Fig Mysteries

Painting by Mrs. Henry W. Kruckeberg (Jennie?) 1902?
from The Smyra Fig at Home and Abroad
Henry Kruckeberg published stuff like
the Proceedings of the California Association of Nurserymen.
Here he is next to George C. Roeding in 1911.
Perhaps Mrs. Kruckeberg turns up
in some of these CAN photos as well.
Original painting is in the Roeding Archives.
Letter in the archives at library with letter from April 7, 1903.

John Rock, George Roeding, Gustav Eisen, James Shinn: These are names that are part of our local fig stories.

Quotes are intriguing: "Rock (according to Eisen) was the “owner of the largest assortment of fig varieties collected in one place."

Where did those figs go?

Other local mysteries are "Who was first to solve the mystery of caprification of the Smyrna fig?" Apparently there is a hand-written unpublished 75-page document written by George Roeding that will answer this question (BR).

When Gustav Eisen mentions the people who he has worked with, why does he leave out George C. Roeding? We know they worked together closely on the mystery of caprification. And he's mentioned many times in his book, This Fig. But no thanks? What's the scoop on that? The Roeding family says that Eisen was the first orchard manager for Fancher Creek. They were next door neighbors in Fresno. (BR)

At one time, John Rock had 18 different varieties of the Caprifig, the largest number collected in one place in 1901. (p. 122, in the Proceedings of the 26th Fruit Growers Convention in SF., December 1901).


Then here was a really enticing tidbit in Condit’s “Fig Varieties”:

"A prized possession of the library of the University of California Citrus Experiment Station at Riverside, is the record book containing penciled notes as well as outline drawings made by John Rock and Gustav Eisen of these figs as grown at Niles and at Biggs. Subsequently, the collection was transferred to the United States Plant Introduction Garden, near Chico, where the author made notes on the varieties in 1916, 1918, and 1921. Cuttings of most of the varieties were established in a plot at Fresno in February, at Riverside in 1928, and again at Fresno in 1950. Numerous introductions have been made from other parts of the United States and from foreign countries, mostly through the Division of Exploration and Introduction, United States Department of Agriculture."

Why did a notebook from Rock & Eisen end up at Riverside? (tried to find it)

In the Finding Aid "Guide to the University of California, Riverside, Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station records", it mentions "Papers and correspondence of Gustav Eisen regarding figs. Received by Dr. I.J. Condit from Ernest Braunton. Turned over to the library on November 17, 1942. 1873-1942.".  Same Ernest Braunton who was the Landscape Architect for a portion of the Santa Ana Botanic Garden? 

So someday I may be sorting this out in this blog by organizing all of the literature that's out there. This will be quite messy for a while. Has someone already sorted this out?

Gustav Eisen

• The Fig: Its History, Culture, and Curing: With a Descriptive Catalogue of the Known Varieties of Figs, 1901...Eisen leaves out any mention of Mr. George Roeding in his preface but mentions "assistance from Mr. EW Maslin, Mr. Felix Gillet, Mr. George O. Mitchell, Mr. John C Jones, Mr. GP Rixford, and Dr. WJV Osterhout. I am especially indebted to Mr John Rock of Niles without whose assistance this bulletin could never have been published in its present form. Besides his own collection of figs he has also cared for that imported by the United States Government from the Royal Horticultural Society of London both collections having been at my disposal for experiment and study." ....and "Among California importers John Rock stands most prominent. He has imported figs at various times from foreign countries and possesses now the most extensive collection on the Pacific coast. The trees are at Niles, Cal. not far from San Francisco. Of the earlier importations there is no record but in the spring of 1883 he received from Thomas Rivers & Son the following figs Barnissotte Grise, Angelique, Col di Signora Bianca, De Constantino, Negro Largo, Early Violet, Lardaro, Black Marseilles, Drap d'Or, White Genoa, Bondance Precoce, Brown Ischia, Prolific, Monaco Bianco, Brunswick, Bourjassotte Grise, Rocardi, Col di Signora Nera, Grosse Grise Bifère, Royal Vineyard, Hirta, Brown Turkey, Ronde Violette Hative, White Marseilles, Bourjassotte Blanche, White Ischia, Du Roi (fig. 8), Agen, Dorè Norbus, Pasteliere, Raby Castle, Bourjassotte Noire, Grassale, Black Ischia, Ronde Noire. In 1889 he received the following figs from a house in Provence, France: Salette, Martale, Rosso di Mensigila, Grosse Violette, Des Dames, Biànca Morcati, Angelique, Avarcugo, Crovere, De Calabria, À Feuilles Trilobes, Courcourelle, Giallo Verde, Giallo Rotondo, Negrondo, Madalena, Aubique Leroy, Ronde Rouge de Provence, Imperial, Rolandina, Turco di Constantinople, Mascula. In the fall of 1890 the Department of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, sent to Mr. Rock the Trojano, Dottato, Brizanzola, and Guigliana; and from a local nurseryman were received in 1891 the Capri, Smyrna, Verdale Longue, Cernica, Zemitza, etc. [About 65 varieties]
  
  "Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, Cal., has at various times imported from France figs of the following varieties : Pagaudiere, Noir Moutier, Buissonne, Madeleine Blanche, Grosse Marseillaise, Datte, De Versailles, Franch Paillarde, Napolitaine, Verdale. These were imported in 1874. The following varieties were sent to Mr. F. Gillet from the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and are now being tried by him: Dalmatino, Broghetto, Rubaldo (undoubtedly Rubado), San Piero, Dottato, and San Vito."

