See also:Agen: brownish-green, turbinate.
See also: Early See also:Violet, F.: brownish-purple, roundish. Grizzly Bourjassotte: chocolate, See also:round. See also:Grosse Monstreuse de Lipari: See also:pale chestnut, turbinate. See also:Negro Largo, F.: See also:black, See also:long pyriform. White Ischia, F. : greenish-yellow, roundish-obovate. White See also:Marseilles, F., W. : pale green, roundish-obovate. The sycamore fig, Ficus Sycomorus, is a tree of large size, with See also:heart-shaped leaves, which, from their fancied resemblance to those of the mulberry, gave origin to the name 1 vic6popos. From the deep shade See also:cast by its spreading branches, it is a favourite tree in See also:Egypt and Syria, being often planted along roads and near houses. It bears a sweet edible fruit, somewhat like that of the common fig, but produced in racemes on the older boughs. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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