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The Kadota Fig
The Kadota Fig
A Treatise on its Origin,
Planting and Care
By
W. SAM CLARK
Sultana, Cal.
PRICE ONE DOLLAR, POSTPAID
Published by
THE FIG AND OLIVE JOURNAL
311 East Fourth St.. Los Angeles, Cal.
W. Sam Clark
CO NT E NTS
Frontispiece, Stephen H. Taft, Discoverer of the Kadota Fig.
The Kadota Fig 1
Discovery and Introduction of the Kadota 3
Planting 5
Irrigation r 6
Pruning 7
Picking 13
Packing 14
Eastern Shipping 15
Canning 17
Drying 19
Returns per Acre 22
Prospects of the Kadota Fig 24
Kadota May be Caprified 25
Comparison with Foreign Figs 26
Basket Used for Picking (Illustration) 28
Use of Missions on Borders 29
The Smyrna 30
The Adriatic 31
Standard Shipping Box (Illustration) 32
Description of Kadota Fruit 33
Description of Tree and Its Habits 35
How to Plant M 36
Clark Method of Laying Off Tract for Planting 37
Frozen . Nursery Stock 39
Fig Pointers in General 41
A Canner's Opinion of the Kadota 42
The Fig Tree, by J. C. Forkner 43
f flftyrfgllt 1930, W, 8am Clark
Frontispiece
Stephen H. Taft, Discoverer of the Kadota Fig
The Kadota Fig
In presenting this little book on the Kadota Fig to my friends and
patrons, I do so with a full recognition that so swiftly are we advancing in all
branches of horticulture and disposition of our products, that a writer on the
subject may produce something that is hopelessly antiquated almost before it
leaves the press.
It is only the entire absence of anything printed regarding this horticul-
tural marvel, developed in late years, that prompts me to put out this regard-
ing the Kadota Fig.
In going back into the history of human progress, I cannot help but be
impressed with the equilibrium or co-advancement of human and horticultural
achievements. Each stage of human advance witnessed a corresponding ad-
vance in the fruits and grains of that age.
The personality of the human race is reflected in the products of the
earth, directly or indirectly as a result of their mental attainments. From
earliest humanity to the present, from the Tropics to the Arctics, flora and
fauna are co-existent and make co-advancement.
Is it imaginary on my part to attribute to the fig, the fruit nearest and
dearest to mankind since the beginning of time, a kindred nature, reflecting
the color and life habit of the race which produced it? Can we not see,
away back in the haze and dimness of antiquity, a sympathetic likeness be-
tween the earliest man, imperfect and erring, and the fig of that time, a wild,
fierce thing, scarcely recognizable at present as the forebear of the joyous
fruits we now produce?
Is not the Smyrna fig, a product of Oriental advancement, an exact re-
production of the people who propagated it? Are they not secretive and
evasive, utterly depraved on one side of their nature, and human perfection and
kindness on the other? Fair of skin, an object of beauty are their females
in youth, and fading in early age, yet a race existing for centuries regardless
of vicissitudes? Is not the Smyrna fig an exact counterpart of their progress
and their lives? A thing of beauty and a joy .unsurpassed is the ripened
perfect fruit, yet secretive and a useless, deplorable thing, unless by the im-
planting of an outside influence in the form of the wasp, which brings per-
fection to the fruit, only as does the winged spirit of Christianity, carrying the
pollen of kindness, an invisible leaven, makes more perfect the nature of the
race who produced this fruit? Long-lived and tenacious of existence, neither
is fit for our association unless by the infusion of outside elements invisible, al-
most, but effective. Are not the people and this fruit twin products of their
time and age?
Is not the Adriatic fig also a reflection of the peoples who associate their
existence with the fig bearing the name of the region whence they spring?
A hardy, mountain people, who have struggled and lived for ages in adver-
sity, and who maintain an existence by sheer tenacity of spirit, yet whose im-
perfect human productions will liken achievements to this fig which so closely
KADOTA FIG
tKcta ,'iit Jevpry.'Way. ' Does not this fig thrive in adversity, regard-
less of outside assistance or abuse, and will it not produce an abundance of
fruit, poor and imperfect to be sure, not true at heart in all cases, yet a splen-
did product is obtained when transplanted to proper soil, and under correct
conditions, and yielding readily to the influences of the wasp, which we may
liken unto the pollen of civilization, which that race of people so hungrily
long for and respond to when given?
Are the people of that land and this fruit of those people not twins, fair of
face and color, typical in life and spirit? Each imperfect, yet swiftly re-
rponding to betterment when correctly applied? It strikes me so.
Was it not the Moor, strong and sturdy, dark of skin and warm of heart,
that transplanted from the shores of Tripoli to the hills of ancient Spain, a
dark-skinned fig, each a conqueror in its own way, winning the land and
the love of the people?
In after centuries, was it not the dark-skinned Padres of old Spain whose
indomitable spirit and loving kindly ways blazed the Christian trails into
our western lands, bringing comfort and spiritual cheer, and implanting with
their blessings this same old fig in the sun-kissed lands of California? Does
not this fig image an exact reproduction of these patient and blessed men
who gave this fig and their lives to us? Does it not furnish physical shade
and protection, temporal food and spiritual inspiration and lasting blessings?
Are its fruits not sweet and pure, dark in color, yet never failing in time and
season? Are not these fruits like the silent Padres of old, ever welcome in
humblest home, to lordly mansion, bringing peace and consolation to us all?
Are they not almost one?
Now comes the Kadota, a product of our land and time. Almost with
meteoric speed and splendor, from out our western skies comes this fair-faced
visitor, like gracious maiden through parted curtains, a vision of beauty and
a joy.
Springing from the soils of our thrice blessed land comes the product -of
cur century. Its golden fruit, snuggling in velvet foliage of deep dark green,
comes like the vision through parted portieres. With a speed and swiftness,
like our lives and actions, comes this child of our dreams. How very like
our people is this tree and its fruit. Impatient of all delay it brushes aside
all granted prerogatives of its cousins of old; from babyhood it yields its
products with an assurance and a certainty of the precocious child that it is.
Its swiftness and marvels of achievement exactly mirror our age and time;
its generosity and fair play image the men of our western empire, while its
sweetness and tenderness are the spirit of our women, swaying to every im-
pulse for betterment and improvement, yet always true and steadfast wherever
placed by fortune or conditions.
It meets our every demand for speed and certainty. In our race against
t'me we never lose sight of fair play and justice. A perfect product for a
given stipend is motto alike for man and fig, and in its travels, imprisoned in
walls of glass, it carries visions of golden sunrise fanned by gentle zephyrs,
laden with scent of blooming fields and gardens.
Or, wrapped in waxen paper, the freshly gathered fruit of golden radi-
ance we send like graceful carrier pigeon, bearing a message to our Eastern
cities, from these lands of music and pleasure, of sunshine and plenty, beside
our Sunset Sea.
THE KADOTA FIG
This fig, true product of our land and spirit of our people, brings us
fame and honor, while radiating pure joy and pleasure.
Vibrating from its very heart are the impulses of the Californian; scat-
tering with prodigality and western abandonment its harvest of luscious fruits
and fulfilled promises.
Discovery
The honor and credit for the discovery of the remarkable fig now known
as the Kadota belongs exclusively to that wise old horticulturist, the late
Stephen H. Taft, of Sawtelle, a member of the Centenary Club of Southern
California.
When nearing the brave old age of five score years he crossed over the
sunset sea, leaving behind him a horticultural triumph whose magnitude and
value were but faintly appreciated even by himself.
As the planted acres of this fig are leaping from hundreds into thousands,
and demand outstrips all possible production even now, only then does the
true worth of this fig appear and the magnitude of the discovery become ap-
parent to those interested in this branch of horticulture.
The original tree of this variety, then a stranger, discovered and named
by Mr. Taft and afterward distributed, first appeared in an orchard grown
by Mr. Cyrus Way of Whittier, from cuttings furnished by Mr. Theo.
Hockett, from his orchard of Dottatos, which in turn was an orchard grown
from cuttings imported from Europe in 1887, by Mr. R. Thompson of Or-
ange County, California.
In the orchard grown by Mr. Way was one only tree of most remarkable
vigor, growth, and early production, and in every way superior to the bal-
ance of the orchard surrounding it. The discriminating judgment of Mr.
Taft immediately recognized in this stranger the very qualities and virtues so
long sought by all progressive fig growers the world over.
Whether it be an off-shoot, a sport, or a freak of nature, matters but
little to us now, and its remarkable achievements in the few short years of its
existence has astounded the fig growers of central California, and it now stands
at the very head of all figs of its class, and has indeed created a branch of
the fig industry all its own.
Introduction
It is perhaps true that no fruit ever grown has so surely and so swiftly
leaped into fame and found a place for itself in the thoughts and the acres
of the progressive and discriminating orchardists of California.
The advent of this fig has revolutionized the planting and pruning of fig
orchards. It has created a new industry the canning of fresh figs as other
fruits are canned. It has already caused the installation of canning estab-
lishments in several of our interior, cities, and more are in the formative stage.
Coast cities had first canned our crops. It has created a new department of
labor the skilled picking of fresh figs.
This fig has upset all the established rules for irrigation of fig orchards.
It has created a confidence in the fig industry not previously enjoyed by the
THE KADOTA FIG
older varieties, because of its early bearing, tremendous tonnage, certainty of
crops, and unprecedented demand for its products and unparalleled cash re-
turns enjoyed by the planters who grow this variety, occasioned by the many
uses to which this fruit is now put.
All this and more has been achieved by this fig in the three short years
since we had the honor and the pleasure of introducing it to the fig growers
of California, assembled in Fresno, January, 1917, on the occasion of the
first Fig Growers' Institute held at that time. Relatively but little was
known before that date regarding this fig, its uses and virtues, and the
publicity given it on that occasion was all that was needed to cause it to leap
into the limelight and occupy the unique position it now holds.
Distribution
After Mr. Taft had given his new fig a rigid tryout in its many uses, he
began the propagating and distribution of this variety, and in 1913 I secured
from him the rootings which constitute my original orchard, now six years of
age. He was at that time a man somewhere in the nineties. His age and
limited acreage made it slow and difficult for him to distribute very widely
his discovery.
