The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-12-06
FIGS AND BULBS IN NORTH
CAROLINA.

The following we take from the last
issue of the Country Gentleman:
Living here on the sunny slope be-
tween the mountains and the sea we en-
ioy an exceptional climate. While the
napers tell us of killing frosts far down
South in the Mississippi Valley we have
here reached the 9th of November, ana
so far there has been nothing TO nip the
leaves of the coleus or the hellotrope, ana
in the vegetable garden the youngest
shoots of the lima beans are still flourish
ing. Westward, toward the mountains,
there have been killing frosts. and In
the low country east of us there has Deen
some damage. Last fall our first killing
frost came on the night of November
18th, and it looks as though we may
have repetition of this. The frost OF
the 18th last year was killing frost
only in the low ground, and in our lawn
here the roses bloomed profusely, TIL
checked by sleet and snow the last OF
the month the only snowfall OF the
whole winter.
The winter of 1S97-'9S was rather
mild even for North Carolina, and as
result we have had an unusually hne
crop of figs, as the little figs set late Ill
the fall came through and swelled out.
We had here some years back collec-
ton of over fifty varieties OF figs. but
have gradually discarded unsuitable
kinds till we have fallen back on very
few. The hard winter of 1S93-'94 gave
our figs such a bad setback that it has
been only within the last two seasons
that the trees have recovered. Some of
the finest figs are so uncertain here that
we had about concluded to root them out.
Al is no
which is so tender that a crop of fruit
here on it is rare But this season our
White Adriatic has done finely, and has
decidedly the best fig we have. This
morning November 9TH gathered fine
fruit from it. and there are still few
left that will ripen. The latest fig we
have is the Black Bourjasotte, but it is
such a poor thing that the tree stands
to-day full of rine fruit, and even the
children will have nothing TO do with 1T.
The most hardy, and the best of all
for our use, is the little brown fig known
as Celestial. 1t never fails to give us
a crop, and it is the best of all figs, to
our taste to eat ont of hand, since there
is no acidity in the skin, and we can
pull and eat them like plums, while the
larger sorts have to be skinned for the
dessert. OF the larger sorts the most re-
liable are the Brown Turkey and Bruins
wick. Down near the sea, where all
figs do finely, they grow the Negro
Largo. the long black fig. which is very
snowy. but, like all black figs l have
ever seen, is of very poor quality. We
have over 100 fig trees, or s years old.
which we grew from seed of, the dried
Smyrna figs out of the stores. But these
will not hold their fruit here. where we
have not the Blastophaga insect TO set
it, and the plantation will now be de-
stroyed.
Great interest now Deing taken here
in the production of Towering bulbs for
the Northern trade. We have demon
strated that the Lilium candidum can be
produced here TO greater perfection than
the imported bulbs; and every one of
these that has been produced has been
engaged q year ahead by the Northern
dealers. Experiments are now being
made with the Bermuda lily, in hopes
that we may be able to produce this lily
in healthy condition, as the Bermuda
crop has become so badly diseased that
it is probable that the culture may be
abandoned there The station has now
over 10000 of these under trial, both at
our own grounds and elsewhere, and we
look for success. Thousands of Roman
hyacinths and narcissi are being planted
and the narcissus known as the Chinese
sacred lily is grown here so well that
our bulbs bloom in water earlier than
the Chinese. The Department OF Agri-
culture is taking an interest in bulb
growing here, and we hope to divert to
this purpose some of the money that
has been wasted in scattering turnip seed
over the land. w. II. MASSEY.
North Carolina Experiment Station.