CritTICA'CEHS. J’l'CUS.

1369

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dead ripe, which is known by a drop of sweet liquid which appears hangingfrom the eye. The figs, being gathered, are placed on wicker hurdles, in a dryairy shed ; and, when the dew is off, every morning they are exposed to the sunduring the hottest part of the day. To facilitate the progress of drying, thefigs are occasionally flattened with the hand; and, in moist dull weather,theyare placed in rooms warmed by stoves. When thoroughly dried, they arepacked in rush baskets, or in boxes, in layers, alternately with long straw andlaurel leaves, and in this state they are sold to the merchants. In some partsof the south of France , figs are prepared by dipping them in hot lye made fromthe ashes of the fig tree, and then dried ; the use of lye being to harden theirskins. The white figs are preferred for the market, the violet kind beingretained in the country for the use of the inhabitants ; and forming in Greece ,with barley bread, their principal food for a great part of the year. Fowlsare remarkably fond of figs ; and, where they are abundant, as in the depart-ment of the Var in France, and in the islands of the Archipelago , they are(given to horses, mules, and oxen, with a view to strengthen and bring theminto good condition, or to fatten them.

Culture and Management of the Fig in the North of France . Except in thegardens of private persons, where the fig is generally trained against walls, asin England, there are only two or three places where it is grown for its fruitas a standard; and the principal of these is at Argenteuil , in the neighbourhoodof Paris . We visited the fig gardens there in 1828; and an account of them,at length, will be found in the Gardener’s Magazine, vol. vii. p. 262. The figtrees are kept as low bushes, and the shoots are never allowed to attain morethan three or four years’ growth; because it is necessary to bend them down tothe ground, and retain them there, by means of stakes, or stones, or a mass ofsoil, to protect them from the drying effects of the frost. It is observed in theNouveau Cours d’Agriculture, that the figs at Argenteuil are never brought tosuch a degree of perfection as to please the palates of those who have beenaccustomed to the figs of Marseilles . They are, says the writer, always eitherinsipid or half rotten; and, even to bring them to this state, it is necessaryto pinch off the points of the shoots, in the same way as is done with the vinewhen early grapes are wanted; or with the pea, to accelerate the maturity ofthe pods. An additional process is requisite in cold seasons, and at the latterend of every season ; and that is, the inserting of a small drop of oil, by meansof a straw, into the eye of the fruit; which has the effect of destroying thevital principle, and causing the fig to part readily from the shoot, like ripefruit; after which it soon begins to decay.

Caprification. This process, which we shall hereafter describe, and whichhas been in use for an unknown length of time in the Levant , was first men-tioned by Tournefort; and, though it is laughed at by many of the French phy-siologists of the present day, we cannot help thinking that it must be of someimportant use. It is alleged by Bose that it has no other object than that ofhastening the maturity of the crop; but others are of opinion that, by insuringthe fecundation of the stigma,it tends to increase the size of the fruit, and, by fill-ing it with mature seeds, to render it more nourishing. Olivier, the botanicaltraveller, asserts that, after a long residence in the islands of the Archipelago , heis convinced of the inutility of the practice; and Bose, though he allows that itmayhasten thematurityof the figs, as the larva of the pyralepommonelle hastensthe maturity of the apple in France,yet believes that it has no effect in improvingeither the size or the flavour of the fruit. M. Bernard, the author of aMemuire sur le Figuier, and of the article on that tree in the Nouveau DuHamel, goes farther, and asserts that the figs which have undergone the processot caprification are inferior to others in size, flavour, and the property of keep-j n g. In Egypt , where the sycamore fig is the prevailing species, an operationis performed on the fruit, which is said to answer the purpose of caprification,as tar as respects early ripening. When the fruit is a third part of its size, awk' 6 u\ CUt °®' t ^ le en d of it, of a sufficient depth to remove all the stamens,

ich have not by this time matured their fertilising dust. The wound is