I had had considerable correspondence with him and was deeply im-
pressed by his enthusiasm, foresight, and absolute honesty, and fully appre-
ciated the loss to the industry occasioned by his decease, which left no one
in particular to champion the cause of his fig. So in a timid and halting man-
ner I attempted to carry on the work he was forced to drop. I soon discov-
ered that others were impressed very favorably with this fig and my first nur-
sery proved all too small to meet the growing demand, and from my first ven-
ture to the present time we have never been able to supply even 50 per cent, of
the rootings desired by intending planters, and while each year I increase my
nursery to the greatest possible extent I still fall far short of demands. The
saddest feature of this shortage of genuine stock lies in the opportunity it gives
to the distribution of spurious stock, secured from orchards of the old "White
Endich," "California White" and "White Pacific," all collectively sold as
Kadota or Little Kadotas. These older varieties have long been known in
California and classed as unprofitable figs. But in general appearance they
so closely resemble the genuine Kadota that unwittingly planters are accepting
this stuff, and only when too late will they discover their error, and two re-
sults are absolutely certain.
First, they will grow a smaller tree and a smaller, poorer fruit; and,
secondly, the name and reputation of Kadota is sure to suffer as these planters
in perfect faith and honesty will condemn this fig, naturally thinking they are
growing the genuine, which in their orchards is falling far short of the many
virtues claimed for the genuine, and really enjoyed by those fortunate enough
to have secured true stock. So with all the emphasis at my command I warn
all planters to be absolutely sure they secure rootings of direct lineage to that
one only tree, from which Stephen H. Taft named and secured his original
cuttings. There was no such a fig as the Kadota previous to that time, how-
ever much nurserymen claim to the contrary.
In my immediate vicinity there is an orchard of sixteen acres, one-half of
which is Endich, the other half Kadota, and any one may stand half a mile
THE KADOTA FIG
away and instantly see the difference and recognize the very row of trees
where the two varieties meet. A nursery is now growing from cuttings taken
from that orchard, and the Japanese who will sell the rootings will sell
"Kadotas" next planting season. He neither knows of nor cares anything for
the Taft variety, but the demand will sell his "50-50" stock and many or-
chardists may hereafter have years of regrets.
So few are the years since the advent of this fig, and so few are the
genuine nurseries, that any planter may easily prove the origin of his root-
ings. A law protects a planter in this state against the purchase of stock
afterwards proving to be not true to name. But that joke causes a nursery-
man, within seven years, to refund to the planter the purchase price of his
rootings. Wouldn't that make you smile? After seven years you find you
were buncoed, and then get back the 25 cents per tree you perhaps paid for
the false rooting!
Planting, Cultivating and Irrigation Soils
Kadota figs are now growing in all soils and beside every other variety
of fig grown in California, and while some soils are most assuredly superior
to others for the production of figs, this fig has demonstrated that nothing
special in soils or treatment is required to make it out-grow and out-bear in
tonnage any other fig with which it may associate.
All figs should avoid pure sandy soil; select something heavier and use
sandy soils for something else. My home orchard is planted in heavy adobe
and dry-bog. Loams are, in my judgment, most superior for growing figs, and
soils under-laid with hard-pan which may be blasted may, in the long run, prove
still better than loams. The breaking up of hard-pan liberates the elements
so essential for the production of a superior quality of fruit.
Lime is pre-eminently a requisite for heavy, meaty, rich figs, and all
hard-pans are heavily impregnated with lime, and more or less so with potash,
sulphur and iron, all of which go to make a soil favorable for fig production.
A deficiency of lime in any soil will, cause a fruit to be produced that dries
into a hollow shell of seeds and little meat. We have all seen that kind of
dried fruit.
Air and water will cause hard-pan to disintegrate, thus liberating these
above named values. The tree itself may flourish in any soil deficient in lime,
potash, sulphur and iron, yet the product of the tree will be poor. Again,
hard-pan land when blasted conserves moisture below the pan, as summer
heat cannot evaporate the moistures invariably found beneath, and the tree
will eventually push its roots downward and laterally, thus securing required
moisture at all seasons.
Planting
Regardless of the price of powder, blasting of locations for fig tree plant-
ing should invariably be practiced. First, a deeper, bigger, better hole is
thus secured; filling the hole with aerated soil from the surface insures strong,
vigorous growth for three years on the part of the newly planted tree. Second-
ly, the hole acts as a reservoir for the irrigation or rain which should follow
the planting, and the cracks caused by the blast radiating laterally in all di-
THE KADOTA FIG
rections permits roots a freedom of spread not enjoyed by a tree planted in a
dug hole, whose sides are by pressure of the spade tightly sealed against the
tiny rootlets. Blasted holes should invariably be filled and settled with water
before tree is planted.
As fig rootings are the most delicate of all the trees planted in California,
the greatest care possible should be exercised in their handling. From the
nursery to the tree hole all speed and care should be employed. The rootings
should never even for sixty seconds be exposed to hot air or wind. Spotted
fig orchards everywhere emphasize this caution and advertise the fact that
some one either in ignorance or carelessness, or both, between the nursery dig-
ging and the planting failed to heed these well known warnings. So, learn
your nurseryman's habits before you secure your stock of rootings. A fig tree
that has been well handled and well planted is worth one dollar more than cost,
the moment the roots are covered. A new fig orchard one year old and 1 00
per cent, stand should be worth $100.00 per acre more than the land was one
year before. So use all care and caution in handling your rootings.
Plant your rootings 4 inches deeper than they grow in the nursery, settle
the dirt with water about the roots, and if you are planting Kadotas, then cut
away all the tree 1 or 12 inches above the ground.
First, this cutting away balances the top with the lacerated and reduced
root system occasioned by the removal of the rooting from the nursery bed.
Second, a Kadota is a fruit which derives its greatest profit by selling as
fresh figs, and must be picked from the tree, and a tall tree is a very expensive
tree to pick, and ladders should be as low as possible to increase profit in
handling the fruit.
Hence, crown your Kadota at or near the ground, induce a wide spread-
ing tree by top pruning and shade ground and trunk from frost and sun, and
double the tonnage of your fruit over any and all fig trees pruned by the old
obsolete methods so much in vogue in California. Forget the tillage under
your tree. Don't attempt to plow either deeply in a fig orchard or near to
the tree. The roots that make the tree are deep and out of reach of the
plow. The fruit rootlets are almost invisible, delicate and near the surface.
Plowing over 6 inches deep will probably destroy or reduce your crop. Deep
plowing may perhaps be practiced if from the first year planted it is always
done and roots always kept deeply down.
The grass under your tree may be removed with a hoe. You grow an
orchard for profit, not to satisfy a vanity unfortunately found in many growers
regarding the appearance of their orchards.
Irrigation
If you are growing a Kadota orchard, keep in mind these facts: A Kadota
orchard in full bearing must mature a crop 4 1 /2 months each season, and a
tonnage practically three times that of any other fig orchard. Hence your
soil must either possess or be given more water than the soil of another orchard
to assist the tree in fulfilling her obligations.
Another thing: Remember, you cannot in any manner, shape or form in-
jure the tree or the fruit with an excess of water at any stage of the fruiting
season. So apply the water before and between crops, increase the growth
THE KADOTA FIG
of your tree, and every inch of new growth on every limb brings a new leaf,
and every leaf on new wood harbors a fig which will ripen that season; so
force the size and growth of your trees whenever possible.
All soils do not require the irrigation I give to my land, and each planter
can use judgment according to his conditions. In the growing season the
terminal bud should be kept unfolding into a new leaf. When that opera-
tion ceases, water is needed.
In my orchard of adobe land I irrigate late in April, or twice in May, and
twice in July after the June crop is gathered, and again between crops in
August and September if time permits. I force the growth and tonnage.
Pruning
By cutting back a newly planted fig tree to 1 or 12 inches from the
ground you induce a low dense growth near the ground that, as the tree ages,
permits of an easy and cheap method of gathering the fruit as above stated, and
you also cause the trunk or body of the tree to be at all times protected from
the elements, both winter and summer, and you also provide a dense shade
conserving the moisture inherently in the soil or added by irrigation. All varie-
ties of figs are improved by this method of pruning, and invariably a heavier
tonnage of fruit is thus secured.
For gathering figs ripened on the tree and fallen, the extremely low
branches may be removed to permit the small boy to rustle about under the
branches. But always bear in mind that our improving system of growing
orchards is getting us each year farther away from the old California system
of driving a six-horse team under the branches of our trees, and we are also
learning that intensive cultivation immediately under a fig tree is not essential
to growth or fruit.
The best bearing old fig tree we know anything of is one in door-yard,
fence corner or on ditch bank, where horse, teams or tractors never go.
The time is rapidly coming when all varieties of figs desired for drying
will be picked fresh from the tree, dehydrated, and otherwise handled in a
manner to cause California dried figs to become famed the world over. That
desired end will not be accomplished with our present methods. In connection
with that future prospect the pruning of all varieties of figs must be practiced
along the lines now accepted as the correct method for pruning the Kadola.
After planting cut tree back to 1 or 12 inches.
The second season shorten all growth to 1 6 or 18 inches and cut center
out. Third season shorten all growths to 1 2 or 18 inches.
The fourth season the growth of many branches should be cut back to
16 or 18 inches, as in previous seasons, with this difference: You are now
expecting to gather a considerable tonnage of fruit, and the branches which
have not made a growth to exceed 20 or 22 inches should not be disturbed
this season but should be permitted to remain to give you your June crop,
and may be shortened next season to proper length, and the greater growths
on the tree should all be cut away to within 1 6 or 18 inches of their union
with parent branch. In branching they will give you crops later in the season.
In the season to follow, as the tree increases in size and age, leave all
short growths for June fruit, and, unless you can cut away at least 6 inches
and retain required length of stub, do not cut. Small slender growths may
THE KADOTA FIG
Upper View Kadota Fig, 1O month* after planting, correctly pruned.
Lower View Kadota Fig, 22 month* after planting; 4 ft. lath indicates spread
of branches, correctly pruned.
THE KADOTA FIG
be retained as fruit producers and shortened or remoVed another season, for
you will always have plenty of cutting to do on sturdy growths.
Always keep the center of your tree open. The bigger the tree the
greater the opening should be. A crop will ripen in the center of an open
tree, and none to mention in a jungle.
