There are few, if any, of our fruit-trees about which cultivators are so much divided regarding their pruning and training as the Fig. In looking over the pages of several of our best horticultural writers, not only do we find that not two of them are agreed upon these points, but that each and all of them refer to authorities of high standing who differ in many material points from the method adopted and recommended by the author himself. Now while we have given an idea of the method we think best suited for the cultivation of the Fig, it is perhaps due to the readers of the 'Gardener' - who are a discriminating and intelligent portion of the community, and quite able to select from any given number of methods recommended the one which is best suited to their own circumstances - to refer in a few sentences to some of the various modes of training recommended by some of our best horticulturists. This is all the more required, seeing the diversity of opinion that exists regarding the matter. Mr Knight, in Vol. iii. of the 'Horticultural Transactions,' p. 307, recommends the horizontal main branches, while the fruit-bearing shoots, he says, ought to be trained in a pendent form.

The following are his own words: "Let the stems - if there be, as usual, many within a narrow space - be gradually reduced to one only, and from the top and parts near it of this, let lateral branches be trained horizontally and pendently in close contact with the wall. Under such treatment all troublesome luxuriance of growth will soon disappear. The pendent shoots will not annually extend more than a few inches, and few or no more leaves will be produced than those which the buds contain before they expand. The young wood consequently ceases to elongate very early in the season, and hence acquires perfect maturity; while, by being trained close to the wall, it is secure, or nearly so, from injury from the severest frost." The late Dr Lindley was in favour of horizontal training, because "it checks luxuriance, and by this means adds materially to the ripening of its wood." Harrison, who also approves of the horizontal mode of training, further recommends that the fruit-bearing shoots ought to be trained either erect or pendent, according to the luxuriance of the tree; and entering more particularly into detail, he says: "When a sufficiency of lateral-bearing shoots is not produced, they may be obtained by attending to the following directions: - When the spring shoots have done growing, which will generally be by the end of May or beginning of June, let each shoot where wood is required be stopped by pinching the end betwixt the finger and thumb - so hard as to feel that the shoot gives way to the pressure, but not so as to break it.

This will cause shoots to push below where it was stopped. If a shoot thus desired to be stopped be a long one, let it be bruised or broken nearly in two about the middle, or a piece of string be twisted very tightly round it, and the end of the shoot above the string be brought nearly parallel down by the side of the remaining part of the shoot, and this will cause shoots to push where desired".

Mr Thompson, in his 'Gardener's Assistant,' recommends starting the Fig much in the same way as the Peach - that is, starting with one clean stem and two horizontal side shoots. From these side shoots he recommends that "two other subdivisions should be encouraged. But these must be trained widely apart, in order to admit of successional bearing shoots being trained between them. ... In general, 15 inches will not be too wide. Along these branches, at distances of about 8 inches, shoots for bearing ought to be encouraged, and it is most desirable that all of them should be as nearly as possible of equal vigour. A similar equality ought to be maintained between the respective leading shoots. . . . The bearing shoots - those produced along the leading branches - should be trained at full length. In autumn every alternate one should be cut back to one eye; at the same time, those not cut back must be trained at full length. In the following summer the latter should bear and ripen fruit, and then be cut back in autumn to one eye, and shoots from the basis of those cut back the previous autumn should be trained for succession." The above recommendations, it will be observed, are much the same as our own, with the exception that the foundations of Mr Thompson's trees are on the fan principle, whereas those recommended by us are on the horizontal; and, again, he recommends training the fruiting shoot at full length, while we have found pinching in autumn to be of much use in inducing fruitfulness.

We might quote many more authorities to show how much men are divided in mere matters of detail, and yet each and all of them are pressing towards the goal of excellence, and each may be pursuing the method best adapted to the circumstances in which he is placed. No writer can be expected to lay down a rule which will be the best suited to the circumstances of every one who may read his essays. What Mr Harrison recommends in his admirable treatise as the method he found to suit best at Wortley, is not what Mr Thompson found to be most suited at Chiswick; and so cultivators are divided and authors are divided, and yet each in his own peculiar circumstances may be correct.

As we have already hinted, the protection of the Fig during severe weather is absolutely necessary, if we wish success to attend our labours. No doubt we may read of cases where Fig-trees have stood very severe frosts without any injury to the trees being the result, but such cases are few and far between, and the cultivator who wishes to succeed must have recourse to the general practice, and protect his trees. We are not of the number, however, who would fix a date upon which this operation must be performed, and fix another upon which such protection should be removed. Our advice is, adapt yourselves to circumstances - protect in the day of danger, and remove when the . danger is over. This, however, we would recommend - have your protecting material, whatever it may be, in readiness for use before the end of November, so that, should the enemy come upon you "as a thief in the night," then you may be proof against his assaults, and come scatheless out of the fight. Where expense is not so much an object as thorough defence against frost, there can be no doubt but that woollen netting, such as we recommended for the protection of the Peach and Apricot, will be found the best if put on two or three ply.

This will, however, be attended with considerable expense, as the use of such protection will be necessary for two or three months during the worst part of the season. If the netting should get wet soon after being put on, there is little chance of its getting thoroughly dried till after its removal in spring, so that it is obvious that two or three seasons at most will be all the time it is likely to last before it becomes useless and rotten. Taking all this into consideration, we cannot recommend netting for general use. The next best material for this purpose is Spruce branches or Silver Fir branches, either of which, but especially the former, will be found to answer the end in view remarkably well. As soon as there is danger of severe frost, let the whole of the surface of the Fig-wall be covered with them, fixing them in as simple a manner as possible, either to nails or studs in the wall, or, what would be better, to a framework of paling-rails placed against the wall. If the latter is used, it may be constructed something after the following plan. Place uprights, at distances of 5 or 6 feet apart, reaching from under the cope to 2 feet from the bottom of the wall. These having been fixed, nail rails horizontally upon them at distances of 1½ to 2 feet apart.

This finished, begin by fixing the branches upon the lowest rail, and continue the operation from the bottom upwards until the whole is finished. The branches used ought to be about double the length of the spaces between the rails, so that there may be a good overlap, and that each branch may be securely tied to two of the rails, that there may be no chance of a storm displacing them, or - what would be worse - laying the whole in ruins. If branches cannot be procured, the next best thing is dried Ferns, which may be thatched on in the same manner. Russian mats, or mats made with straw, may and are sometimes used, but are not nearly so good as the branches of Spruce or Silver Fir. After all danger of severe frost is over, the covering, of whatever material it may be, may at once be removed, the trees pruned and nailed, and afterwards managed as recommended already.

So far as we are aware, the Fig is liable to no diseases in this country, so that the cultivator has nothing to fear in that way. The same might almost be said with regard to insects. It is seldom that it suffers even in this form, the only two enemies being the Coccus hesperi-dum, or brown-scale, and the Acarus tellarius, or red-spider. Where the former enemy puts in an appearance, the best plan is to thoroughly scrub the stem and branches with a good hard brush, using at the same time tepid water and soft soap. If this be done once or twice, and the branches afterwards painted with a mixture of soft soap and tobacco-water, using soil, soot, or any other suchlike material, to give it consistency, the chances are that you will have effectually destroyed the colony. The presence of red-spider is a sure proof that the tree has been, or is, too dry at the root. The best preventive is to keep the trees always well watered, especially in very dry weather, giving them a good syringing two or three times a-week; and if this be attended to, there is little to fear from the attacks of red-spider. Should it, however, have established itself upon the tree, flour of sulphur should either be used in the water for syringing, or shaken over the branches with a sulphurator.

James M'Millan.

(To be continued).