OCR Text |
Show Done ABA Fi Soil. The Diftance thefe Trees fhould be planted ought never to be lefs than twenty Feet, fuppofing the Wall to be fourteen or more Feet in Height; for when they are planted too near, the Branches are train'd upright, and thereby cover the Walls in a few, Years with old Wood, fo that there is ng younger Branches to produce Fruit but what are fituated at the extreme Parts of the Tree, or ftand forward from the Wall, whvieliets a very great Fault, as fhall be hereafter demon- ftrated. In the Middle, between the Fig-Trees, maybe planted a Vine, which may be prefery’d to bear Fruit until the Fig-Trees do cover the Wall; at which time they fhould be intirely taken away ; for they fhould by no means be fuffer'd to intermix their Shoots amongft the Figs, which would prevent the Ingrefs of the Air, which is abfolutely necef{ary to give the Fruit a fine racy Flavour. In the Summer, when the Fig-Trees begin to fhoot, you fhould train the Branches horizontally to the Walls, (as is dire@ed for other Fruit-Trees) for if they are fuffer'd to grow all the Summer without Management, their Shoots will be too ftubborn to be drawn re- gularly to the Wall: Nor fhould you fuffer any foreright Shoots to be produc’d upon your young Trees; but, on the contrary, as faft as they appear, you fhould rub off their Buds. At Michaelmas, (as I faid before) is the beft Seafon for pruning and nailing thefe Trees, not only for theReafons before affign’d, but alfo becaufe their Shoots being nail’d clofe to the Wall before the fevere Frofts come on, will be lefs liable to be injur'd thereby. The main Things to be obferv’d in the pruning of older Trees, are, rft, Always to take care to have a Supply of young Branches in every Part of the Tree, for it is thofe only which produce Fruit: 2dly, Never to fhorten any of the Shoots at the Autumn Pruning, which would intirely deprive you of Fruit, fince it is chiefly upon the Woodof the laft twoYears that it is produc’d: 3dly, Always obferve to nail your young Fruit-branches clofe to the Wall, whereby they will not be deftroy’d by Froft, and the Fruit will be for- warded at leaft a Fortnight or three Weeks in the Spring, whichis of great Confequence ro usin England : 4thly, Never lay in your old Branches toothick, which is a very com- Gune or Fuly, it will only occafion the Buds to produce Figs in great Plenty, wh will never come to good folate in the Year, and will greatly weaken the tender Fruit-Branches, and prevent their bearing the next Sp If the Winter fhould prove extreme fh it will be neceflary to cover your cl Sorts of Fig-Trees, either with lm, or fome other ing, whi will preferve the ler Fruit- branches from being injur’d; for which Care, in the Winter Anno Fig-Trees {uffer’d very much in moft England: By this Method you greatly forwarded, but yo careful not to remove yo early in the Spring, n but open them firft in want of be very ring too al once, be done ater tw the a ad oe Branches oeing too much j ar: for multiply i Hen, Is of as bad Confequence up a Supplyequivalent to this great Confumption, the Branches muft contain a much lefs has had feveral Months Supply from the Root, ch tho’ but {mall in Proportion to what is fent up when the Heat is greater, yet there beinglittle or no Watfte, either by Perfpira- r there muft be a great- which ny (lays he) obfer that in Zia they us’d to drefs the Fig—Trees with much Care; theyftillcontinue to do fo. Tounderftand aright this Husbandry of Figs, (call'd in Latin Caprificatio) we are to ob~ ferve, that in moft of the Iflands of the Archipelago, they have two Sorts of FigTrees to manage; the firft is call’d Oras, sreek Evinos, a wild Fig-Tree3 ‘aprificus in Latin; the fecond, is the Domeftick or Garden Fig- Tree: The wild ‘ Sort bears three Kinds of Fruit, Fo La Cratitires, and Orui, of abfolute Neceffit ards ripening thofe of the Garden Fig. tes r in Av, afily to be obferv’d, by br utting off a vigorous Branch of a Fig } than where Sap being milk when that cut in 4 opits Bleeding in oneI whereas that cu ; flow a Weck or will be proportionably lon Fruit in much Thefe Trees do very wel Side of an Houfe, or other where they have a great Comy he higher thefe Trees a J the better the Fruit ist y enjoy fome Share of Warmth thro’ e Bricks: And Figs, tho’ the moft delicate of Fruits, being verylittle efteem’d by vulgar Palates, are Icfs liable to be ftoln by Servants or common People than { ome of the more commonSorts of Fruits, _ Tam aware, that what I have kere adv in relation to the pruning and dred Fig-Trees, will be condemn’d bygreat