Keep your trees low. Remove all upper branches that are out of easy
reach of a picker standing on a 4-foot ladder, or within reach of picker stand-
ing in the center of your tree.
Remove branches that grow into the ground. Cause your tree by priming
to have its greatest circumference at a point within reach of a picker of
Kadota Fig: Third pruning. 34 months after planting-. The "bush" effect, so
essential for economy in gathering fresh fruit, is being' obtained by cor-
rect pruning.
average height standing on the ground; curving inward and downward to-
ward the trunk, that lower branches may not grow to such an extent as to im-
pede picking when a ladder is used, and upper branches must be reached.
Study your tree; do not hesitate to remove a big branch to induce new
growths to take its place when it has outgrown its 'usefulness, and always
keep your trees low. Reducing height of tree eliminates the use of ladders to
a great degree and reduces cost of rathering fresh fruit, be it Smyrna, Mis-
cicn or Kadota.
Summer pruning by pinching off terminal bud is not good practice ; a cluster
of limbs will rpring out where the bud is pinched; cut away 6 or 8 inches or
more, and 1 mbs will come distributed along, back on the parent stock.
10
THE KADOTA FIG
This same tree, months after pruning. One may readily see the advantages
obtained by correct pruning, as contrasted with my older trees.
The old obsolete pruning of fig trees is merely a follow-up of pruning sys-
tems employed in New England and other sections, where a fruiting tree was
not a tree unless it was pruned up high enough to drive a horse and tall
harness-hames under the lowest branches and not knock the apples off.
A fig orchard should not be an orchard at all in the acceptance of the
term. It should be a "Fig Garden" and the trees should be "bushes," as they
are on the Island of Capri.
This past summer several of my 6J/2 year old figs measured 1 00 feet cir-
cumference of the branches. The bearing surface was immense. Others were
75 to 90 feet.
Closer planting, severe pruning and smaller bushes, and more tonnage per
acre, will be the practices in the near future of all varieties of figs.
The pruning of a Kadota orchard is the most essential as well as most
delicate task we have. The limb of a Kadota tree produces fruit for 18
months, and thereafter is a loafer in the tree, except at the extreme tips, or
becomes the medium for the production of other limbs that will bear fruit.
Consequently I practice the removal or shortening of all limbs past the
producing age. Cut a limb 1 8 inches from its junction with its parent and it
in turn becomes a parent for 3 or 5 newer limbs, all new wood and conse-
quently producers of fruit the season following pruning. They get to work
right now. They don't wait a year and then get busy.
THE KADOTA FIG
11
Kadotas produce an abundance of seasonal growth of 3 to 7 feet in
length. If not cut back next pruning season your trees will soon be full oi
long fishing poles and while your June crop will be reduced by shortening
back these long growths to 1 6 or 18 inches, the multitude of newer wood
resulting from the pruning vastly over-pays the losses occasioned by cutting,
and your tree is shaped better and a greater percentage of your fruit is
secured without the use of ladders.
In my orchard I found.it cost 43 per cent more to gather a given tonnage
of fruit by using ladders than the same tonnage gathered by standing on the
ground.
Furthermore, a Kadota tree should be kept pruned out in the center to
permit sun and air to enter, that a crop may be gathered from the inside
circumference of the tree as well as the outside circumference.
Conduct your pruning along these lines and increase your tonnage very
considerably.
Everyone has observed fig trees grown dense in the center, tall slender
limbs pushing up to the light and air at the extreme top of the tree and fruit-
ing only at that point, entirely out of reach of a picker.
Remember, a fig tree produces only on the tip ends, and on new wood,
and axiomatically your tonnage will increase with increasing new tips and
quantity of new wood, and the greater the outside diameter of your tree the
greater the tonnage you will gather. Observe photos herewith presented
showing trees six years of age measuring over 1 00 feet in outside circumfer-
ence of the branches.
Kadota Fig tree 5% years after planting. Observe the long, slender, non-
bearing limbs in this tree. Unwise pruning in first and second years per-
mitted this condition.
12
THE KADOTA FIG
Go and measure some 1 5 -year-old Smyrnas or Missions and find an equal
measurement and then observe methods of pruning practiced in the past, and
you will readily see where the crowning of any fig tree three feet or so from
the ground has caused the owner yearly losses which could and should have
been prevented. No tall tree can possibly have the bearing surface of one
crowned near the ground.
Same 5% year old tree, after pruning-. Observe the length of brush removed;
wasted tree energy due to imperfect early pruning.
Gathering, Packing and Shipping
When a Kadota fig orchard reaches a bearing age, it produces crops for
4J/2 months each season. The first crop begins to ripen on or before June 18
with us, and one season ripened the first week in June.
The fruit should be gathered while firm, yet fully matured and full
sugared. If it is good to eat off the tree it is ready for shipment. Otherwise
don't pick it, as it never puts on any sugar after being picked.
The June crop is not as good for Eastern shipment as subsequent crops,
as it is more watery.
After experimenting for four seasons on a basket to pick with we decided
upon a light galvanized oblong receptacle weighing 3 pounds, and one that
will la:t for many years. The basket is 3'/4 inches deep, 14 inches wide
and 18 inches long, with !4 inch iron bale with hook attached to center of
bale, to hook on limb of tree or on ladder. Each picker carries two baskets
into the orchard and when full uses a yoke to carry to packing shed. Each
basket when full contains 1 8 to 20 pounds net.
THE KADOTA FIG
13
We prefer 3-legged ladders, not to exceed 4 feet in height, for picking.
With experience will come care in the handling of the fruit. We break
the fig from the limb, by bending it in the opposite way from which it grows.
Cotton gloves are used after two or three days, as the milk of the stem will
cut the fingers. Keep gloves well washed. Scour baskets every night.
Never pinch or squeeze a fig but judge by color what to gather. Handle
with extreme care. Pick but one fig at a time and place carefully in the
backet.
Pick each tree every other day or every third day and gather all ripened
fruit every picking and keep trees clean.
Picking
In my June and August crops this season (1919) my pickers averaged
around 400 pounds daily to each man, yet 700 pounds were often gathered
by one picker. My trees are 6 years past in age, and by heavy pruning for
several seasons I have gotten them in fair shape for gathering, and have in
a measure overcome the original mistake of high pruning of tree when first
planted.
When my pickers come to the packing shed with a load of fruit, they
weigh up their baskets, chalk on the chart their weight of fruit, and each night
the tonnage gathered is reckoned up and each picker credited with his indi-
vidual tonnage, and as I paid pickers by the hour and also a bonus of j/J cent
Another 5^ year old Kailotn, not properly pruned first three years. Take
note of the wasted energy in the pruning; and poor shape of tree still.
14
THE KADOTA FIG
Kadota Fig*. Planted March, 1013. Photographed Dee. 4, 11)17
per pound for all he picked, everything worked smoothly and careless pickers
were weeded out and best men retained.
Packing
Experience is required -to pack successfully for Eastern shipments in re-
frigerator cars with grapes or other fresh fruits.
Place figs in airy part of car far removed from the ice. They mold
badly if on or against ice. Circulating air is preserving medium for fresh
figs in transit.
In packing-shed girls should use care in handling figs. Once picked up,
each fig should be placed immediately in box, either for local cannery or
more select fruit for the Eastern shipments.
The standard box view shown on page 32 is used for one layer fruit of
larger sizes. It contains 8 to 1 pounds net, according to size of figs used.
A layer of waxed paper is placed under and over the fruit. Five of these
boxes are covered and crated together when ready for refrigerator car.
The less classy figs of every other size are placed in deeper boxes without
regard, and delivered to your canner, by express or by auto truck with auxiliary
springs attached to fahe bottom of truck to minimize the jar and fret in
transportation. This false bottom is light and removable from truck and is
a wonder in saving the fruit. The canners separate sizes according to their
requirements. All soft and over-ripe figs are classed as seconds and are
packed for cannery in separate lug boxes and labeled as such and bring about
one-half the price of the solid figs. The girls become expert in the
selection of the three grades of figs, and if they are careless they should be
THE KADOTA FIG
15
Kadota Fig, 4^4 years after planting
replaced by others who use their heads all the time. The fruit is too valuable
and the growing industry too great to be injured in any manner by heedless
pickers and packers.
Carefully dry all figs too ripe for the canners.
Eastern Shipping
In shipping our figs to Eastern markets, we usually place from one to five
packages of 5 boxes each in the squeeze or brace of the car, where air
circulates freely and far removed from the ice. If the car is in motion all the
time the figs will stand 1 2 or 14 days shipment and have sold for fancy prices
1 7 days after being picked. Ten days is standard time to average Eastern
destination. During the war the congested railroad traffic caused the fruit
trains to stand still at times and the moisture-laden air of the cars caused the
figs to mold. Permit me to quote Prof. I. J. Condit, late horticultural ex-
pert of the University of California, now on the J. C. Forkner Fig Garden
staff at Fresno. He placed my figs in refrigeration last season in tempera-
tures of varying degrees up to the freezing point, and if my memory serves
me right he kept the figs not to exceed 7 days without molding at the most
favorable degree and others a lesser time. Had he possessed a refrigerator
containing a fan and circulated the air, I believe he could have kept the fruit
much longer. Probably 1 or 1 5 or 20 days even.
16
THE KADOTA FIG
My figs have been transported to Eastern Canada, as well as to all East-
ern seaboard cities, and have sold for prices ranging from 20 cents to 50
cents per pound, and were transported in ordinary iced cars, consuming 1 to
1 6 days in transit. Hence my deduction regarding circulation of air.
New York, Boston and Pittsburg in the East, and St. Louis in the West,
have proven my best markets, while Chicago has invariably been my poorest.
I am informed that our figs are retailed at 1 and 1 5 cents each and are
eaten out of hand by the consumer in these Eastern markets, and the average
person gets but a couple of figs fresh per season. The market is abso-
lutely undeveloped and entirely unlimited, and we in California will never
be able to supply the Eastern demand for our fresh article, even when the
welcome day arrives when we Kadota growers can load a full car of figs,
after effecting an organization of Kadota fig growers and shippers, and launch
a campaign of education in the East and forward our own fruit to our own
selling agency and distributor. After we have done these things, I doubt if
there be acres of land in California capable of bearing sufficient figs to pro-
duce a supply that will satisfy local canners and an educated consuming
public in the East. The prices will always be good and demand increasing
and prospects positively startling.
