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This fruit is native in the warmer parts of Asia: hence, the cold
winters of the Middle, Northern, and Western states, and of Canada,
would destroy the trees in the open air without protection. But as the
trees are low-growing shrubs, they may easily be protected either in
cellars, greenhouses, or the open air, and uncovered or planted out in
the beginning of warm weather. Frequent removals and transplantings
injure the fig less than any other fruit, and our summers are long
enough to produce large crops of excellent figs. In New England they are
raised in tubs, set out of the cellar in spring, and produce largely.
South of Virginia, the fig is hardy, and may be cultivated with profit
in the open air. The best method of raising all kinds of fruit, in
climates where the winters are too cold for them, is to build a wall
twelve feet high on one side, and six feet on the other, with the ends
closed, and cover it with glass facing the south. This should only be
kept warm enough to prevent freezing, which would require only a small
outlay. Men of moderate means might thus have oranges, lemons, figs,
&c., of their own raising. In all except our coldest latitudes, such
fruits might be raised at a profit.
_Soil._--The best is a deep, rich loam, with a dry subsoil.
_Propagation_ is by layers and cuttings. The latter should be taken off
in the spring, be of last year's growth, with half an inch of the
previous year's growth: they take root better.
_Varieties_ are numerous, and names uncertain. White, in his Gardening
for the South, says, some of the best varieties are not in the books, or
so imperfectly described that they can not be recognised. This is true
of all the fruits, and hence our decision, in this work, not to attempt
to describe fruits with a view to their identification. As this fruit is
more for the South than the North, we give the whole of White's list, as
being adapted to those regions:--
1, Brunswick; 2, Brown Turkey; 3, Brown Ischia; 4, Small Brown Ischia;
5, Black Genoa; 6, Celestial; 7, Common Blue; 8, Round White, Common
White, Lemon Fig; 9, White Genoa, White Italian; 10, Nerii; 11,
Pregussatta; 12, Allicant; 13, Black Ischia; 14, White Ischia. These,
with a few others, are those described in most of our fruit-books. The
catalogue of the London Horticultural Society enumerates forty-two
varieties. Only a few of them have been introduced into this country.
Any of these varieties are good at the South. The five following are the
most hardy, and, being in all respects good, are all we need in our more
northern latitudes:--