method used in the Levant, for ripening the fruit of the domestic fig tree, by means of insects bred in that of the wild fig tree.

The most ample and satisfactory accounts of this curious operation in gardening, are those of Tournefort and Pontedra: the former, in his Voyage to the Levant, and in a Memoir delivered to the Academy of Sciences at Paris in 1705; the latter, in his Anthologia. The substance of Tournefort's account follows: "Of the thirty species or varieties of the domestic fig tree which are cultivated in France, Spain, and Italy, there are but two cultivated in the Archipelago. The first species is called ormos, from the old Greek erinos, which answers to caprificus in Latin, and signifies a wild fig-tree. The second is the domestic or garden fig tree. The former bears successively, in the same year, three sorts of fruit, called fornites, cratitires, and orni; which, though not good to eat, are found absolutely necessary towards ripening those of the garden fig. These fruits have a fleck even skin; are of a deep green colour; and contain in their dry and mealy inside several male and female flowers placed upon distinct footstalks, the former above the latter. The fornites appear in August, and continue to November without ripening: in these are bred small worms, which turn to a sort of gnats, nowhere to be seen but about these trees. In October and November, these gnats of themselves make a puncture into the second fruit, which is called cratitire. These do not show themselves till towards the end of September. The fornites gradually fall away after the gnats are gone; the cratitires, on the contrary, remain on the tree till May, and enclose the eggs deposited by the gnats when they pricked them. In May, the third sort of fruit, called orni, begins to be produced by the wild fig-trees. This is much bigger than the other two; and when it grows to a certain size, and its bud begins to open, it is pricked in that part by the gnats of the cratitires, which are strong enough to go from one fruit to another to deposit their eggs. It sometimes happens that the gnats of the cratitires are slow to come forth in certain parts, while the orni in those very parts are disposed to receive them. In this case, the husbandman is obliged to look for the cratitires in another part, and fix them at the ends of the branches of those fig trees whose orni are in a fit disposition to be pricked by the gnats. If they miss the opportunity, the orni fall, and the gnats of the cratitires fly away. None but those that are well acquainted with the culture know the critical moment of doing this; and in order to know it, their eye is perpetually fixed on the bud of the fig; for that part not only indicates the caprification time that the prickers are to issue forth, but also when the fig is to be successfully pricked: if the bud is too hard and compact, the gnat cannot lay its eggs; and the fig drops when the bud is too open.

"The life of all these three sorts of fruit is to ripen the fruit of the garden fig-tree, in the following manner: During the months of June and July, the peasants take the orni, at the time their gnats are ready to break out, and carry them to the garden fig-trees; if they do not nick the moment, the orni fall; and the fruit of the domestic fig-tree, not ripening, will in a very little time fall in like manner. The peasants are so well acquainted with these precious moments, that, every morning, in making their inspection, they only transfer to their garden fig-trees such orni as are well conditioned, otherwise they lose their crop. In this case, however, they have one remedy, though an indifferent one; which is, to strew over the garden fig-trees another plant in whose fruit there is also a species of gnats which answer the purpose in some measure.

The caprification of the ancient Greeks and Romans, described by Theophrastus, Plutarch, Pliny, and other authors of antiquity, corresponds in every circumstance with what is practised at this day in the Archipelago and in Italy. These all agree in declaring, that the wild fig-tree, caprificus, never ripened its fruit; but was absolutely necessary for ripening that of the garden or domestic fig, over which the husbandmen suspended its branches. The reason of this success has been supposed to be, that by the punctures of these insects the vessels of the fruit are lacerated, and thereby a greater quantity of nutritious juice derived thither. Perhaps, too, in depositing their eggs, the gnats leave behind them some sort of liquor proper to ferment gently with the milk of the figs, and to make their flesh tender. The figs in Provence, and even at Paris, ripen much sooner for having their buds pricked with a straw dipped in olive-oil. Plums and pears likewise, pricked by some insects, ripen much the faster for it; and the flesh round such puncture is better tasted than the rest. It is not to be disputed, that considerable changes happen to the cotyledons of fruits so pricked, just the same as to parts of animals pierced with any sharp instrument. Others have supposed that these insects penetrated the fruit of the tree to which they were brought, and gave a more free admission to the air, and to the sun. Linnaeus explained the operation, by supposing that the insects brought the farina from the wild fig, which contained male flowers only, to the domestic fig, which contained the female ones. Haffelquist, from what he saw in Palestine, seemed to doubt of this mode of fructification. M. Bernard, in the Memoirs of the Society of Agriculture, opposes it more decidedly. He could never find the insect in the cultivated fig; and, in reality, it appeared to leave the wild fig, after the stamina were mature, and their pollen dilated: besides, he adds, what they may have brought on their wings must be rubbed away, in the little aperture which they would form for themselves. At Malta, where there are seven or eight varieties of the domestic fig, this operation is only performed on those which ripen latest: the former are of a proper size, fine flavour, and in great abundance without it; so that he thinks the caprification only hastens the ripening. He examined the parts of fructification of the fig; and he observes, if this examination be made previous to the ripening, that round the eye of the fig, and in the substance of its covering, may be seen triangular dentated leaves, pressed one against another; and under these leaves are the stamens, whose pollen is destined for the impregnation of the grains, which fill the rest of the fruit. These male organs are much more numerous in the wild-fig than in the domestic; and the stamens are found to contain a yellow dust, which may be collected when it is ripe. The wild figs, when ripe, are not succulent, and have no taste, though the grains are disposed in the same manner as in the other kind. The pith of the grain of the wild fruit serves as food to a species of the cynips, whose larva is white, till the moment of its transformation; and it is by an opening, in the direction of the pitil, that the insect penetrates the grain. From this account it is thought probable that the insect is only communicated by accident to the domestic fig, and that the flowers of this genus are sometimes hermaphrodites. But the number of hermaphrodite flowers being fewer on the cultivated than on the wild fig, the seeds are fecundated more certainly and quickly by the capriciousness; and every botanist knows, that when the impregnation is completed, the flower soon withers; while, if by any accident it is delayed, it continues in bloom much longer. This view of the subject, therefore, explains very completely the reason why, in Malta, the capriciousness is practised on the late kind of figs, because it hastens the formation and maturity of the fruit.