With our fresh fig industry only just born, yet so great is the demand by
the consuming public, both East and West, for fresh fig products, that we can-
not now and perhaps not for 25 years to come can we plant fast enough nor
Kadota
4^ years after planting
THE KADOTA FIG
17
acres enough to cause supply and demand to balance in that one branch alone ;
with only three short years to our credit we have now two San Francisco can-
ners buying our fruit, one in San Jose, one just established in the Forkner Fig
Gardens, Fresno, to handle Kadotas, one exclusively for Kadotas at Reedley,
one San Francisco firm located a one-unit cannery this season in a Kadota
orchard at Porterville, one at Armona, which cannery alone is asking for ten
times the Kadota tonnage now in existence, and one projected for Dinuba,
and another in Stanislaus, county. I can safely predict that wherever 100
acres or more of Kadotas are in bearing another cannery will be established
or, as in Porterville, a branch unit will be started by some firm operating
elsewhere.
In glass jars so wonderfully attractive is the fruit that it commands imme-
diate sale, almost regardless of price, and when eaten so exceptionally delicious
the flavor as to mortgage a consumer's pocketbook for life.
Canning
The canning of fresh figs deserves a chapter all to itself; space does not
permit me to so digress, however.
The marketing of ripe figs in glass and tin as preserved, jammed, spiced,
marmalade, candy, paste, cake filler, and other uses has been practiced for
some years by canners in Texas and Louisiana, where the drying of figs was
impractical, due to climatic conditions. They there used a fig known as Mag-
Kadota Fig, 4y z years after planting. Heavily irrigated firsl
feet circumference of bearing surface.
three years. 90
18 THE KADOTA FIG
nolia, which when compared with a Kadota is a vastly inferior product. Yet a
ready sale and increasing demand has always consumed their production.
Immediately canning of the Kadota began the trade clamored for that
beautiful and most truly delicious article and today, only three years since
the first Kadota was preserved in glass, a trade has become eztablished thai
absorbs immediately every jar processed and orders placed for ten times the
capacity of orchard supplies. We are totally unable to supply the demand at
present of even the few canners preserving our products.
While the Eastern markets pay splendid prices for our fresh Kadotas, yet
so insistent is the demand from preserving plants that this past season (1919) I
never shipped even one box East. Canners got them all; canners take all
sizes and utilize every pound produced, firm or over-ripe, and every evening the
day's pick is delivered to the preserving plant in perfect condition, there placed
in jars ranging in size from 4 figs as individual service jars, to 12 figs for
family use, and larger containers of tin for jams and fillers.
With a market embracing the whole United States and Canada, which is a
great consumer of sweets, and also Europe, where canning of figs is not prac-
ticed extensively, the future outlet at fancy prices for our Kadota fig crops is
assured.
Overproduction is an impossibilty
Peaches are raised and canned in every state in the Union and part of
Canada. There is no lack of a market at good prices to the grower of peaches.
Apples, the same, plums also, all fruits the same. Vegetables are grown and
canned everywhere. The demand increases, more canneries are being built
in every state. Overproduction seems improbable. City populations are grow-
ing rapidly. Country production areas, slowly. Demand seems to be out-
running production of the Nation. Better financial conditions call for better
food products. Consumption pnly awaits production.
Therefore with only a limited area in California growing the most de-
licious of all fruits the world produces, delivering to consumer in a package
sanitary and lasting, a delight to eye and palate, we in confidence may plant
to our greatest extent this superb fruit, fearing no competition, fearing no crop
failure, knowing that from planting the tree until crop harvesting we wait but
three short years; our golden future is certainly spanned by a rainbow of
splendid promise.
Prices, Fresh and Dry
I planted my orchard in 1913. In 1915 I packed my ripe figs in one-
layer boxes and shipped to Los Angeles and San Francisco. I soon found
the California consumers of fresh figs had been soured on white figs. They
perhaps had gotten too often Adriatics and Smyrnas that were sour or con-
tained mold and they were skeptical regarding the Kadota, which was new to
them. They demanded the black or blue fig long known to them; generally
the Mission variety.
I received from 8 to 1 2 cents per pound, but transportation, truckage and
commission ate up my profits. As my trees were young, the fruit was small,
they dried poorly and we had not discovered the canning demand at that time.
THE KADOTA FIG 19
So the next season, 1916, in August, I tried the Eastern shipment plan; it
worked beautifully and I received $2.30 per box for my first consignment;
that was an 8-pound box (net). My prices ranged from $1.75 to $2.50 per
box that season and but few were lost.
My dried figs that season sold at the regular Adriatic prices then prevail-
ing.
In 1917, I was shipping East also, but the Pacific Coast Syrup Company
of San Francisco had corttracted to take all my smaller figs at 6 1 /? cents f. o. b.
and furnished boxes and transportation.
In 1918, we again contracted with the canners, with prices on the June
crop at 6J/2 for firm fruit and 4 cents for seconds, and the crops following
July 1st brought 8 cents per pound, or $160.00 per ton.
Our 1919 contracts called for 8 cents per pound for all figs, big and little,
up to and including July 1 st, and all figs delivered thereafter bringing 9 cents
per pound, which means almost one cent per fig, or $180.00 per ton for our
fresh fruit. Opening prices, 1 920, are 1 cents for perfect fruit.
Because of the lack of tonnage of dry Kadotas, no special featuring of
them has been possible, to command a special price, because of the fact that
they never sour, split or mold; hence we receive regular Adriatic prices for
such tonnage as we offer for sale.
Drying
The Kadota fig will dry and fall from the tree exactly as do any of the
other varieties. They are not a good dried article until the tree is 4 or 5 years
of age, and full sugar, flavor and sizes are attained by the fruit.
The August and September crop may be caprified exactly as is the
Smyrna, and a heavier, sweeter, full-meated fig, filled with big, plump, fertile
seeds, is the result.
A caprified Kadota when ripening fails to take on the beautiful golden
color of the uncaprified fruit and remains until drying a decided green shade,
which fades away as drying progresses, leaving a very white, attractive and
delicious dried fig.
The University of California has furnished us with an analysis of our
caprified product and we have been enabled to compare these results with
the analysis of imported Smyrnas, finding from 3 to 1 2 per cent more sugar
in the California raised Kadota than is found in the imported Smyrna.
If Kadotas chance to be raised in remote locations and drying is desired
instead of fresh-shipping, the grower has it coming and going over planters
growing either Adriatic or Smyrnas, inasmuch as he raises a June crop which
he may dry and which the other white varieties do not produce, and while he
cannot caprify that crop, he may fertilize the August and September crops
and thereafter until November 1 5 continue to gather and dry additional
tonnage from his Kadotas at a season when the Smyrna and Adriatic have
ceared to produce.
In drying our figs by the present time-worn methods, we all over-dry
them, making tough, leathery fruit, neither attractive nor palatable, as com-
pared to what we could produce if we were to advance our methods in fig
production, as we have in all other commodities. I long for the day to come
when the dry-fig producers will achieve those commendable results.
20
THE KADOTA FIG
Even now we may finish drying our fruit in the shade, tray on tray or in
sheds, and by dipping our dried fruit in a 2 or 2J/29< salt solution and then
packing them temporarily in receptacles free from the infestation of the fig
pests, we will derive great good. Deliver early to the packers that they may
properly process and carton the fruit. For home supplies or for gifts to distant
friends, dip dry figs in boiling salt water (2 oz. salt to one gallon of water)
and immediately, while heated through and through and still dripping, place in
tins, press down lid, and seal with wax and the fruit will remain sterilized,
moist and perfect for years. Even card-board, wax-dipped, or empty coffee tins
are very good.
Under the above caption I ask my readers to permit me a little digression.
From earliest childhood I have loved the fig, and worshiped the spreading fig
tree. Location and climatic conditions in my boyhood home made impossible
the successful growing of the commercial fig, yet distance did not discourage
my intimacy with the occasional fig tree planted by the early Spanish settlers
in my California birthplace. I knew every tree, its actions and production
for 20 miles on every side. Their lack of care and protection hurt me as the
suffering of a little child. The balsam-like odors of the old fashioned tree,
that filled the coft and balmy summer nights, was rarest perfume to me, and
no fruit that grows is half so delicate and delicious to my man-grown fancy
as was the ofttimes stolen fruit of those lonesome and neglected fig groups.
In rocky canyon beside the clear cold springs, or in valleys, near adobe-walled
home of Spaniard or Forty-niner, then stood and yet stand today these monu-
ments to our early settlers. Ever they bear and ever as sweet as then. With
sadness and sorrow have I sat my little mustang pony under the shadows of
Six year old Kadota. Picker gathering 1 fresh fruit
THE KADOTA FIG 21
the first California Smyrna figs grown and opened with jack-knife fig after
fig, and meditated why it was not matured. No one could help me guess,
and no wasp was there; the sweet old Mission was ever true and kind to boy-
hood appetite. The splitting and souring of Adriatic added only another
burden then to my struggling imagination, why such delicious products of
earth were not perfect.
As a boy with pockets ever stocked with sun-dried figs, when chance or
season permitted, I have come down the years into the fig game proper, and
still the longing for a better product holds upper sway in my thoughts. Then
as now, I longed for a better fruit.
The sun-dried fig must go its way. There are better and surer methods
yet to be practiced. Only by organization and co-operation will this desired
goal be reached.
Little is it realized by the fig men of California that in their very midst
is that force of mind and money working day and night that will raise to the
very forefront the fig industry of Central California and place it in years to
come second to none in the wondrous products of our soil and climate. That
force of brains, genius and irresistible progress is now seen but not recognized
in the Forkner Fig Gardens Company, who slowly passed the silver wand,
tipped with the golden eagle, over the desert acres north of the city of Fresno,
and baby fig orchards spring into the warming sunshine, and far as eye can
reach still other gardens come. With the maturing of these wondrous acres
will come into existence through the ability, brains and money of those gifted
men, a knowledge of figs not dreamed before, and by them methods will be
employed that will shame our best products of today and make them seem
crude indeed.