bers of People, who will not give them time to confider and examine the I upon which I have founded this Pr to make one fingle Experiment to Truth ofit, as being vaftly different from the general Pra@tice of moft Gardeners, who always imagine, that Fig-Trees fhould never have much pruning, or at leaf fhould always be {uffer’d to grow f Wall to fome Diftance: That by this M only in mild Winters, for it is very cettails Shoots efcape being greatlyinjur’d ; it rarely happens, that thofe Shoots whic clofely nail’d to the Wall at Mic fuffer the leaft Damage, and Fruits are always produc’d a Fortnight fooner po" thefe Branches than they areuponthofe which growfrom the Wall. 4 The Seafon alfo for Pruning, which I have laid down, being vaftly different from the commonPraétice and Opinion of moft GardenctSs will alfo be objeGed againft; bur this lam fure, if any one wil] but makeTrial of 1 doubt not but his Experience will confirm what I have here adyanc’d ; for as one great lemfelves till :and the For= ayafter t 1 » on the cont s cially if it be againft a Chimney, wh that in fharp Frofts few of thefe outlice ung vigorous Shoots i beiogs ning of May, which will ea eSieen to break out into lateral B he _ whereby rt ak the Wall Raph cies an ranches, yeine Whose vai oe antly furnifh’d with vadetee oY no means ad- and entation of Wood, Leaves, Fruits, &c. antities being evaporated by alfo great Perfpiration, the Root not being able to fend cover them again at Night, andfo bydegrees inure them to open Air. In fome Places Trees very large, fo their Diftance ought never vedi you ) flop the leading Bud of by alithe Travellers who Subje&, as alfo by for at that Seafon, all the Parts of European Trees which caft their Leaves, are lefs replete with Moifture chan at any othertime of the Year; for by the long Continuance of the Summers Heat, the Juices of Plants having been exhaufted in the Nourifhment and Aug- Day-time, and ment, I have often feen great Quantit Fruit, I cannor deny, but thenthis ha to be lefs than ten or twelve Inches: So that 3ranches increafe, the old ones fhould y cut out; which may be done in zwith as much Safety as to anyother a : sthly, In order to produce young proceeds from the too Injury to this Tree, tT great Effufior a of Sap at the wounded Parts, : fo by this Autumn pruning this is prevented Quantity of Sap than in the Spring, when it P: mon Fault amongft Gardeners; for as the S hoots are v igorous, and the Leaves ofthefe | edi as having too few, for it will occafion their being weak and unfruitful; and if itis done in than many People at prefent know, yet it is nall when compar’d h the great Va1 of Sorts which are >wn in the rn Cc sof Ex rom whenceI in Hopes, in a fhort Time, I fhall be fup*d with many re Kinds than are here nor do I think there is any Sor more our Care to cul an this, and yet it rarely meet with more than four F our curious Fruit(ame time, perhaps, the great ColleGionsofPears which either deferve the sn in their pruning ve as wellifplantedin Efpa yet, feen any Figs planted in d fo can’t fay how they would the Sorts do, in land, bear very well it fh why they fhould no Dy r, if we fhould be at the covering them in hard Winters, l would fucceed nth Sort is by many People fupTree mention’d , which isa fort of Fig which proruit out of the old Woodofthe 1 is very {mall; but as this Tree has t any Fruit with us, fo I cannot ther it be the right Kind ornot main on the Tree til iggs depofited by the Fornites when they prick’d them. In May the third Sort of Fruit begi put forth from the fame wild Fig-Trees which produc’d the other two ;this is much bigger, and is call’d Oruis When it grows to a certain Size, and its Bud begins to open, it is prick’d in that rt by the Gnats ofthe Cratitires, which are ftrong enough 30 from one Fruit to the other to difcha their Eggs. “ Tt fometimes happ the Cratitires are flow tain Parts, while the Parts are difpos’d to receive them : In wh Cafe the Husband-man is oblig’d to look for the Cratitires in another part, and fix them at the End of the Branches ofthofe FigTrees, whole Orni are in fit Difpofiti be prick’d by the Gnats: If they Opportunity, the Ori fi of the Cratitires fly away. and the Gnats None but thofe mifs the that are well acquainted with this fort of Culture, knowthe critical Minutes of doing this ; and in order to it, their Eye is per- petually fix’d on the Bud of the Fig; for that Part not only indicates the Time that the Prickers are to iff the Fig is to be fuc Bud be too hard, Gnat can’t lay its Eggs, 1d 1§ too Open ts of Fruit are not help ri |