Vol. VIII. No. 184. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NKWS 



149 



Before carrying out budding operatirifis on an extended 

 .scale, the planter will, of cour.se, be advised to study the 

 characteristics of tlie different varietie.s of oranges and other 

 citrus fruits, and also ascertain the rcfinirenients of the 

 market for wliich he proposes to cater. " > 



In regard to oranges, tlie ' Washington navel ' is 

 recommended as an e.xcellent variety to cultivate, and if the 

 .grower desires to confine himself to thejcultivation of one 

 good all-round variety, this is undoubtedly the kind for him 

 to grow. What is known as the ' common .sweet orange ' 

 is al.so a very marketable kind of fruit, fjood early fruiting 

 varieties are ' I'ar.son Brown ' and ' Boone".s Early.' ' Valencia 

 Late ' is an excellent late-ripening kind. The ' Satsuma ' 

 mandarin oranges, and the ' King ' tangerine are also referred 

 to in high terms. Varieties of grape-fruit which, it is 

 remarked, ai'e ditticult to surpass for general health and 

 prolificness, are the 'Triumph' and ' Jamaica.' 



At the end of six to nine months after budding, when 

 two strong shoots have been made, the young citrus trees 

 ■should be ready to transplant to the grove.- The heads must 

 fir.st be cut back, and it is not well to nio\5e -the trees when 

 the ground is hard and dry. The best time for transplanting 

 is at the first sign of growth, as one is then sure that the sap 

 is active. Before re-planting is done, all brui.sed and broken 

 roots should be pruned back. Since it is advisable to allow 

 plenty of space for development, a distance of 25 feet each 

 way from tree to tree should be allowed in citrus fiuit 

 plant3,tions. The soil should be thoroughly forked to a depth 

 ■of 11 feet, and cleared of stumps, etc. Great care must be 

 taken to see that the young trees are not planted too deeply, 

 a fault which in orange and other citrus fruit groves is often 

 attended with fatal results. The highest crown root should 

 not be lower than an inch below the surface of the soil. 



Each young citrus tree is u.sually .set out in a circular 

 bed. These beds will have to be carefully hand-weeded, and 

 the weeds, with other vegetation, may, wjth advantage, be 

 utilized to form a mulch around the roots of the young trees. 

 The circles should be widened from time to time by forking, 

 in order to enable the root system to develop with the head 

 ■of the plant. It is well to keep a sharp look-out for suckers, 

 'which may spring from the stock below thp point of budding. 

 These, of course, should be innnediately removed. In the first 

 few years pruning will con.sist in removing dead wood, and 

 liranches too near the ground. The object to be kept in 

 view in pruning a citrus fruit tree is the, removal of all 

 interior branches which would prevent the free circulation of 

 air and light. 



The chief points to be ob.served in gathering, '(|uailing,' 

 grading, and jjacking oranges, grape-fruit, shaddocks, etc., are 

 discussed by ^Ir. Brooks. The process of ' qiiailing,' which 

 •consists of the evaporation of the surplus moisture from the 

 rind, is accomplished by laying out the fruit in single layers 

 in drying trays in a cool, airy shed, for ^wo or three days. 

 After quailing has been completed, each oitauge is wrapped in 

 a separate ]iiece of tissue paper before packing. In despatch- 

 ing the fruit, it is im|)ortant that each grade be kept separate, 

 a,nd the work of grading may be facilitated by the use of 

 a sim])le machine, of which many examples are on the market. 



The most suitable box in which to ship oranges, grape- 

 fruit, and lemons is de.scribed as being 27 by 121 by 12.', 

 inches, with a centre partition 1 inch i'A ' thickness. Such 

 a box will accommodate 96 to 252 oranges, "according to grade : 

 48 to 80 grapefruit, and from 252 to 300 lemons. It is 

 mentioned Ihat the most desirable sizes for oranges are from 

 152 to 170 per box. 



WOODLANDS AND 'WATER SUPPLY. 



The popular id^a that extensive woodlands have 

 a beneficud effect upon the water supply of a locality 

 has its basis in established .; fact, though the actual 

 reason for this influence does not appear to be gener- 

 ally understood. A note on the conclusions arrived at 

 in this connexion at Forest Experiment Stations of 

 (;ermany, Austria, and France may therefore be 

 interesting. 



Briefly, it may be stated that the real effect of wood- 

 lands in tins <liroction, as opposed to deforested areas, does 

 not .so nuich consist in bringing about an increase in the 

 actual amount of rainfall experienced, as in economising the 

 normal supply, and in modifying the agencies which tend to 

 allow the rainfall to waste by evaporation or percolation. 

 It is true that if very extensive areas were planted up, some 

 small increase in precipitation might, after a time, be noticed, 

 which would be due to the reduction of temi)erature associa- 

 ted with forests, and to the greater ab.solute and relative' 

 humidity of the air within the wooded area. Tree-planting 

 on the most favourable scale that nright be adopted in the 

 West Indian islands, however, could hardly be expected to 

 have any appreciable influence in this direction. 



It appears more reasonable to conclude that, in the 

 majority of cases, the amount of rain that reaches the ground 

 is — generally slightly, but .sometimes more appreciably — 

 diminished over thickly wooded areas as compared with the 

 open country. This is due to the thick canopy of leaves 

 which intercepts a proportion of the rainfall, that is after- 

 wards rapidly evajwrated. In this connexion, however, much 

 depends on the nature of the rainfall. In a district enjoying 

 a high aimual precipitation, the proportion thus intercepted 

 is smaller than in localities where the rainfall is light. The 

 same is true of heavy and long-continued rain as contrasted 

 with gentle showers. In the latter'case, indeed, little of the 

 moisture reaches the ground at all. 



Ob.servations have clearly shown, that although lfrs.s 

 rain reaches the surface of the soil in woodlands than in 

 open country, yet this small quantity is better conserved. 

 Forest soils are generally found to contain a large amount of 

 moisture (in comparison with field soils in the neighbour- 

 hood). There are several reasons which account for this, the 

 chief of which are the reduction of evaporation — owing to^ 

 the exclusion of the sun's rays by the foliage, partly to the air 

 in a forest being more humid— as a result of which evapora- 

 tion is again checked, and partly to the absorbent and retentive 

 character of the decaying vegetable matter that covers the 

 ground of a dense and well-managed wood. It may be pointed 

 out too, that the rapid surface-fiow of water which occurs on 

 sloping land in the open after heavy rain is checked in wood- 

 lands by the frecjuently occurring tree roots. 



Another agency whicli assists in increasing the moisture- 

 retaining properties of forest lands is the lightening and 

 opening influence exercised by tree roots on the soil. The.se 

 penetrate to a considerable depth, and when they die they 

 leave large holes through which water readily percolates 

 from the surface. This percolation of moisture into the 

 ground is facilitated by the loose and friable condition of the 

 surface soil beneath the trees, as compared with the denser 

 and more compact character of land in the open. The 

 consequence is that streams in a wooded country are not sO; 

 subject to rapid rises and falls, the flow being maintained 

 more equably throughout the year. 