Accumulated by that body of men is knowledge of the past, all the
wisdom of the present, aspirations for the future and betterment of this age-
old but neglected industry, and sure as the passing of the seasons all fig
growers will benefit from the studies and experiments of those men. Quality
will follow production, and perfection will be their goal, that the products
of these fig gardens when offered to the consuming public be not alone . a
pleasure and a joy but a combination of food and confection. The perfection
in handling figs which these men will achieve will practically eliminate
European competition, but with the passing of that menace must also pass
our present crude and unsatisfactory practices.
The dry fig of the future will be hand-picked from low-crowned
modern-grown orchards, the full-sugared jelly-ripe fruit, blanched and made
tender by super-heated steam, dehydrated by methods other than sun-heat;
and the finished product semi-transparent, retaining full weight, flavor and
delicacy, will be offered to the ever-increasing trade, in tasty, attractive forms,
and for distant consumption, packed in glass and tin, sterilized and sealed,
where deterioration cannot occur and time will occasion no loss. Such a
product cannot be produced in California in quantity to meet demand, and
over-production will be the mirage that fades into thin air.
Improved methods in production of all commodities have always proven
cheaper than the crude methods employed by the pioneer in any project, and
the betterment of the fig product will be no exception.
22 THE KADOTA FIG
The saving in weight by hand-picking eliminating other losses now sus-
tained, will meet additional cost of preparation, and improvement of finished
product will naturally bring sufficiently better prices to meet all expenses,
and with organization will follow the elimination of one or more middlemen
between producer and consumer, and lessened cost to consumer will be at-
tended with increased consumption. The world must look to California
alone for this betterment in figs, and from the Forkner gardens may we expect
these changes to be inaugurated, where knowledge, modern methods, or-
ganization and money are incorporated and aided by science and skill.
Returns per acre to date
As my orchard was planted in March, 1913, it is but six and a hall
years of age at the present writing. It is on heavy land and has had good
care. As I chanced to be a pioneer in the growing of this fig, I could obtain
no advice on its habits and no man could aid me. Methods formerly used
were considered practical and proper, and while debating planting methods
one man of experience said: "Oh, a fig is a fig; they're all alike."
Right there my mistakes and troubles started and I am paying the bills
now and will for years to come pay for my ignorance in my older orchard.
Fortunately I can save to all others now labor, years and money. What I
have written and spoken in the past few years has been the results obtained
from actual experience, some of it sad and very expensive.
As a result of my mistakes the financial returns herewith presented from
my orchard are necessarily less than I could expect to obtain now under
similar conditions, now that our knowledge of this fig has vastly broadened.
I planted my orchard 36 x 36 or 34 trees per acre instead of 25 x 25 or
69 trees per acre. In 1915 I grossed about $20 per acre or 60 cents per
tree. In 1916 I "netted" $74.00 per acre or about $2.00 per tree. In
1917 I grossed $125.00 per acre or $3.70 per tree, and it rained for
several weeks, making picking in my adobe land impossible. Losses were
considerable.
In 1918 I grossed $198.00 per acre of 2754 pounds, or
$5.82 per tree of 81 pounds, and hot winds in June caused a loss, and the
continued rains in the autumn made picking impossible for over three weeks.
Our 1919 crop in June netted 2125 pounds per acre or $1 70.00, which was
$5.00 per tree. Three blazing hot weeks in July with temperature ranging
from 100 to 118 in the shade set a new heat record for our section and all
figs and fruits suffered. Our season's record was cut down 50 r / f earlier esti-
mates and our orchard grossed us $13.10 per tree. Earlier estimates were
$25.00 per tree.
The above prices were obtained while we were experimenting in growing,
pruning and marketing. All that is now saved the grower of the future, and
had our orchard been planted at the now approved distances of 25 x 25 or
69 trees per acre, even under the handicaps we were compelled to overcome
the results should have stood something like this:
Third summer, $41.40 per acre.
Fourth summer, $138.00 per acre.
Fifth summer, $255.00 per acre.
THE KADOTA FIG
23
Sixth summer, $401.58 per acre.
Seventh summer, $903.90 per acre.
To the fig grower of other varieties these figures may seem absurd, but
he must remember we are dealing with something newer, and marketed in a
different manner than anything of which we have ever had knowledge in
the past.
Six year old Kadota. Correctly pruned In first three years.
The following letter speaks for itself. It reads in part as follows:
1961 Wilcox Ave., Hollywood, Calif., October 15, 1917.
Mr. W. Sam Clark, Sultana, Calif.
Dear Sir: I have read and re-read your article in the proceeding of
the Fig Institute of January, 1917. I have a small orchard of Kadota Figs,
which I planted twelve years ago, having secured my rootings from Mr.
Stephen H. Taft as you did. I knew when you secured your rootings, some
years ago. I am experimenting with intensive cultural methods with this
fig. * * * When my trees were six years old, I sold my entire crop
green to Hotel Alexandria for twenty cents per pound. In September of
that year I sold $100.50 green figs from my six trees. * * * By my
methods of culture many of my figs attain a size of one-fourth to one-third
and some almost one-half pound EACH. * * * One year I sold my
24 THE KADOTA FIG
entire crop to Hotel Angelus at fifteen to twenty-five cents per pound, selling
700 pounds from my six trees, averaging twenty cents per pound season
average (average $23.20 per tree).
Other seasons have sold entire crop in bulk off the trees to Lankershim,
Van Nuys and Beverly Hills Hotels at a flat rate of twelve and a half cents
straight. * * * By intensive culture my figs on the extreme six-inch tip
of the limbs attain immense size and crowd one another off, there being ten
to fifteen figs clustering on extreme tip of the limb. * * * I prune my
trees back very severely to permit of green picking, as I don't like to climb
to the clouds to gather my figs. * * * I have a few rootings for sale,
my price, like Mr. Taft's, being fifty to seventy-five cents, and for especially
fine trees I have received as high as $2.00 each.
Respectfully,
JOHN H. OLIVER.
The Prospects of the Kadota Fig
W. SAM CLARK
(Paper at Fig Institute, 1919)
By the prospect of any undertaking we mean, in reality, the possibilities
which that undertaking holds in store for its promoters. To gain a view in
the mind's eye of the prospect or possibility of any undertaking we must in a
great measure be guided by what has transpired in the past, regarding that
same object, and we say the prospects are either good or poor.
Regarding the Kadota fig we are compelled, most emphatically, to
pronounce the prospects good.
We may say in all truth and sincerity that, judging the future by the
short past, these prospects exceed all our expectations, and even our fondest
hopes bid fair to be out-realized.
In speaking of the Kadota fig I refer only to that fig distributed by the
late Stephen H. Taft and named by him, to distinguish this strain from sev-
eral other varieties, now ofttimes being marketed under the popular name of
Kadota; therefore planters should be absolutely sure of the origin of the
rootings they set out.
A few years ago the Kadota was an experiment. Today it is an ac-
complished fact. It has sprung to the very head of every fig in its class, and
we might say it is almost in a class by itself; yet in some respects it overlaps
the granted prerogatives of some of the older varieties. I refer now to its
caprifying and drying qualities. I will dwell upon these points a little later.
THE KADOTA FIG 25
In speaking of the prospects of this fig we must base our statements and
expectations upon its record in California during the last ten years, since it
was introduced and distributed.
Advantages
First of all, we have a fig of wonderful growing habits; it outstrips by
far all others.
Secondly, we have a fig that bears in its tender infancy. From planting
to crop gathering is but a very few short years.
Third, we have a fig which, under proper care and cultivation in the
San Joaquin Valley, ofttimes attains a size of 3 and 3J/2 inches in diameter,
while from about Los Angeles even larger sizes are reported. Not all the
figs on every tree are thus in size, neither are all the figs extremely large on
any other variety of fig tree. The Kadota in reality has three sizes, and each
has its particular market.
Fourth, we have a fruit in demand in many markets. By that I mean
we have a fruit for canning and preserving in many forms, and a fig for long
distance shipment to the Atlantic seaboard and to population centers impos-
sible of fig production.
Fifth, we have a variety here that bears a tremendous crop four and
one-half months every summer. The cycle of its ripening period is roughly
30 days, shading slightly either way according to weather conditions, the
first cycle being in June, the others August, September, October and Novem-
ber 15th.
Sixth, this fig is now succeeding in any soil and under nearly all con-
ditions in the Valley where any of the older varieties now succeed, and is
proving as hardy under extreme cold and drouth as any of the others, and it
leads them all when early rains come. For rains, fog and dampness are no
disaster to this variety. These conditions simply retard ripening and the crop
awaits return of normal weather conditions and continues its ripening, until
the November cold closes the season.
May be Caprified
While this fig is primarily a green shipper and a canning and fresh
eating fig, second to none ever grown, yet this fact remains: So easily are
they caprified that a grower may fertilize his August crop, gather it as any
other dried fig crop, and, when the Capri wasp is no longer obtainable, he
may resume his green shipping for two and one-half months longer.
As the Kadota fig has never under any circumstances been known to
sour, split or contain mold of any kind, the dry article is most satisfactory for
all purposes, and when caprified and mixed with dried Symrnas experts assure
me they cannot separate the varieties.
26 THE KADOTA FIG
Results of Caprifying
While on this subject of the dry and caprified Kadota fig, permit me to
read to you extracts from a communication I received some time since from
Prof. I. J. Condit of the University of California on this subject:
"Fresh Kadota figs caprified were received from you August 22, 1918.
I made the following notes on these specimens; the exterior appearance of the
two are markedly different.
"First, the color of the uncaprified Kadota is a light golden-yellow, and
the surface is somewhat glossy; the color of the caprified Kadota is green or
yellowish-green, and the surface is dull.
"Second, the ribs of the uncaprified fruit are practically absent and un-
noticeable; in the caprified fruit the ribbed appearance, especially in the
wilted specimens, being netted and roughened, by the slightly elevated longi-
tudinal cross-veins.
"Third, the meat or rind seems to be little affected in thickness or tex-
ture. Whether the naturally excellent keeping and shipping qualities are im-
paired by caprification I cannot say.
"Fourth, the uncaprified Kadota is practically seedless, or the seeds are
so small and so few in number as to be hardly noticeable. The seeds in the
caprified Kadota are numerous, fairly large, and, of course, fertile.
