July i, 1886.] 



^HE TROPICAL AGRICULTaRiST, 



6j 



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The site having been chosen, the preparation of the 

 soil may be begun. If drainage is required, that must 

 first of all fiuishcJ. Early spring is the best season 

 to commence before the drought has rendered the 

 soil difficult to work. The depth to which the soil 

 should be trenched or subsoiled depends to a consider- 

 able extent upon its nature. Though the feeding roots 

 of the orange are to be found near the surface, it is 

 nevertheless necessary to break up the soil to a con- 

 siderable depth, mainly with the object of affording 

 a free descent to water and air. Where a bed of clay 

 underlies the surface soil at a depth of less than 2 

 feet, it should be dug down to and well broken up 

 with fork or subsoil plough, and if, as is frequently 

 the case, there happens to be a bed of gravel above 

 the clay, a mixture of the two would keep the clay 

 more open, but it should not on any account be brought 

 to the surface. During the summer the soil should 

 be pulverised with the scarifier, and should it be al- 

 ready tolerably friable but not very rich, one or two 

 crops of rape may be sown and partly eaten off by 

 sheep or the whole ploughed down. In the following 

 autunni or winter the land may be ploughed into 

 ridges of a width corresponding with the distance 

 apart the trees are to stand. 



The planting of orange trees demands the exercise of 

 the utmost care, combined with a knowledge of the 

 nature and requirements of the plants. To bury the 

 roots deep in the soil is certain to cause either immediate 

 death or permanent decrepitude,, for the roots of the 

 orange, at least the true feeding roots, are never found 

 far from the surface, hence they should never be buried 

 under more than a very few inches of soil, the tap roots 

 or fangs, if there are any, being of course accommodated 

 in regard to depth and position to those they previously 

 occupied. The rule should be strictly adhered to not to 

 place the stem at a greater depth in the soil than that 

 which it occupied as a seedling. The graft should on no 

 account be beneath the surface, otherwise it would be 

 liable to take the bark disease. 



As the orange is one of, if not the most valuable of 

 fruit trees that can be grown in this climate, so it is 

 deserving of the best kind of treatment. The soil in 

 which it is grown should be kept in an open friable state, 

 in order that the roots may be able to run through it 

 with freedom, while rain and other meteoric influences 

 are also more freely admitted. It should never l)e 

 ahowed to become injuriouslj' dry nor dangerously wet. 

 To prevent the former the soil should be mulched anuuid 

 every tree as soon as planted and continued year after 

 year while the trees exist, for even the largest trees are 

 liable to sustain injury from hot suns if the soil over 

 their roots is not shaded by some means, while water 

 must be applied during drought of extreme severity. 

 With regard to manure, if the soil is of average fertility 

 not nniuh isrecjuired until the trees commence to bear 

 beyond what is conveyed in the mulch, for gross growth 

 is rather objectionable in young trees. But as the fruit 

 of the orange contains a considerable proportion of 

 mineral constituents, these must be replaced or repro- 

 ductiveness will ail. It is found that the ash of the 

 orange contains 36 per cent, of potash, 24 percent, lime, 

 11 percent, soda, II per cent, phosphoric acid, 3 per 

 cent, sidphuric acid and 3 per cent, common salt. These 

 figures and names of constituents enable the intelligent 

 cultivator to supply the constituents required in proper 

 quantities, and teach that it is useless to depend upon 

 any one or more substances that do not contain the 

 whole of the constituents the crop demands, for if one 

 constituent a'one is absent or even deficient, the full 

 benefit of the others cannot be obtained. A large pro- 

 portion of the necessary mineral constituents may be 

 derived from the mulch, which must never be remove. 1 

 from the soil, neither is it necessary or advisable to di" 

 it under the surface. .Stable manure, which is the 

 substance generally used, contains a large portion, 

 though not all the necessary constituents. The leaves 

 of trees form a still better mulch, containing a greater 

 quantity of mineral constituents, esijecially potash ami 

 lime. In addition to the mineral constituents, nitrogen- 

 ous substances are also necessary; these are found to 

 some extent in stable dung. Blood, which contains 15 

 per cent, of nitrogen wbeu dried, is reckoued one oC the 



best of orange manures. Nightsoil, superphosphate and 

 Peruvian guano should be occasionally used. Mr. Pye 

 states that a mixture manufactured by Elliott Bros. 

 from a recipe given by him is by far the cheapest and 

 most valuable manure used ; its use increasing the 

 amount of crop six-fold in some instances. 



