The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-10-07
USEFUL INSECT.
1T IS INDISPENSABLE TO THE
SMYRNA FIG.
California Couldn't Raise This Fruit
without Importing the Little Bug to
Do the Business-The Federal Govern
ment Interested. q

the world to fight insect pests, thu
United States department of agricul
ture has just succeeded in making a
least n insect aid it in the work Of
raising fruit. This remarkable devel
opment OF a combination of entomol-
ogy and agriculture will enable the
fruit growers of the West to raise &
fruit new to America and one of vas
commercial value-the famous and ex
cellent Smyrna fig.
For many years CALIFORNIA; fruit
growers have tried in vain to raise
this particularly desirable fruit. Much
money was wasted for plants and cut
lungs, experts from Smyrna and the
mediterranean shores were brought
here by private persons, and time anG
labor were expended patiently to nc
avail. When the scientists of the
federal government began their inves-
t1gation the Californians were about
ready to abandon the attempt. But
now there seems to be hardly a chance
OF failure, all owing to the microscope
and the scientist with his theories.
They have done what the practical
orchard owner could not do with all
his experience.
The federal governments experts
found that the Smyrna fig would not
grow here because we lacked a little
insect that lived on the leaves of the
trees in Smyrna and, by flying from
one to the other, fortified them. So
at once from Washington orders went
to Smyrna for some of these little
bugs. which were christened with the
hard and undeserved name of Blasto-
phaga.
The question had been studied for
some time by DIR. Eisen of the Cali
fornfa Academy of Sciences, George
q. Roeding of Fresno, Cal, and John
ROCK of Niles, Cal. At Fresno and
Niles many Smyrna figs, as well as
wild figs from southern Europe, in
which the fortified insect develops,
were started. DR.. Howard, the ento-
mologlst of the department of agri-
culture, went to California to look
over the ground to learn the condi-
tions and to settle on the best points
~ 4 W oIlClupI liz uuCLlOu
OF the European insect. Another agent
of the department, Walter T. Swingle,
was sent to southern Europe, partly
to send to this country cuttings of all
varieties of wild figs which could be
found, and to send over living speci-
mems of the Blastophaga.
1t was thought worth while to send
to this country the fruit of the wild
fig, or the Capri fig, as it is called,
containing the living insects, and this
was done on many occasions by Mr..
SWlngle. A Capri fig tree was in
closed 1t Mr.. R~oeding's place at Fres-
no, and, on the arrival Of the Euro
pean figs, the insects, which were
found to be in good condition, were
liberated within the Enclosure. The
living insects previously had been OBJ
tanned by correspondence by James
Shinn of Niles and by Mr.. Roeding.
but the insects had died before repro
ducing. Mr.. Swingle adopted a new
method of packing for transportation.
each fig being carefully wrapped in
tin foil and sealed with wax. The first
specimens were received at Fresno in
the early part of May, 1898, but, so
far as could be observed, none of them
laid eggs either from this or subse-
Quent sendings. All through the in
tervening year Wild fig cuttings have
been received anG started under vary
ing conditions. 1t was realized that
the attempts thus far described were
problematical in their results, and the
chance of success were small. 1t was
planned, therefore, to transplant Capri
fig trees into large tubs and carry
them across the Atlantic in growing
condition with their fruit and the
contained insects; and one rather
large tree was sent over last spring
by Mr.. Swingle.
1t now turns out, however, that by
great good fortune some of the in
sects brought over in 1898 did succeed
in penetrating the closed flowers of
the Capri figs growing at Fresno, and
that they laid their eggs and have
practically established themselves in
California. The first step of the ex-
detrimental work is, therefore, a sue
cess. Since the insect has maintained
itself for an entire year., there is rea-
son to suppose that it will continue to
breed, and that California in the rear
future will be able to place a fig upon
the market which will possess the
same superior flavor as that which
has given the imported Smyrna figs
their pre-eminent commercial rank.
This flavor seems without doubt to be
dependent upon the number of ripened
seeds within the fruit. This fact has
been learned through experiments in
the artificial fertilization of Smyrna
figs grown in California. Experiments
we're made by DR.. Eisen and Mr.. Roed-
ing, with the transfer of pollen from
Capri figs by means of a toothpick
and by means of a blowpipe. In this
way a large number of seeds were
fortified, probably half as many as
are fortified by the work of the Bias
tophaga in Asia Minor, but already the
characteristic liavor of the European
figs was noticed.
No One Could Do 1t.
Horace Greeley Onca WAS diScuccipo