"Fifth, the difference in flavor is distinct, the caprified fruit being
sweeter and richer. Tests of the sugar content (Balling) were made with
Prof. Cruess' assistance, with the following results: caprified figs, 35.2%;
uncaprified figs, 28.4%.
"Three figs were weighed, and the fertile seeds in each counted, with
the following results:
(1 ) 25.5 gr 544 fertile seeds
(2) 31.5 gr 412 fertile seeds
(3) 30 gr 402 fertile seeds
Now follows a letter to Prof. Condit from Prof. M. E. Jaffa, dated
Dec. 15, 1917, regarding "Dried Kadota Figs":
"Mr. Albro has determined the percentage of sugar and moisture in
the two samples of Kadota figs, which you left with us, with the following
results :
Kadota Figs
Caprified Uncaprified
Water 22.57% 25.75%
Total sugar 75.36 68.16
Comparison with Foreign Figs
The above results, as I have presented them to you, are from our
University professors, upon the Kadota fig both fresh and dry. Now permit
me to give you for a comparison the analysis of the Smyrna and other Euro-
pean imported figs dry, as reported by Dr. Gustav Eisen in his volume en-
titled "The Fig, Its History, Culture and Curing."
THE KADOTA FIG 27
On page 285 we find his analysis of California-grown Adriatics as
57% sugar, and that of imported Smyrnas at 62.50%; a second sample of
Smyrnas he records as having 72.53^ sugar. His first analysis of the im-
ported Smyrna, you will observe, falls short of the Kadota exactly 1 2.86%
in sugar, and his second sample is shy 3%, in favor of the Kadota. On
page 287 of this book, Dr. Eisen gives us the analysis of fourteen other
varieties of dried figs raised in the various fig-growing sections of the world
and only three of the fourteen exceed in sugar content the Kadota, as pre-
sented by our University professors. I had no statistics at hand regarding
the Smyrna fig of California, so could not make a comparison. But, as we
out-sugar the Smyrna figs of Asia Minor, "we should worry."
Gathers Golden Crop from Trees in November
From FIG & OLIVE JOURNAL
[November, 1918]
Having heard much in favor of the Kadota fig and being rather im-
pressed by the good accounts given by those who were engaged in its culture,
the publisher of the Journal gave himself a treat by visiting recently the
Kadota orchard of Mr. W. Sam Clark, near Sultana.
After seeing what we did on that enjoyable occasion it is in order for
us to say that our previous ideas regarding the Kadota were far short of
the realities that faced us when we stood in Mr. Clark's orchard and
viewed his magnificent trees, loaded with fruit that is hardly to be described
as being less than the concentrated essence of flavor and sweetness. This,
mind you, at a time of the year when it is about impossible to secure an
eatable fresh fig in all the length and breadth of the San Joaquin Valley.
Truly, the Kadota seems to be a perpetual bearer, for the trees in this
orchard were full of figs in every stage of development from those just out
of the bud to fully ripened figs heavy with sugar. Only the coming of frost
will put an end to the harvesting of the fruit, we are told, and even then the
trees will carry a crop that, if harvested from the average orchard, would
mean prosperity for the owner.
Mr. Clark is busy shipping his present crop of Kadotas to a large
packing concern in San Francisco, which uses the fruit for preserving, a
purpose to which the Kadota lends itself with all the success attending the
famous Magnolia fig of Texas, heretofore the recognized standard of excel-
lence in this line of fancy products.
Since early last June Mr. Clark has gathered from his trees, at intervals
of about thirty-five days, successive crops of high-grade figs that have sold
at splendid prices. The Kadota bears throughout the season in cycles, Mr.
Clark explains, and each cycle occupies about thirty-five days. This continues
until the winter's cold will no longer permit the fruit to mature, and surely
no one could reasonably ask for a longer season than this.
From what we have seen of the Kadota fig on the Clark place we are
convinced of these facts: The trees make a prodigious growth, far out-
rtripping any other fig we have seen; they bear exceedingly early, a tree
eighteen months from the planting bearing in many instances as much as
thirty to forty pounds of edible figs; the fruit is of good size and literally as
28
THE KADOTA FIG
Picking basket and fresh fruit. Basket 14x19 inches by 3% inches deep. Light
galvanized iron. Easily kept clean and sanitary and very durable; weight
:'.'_ pounds; 18 pounds fresh fruit.
THE KADOTA FIG 29-
sweet as sugar; there is no evidence whatever that 'the Kadota either splits
or sours, as do so many other varieties, and finally, it seems to us, the ideal
green shipper and preserving fig has been discovered in this variety.
Clark Orchard has Wealth of Kadotas
From FIG & OLIVE JOURNAL
[July, 1919]
W. Sam Clark has been more than busy with his Kadota fig crop on
his place near Sultana, the first crop being a large one and in much demand
for green shipment. The later crop, now showing in a well-developed stage
on the trees, promises to be a record-breaker. The trees, though young, none
of them being more than six years old, are fairly covered with young figs.
Mr. Clark has been most successful in disposing of his Kadotas for good
prices to the preserving concerns, as well as finding a remunerative market
in the larger cities where he has been consigning the fruit intended for fresh
consumption. After a recent visit to the Clark orchard we would say that,
under present conditions in the fig business, the owner has the nearest thing
to a gold mine that we know of. For thrifty growth, healthy appearance
and yield of fruit the orchard of W. Sam Clark is probably unequaled in
California.
Mission on the Borders
Regardless of what may be grown upon your land, borders should be
planted to figs ; avenues, roads and by-ways should be lined with fig trees, not
alone from financial views, but to add beauty and attractiveness to your prop-
erty.
The tremendous rooting habits of a fig permit it to reach out great dis-
tances and gather tree and fruit food from the soil otherwise lost to the owner.
The roads and avenues of California are so numerous and generous in
width that vast acreages in the aggregate are lost to the state as producing
agencies unless employed by the use of the fig. Nothing can be more pleasing
to the eye than an avenue of great spreading fig trees, laden with luscious fruit,
during the heat of summer.
No money comes to a land-owner that is as near "velvet" as the returns
of the fruit from these borders of fig trees. There are many cases that mav
be cited in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys where the entire running
expenses of the enclosed areas are more than balanced by the returns from the
crop of dry figs gathered from these border plantings. All produced, we may
assume, from land otherwise lost to the owner. It is strongly advisable in the
majority of cases that the Mission fig be planted as a border tree.
This fig requires no caprification, no special care, the fruit in drying falls
and is cheaply gathered, and invariably finds a ready sale on a market be
coming greater each season. This fig is rapidly becoming a great favorite, du*
to its splendid flavor, and absence of sour and splits, and its uses are more
varied than any other dried fig of commerce.
The consuming public throughout the United States and Canada are
being educated to the uses of this fig and no mistake can be made in planting
it on borders and ditch banks.
30 THE KADOTA FIG
The difficulty of caprifying the Smyrna, when thus planted, and the
trouble and expense of gathering the Kadota when planted in border form,
leave us no other choice of varieties that will even remotely produce financial
returns equal to those obtained in the use of the Mission.
On every hand we see grand old Mission trees producing great crops
year after year, no cultivation or care ever given, little or no irrigation prac-
ticed, yet with every neglect they never fail in leaf or crop.
Smyrna
Next in order in the drying fig from point of income we must place the
Smyrna of the Lob-Injir variety. Of the white dry figs nothing ever
has been or probably ever will be produced equal to a perfect Smyrna fig.
There is not now planted in California sufficient acreage of Smyrnas to proper-
ly supply the markets of the very near future. The beauty of this fig in its
various forms of pack; its flavor and general excellence create for it a
permanent place in the favor of all consumers the world over.
'Tis hard to conceive an overproduction of this fruit. To the intending
planter, however, who is not definitely wedded already to this fig of commerce,
I would suggest that he duly consider his soil, climatic conditions, including
regular or sporadic breezes in the pollenizing seasons, and supplies of capri figs
of his own or from other orchards.
Intelligent and careful consideration of soil for successful propagation of
the Smyrna fig of a quality to meet importation competition will probably re-
veal to the investigator that much of the splitting and subsequent losses of this
fig is due largely to a lack of moisture in the soil at a critical period in its
growth; soils whose composition are such as to permit of the evaporation
of the last irrigation, or moisture supply from other sources permit (when
unusual periods of heat occur) the evaporation of moisture exactly when most
needed.
The leaves of the tree draw heavily upon the stored moisture in the soil
and it is lost in various ways before the growing and swelling fruit can secure
sufficient to meet its requirements. Hence a stagnation in growth temporarily
occurs, the skin of the fruit toughens or hardens, and upon cool weather return-
ing, or an additional supply of moisture otherwise occurs, a rush of sap to
the fruit results and the skin of the fruit cannot expand and splitting
follows, exactly in proportion to the duration of the privation the fruit pre-
viously sustained. A hot summer following a dry winter gives us our worst
losses in Smyrnas from splitting, and sudden coolness following intense heat
produces the same result.
It is my opinion that the souring of the Smyrna fig may be traceable to
the same conditions as the splitting.
It is my belief based on observation only, that there is a critical period
in the development of this fig, when, if a sudden flow of sap be diverted from
the tree and leaf "to the fruit," by coolness of the days and nights, and the
evaporation just preceding the coolness is stopped, the excess sap permit-
ted to go to the fruit cannot in so short a time become converted into sugar, and
while that slow process is taking place fermentation sets in and vinegar forms
and we have our sours.
THE KADOTA FIG 31
I have no way of proving my assertions in this hiatter and my opinions
may find opposition in the investigations of others. However, I have observed
that water slightly sweetened will sour quickly and water heavily impregnated
with sugar is slow to sour, and that figs that form and ripen before a hot spell
seldom sour and split, and that immediately upon the return of cool weather
following the hot spell, splitting and souring immediately occur.
Soil very retentive of moisture regardless of weather conditions in my
opinion will produce figSvless likely to sour and split. Hence soil composition
enters into the game very prominently.
A Smyrna fig grower, having secured capri figs ready to liberate wasps
in plenty, with necessary pollen, and finds his Smyrna figs are also in a re-
ceptive condition, dreads to see a wind storm, regular or sporadic, come
along, as his little benefactors are blown, scattered and lost, and eventually
he may not fertilize over 80 per cent of the figs set upon his trees.
