Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-08-12
FIGS BY THE MILLION
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

THE fig just now is coming into a
/ most prominent place in our ma;
tional life. This is not the dried
fig, which Is perhaps the only kind you
ever saw, 'but the live fig, growing
abundantly upon trees, and still more
abundantly IN the imaginations of
For this newly acclimated fruit now
rivals the pecan and the apple in it's
quicR % II Hers 1s is the eaRs Way oe certain % g en
thusiasts have figured out their pros
pects
will bear an average of six bushels to a
crop. There may be two, or even three,
crops season. A bushel of figs weighs
seventy pounds. for which ten cents a
pound is said to be fair price, Al
lowing for a considerable shrinkage,
the value of the crop from a single acre
should be $4,000. Thus the progress
sive individual who plants figs may be
sure of entering the millionaire class
within FIVE years and retiring upon his
money soon afterwards;
With such possibilities before him,
why should the farmer toll hard, SOW
ing, harvesting and planting his wheat
crop, when his fig trees will take care
has only to hire cheap labor to gather
his fruit? He can then sit back and
wait. while his bookkeeper computes
tne 9oRns and fs
aside, though, the fig has horticultural
and commercial possibilities in this
country which are Just beginning TO be
recognized. New varieties, adapted to
different climatic conditions, are being
brought forward, and in several States
the fig acreage has doubled within the
last Ave years. In 1910 there were less
than three million fig trees in the Unit
ed States. Now five million is regarded
as a conservative estimate. In 1910
they were confined almost entirely to
the extreme Southwest Now flourish
ing crops are being produced in Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi. Alabama and
- tat,, IL, faA L., Ioy,
sas, Oklahoma and Ohio, while at least
one farm as far north as Rhode Island
is yielding good profits.
Fig Craze
During the past two years, sort of
fig craze has been spreading over the
country. Many professional people Of
ings out of the savings banks and
passing them over to be invested in
fig farms, varying in size from half
The fig industry will yield big re-
turns to planters who have the proper
soil and climatic conditions. but 1t can
not be grown as widely as Is now being
his fig tree and rest luxuriously under
its shade until the fruit comes. He
must work for 1T, and keep vigilant
guard to protect it from insects and
other pests.
The fg is native chiefly to Asia and
Africa, but has proved itself adaptable
to a number of regions. 1t is found in
different varieties in temperate as well
as in semitropical localities. San Fran
cisco, Pueblo and Wichita, Kan, are
parallel to the localities in which ex-
cellent varieties are produced upon the
other side of the world. There seems TO
be no scientific reason why the same
varieties should not flourish here, and
experiments are going on towards that
end. But all the difficulties have not
yet been overcome. Even at Arlington
Farms, the experiment station of the
department of Agriculture in Washing
ton, most of the varieties tried have
proved of doubtful reliability, because
they do not fully mature all of their
fruit before the frost Several amateurs
in the city of Washington, growing one
or more trees in their own gardens or
door-yards. haXe seemingly been able L1I,
for several seasons, but whether II
could be produced in commercial guam
titles is another matter.
Figs are of two distinct types, each
having many varieties. The types are
known as the Smyrna and the Adriatic
and it is the former which has lately
developed so much enthusiasm, and. is
~roouciuR such excellent results. This
fig tree is likely to yield two crops,
fe believed that the Adriafic ng, how
ever. is the one best suited to American
climatic conditions outside of Southern
California.
The Smyrna fig tree produces. three
distinct kinds of blossoms. and de-
pends for pollinization upon a certain
/, species OF wasp, knOWH as the BIAS
tophagia The Spring fig blossoms have
fertile pollen. but are without pistils.
In summer, the flowers are without the
pollenated stamens. while the autumn
flowers are sterile but pistilated. For
nearly twenty years after the fig tree
had been introduced into California. II
grew luxuriantly but produced no
fruit. Then the State sent a scientist
to Asia to study the plant In its native
land and ascertain the cause of its un-
productiveness in this country. The
expert found that the tree was IN