The orange is a tree that reciuires very little pruning ; 

 it has, indeed, been said, " prune not at all," but that 

 principle is only applicable in the case of full growu trees ; 

 in that of young trees, espt-cially thp.se that have been 

 worked and transplanted, ihe well known proverb must 

 be acted upon. It is a not uncommon opinion that the 

 orange tree cannot endure pruning, but that is annually 

 disproved in the immediaie neighbourhood of where we 

 write. The trees in the garden of the Horticultural 

 Society having been too closely plante i, to prevent them 

 from interlacing and injuring each other, Mr. G. Neilsou, 

 curator, annually prunes the branches back to stumps 

 without any evil consequences resulting, the crops 

 being abundant as well as of good size and quality. 

 While young oranges, like other trees, require pruning 

 to some extent, all that is generally necessary is to form 

 them into the proper shape ; indeed some young trees 

 form themselves, and therefore need not be pruned. 

 Afterwards all that is required is to prevent any brancli 

 from outgrowing the others and to thin out useless 

 spray. It is, psrhaps, more important that sufhcient 

 space should be allowed for expansion in the case of the 

 orange than in that of any of our ordinary fruit trees. 

 Ajiple or pear trees when they become overcrowded and 

 interwoven through deficiency of space, may be cut back 

 root and branch and rejuvenated iu a year or two ; but 

 who would think of planting oranges so that they would 

 require to have half of each destroyed when they were as 

 their best '^ The case previously referred to merely 

 proves that the orange will endure somewhat severe 

 pruning, when from aiiy mischance it becomes necessary 

 to do so, but it does not prove that trees are the better 

 for it ; had those trees been allowed sufhcient space for 

 development, and the growth that has been destroyed 

 in the course of the last half dozen years been allowed 

 to remain, they would now have been grand trees, many 

 times larger, finer and more productive than they are at 

 present. The orange, therefore, that is, the ordinary 

 large growing varieties, should not stand less than 30 

 feet apart. Healthy, well managed trees will occupy 

 that space before very many years ; for every orange tree 

 should have a clear space of some feet in width on all 

 sides, otherwise, if the branches become crowded, 

 they dwindle, grow weakly and unfruitful, atmospheric 

 influences are shut out and insect pests increase. It is 

 not to be supposed, however, that the remainder of the 

 ground is to remain unoccupied while the oranges are 

 growing, on the contrary, the more it is cropped, cvilti- 

 vated and manured the better for the soil and ultimately 

 for the oranges. The only precaution necessary is to 

 let nothing interfere with either leaf or root of the 

 oranges. It need hardly be mentioned that the soil 

 must be kept clear of weeds, but, as before mentioned, 

 it should not be dug ; the best growers are unwilhng to 

 admit the use of any tool that penetrates deeper than 

 the Dutch hoe over the roots, but that must be frequently 

 used ; beneath the mulching and over the whole of the 

 roots there should be a layer of dust in summer, except, 

 of course, immediately after watering or rainfall. 

 Irrigating the orange is a practice that requires the 

 utmost nicety in its performance. In dry winters a 

 soaking should bo given that will penetrate to the 

 deepest roots, but in sumner time great caution must be 

 exercised ; in the cise of young trees the soil should not 

 be allowed to become dry until they have finished their 

 growth, after which it should remain quite dry to 

 enable them to ripen it. In the case of mature trees, 

 summer irrigation should be avoided as much as possible ; 

 as the trees are liable to sustain .severe injury from it ; 

 only when really necessary to prevent the trees from 

 sustaining injury from drought should the water be 

 applied, and then for only a very short space of time. 

 Irrigating at a time that would cause a second crop to 

 start mu.st be altogether avoiiled, a second crop being 

 "a calamity." 



Under all circumstances oranges are liable to the 

 attacks of scale iuseots, but, if taken in time, only a 