Smyrna figs on borders are harder to pollenize than a block of trees set
in rectangular form, as above named conditions make it difficult to retain the
wasps. In my opinion more cash returns will always be obtained from border
planting if the Mission fig be planted instead of the Smyrna.
Adriatic
Planting of Adriatics in the past has been a profitable procedure, but
no consideration was given the soil for this variety, consequently we find it
growing everywhere, and in the majority of cases the fruit sours, splits, molds,
and has brought the name of California dry figs into disrepute in Eastern
markets where it is sold in competition with the imported Smyrna.
The Pure Food Law has been invoked in the season past and a serious
loss to growers was averted only by the leniency with which the law was
applied. In the seasons to come no such leniency may be expected and the
financial returns to growers of Adriatics will be seriously affected.
Intending planters of this variety should determine in advance that they
have the soil wherein this fig will mature and be a perfect fruit; so few and
far between are these areas that we may almost class the Adriatic as a forbid-
den variety.
Land is too valuable and time too precious and other varieties too plentiiul
to take a chance in planting a variety which offers so little for the future.
Aside from the soil, a cool damp night, a fog or rain plays the mischief with a
crop of Adriatics. The salvation of the older Adriatic orchards will probably
be found in caprifying the fruit, gathering it fresh as is done with Mission and
Kadotas, and employing dehydration methods to produce a better dried fig. A
very creditable article may thus be obtained and confiscation under the Pure
Food Law be averted.
The older methods employed in the past must surely be abandoned.
Large quantities of Adriatics will in the future be consumed in canning and
preserving plants and factories, and pruning to permit fresh picking must be
practiced.
32
THE KADOTA FIG
THE KADOTA FIG 33
Description of Kadota Fruit
The fruit of the Kadota fig is rather of the oblong type, yet specimens
very flat often occur. The color is golden yellow, tinting to green, and
reaches its perfection in color and flavor in August and September of each
year. Earlier and later fruit due to climatic conditions shade less to golden.
The texture of the skin is very "elastic," which virtue added to the solid for-
mation of the interior of the fruit makes possible the fresh fig being shipped in
refrigerator cars to Eastern seaboard cities and also Eastern Canadian destina-
tions.
On young trees, the second summer after planting, a crop of figs may
be gathered small in sizes and lacking in flavor, but very sweet.
The absence of seeds, or rather the infinitely small size of the seed found
in a Kadota fig, is the secret of this fig's long distance shipping. The fruit is
not broken in transit by the incessant jar of a car, as the seeds having no weight
do not break down the tissues and cause the fruit on arrival at destinations to
be classed as a "leaker," as is the usual case with other varieties when their
long distance shipment is attempted.
In the Eastern shipment of the Kadota we have secured fancy prices even
though the figs have been 1 7 days in transit. That is an exceptional case,
however, as 1 to 14 days is usually the limit. The circulation of air in a
car containing figs is an absolute essential, and if any delay in transit is occa-
sioned, the air becoming stagnant, molding of the fruit will invariably follow.
As I have said before, young trees bear a crop of small-sized, well-col-
ored figs, yet as the trees increase with age the size of the fruit also increases
until the fifth or sixth year, at which age the maximum sizes seem to have
been attained, and perfection of the fruit in color and flavor has been secured.
With the age of tree and size of the fruit comes also the sealing of the
fig at the blossom end. A drop of clear, slightly sweetened wax will then fill
the eye of the fig, the wax hardening and thus absolutely sealing the fig against
the intrusion of insect and moisture, insuring the consumer of this fig, either
fresh or dry, a perfect product, which may be eaten out of hand or in cooked
forms, there being removed the fear that something undesirable may be con-
sumed with the fig.
There is another point regarding this fig which I wish to emphasize right
here. No Kadota fig up to the present time has ever been known to sour, split,
or contain black mold. Hence, a consumer need never fear of biting into a
big luscious fig and find the interior filled with a googling mass of vinegar cr
a bunch of black mold, and a grower can safely plant and grow this fruit
without the haunting fear that his land or some portion of it will cause his
future crops to be unmarketable, or at least cause him a partial loss of profits.
He also is in a great measure insured against adverse weather conditions, as
rain, fog, or dew have but little bearing on the harvesting of the crop. Rain
will delay the ripening and perhaps delay the picking of a few figs at that time
ready for market, and the return of favorable weather means a resumption of
gathering and marketing of the fruit.
Young trees produce small fruit, of a size and color greatly desired by
canners and preservers, as well as confectioners for glace and candy pur-
34
THE KADOTA FIG
THE KADOTA FIG 35
poses. As the orchard increases in age, an increase in size of fruit occurs, until
the fifth and sixth summers find figs of the genuine Kadota in size equal to the
largest of figs grown. Figs of 3 inches to 3J/4 inches in diameter occur and
extreme sizes weigh 3 to the pound, and in my own orchard four and five
figs to the pound are not infrequent in June and early August crops. Later in
the season slightly smaller sizes occur until October, when, in favorable
seasons, large figs again develop. However, only about 10% of any crop is
extreme in size, while perhaps 60% is medium and 30% small in sizes. Each
size has a special market and all are in growing demand.
A genuine Kadota fig that is uncaprified is of a golden yellow color,
shiny as though varnished, solid in fruit and very sweet and of pleasing flavor
differing from that of any other variety.
The skin does not prick or burn the lips, and is very pleasing in taste,
making it unnecessary to remove the skin for eating out of hand or serving
on the table, with cream and sugar, or crushing to serve with ice cream.
The seeds being infinitely small are not detected while being eaten and
that factor adds to the joy of eating this fig by people who have a plate or
whose teeth are otherwise troublesome. The fig being solid within is conse-
quently a heavy fruit, hence the returns from a tree loaded with fruit is greater
than would be suspected.
Climatic conditions cause a variation in this fig not observable in others.
Coastal regions produce no June crop and the size of the fruit in August is
greater than the interior valleys produce. The color is likewise different. Less
of the golden color is found, but more shades of green occur. Imperial Valley
grows a smaller fruit than any other section of which I have knowledge; the
color is golden, however. The moisture content is less and the drying fruit
is hard and unsatisfactory. The San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys will
eventually produce the choicest of this delicacy.
The caprified Kadota is vastly different from the uncaprified, and is
green in color when ripened, the interior being a deep shade of red, the seeds
large and heavy, the sugar content increased, and general appearance radically
differing from the uncaprified.
Caprification does not cause an increase in size of fruit: however, in-
crease in freight being noticeable, both fresh and dry. The fruit of the June
crop is found on the tips of the growth of the preceding season and from four
to ten figs will be clustered on the terminal of a limb, and as the sizes increase
they press into one another, making a great cluster of golden colored fruit, very
beautiful and spectacular.
The crops in following months are on tips of new growth and scattered
along down the branch, a fig invariably occurring at the axel of each leaf
which grows as the limbs extend in length. Consequently every new leaf
harbors a fig and a continuous crop occurs throughout the ripening season.
Description of Tree and Habits
The Kadota tree in leaf and form resembles in many respect three other
varieties of figs long grown in California and elsewhere, and this resemblance
has occasioned a sad mixture in orchards desired by growers to be true Kadota.
The tree is an upright grower of wonderous thrift and vigor, and unless
intelligently pruned from its very infancy will fail to make the desired shaped
36 THE KADOTA FIG
tree and produce the maximum crop of which it is capable. Its vitality and
tenacity almost invariably produce a 100% stand wherever the rootings are
planted. So sure is its growth that in my nursery business I invariably guar-
antee to replace all stock which fails to grow, and return all money paid for
such rootings regardless of soil conditions if the planting occurs before March
/5th. Strong alkali land is the exception to my guarantee, although we have
thriving Kadota orchards in land considered alkaline.
The leaves on the tree differ vastly in form one from another. Some
are five-lobed, some only three, and again no lobes at all appear, being a very
large oval-shaped leaf, some being of enormous size in thrifty trees.
This fig has proven to be as frost resistant as any other grown in Cali-
fornia, and even more so than the more tender varieties young Mission, for
instance. Excessive frosts have frozen Kadota orchards to the ground, yet
they come up again. In my own case, on one plot of eight acres in the spring
of 1917, I found not a sign of life on any tree above the ground, yet not a
single tree had to be replaced, as 1 00% came from the roots and is now as
splendid an orchard as can be found in the State.
How to Plant
In preparing your land for planting you will find this system, as I have,
in many respects superior to any of the many other systems now in use. By
this system you may level in one section of your field, blast or plant in any
ether, and no operation will interfere with any of the others simultaneously
performed.
The correct tree location may instantly be determined regardless of what
section of the field you may be standing in at the time. To use this system,
determine your tree distances with wire or tape, either on your own borders
or just outside your own property or area to be planted. Place whitewashed
lath or 4 ft. stakes at] proper distances entirely around future orchard loca-
tion outside of planting area. Next, quarter your area with a similar row of
stakes, NOT where trees are to be planted, but somewhere between rows.
Now step into any quarter of your location, the northwest for instance.
Use your shovel-handle to help you line up the stakes numbered in this dia-
gram for demonstration purposes, looking east, 24 and 13. Then looking
south, line up 35 and Eye, (I) and you have W as correct location for that
particular tree.
Next, go into the southeast quarter, look north and line up 38 and E,
and looking west you get 33 and 1 1 in line, and the exact position for that
tree is accurately determined, marked Z.
Any other tree location in the entire orchard may as readily and with
absolute accuracy be found.
You may be planting, blasting, scraping or plowing in any of the four
quarters at the same time and no operation need interfere with any other.
Leave the entire staking system in place until the last tree is planted.
If a stake becomes knocked down it may accurately be replaced, as
you have two other stakes to realign it with in replacing.
By this system much worry and annoyance may be avoided, as no little
stakes are used and no planting board, and your orchard will always be in
perfect alignment, even though your land may be rough, rolling or on a
hillside.
THE KADOTA FIG 37
Clark Method of Laying off Tract for Planting.
North
A B C D E F G
i ~" i i i i
i-
23-
-12
W
2-
24-
-13
3-
25-
-14
4-
26-
-15
5-
27- ?
-16
34 35 36 37 38 39 40
W 6-
...
