From a paper by Dr. Eisen, on fig culture in California, we learn that in the best fig-growing countries there are three crops a year. When the leaves die in the fall, a fig comes from the axil, on the last year's wood, next year. Then figs come out from the axil of the new leaf; and later in the season, figs come from the ends of the growing shoots. These do not always ripen. The intermediate ones are the best, and furnish the chief fig crop.

"When the figs are ripe, or sufficiently ripe to be dried and cured, they in some varieties drop to the ground, but in others again hang on to the tree, and must be cut off. When this time arrives in Smyrna, the figs are picked and put one by one, without touching each other, on matting, or even on the ground covered with cut grass or straw. The figs are on this exposed to the sun for ten or twelve days or less, according to the weather.

To begin with, they are turned every day, so as to be equally exposed to sun and air, and if dew is expected, they are covered over with mattting during the night time. What is needed during the drying season is, not an excessive heat, but steady sunshine and dry winds. It seems to me, that here in California we could satisfy the most exacting Turkish demands in this respect. When the figs are sufficiently dry, the skin feels dry, but the inside should yet be perfectly soft and pliable. The ripe and sufficiently-cured figs are now picked out, and the others left to remain until ready. It will thus be seen that the figs are not dried haphazard on roofs or the ground, and then dumped into boxes and shipped. This I have known to be the general practice in California, and still we wonder why our figs are not any better. When the figs in Smyrna are dried sufficiently, they are by the fig-raisers assorted in three different sizes, then sacked in sacks made of camel's hair - barley sacks would, on account of the fuzz, not do - and then sent into Smyrna. The merchant who has furnished the fig-raiser with his year's supply, takes the crop out of his hands.

The figs are now again assorted, and are then ready to be packed".

In France, they have a plan for hastening the maturity, which Dr. Eisen thus describes :

" Less than two weeks before the expected maturity of the fig, and when the eye of the fig begins to color, a drop of pure olive oil is deposited on the eye of the fig. This operation is always performed in the evening, shortly before sunset. The next day the fig, which was green and hard, shows softening and change of color, and the maturity of the fig is henceforth advanced eight days. This process is used only for table figs, but is not considered profitable for figs destined to be dried".

In regard to packing he says:

"In packing, Smyrna excels both Portugal and Spain. We all admire the way the Smyrna figs are packed - it is the very perfection, and I believe cannot be improved upon. When the dried figs reach the packing houses, they are, as I said, again assorted by women, and then packed by men. While packing, the hands of the packers are constantly kept moist by sea water, which prevents the sugar sticking to the hands. There are two ways of packing: In the first, the figs are flattened out in such a way that the eye of the fruit is placed very nearly in the centre, and the stem very nearly opposite the same. The figs are now packed in layers in boxes, in such a way that the front margin of every fig just sufficiently covers the stalk end of the fig next in front. The figs are packed in straight rows the same in the bottom, middle and on top. To keep every row separate, and to prevent one row overlapping the other, I am satisfied that they use a small frame of iron, with partitions running longitudinally and vertically. The figs must first be packed in this frame and slightly pressed.

The frame is now withdrawn from the box, and a heavy pressure is applied, which causes the surface to flatten out and become smooth".

In regard to the flowers of the fig, the following will have great interest, as it will account for a difference of opinion among intelligent men, some of whom insist that the cultivated fig is wholly pistillate, and never has staminate flowers :

"The fig itself is something more than a seed vessel of a flower. The fleshy part is a thickened, hollow receptacle, closed, except at the very narrow opening called the eye, situated at the top of the fig. This receptacle on its inner side contains numerous minute flowers, crowded together and covering the whole of the surface of the cavity. These flowers are male and female, or staminate and pistillate. The female flowers occupy by far the largest room, and all the lower part of the cavity. The male flowers, again, the more or less narrow zone, immediately surrounding the eye of the fig. In the cultivated or edible fig the male flowers are generally wanting or rather replaced by barren scale-like leaflets. In the different crops, the proportion between the male and female flowers is quite different. The figs of the first crop, or the bocorre are those which carry the most male flowers. The second crop, or the 'kar-mouse,' carry few, and the third or last crop carry none but female flowers. As I said, except in the wild or Capri fig, the male flowers are seldom developed.

In the figs grown in California, and which I have had opportunity to investigate, the male flowers were always replaced by scales; this has also been previously found to be the case in Italy, and Professor Arcangeli states that according to his own observations the two most generally cultivated figs around Pisa, the Fico verdino and the F. piombinese, never have any perfect seeds developed, while the F. biancolino, which is considered a semi-wild species, has, among numerous imperfect seeds, some which are easily germinated".

In regard to dried figs of our markets having fertile seeds, it may be remarked that McMahon's American Gardener, written nearly a hundred years ago, gives full directions for raising plants from dried fig seed, which must therefore have been fertile.

Dr. Eisen's pamphlet may, no doubt, be obtained from the author at Fresno, and is well worth perusing by all interested in fig culture in America.