GOLDEN-FRUITED ORANGE-TREE. 67 



height to hear fruit, which is ordinarily about fifteen or twenty feet. It is well 

 known there, that the period of bearing might be hastened by grafting or bud- 

 ding ; but this has never been resorted to generally. It is true, several individ- 

 uals have practised these operations very successfully on wild stocks, but these 

 are mere exceptions. The propagation of the orange by cuttings, or by layers, 

 docs not succeed well in Florida, probably owing to the aridity of the soil and 

 climate. 



Near the equator, the fructification of the orange is constant, and is at one and 

 the same time, in all stages of its bearing ; but in higher latitudes, it continues 

 flowering during nearly all the summer, and the fruit takes two years to come to 

 maturity ; so that perpetually, at the equator, and for a considerable portion of 

 the year in higher latitudes, a healthy tree exhibits every stage of the production, 

 from the flower-bud to the ripe fruit in perfection, at the same time. The gath- 

 ering of oranges, intended for the European and American markets, usually takes 

 place from October to January, while they are green; but they do not fully ma- 

 ture before spring has commenced. And it is a remarkable fact, that the trees 

 from which the fruit is gathered green, bear plentifully every year, while those 

 upon which the fruit is suffered to ripen, afford abundant crops only on alternate 

 years. 



Insects. The principal insects that infest the orange- tree, are several species 

 of coccidae, or bark-lice, the habits of which are nearly uniform, and may be 

 described as follows : On examining the trees early in the spring, the female 

 insects may be found, in a lifeless state, fastened close to the bark, having been 

 fixed in this position ever since the year before. A httle later in the season, their 

 bodies become more distended, and on carefully removing them, numerous eggs 

 will be found beneath them. At this period, the internal parts of their bodies 

 appear to be dried up and dead, their outer skins only remaining, which serve 

 as shields for protecting their future progeny. On the approach of the heats of 

 summer, the larvae are hatched, and escape at the lower extremities of the 

 shields, which are slightly elevated or notched at these parts. In this stage of 

 their existence, they usually have the appearance of small, oval, roundish, or 

 oblong scales, of a brownish colour, and much in the shape of their parent 

 shields, but thinner, more flattened, and of a paler colour. At first, they are 

 full of activity, disperse themselves over the young shoots and leaves, puncture 

 the tender parts, exhaust the sap by suction, and increase in size, till they 

 prepare for change. In the early period of their growth, their heads are com- 

 pletely concealed beneath the shells of their bodies ; their beaks or suckers appear 

 to proceed from their breasts ; and their legs, which are six in number, are so 

 short that they are not visible from above. When they have completed the 

 larva state, they prepare for transformation by emitting from the under sides of 

 their bodies, numerous little downy threads, by which they securely confine them- 

 selves to the bark. After becoming thus fixed, they remain, for a time, in a 

 torpid state, and under these inanimate scales, the transformations of both sexes 

 take place. The outer coverings of the males serve as cocoons, from which they 

 appear to shrink and become detached. In the course of time, they push them- 

 selves out of their shells, at the little fissures at their extremities, and appear in 

 their perfect form, having two wings, which lie flatly upon their bodies, but no 

 beaks, as they had previous to their transformation. In a few days after the 

 females fasten themselves to the bark, they contrive to burst, and throw oft' in 

 flakes, their outer coats, and betake similar forms as those which they before 

 assumed, and enter into the pupa or chrysalis state. When mature, they retain 

 their beaks or suckers, and are wingless, but are destined never to change their 

 places after they have once become fixed. In this condition, their bodies are 

 greatly enlarged, and in some species, approach more or less to a spherica 



