OUTDOOR FIGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 185, 6 August 1932, Page 6 (Supplement)

OUTDOOR FIGS.

The cultivation of one of the oldest fruits of which we have cognisance is a pursuit which particularly recommends itself to all who make gardening a hobby. The ta&to for home-grown figs is an increasing one, and when fully ripe they are certainly a delicious fruit, yet some regard them with suspicion just as they once did the tomato. The most noticeable feature in the ordinary treatment of the fig outside is that of making its well-being subservient to the needs of everything else. Other fruits rcceivo tho best of accommodation that can b3 devised for them, but the fig is generally found pitchforked into some out-of-the-way spot or some shady nook, where tho brightest rays of sunshine rarely fall, while it is entirely owing to its burning influence that the quality and flavour of tho tree depends. What is called the fruit is really a compound flower inside the torus, or bed, upon which it rests. It is unisexual and it is not necessary that it should be fertilised when grown for eating purposes only. When it first becomes evident it is not in the usual form of a bud, from which a flower bursts and expands into beauty and fragrance, but it appears as a fig which continues to swell until ripe. While stating that tho fig is of easy culture it is more likely to produce fruit regularly if some reasonable system is followed. It is confined root action with superabundance of sunlight which encourages fruitfulness and ripens tho wood. The moment a tree begins to show a tendency to produce rank-grow-ing unfruitful wood it means that tho roots havo wandered away and that they should he at once pruned. Tho fig treo should make firm short-jointed growths of not more than 6in between each leaf. It is a curious fact that tho fig seems to ripen bettor in an elevated position than when situated in a low- . lying garden. The fig is increased by cuttings, layers, or suckers from tho roots. Cuttings are probably the easiest and best means to adopt. A pieeo about Bin long with good prominent bnds taken from tho parent plant with a clean cut below a joint may be mado when tho leaves havo fallen. It will soon root and start to grow, and when the ccntre shoot is about 6in in length tho point should bo taken out to mako it 'branch.