The tree is a very luxuriant grower, but it does not produce much fruit in this country. A Selection of Figs for a small Garden in the Southern and Midland Counties of England. In the North of England and in Scotland Figs cannot be usefully cultivated except under glass. It is much to be regretted that our knowledge of figs should be so imperfect, and our means of obtaining any interesting information respecting them so confined. I have searched for authorities and descriptions to enable me to point out those differences which should distinguish one sort from another; but I have not succeeded in satisfying myself. I have, indeed, found names in books on gardening, accompanied by what the writers might have considered as descriptions; but several of them have been so defective as to give the reader but little chance of applying them to the fruit they were intended to designate. Many sorts therefore still remain imperfectly described here, for want of better materials. Propagation. FIGS are propagated by cuttings, and by layers: the latter method is the best, as plants at the end of a year are fit to take up from the stools, and to plant out where they are intended to remain. Cuttings taken from plants where layers cannot be admitted may be planted singly in pots, and placed under a frame, in a gentle heat, in March, and they will make good plants at the end of the year. Pruning and Training. There is no description of fruit tree more easy to manage in its formation than the Fig: it produces shoots in abundance, and they grow readily and luxuriantly in every direction. This being the case, it is not very material whether the plant be particularly handsome when it is first planted out, provided it be clean, strong, and well rooted. Should there be any suckers rising up from the root, as there generally will be when the plants have been raised from suckers, they must be carefully removed, cutting them clean off at the place where they are produced. If the plant be put out in the autumn, it must be protected by some light dry covering, to prevent its head being injured by frost; and it must also be well mulched to secure its roots. It is, however, sufficiently early to plant the fig in March; and the latter end of April it may be trained to the wall, if the head be large enough and sufficiently handsome: if not, it should be headed down within nine inches of the ground, in order to its forming a new head. Should the plant be strong, it will, after this, throw up six or eight shoots: these must be trained obliquely, at regular distances, from one side to the other, and continued till the autumn. Previously to the frost setting in the top must again be protected, and the ground mulched as before, in case of a severe winter. In the beginning of April, the covering must be removed, and the branches shortened to a foot, or eighteen inches, according to their strength. During the summer the young shoots must be trained in a horizontal direction at a foot distance from each other. Horizontal training appears the most eligible for the fig, as it checks its luxuriance, and by this means adds materially to the ripening of its wood; for, unless this be accomplished, it will be in vain to look for fruit. In some parts of England it is difficult to prevent the fig from being injured by the severe frosts in winter; in many others it is seldom affected; but in those situations where danger is to be apprehended, the safest way will be to protect the trees, with some sort of loose, soft, dry covering. For this purpose, fern, or dry straw, or the latter mowings of meadow hay should be tucked in among the branches, and the whole covered over with a single or double mat. This covering must be continued till the beginning of April, selecting a fine day for its removal. The trees should now be pruned and nailed to the wall: such of the branches as may have had their ends killed must be pruned back to the next sound bud: the others must be continued at length, at a distance of twelve or fifteen inches from each other, as from the upper ends of the last year's shoots the young figs are produced: if these are shortened back. the crop will be destroyed. In the summer pruning, nothing more is necessary than to cut out all such vigorous growing shoots as are not wanted, particularly those which rise immediately at or near the root: those which are retained should be such only from which there is a prospect of getting fruit the following season. A supply of these should be kept up, in every part of the tree, by which means a crop of fruit will be obtained from the top to the bottom. Occasionally some of the larger branches will have to be removed, in order to make room for the younger ones, else the supply of young wood will be cut off. These must be cut out in the April pruning, selecting those which appear to be worn out, and the least connected with fruit-bearing branches. Some of the stronger branches will occasionally produce short side shoots; when this happens they must be be preserved till the following summer: those which show fruit must be drawn near the wall, the others should be cut out. When the young figs have attained the size of a nutmeg, the end of that shoot should be pinched off, which will assist in swelling the fruit: when the fruit is gathered these shoots may be removed. Figs, as open standards, so seldom succeed in this country, that their cultivation in this manner can hardly be recommended; nevertheless, there are some situations where they succeed, and in favourable seasons produce good crops of fruit. Where such situations do offer, and it is intended to make the experiment, those sorts only should be selected which are known to be the most hardy, and the most productive. The Chestnut, Black Genoa, Large Blue, Murrey, and the small Early White, appear to be the best adapted. These standards should not exceed six or seven feet in height, and their heads should be kept thin and open to admit sun and air for the purpose of thoroughly ripening the young wood. In these trees, all luxuriant shoots must be removed; should they however become too luxuriant, the ground should be opened round the roots, and the largest of them shortened: this will give a natural and effectual check to such exuberance, and a supply of short-jointed, moderate-sized shoots obtained. From such as these there will be some probability of a crop of fruit; and on |
