The San Francisco call., 1903-12-22
THE CALIFORNIA FIG.

Xx7 desire TO impress our readers with the I'M
M portance of the statement made by Mr. Roed-
w ing yesterday in regard to the production of
the true Smvrna fg in California. When Smyrna figs
were first planted in California the trees were obtained
with great difficulty because OF the ndIsposon OF the
Greeks to permit them be taken abroad Some plan
ations made by sprout1ng the SEED OF the ored
figs When the and set their fruit 1t withered
and dropped without reaching maturity An inquiry into
the cause Of this was made by Mr.. Masln of the State
Board of Trade the discovery made that alone
of all the fig family Smyrna requires fertilization and
that service is performed by minute insect OF the
wasp family, called the blastophaga.
Efforts made then to domesticate tins insect IN
California but they failed and the effort abandoned
until the State Board of Trade brought it the aten
ton of Secretary of Agriculture Wilson That gentle
man. with his usual energy, procured scenthc examl
nation of matter which disclosed the tact that the
bastophaga breeds in the fruit of the wild hg' or capri
and emerging from smeared with its pollen enters the
immature Smyrna fig fertizes it, and breeding there
ngrates again to the capri fig Then the capri trees
were imported with the fruit them inhabited by the
insect Mr. Roeding took charge of them IN his nursery
at Fresno where he had orchard OF Smyrna ngs Inc
capri fruit passed through the winter months ana
about eight hundred figs survived up to the time OF eer
gence of the insect The Smyrna figs then ready
and were entered and fertlized and due time the in
sect migrated back to capri figs which had then set
another crop The problem solved Since then the
capri figs have fourshed and the insect has increased
and seems be entirely at home.
That first crop produced six tons of dried figs, in
1000 In 1901 the crop was twenty five In 1902
was thrty-eght tons. and this 1t was sixtyve
tons The fig to distinguish from the imported crop,
has been named the Camyrna. AS we have the Smyrna
trees in abundance for propagation by cutting and
the capri trees capable of multiplication by the same
process another certainty appears the horticultural
history of California We capable of controlling
md Oft
in few wears we will control the fig market also 1t
reads like romance and it is the romance of produc
ton.
Mr. Roedng says that the white Adriatc fig may be
budded grated into the Smyrna and this being
our progress may be rapid than it wait for the
propagation of The price pay annually for
imported figs is nearly millions of dollars, and is in
creasing All of this will finally California. Our
Calnyrna fig has the advantage of reaching the
sumer fresh without being filled with worms is the
case with the imported fruit which passes through many
hands and by reason primitive methods in drying has
its merits as delicious food offset by infection 1t is
destined the same preference into which our
raisins have grown The Spanish rasn exudes its glu
cose which crystallizes the skin But being suf
cienty saccharine be antseptic, this glucose mods
and destroys the rasn, making short keeper and bad
stock TO carry
The California raisin retains its glucose within the
skin where it performs its proper function in giving
character and relish the fruit and raisin is the
in the trade, because 1t long keeper When
consumers discover, they soon will, that the Cali
myrna fig reaches them fresh with all its excellence upon
it. will take the market Our climate is entirely adapted
to the fig The different varieties grow all over the
State abundant is the crop that the purple fig is
common food used for fattening hogs, and there
fresh pork finer or wholesome than the fig pork
Of California
The conquest of our horticulture will be the do
niesticaon the deserts of Southern California of the
highest quality of dates the Deglet This has all
ready been accomplished in a limited in Arizona,
where the conditions less favorable than here.
The next generation of Californans will the
of this country supplied with California dates of the
highest quality, and this State will then have command
of the most valuable special productions in fruit known
the world in table figs, olives and
dates What can be desired?
it be remembered, too that other part of the
world of similar produces all of these Their pro-
ducon here embosses upon California the highest hor
ticutual capacity that has been found anywhere
This be often emphasized too widely
published At St Louis next will be impressed by
the presence of the actual products
|
The glad tidings of impending revolution in Hon
/ have 10 he Of