The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-12-24
TO CULTIVATE FIGS.
poMESTlcATloN OF wAsPS MAY BE
TRIED IN CALIFORNIA.

The secretary OF agriculture has given
his assent and approval 70 course of
] experiments which, il all that is hoped
from it is realized, will result in won
derful expansion of fig culture in Cali.
fornia and, in the course of few years.
in a marked change in the matter of fig
importation, now an important item in
the foreign commerce of America. This
course of experiments has for its object
the domestication. SO to speak, of the
wasp-Blastophoga psenes--in this state
as the necessary aid TO raising Smyrna
figs, the standard fig of commerce.
In response to representations made
through the state board of trade by
horticulturists and scientists who have
| given the subject attention, Dr. L.. o.
Howard, the entomologist of the depart
ment Of agriculture. will be sent out
this season TO study the subject on the
ground, and if his Investigations SUBJ
stantiate the representations that have
been made Secretary Wilson will send
a competent agent to Smyrna to secure
and import this necessary wasp into the
state under the conditions which expe-
rlence indicates are essential to success
The function which this indispensa-
BILE wasp performs in fig culture is Pc
culiar and interesting one. Very few of
the hundreds of varieties Of edible figs
cultivated in different parts of the
world have fertile seeds. Cultivation,
which has increased the size of the fig
itself and thickened the meaty recepta.
ri W. ha a.. 4
fruit, has done SO at the expense of the
stamens or male flowers These in the
wild fig are numerous and pendent from
what is popularity called the flower end
OF the fig, SO that the pollen has simply
to fall upon the pistils, which rise to
meet them from the stem end, to ferti-
lie them. 1t is the presence of the
stamens in the wild fig and in hybrids
from it which gives them their woody
flavor and their absence in the cult
waited fig which makes the fruit edible. |
But it is the presence of fertile seeds in
the Smyrna fig which gives it its fruity
flavor and makes that variety the stand
ard Of the world
In the wild or Capri fig, in addition
to the staminats and pistillate flowers,
are what are called gall flowers" q !
neutral flower terminating in a cuplike |
receptacle. 1t is this receptacle that the |
wasp seeks in which to deposit her eggs,
boring into the fruit in order to find |
them. The wasp emerges from the pu-
pa state at the time the stamens are /
shedding their pollen. and so comes out
of the wild fig covered with it, No !
sooner is it free than it again seeks the
growing fig in order to bore in, in |
search of the gall flowers, there to de- |
post eggs again. In this search, howev- |
er, it does not distinguish between the
wild and the edible fruit, but boring |
into the latter it finds no gall flowers
and In the instructive search for them
1T pollenates the receptive pistils with !
the pollen it brought from the wild fig.
Thus this puzzling problem of fertiliza-
ton is solved
Smyrna fig trees from cuttings were
imported into California years ago. G..
p. Rixford in 1880 imported large
number, and Senator Stanford year OF
two later made another importation
These are growing in great numbers in
different parts Of the state, but though
careful and intelligent interest has been
bestowed on them they have never
ripened any fruit. The reason for this
was inexplicable for long time, until
Professor Gustav Elsen of the Califor-
MIA Academy of Sciences discovered by
study Of the methods in vogue in Tur.
key in Asia, where the Smyrna fig is
grown, that the Intervention of the
blastophoga was necessary.
Proof that pollenation is necessary to
mature the fruit was secured in a Gu
rious way E. w. Maslin, who has de-
voted great deal of attention and study
to fig culture, in 1891, soon after Pro-
fessor Eiscn had made public his dis
coveries regarding the blastophoga, pol
lenated about 90 figs growing ON trees
from Smyrna cuttings The pollen of
Capri figs was transferred by means of
quill toothpick. Every fig SO pollen
ated matured into an edible fig, sweet
succulent and bearing fertile seeds and
having tho exact flavor of the imported
Smyrna fig. The experiment has since
been repeatedly tried with like results
But no figs not so treated from any of
these Smyrna fig trees have ever ma
tured I
On the basis of this knowledge and
these experiments repeated efforts have
been made by individuals to introduce
the blastophoga by importing the de-
tached figs containing the pupa. but
without success. 1t is for this reason
that the appeal has been made to the
department of agriculture to import,
under favorable conditions the grow
ing Capri fig tree with formed fruit
thereon, containing the pupa of the
wasp. Conditions are favorable to the
experiment. There are numerous or
chards Of Smyrna fig trees in California
and in their immediate neighborhood
sufficient number of the Capri or wild
fig trees, so that the wasp will find
natural home to reproduce itself, while
at the same time it transforms barren
g. 49, r. 81 1