-17E
7-
29-
-18
8-
30-
-19
Y
9-
31 -
-20
10-
32-
-21
z
11 -
33- r
-22
HI J K L M N
South
38
THE KADOTA FIG
KADOTA FIGS
\.ii.'c size of silver dollar as contrasted with >ix- of
golden yellow and glossy as though varnished.
lift's. The fruit is a
THE KADOTA FIG 39
Frozen Nursery Stock
As I said in another portion of this book, the planter would do well to
know the habits of his nurseryman. But very few of the average nurserymen
know as much about fig nursery stock as they do of other varieties. They do
not, as a rule, appreciate the extreme delicacy of the roots of the baby hg
trees they are selling. A breath of hot or dry air will injure them, and the
most extreme care should be exercised at all times in their handling. Exposed
to the sun, they are injured or killed. Exposed to frost, the same results occur.
Frost will injure a nursery-bed, and the trees, large and small, may be
so chilled, if not actually frozen, as to be almost useless. A frozen rooting
will show the top black, and, at times, bent over. At only a short space at
the top may this be noticeable, and while the buds are bright and green in
appearance all down the tree, yet it may be frozen to the roots.
Let the planter take his knife, and with the small blade cut into and
upward deeply in the bark of the stick. Now press the portion so cut DOWN
and back into place. If milk issues from the wound, that part of the stick on
down to the roots is uninjured. If nothing issues from the wound, or only a
little watery substance, you may rest assured that from the incision upward to
the top, the tree is frozen. The tree may be frozen only a portion of its
length, and by so prospecting downward you may determine exactly the
point where the tree should be cut off and waxed over.
In the case of the Kadota, it should be cut to within 1 or 12 inches
from the ground when planted, and if frosted the frozen part is thus cut away.
In any event, the stick should be cut on down until the milk will flow freely,
even though it should be necessary to cut it off level with the ground, in which
event the tree will branch AT the ground instead of a few inches farther up.
Either method is good, as the results desired may thus be obtained, namely, a
low, spreading tree, easily picked without the use of ladders.
Here is something to remember: When a tree is growing the sap flows
upward from roots to leaf and branch. When the same tree is dormant the
roots are sustained by a DOWNWARD trend of the sap in the tree. The
more the roots draw on the tree the more HARDENED and DORMANT
it becomes. Nursery stock in autumn, not exposed to very severe frosts, slowly
becomes dormant and later in the season may withstand a severe freeze without
injury. However, if the frosting takes place early in the autumn, the tree is
caught full of sap and the frozen portion sours and generates a poison, which
is slowly drawn down into the roots, causing even the unfrozen part of the tree
to die, and in the majority of cases so infecting the roots that they in turn are
killed.
However, in most cases if too long a time does not elapse from freezing
to cutting away the frosted portion, the tree may prove as good as any. If
planted and left uncut and unwaxed, the loss is almost certain. My experi-
ence has been that if the frozen tree is in orchard form and frosted portions
cut away and roots never removed from the ground, it will nearly always
come again. Furthermore, the Kadota has proven far more sturdy under
the freezing and cutting back than any of the other figs I have ever handled.
They seem to have more vitality under such abuse and a satisfactory stand
may be secured from stock frosted, and cut back, if planted early in the
season.
40 THE KADOTA FIG
My nurseries this season, 1919, were caught in heavy frosts very early in
the Autumn and my losses were extremely heavy. Great disappointment will
come to my customers, who have ordered stock and have been assured my
nurseries would supply them, only at the last moment to find my frozen stock
useless, and their plans ruined for this season.
While my losses are heavy, I fully appreciate that the growers' losses are
heavier still. I am apportioning to those ordering very early, and the year
before, all I have in my nurseries which stand a chance at all, and here I
again assure my customers that everij rooting I supply to them is supposed to
grow. If it is planted before March 15, and it fails to grow, next season I
will supply another tree of the same price, free, and will refund the original
price paid for the defunct rooting.
I am in the nursery business to STAY and a satisfied customer is my
best advertiser.
THE KADOTA FIG 41
Fig Pointers in General
Fig rootings are more delicate than any other deciduous tree of which
I have any knowledge. Rootlets exposed to drying winds or sun, even for
a short time, will die.
A frozen nursery fig tree should be cut back severely below the freeze
and waxed if possible. The frozen sap is poison and is drawn down into
the roots and the entire system is impregnated and plant will often die.
A "growing" fig tree carries sap from roots to branches. When dor-
mant sap flows from branches to roots.
Spotted fig orchards are often occasioned by failure of planter to cut
back the newly planted tree to balance lacerated and reduced root-system;
it's hard for 30% root system to support 100% top growth.
Roots supporting life of fig tree go downward to great depth; almost
invisible hair-like fruit feeders grow near surface of ground in first moisture
and are easily plowed up and destroyed, reducing season's crop.
Mission and Adriatic figs are both improved by the fig wasp; the
Adriatic in more pronounced manner.
Cool nights improve the size of Kadota figs. Hot days improve color.
A fig tree will grow and bear heavy crops beside a running stream or
near a spring; it will die young in land holding stagnant water.
It is not advisable to use manure or other fertilizer around a young fig
tree unless a vast amount of water is available at all seasons.
Lime in soil is an absolute essential for the production of fat meaty figs.
Whitewash on a young fig tree is a stimulant as well as a protector
against sunburn and rabbits.
Figs planted in sandy land are more susceptible to the nematode worm
than those grown on more heavy land.
Soil that runs together and bakes hard is usually safe from nematode.
Tomato vines are the natural host for this pest. Keep them away from a fig.
Grafting over a fig to a more desirable variety is good. A bud-graft
makes the best union. Less apt to break.
42 THE KADOTA FIG
Alfalfa grown between the rows of young figs is bad business. Too
many gophers; grow corn, beans or something else first few years.
Smyrna figs dry away three to one. Kadota caprified, two to one, un-
caprified 2J/2 to 1.
A very superior dried fig is obtained by dipping fresh figs in boiling
water two minutes, then in boiling syrup (2 pounds sugar to gallon of water),
dry on trays four days; product is very tender and clear.
Dip dry figs in boiling brine (2 oz. salt to gallon of water) two minutes,
place immediately in tins, lid and seal. Will keep indefinitely.
Adriatic figs grown in heavy land seem to sour every year. Picking
fresh and dehydrating or canning will solve the difficulty and save pure food
confiscation.
The Kadota fig will be the agent for revolutionizing the growing, hand-
ling and marketing of California figs. It ushers in new systems and new
ideas. It is truly a California product.
A Canner's Opinion of the Kadota
San Francisco, California, November 1 1 th, 1919.
Mr. W. Sam Clark
Sultana, California
Dear Sir:
For the past several years we have been using fresh Kadota and White
Endich figs for preserving purposes. Some people claim that these two figs
are identical and that the difference noted is due to the different localities in
which they are grown. But we think that the Kadota is an improved strain
of the White Endich and have noted these differences:
Our White Endich growers seem to have but one commercial crop.
This comes about July 1 5th and ends in late August. Our Kadota growers
have a crop of considerable size in June. They then ship again in August
and from then on quite continually, the weather permitting, into October and
even November. Our receipts of White Endich have always been small or
medium in size; whereas Kadotas run six and even four to the pound. This
increase in size may be due to the fact that the Kadotas come from young
orchards and the White Endich from old trees. Placing the Kadota beside
the White Endich, no difference has been noticed. But when boxes of one
variety are compared with those of the other, we have noticed that the
Kadotas appear more golden yellow and richer looking than the White
Endich.
Both are good preserving figs but we prefer the Kadota.
Respectfully yours,
PACIFIC COAST SYRUP CO.
By H. L. Kimball, Superintendent.
THE KADOTA, FIG
The Fig Tree
BY
J. C. FORKNER
I am the Fig Tree
I was born in the Garden of Eden
I furnished both food and clothing
For Adam and Eve
For Six Thousand years
I have been a comfort and a solace
To man
During all these thousands of years
While man was evolving
I clung close to the shores of the Med-
iterranean
My birthplace
Man found many lands
Many climes where he could prosper
I found none
'Till about 1 50 years ago
Junipero Serra, the Franciscan Father
Planted me in California
When my roots went down into that
blessed earth
I then realized a new home
And a new destiny
Was for me
I sojourned many years
In the Golden State
In the Southland, along the coast
And around the bay
Giving the best I could
Where Sun and Soil and Moisture
But partly met my needs
I knew
Somewhere in the State
Of a Thousand Valleys
I would find a place
Where I could do my best
For you must know
I am particular
The winters must not be cold
I must have no rains fall upon me
From June 'till October
The air during the same season
Must be almost bone dry
The soil must be to my liking
Plenty of lime and potash
The drainage must be perfect
For one hundred days the sun must
shine
From a clear sky
And reach near one hundred degrees
Of heat each day
Before I give perfect fruit
Now you can see why for six thousand
years
I clung to the shores of the Mediter-
ranean
Few places on the Globe suit my fancy
One day near seventy-five years ago
A roving Argonaut planted me
In the red soil
On the western slope of the Sierras
Near where Fresno
The Garden of the Sun
Was destined to be
That day I knew
I had found the spot
Where I could do my best
It has taken all these years
For Californians to see
How perfectly I work
When my requirements are met
I am now producing fifteen million
pounds each year
In my new home
There are one hundred million people
In the dear old U. S. A.
They can eat my present yearly supply
44
THE -KADOTA FIG
On Thanksgiving "Day or Christmas
Day
Or any day
And have not near enough
I call upon you, my friends
Plant me
Plant me by the thousands
I will bring a blessing to you
And to all mankind
Do not be afraid of too many figs
Such a thing cannot be
In the J. C. Forkner Fig Gardens
There will be ten thousand acres of me
This is a bagatelle
To the increasing millions who must
eat
There could be dozens of J. C. Forkner
Fig Gardens
Yet untold numbers in America will
be born
Grow to manhood's estate
And pass away never having tasted
my fruit
I know these things to be true
For I have lived
Since the beginning of Man
In all the world today
There is not produced enough of my
fruit
In any one year
To make two ounces
For each of the world's inhabitants
And yet when planted in the proper
place
I live forever
I have no disease
And for Six Thousand years
I have not failed to produce a crop
Each year
Copyright 1920, W. Sam Clark
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