The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-09-26
Figs.

The fig tree is as old as humanity. 1t.
leaves, sewed together, formed the frs
garments worn by Adam and Eve. 1t,
ftuit was considered nutritious and good
six thousand years ago, and the descendants
of Adam and Eve continue to eat figs and
esteem them highly for their flavor and
rich nourishing qualities. Most of our
native and foreign fruits have extraneous
or interior parts unfit to eat, which make
eating them in company or even at table
inconvenient. Skins, cores and seeds have
always to be eliminated, and sometimes not
easily disposed of; but not so with the fig,
Its skin, pulp, seeds-every part-haye a
good taste, They are easily masticated and
generally suited to the most delicate stom-
ach.
An English traveller lover of fruit
remembered with pleasure to the day of his
death the first orchard of figs he ever Wis
tied. He was enjoying a brief sojourn in
the city of Smyrna 1t was the season of
figs. Early in the morning, before the sun
had touched the dew, he was out in the air
and under fig tree. To the under side
of each ripe fig hung large golden drop
which glistened in the early light like
honey, He plucked and ate, Such deli
cious figs he never before or since tasted.
Asia is the home of the fig. Europeans
obtained them from the old settlements sur
rounding the northeastern shores of the
Mediterranean. Figs, grapes and pome-
granates were among the best fruits of the
Holy Land, even in the days of Noah,
Abraham and Moses, and every commercial
port of India now furnishes figs in album
dance. The brown Turkey fig and white
and brown of Ischia and Marseilles are es-
teemed highly as carefully picked and
honestly packed, but scarcely any rank
higher than the "Eleme" fig of these coun-
tries, which means those "picked by hand >
These are discerned by the pickers as fully
ripe, and are then pressed into boxes or
drums"-after a proper manipulation
so carefully as to exclude insects and every
change of atmosphere which might be in
furious to them.
We read of one or two singlar peculiari-
ties of the fig. The first is, that the fig
begins to grow from the limb before the
blossom. Then, after the blossom, to per-
feet the fig there must be caprifcation.
This is effected by suspending over the
cultivated figs branches of wild fig; these
are loaded with an insect peculiar to the fig
tree. These so swarm and so mature as to
be able to puncture the fig about the time
it has gained its growth. This innocula-
ton hastens the ripening, richness and ma
turity of the fig. The Egyptians affirm
that they gain the same results by pune
turing the eye of the fruit with needle
dipped in oil. In tropical climates fig trees
bear three crops year. The winter crop,
however, is not deemed valuable.
The above brief sketch refers to the figs
of Europe, Asia and Africa. The fig tree
grows rapidly, and produces fruit in abun-
dance in all our southern states; and from
the quantities of California figs on the
streets and in many of the frst-class gro
ceries of Chicago, we conclude that the Gull
tivation of the fig needs but little encour-
agement to insure not only full supply
from our home orchards, but figs of a SUI
perior quality, for when enterprising Amer
leans set themselves resolutely to work to
compete with the fruit growers of other
lands they have always succeeded unless
our climate is lacking in some essential
fruit-ripening qualities.
A resolute endeavor is now being made
to introduce the best varieties of figs into
California, and quite large number of
groves have already been planted, the fruit
of which will soon begin to appear on our
markets Parties there claim that they can
duplicate the best Asiatic figs of commerce.
Special effort has been made for the intro
duction of figs into California by a very
intelligent gentleman, Mr.. Gustav Eisen,
of Fresno, California, who, by the way, is
about dispatching an agent to Asia Minor
for still further varieties, and with a view
of verifying fully what has been done.
We predict that in future the figs of Fresno
will become as famous as the grapes of Es-
chol, or the milk and honey of Goshen.