FUNGUS

a botanical term embracing all vegetation which is unable to draw its nourishment from the chemical components of the earth and the air, as do all ‘‘ordinary’’ plants, and must therefore live on organic substances—animal or vegetable matter, alive or decaying—resembling in that respect members of the animal kingdom. There are many genera and a great number of species, differing widely in size, appearance, and characteristics—some very valuable, others most pernicious. The higher fungi include Musnrooms, PurrBatis, and Trurries. The smallest, commonly known as Micro-orcantsms, include Bacteria, Yrasts, and Moups. All of these are treated in their alphabetical positions. The Encyclopedia of Food — W **W** WF f= squat-shaped, smooth, and [en ems? | - ee = waxy; the skin, very thin lacoaatont ety” (0 “> flesh, white or greenish; white; and the pulp, } wT) ww varieties and those which ao a Dee an f do not need pollination a a2 a ¢ wae; are types which ripen the ° first crop of figs without or Be 7 | ais: caprification, but which fa 52% ie require it for their second, oe erie Paddock & Fowler Co. and vice vers a. A ‘‘wheel’’ of Greek figs. Now as to the manner in which the little wasp propagates and the way in which its habits are diverted by the fig culturist. In natural course, the female wasp, on coming to fecundity, crawls out from the eye of the caprifig in which she has developed in order to seek an immature fruit of the next caprifig crop for the purpose of depositing her eggs in it. Her new home selected, the wasp forces her way through the eye of the fig and by means of her ovipositor pushes her eggs one at a time down through the short styles of the caprifig flowers. Her duty completed, she herself soon suecumbs, leaving the continuation of the cycle to her progeny, but she has not only fulfilled her special mi ion of the reproduction of her species—she has also fertilized one or more blo oms of the caprifig, for in her exit from her first caprifig home she had unavoidably and quite unintentionally covered herself with its pollen and had carried it with her into the new caprifig. Jt is just before the wasps emerge from the first caprifig crop, and when the Smyrna figs are about the size of hazelnuts, that the fig culturist plays his part. He gathers the eaprifigs (each one containing from 500 to 1000 wasps), attaches them to reeds, and suspends them in the branches of his trees—or,:as latterly in California, places from 10 to 100 (or more) caprifigs, according to the size of the tree, in wide-mesh wire baskets (or some similar contrivance) and hangs one in each tree. When the wasps emerge among the branches of the tree to which they have thus been transferred, they immediately seek, and struggle into, the immature fruits pendant on the branches surrounding them—quite unwitting that the tree is not the eaprifig of their normal destiny. Inside the strange fig, the wasp crawls around searching for suitable blo oms in which to deposit her eggs. The styles in the eultivated fruit are too long, however, and she fails in her efforts. She has though accomplished another mi ion in the interest of mankind, for in her persistent hunt for suitable styles she has pollinated practically all the blo oms of the fruit she has entered. Thus pollinated, the fig quickly develops, and its seeds, unlike those in the fruits of uncaprified trees, are full and fertile, with the delicate nutty flavor which (added to its high percentage of sugar and other good qualities) has made the Smyrna. fig famous. The fruits are permitted to attain their maximum degree of sugary ripene — they are left on the tree to shrivel and fall of their own volition — or are at most helped off by a gentle shaking of the branches. Next comes spreading on trays and a slow drying, generally or chiefly in stacks, then washing in brine, drying, and a final rest in sweatboxes prior to packing. The dried fruit can be kept without deterioration for three months or so if stored in a uniform temperature of about 40° Fahr. Of the other cla of figs—those which do not require caprification—the most popular California varieties are the White, or ‘‘ Adriatic,’’ or ‘‘ White Adriatic,’’ and the Mi ion, or ‘‘California Black.’’ The Winte Adriatic is variable in shape, of thin, greenish skin, and pink-red (or dark violet and white) pulp. Good grades are delicious as fresh fruit. The Mi ion—the fig of the earliest settlers—is long and roughly top-shaped, with very dark, reddish violet skin and dark, amberish red pulp, coarse in texture but sweet. It is easily and abundantly grown under the most diversified conditions. Of the two the Mi ion is the better drying fig, the dried fruit being decidedly agreeable in flavor, though it never approaches the Smyrna quality. Packing, etc. The two principal styles of packing dried figs are as Layer (also known as ‘‘pulled,’’ or (or ‘‘lacoum’’). In packing Layer Figs, the fruit is first ‘‘pulled’’ and drawn between the fingers and thum) into a flat, disk-like form, and then the back part is split to allow still more spreading. In pulling, the ‘‘eye’’ part is brought into the center of the disk. The ‘‘pulled’’ figs are then placed in ‘‘layers’’ in boxes and the piling up of the boxes pre es their contents. Layer figs are graded from ‘‘choice’’ to ‘‘extra fancy,’’ and by size of spread, 134 inch to three inches. “*Bileme’’ is a Turkish word signifying ‘‘selected.”’ Locoum Figs are those packed in the shape of cubes (true cubes or rounded) — “Jocoum’’ being the Turkish name for a square-shaped sweetmeat. The title also stands for quality, because only thick and meaty figs lend themselves to this style.; The square ‘‘ English,’’ or ‘‘London,’’ packing shown in the center box in the illustration at the foot of page 195 has the advantage that the absence of air-pa ages is an additional safeguard against the deterioration of the fruit, and is usually preferred in New England markets. Elsewhere, the rounded ‘‘ American’’ is the best selling type. *“American’’ locoums are also known in the trade as ‘‘ pulled figs.’’ There is in addition a fairly important packing of stuffed figs—filled with mut meats mixed with chopped figs or with any other of the materials used in the stuffing of dates..: Some choice qualities of both the ‘‘plain’’ and ‘‘stuffed’’? are put up in fancy boxes, baskets, and jars, but the greater part of the supply, from the very finest “Smyrna Extra Fancy Three-inch Layers’’ to the more ordinary types, comes in bulk, chiefly in boxes, but also in drums. ‘““(Smyrna) naturals’? are the inferior fruits, shipped loose in bags and boxes— the term ‘‘natural’’ signifying that they have not been compre ed in packing. They are serviceable for filling sweet biscuits, candies, ete., and for household use stewed and in various other ways. Minor grades are in Europe utilized in large quantities in the manufacture of brandy and, in Germany, as a substitute for coffee. Southern Figs. With a few exceptions, the climate of the southern states is not particularly suitable for either the growing or the drying of Smyrna figs, but a large industry has been developed in the preserving of other varieties, the fruit being gathered after maturity but while still firm. The best known product is the skinle fig put up in sirup. The skin is commonly removed by dipping the fruits in a hot lve solution—followed by thorough washing to get rid of the lve. During the entire proce of preserving, the fig is not touched by human hands after the preparatory proce es of sorting and inspecting the fresh fruits. The Magnolia is the variety most commonly cultivated in Texas, the Celeste (or ‘‘Celestial’’) and the Brown Turkey elsewhere in the South. The Magnolia is a large fruit of amber skin and pinkish-amber pulp. The Celeste averages small to medium, is pear-shaped, violet and purplish brown of skin, and whitish to pink in flesh and pulp. The Turkey, with violet brown or coppery-brown and greenish skin, ranges from medium to large, is broad, pear-shaped, with flesh and pulp whitish or amberish blending into pink. FILBERT (see the second color-page facing 346), Hazelnut, Cobnut, fruits of several species of Corylus bushes or trees, borne in clusters, each enveloped in a husk which opens as the nut ripens. The titles of ‘‘filberts’’ and ‘*hazelnuts,’’ or **hazels,’’ are variously used. By one widely spread custom, ‘‘filbert’’ is applied to the nut imported from Hurope, or grown here on trees of Kuropean species. By another cla ification, filberts are those with fringed husks extending bevond the nuts; and hazels those with husks shorter than the nuts—cobnuts being those with husks of about the same length as the nuts. When ripe and deprived of the husks, only an expert can cla ify them with certainty, for there are several styles and sizes of each, but filberts are generally oblong; the hazels, small and roundish; and the cobs large, roundish, and angular. The chief varieties of the native American nut are the Common and Beaked (in two allied varieties) —the term ‘‘beaked”’ referring to the husk, not to the shape of the nut. The Common is the more desirable, its kernel being particularly sweet. Both Common and Beaked are, however, too smal] to be of much commercial value. The best known imported varieties are the Sicily and Naples. The Sicilian nuts are generally round; those from Naples are characteristically oblong. ‘*Barcelona nuts’’ are cobnuts, grown here and also imported, the latter generally kiln-dried and from Barcelona, Spain. In England, the fresh green nuts are much liked for de ert service.