Ira J. Condit

• FIG VARIETIES: A MONOGRAPH "Rock was the “owner of the largest assortment of fig varieties collected in one place." 
• "Fig Culture in California", 1933
• "Fig Culture in California", 1936
• "The Fig", 1947
• "The Fig", 1947, p. 59 (reference from Figs4FunForum) "Collections of Fig Varieties:Variety collections of figs have been established and maintained in many places. Notable among such collections, especially for California growers, is the Chiswick collection, maintained until recently in the glass houses of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, England. In 1894, scions of each variety, about 66 in all, were secured by the United States Department of Agriculture under Plant Introduction (P. I.) numbers and forwarded to California, where they were successfully grafted into old trees in the orchard of the California Nursery Company at Niles. Subsequently the collection was transferred to the United States Plant Introduction Garden at Chico. According to J. C. Shinn (1892), the University of California had, at its various stations, about 60 varieties of figs available for distribution. A variety orchard including all the available kinds from the Chiswick collection as well as numerous other kinds, was established in 1928 at the University of California Citrus Experiment Station, Riverside. This collection now includes 145 distinct varieties of caprifigs and edible figs as well as several thousand seedlings."
• "Fig Varieties: A Mongraph", 1955

The Press

• "Fig Growing in California III", Pacific Rural Press, June 12, 1897, "Grafting the fig is successfully practiced in California by a method invented by Mr. John Rock. It is the only method of fig grafting that has proved reliable, practical and of real value there.", 
• "An Expedition After the Blastophaga" Pacific Rural Press, Sept. 3, 1898, "Private attempts by Mr. Roeding and J. C. Shinn of Niles to establish the insect have failed", 

E.J. Wickson

• In the California Fruits and How to Grow Them, E.J. Wickson recommends some articles to look at to fully understand the history of fig caprification in Fresno.

George Roeding

• The Smyrna fig at home and abroad a treatise on practical Smyrna fig culture, together with an account of the introduction of the wild or Capri fig, and the establishment of the fig wasp (Blasiophaga grossorum) in America, George C. Roeding 
• Letter to Mr. Kruckeberg about the painting that Mrs. Kruckeberg painted for the book "Both Mrs. Roeding and myself appreciate the painting, which you and Mrs. Kruckeberg have so kindly sent us. I now have this painting on my desk before me, and it appeals to me more now than it did before. We will have the picture framed, and will give it a prominent place in our dining room. Mrs. Roeding joins me in extending to you and Mrs. Kruckeberg our most sincere thanks for your kindness in sending the the same to us. After having done such admirable work, I think that Mrs. Kruckeberg is entitled to receive some recognition for the time and labor expended in painting the fresh fruit, so I am sending you today a ten pound box of our best grade of dried Calimyrnas, which kindly accept my very best wishes."
• Fancher Creek Catalog 1905
• George Christian Roeding, A tribute 

USDA

• L.O. Howard, Smyrna Fig Culture in the United States, Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, date?
• Monthly Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture, State of California, 1916 (photos of figs where?)
• 1897 Bulletin has much on Caprification. Missing photos of Rock and Roeding orchards. Ah, this is Gustav Eisen's report!

James Shinn

• "Private attempts by Mr. Roeding and J. C. Shinn of Niles to establish the insect have failed", Pacific Rural Press, Sept. 3, 1898, 
• In Eisen's The Fig, there is a mention of James Shinn on page 72

Charles Shinn

• Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California..., "The Fig in California", 1893

The Evening Bulletin

• More on the Bulletin Fig...

The USDA?

 

G.P. Rixford

• Smyrna Fig Culture

Too Good to Miss

• Ancient Fig Garden in Tarring, Worthing, just a video of a party in the garden, but not much else.

The Chiswick Fig Collection

• A Short History of Fig Growing in Britain "By 1826 The Royal Horticultural Society listed 75 fig cultivars in their collection at Chiswick, but many were identical to one another but known by a different name (a synonym)." (with suggested books)
• Figs4Fun thread about the collection....more to look at on these entries.
• Catalogue of Fruits Cultivated in the Garden of the Horticultural Society of London, at Chiswick 1826, 1842
• Arboretum et fruticetum Britannicum; or, The trees and shrubs of Britain, Volume 3, 1838, Chiswick is mentioned here and also mentions caprification (1838!)

Catalog comments

• "imported by us from the south of Europe" 1892

Historical Studies

• "A Fig for a Fortune", The Sunset, Volume 13, Part 1, 1904, about Smyrna Park in Ceres

Several pictures of the fig trees at the California Nursery in Niles are in The Fig.