Stream Corner

When replacing most of the soil, mix in with it two 6-inch potfuls of mortar rubble, and if this is not available use one 6-inch potful of crushed chalk.

The fig is undoubtedly a native of Syria and neighbouring countries, and the cultural lesson we learn, therefore, is that the fig likes great summer heat and winter rainfall, plus poor rocky soil.

As the short growths made each year are those that bear the fruits, the only pruning done should be a cutting back hard to form new branches as replacements. Figs seem to have wood buds almost anywhere on their branches and so one can prune to almost any point. For the first five or six years little pruning is necessary, but once quite big trees have been formed, about 25 per cent of the wood should be removed each November, this being done by cutting down one quite large branch almost to its base. This I find it gives better results than cutting out a number of widely distributed branches.

The method of training is, of course, on the fan system, and wires are therefore provided at 18 inches apart so that the branches may be tied in. It is easy fe,x a fig to cover a wall space of about 35 feet on a wall 15 feet high. Such a tree, of course, bears prodigiously. But even young trees four years of age will bear twenty to twenty- five fruits if they are happy.

To be sure of a crop, the fig should be planted against a south warm wall; a loam overlying chalk or hard limestone is good because this discourages the production of tap roots. I had seen figs do well on a thin soil over sand.

It is not advisable to grass a fig down but it is equally important to allow no cropping or cultivation within 12 feet of their sterns, for such cultivations will only encourage strong growth. It does pay, therefore, to mulch the soil in a half-circle around the trees and a fine sedge peat may be put on an inch deep. The alternative is to grow the fig in a corner where the soil can be well trodden down and not disturbed at all.