The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-22
Fruits ON the
)

the blastophag7 1t IS a httIe insect
which looks like a wasp. only much
smaller Its chef job in life is carry
ing the pollen from the male fs tree
to the female fig tree and thereby
tertilizing the fruit Without II is
fertlized the fruit is not good. IL Will
not stay on the tree and l. Of no com
mercial value whatever.
Now the blastophagas is like the
bool weevl in that il viii feed upon
only one crop. The boil weeNd Will
eat nothing but cotton. The blasto-
phagas can live on nothing but the
smyrna hg. 1t can be born onIy in
the capri fig, which is the male va
riety Of the Smyrna fig, and the ngs
Of the male free are seemingly good
for nothing else but to serve as 4
breeding ground for this insect.
While talking about this matter
With Mr.. SwinSle he drew fo- me two
pictures Of the blossoms of the male
and female trees Each is OF the
shape of a bell with a narrow mouth
minute flowers being on the inside OF
the bell In the male tree the flow
ers are SO short that when the Nine.
Blastophagas sticks in her tai and
! deposits the eggs they are close
enough to become a part Of the fruit.
and they soon hatch therein and
crawl forth as wasps like their
/
1 is cut open before it is ripe it will
| be seen to be full Of grains which look
much like seeds. These grains are
minute gals, each of which contains
a fig insect. When the insects are
ready to bite their way out OF the
gals the mouth Of the capri fig opens
and a ring of male flowers situated
below it begins to shed pollen abund-
antly. AS the insects crawl out they
! get coated with this pollen and carry
it to the female flowers which line
the young budding figs on the female
/ tree. The dusting of the female flow
! ers with pollen causes the fruit to
set and to bear fertile seeds which
give the favor and make the smyrna
fig so delicious.
Now these flowers about the figs on
the female trees are longer than those
on the male trees They are so long
that when the wasp puts its tail in
and lays its eggs they do not reach
| to the bottom and the eggs dry up
to nothing. However, the blasta-
phagas lays she drops this pollen on
the blossoms and fertiiZes the fruit.
The flowers on the figs of the male
tree are shorter. and the eggs reach
the fruit and speedily hatch. The
work Of laying the eggs on the female
! trees is a deception practiced by ma
ture on the wasps, but it works never
theless. and such as lay their eggs on
the flowers Of the male tree are
enough to perpetuate the race for
the figs of the future
How We Got the BlastOpiagas
! The people Of California knew
about this insect and tried to get it
for a long time before they succeeded.
/ Indeed our knowledge of il dates far
! back into antiquity. Herodotus refers
to caprificatiOn in some OF his writings
/ in the fifth century before Christ.
and Aristotle speaks Of ii in MS his
/ tory Of animals. II was well known
throughout the orient and it has been
carried from Asia Minor to Africa.
SO that the Moors and Algerians raise
their figs in this way. In smyrna.
the fig growers cut the male figs con
tanning the insects in halves and
string them on we sticks. and then
throw them up into the female trees.
and the same is now being done IN
our fig orchards.
As to the introduction OF the in
sect into California, this was attempt
5. ed tWentylone years ago. but it was not
successful. During the eight or nine
wears following other attempts were
made and failed nd then Professor
Swing1e. having spent a long time IA
the study Of the insect and is moth
DDS Of working sent some capri figs.
whose cut-stems had been waxed and
which were wrapped in tin foil. n
California The wasp- came out. but
it was not the right time Of Year for
the female blossom. and another IT
tempt was made in 1892 This ~,s
successful. and TO make = long story
short the biaStophaga BEGAN -
breed ~ the millions a var They
! Continued on Page TwaD