PICKING.
Figs to be dried should never be shaken from the trees, for if bruised and injured they will sour during the drying and become unfit for use. A few figs spoiled in this way will check or prevent the sale of a box of fruit that is in other respects good. Pulling the figs from the trees will also injure them in a similar way. The ripe figs should therefore be cut from the tree with a knife or shears and carefully placed in boxes or trays. Of course, many half-dried figs that drop from the trees may be utilized, but they should first be examined to determine whether they are in good condition, and they must be freed from soil and sand. Our figs do not, as a rule, drop at perfect maturity, but either before or after it. Only the Smyrna figs drop when fully ripe.
For the higher growing varieties a convenient instrument called the “fig cutter” may be used. It consists of a forked stick across which has been nailed a strip of tin plate. Below this is a small bag kept open by a wire. With this “cutter” the higher figs may be reached by running the fork up under the fig, severing it from the branch and causing it to drop into the bag below.