62 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[July i, 1886 



the district ; while from the neighbourhood of ,S\van 

 Hill specimeus have been shown in Melbourne sur- 

 passing in size and appearance any of th(! >S3dn(\y 

 grown fruit. Therefore, Victorian fruit growers need 

 not fear being starved off the face of the earth by 

 the action of the reciprocity treaty with Tasmania, of 

 which they affect to feel such a dread, whih: it re- 

 mains in their power to utilise such a valuable source 

 of profit as that of orange culture, which might be 

 successfully conducted over a large portion of the 

 northern plains, extending from beyond AVaugaratta 

 in the east to the extremity of the colony in the 

 west. 



The chief inducement to plant orange groves in 

 \'ictoria, however, independent of Custom duties, is 

 the fact that, the orange groves in New South Wales, 

 at any rate in the neiglibourhood of .Sydney and 

 Paramatta, the great centre of orange cultivation in 

 that colony are rapidly decaying, owing to bad manage- 

 ment, neglect, the use of unsuitable stocks, besides 

 other causes. In a lecture on orange growing deli- 

 vered in Sydney a short time ago, by Mr. S. AV. Pye, 

 it is stated that " orange growing in the county of 

 (^umberiaud is a very profitable piu'suit to those who 

 understand it, but 99 Out of every 100 who possess 

 orange orchards know very little from a scientific point 

 of view, i.e., regarding its culture, the failure of crops, 

 and the cause of many diseases affecting the whole 

 of the genus." The great bane of orange cuUure is 

 disease, and the worse kind is bark disease, which 

 appears to affect the trees in all soils and situations 

 when they are worked upon unsuitable stocks. In 

 a letter to the Mail, Mr. Pye states that " an orangery 

 at Lane Cove, 2U years ago contained 2,000 trees ; of 

 which 1,998 have since died out from various causes, 

 and the only '2 that remain are Seville orange trees, 

 now 40 years of age. In an orangery at Seven Hills, 

 once the property of the late JMr. Pye, which con- 

 tained about 1,000 trees, the whole of them, with the 

 exception of 5 Seville orange trees, suffered so much 

 from the rottiug of the barks that they had to be 

 destroj'etl ; while the 5 Seville orange trees were in no 

 way affected with the disease." 



When the bark disease was causing such havoc 

 among orange trees in Madiera, Portugal and other 

 orange growing countries of Europe. Mr. Charles Moore, 

 Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, was despatched 

 by the Government of New South AA'ales to iustitute 

 an investigation of its nature and the means to be 

 used for its extirpation. In the report wh'ch he gave 

 after his return in the early part of 1 868, he showed 

 that working the sweet orange on stocks of the Seville 

 or bitter orange was the only method of preventing 

 the disease. He instances a plantation near Alcira 

 which had been a very fine one ; but every tree was 

 either dead or dying, with the exception of a group 

 of a dozen all on the bitter orange, which were en- 

 tirely unaffected and in fine healthy condition ; while 

 some of the surrounding trees which had suffered 

 so severely from the disease were raised from seed, 

 others had been budded, some on citrons, some on 

 lemons, both of which have obtained preference as 

 stocks ; but so satisfied was the Spaniard, although 

 singularly adverse to change an old custom, of the 

 value of Seville stocks, that their price had risen to 

 2s. 6d. each, whereas the other stocks — citrous and 

 lemons — were unsaleable at (id. each. Culturists are 

 therefore recommended to bear these facts in mind, 

 for undoubtedly the bark disease is the greatt-st of all 

 drawbacks to successful orange cidture. Propagators 

 of oranges appear to pay as little attention to the 

 nature of the stocks they use as the Spaniards paid 

 previous to the appearance of the disease amongst 

 their trees. No one with the knowledge we now 

 possess respecting the universality and the destructive 

 nature of the disease and its cure ought to platu a 

 single tree that he is not sure is on a bitter orange 

 stock ; it would be better to buy a few cases of 

 Seville oranges, throw them iu rot heap, raise seed- 

 lings and wait until they are propagated rather tlian 

 risk the chance of having the whole or even a portion 

 of his trees affected with disease, and giving out, one 



after anotlier, as soon as they have arrived at their 

 best. 



The immunity from disease exhibited by the Seville 

 orange is proliably due to its hardiness, it being able 

 to bear great extremes of both beat aud cold with 

 impunity. It is said to be the only variety that thrives 

 and bears fruit in the neighbou'-ho I of Calcutta. While 

 in Italy, in the nt'ighl)ourhood of Florence, where the 

 cold is so intense that skating is sometimes practised 

 during four months of the 3-ear, there are standards 

 in the open air that have attained a height of 15 to 

 20 feet. It is in favour of seedlings of the Seville 

 orange that they are easy to deal with, either in the 

 nursery or in the transplanting, as they produce much 

 fibre, which enables their removal to be effected with 

 great certainty of success. An instance is given of 

 their facility for being easily shifted, in which, aa 

 equal number of plants grafted on the common lemon, 

 and the Seville orange were planted on the .same 

 ground by one man, and that, of the former, nearly 

 all died in about six weeks, while the others throve, 

 though another cause might have shared iu producing 

 the disastrous result. 



In th(! cultivation of the orange, as in the case of 

 most other fruit trees of somewhat delicate constitution, 

 soil, aspect and shelter are the most important items. 

 It is, however, very accommodating as regards soil, 

 thriving in those of various qualities, disliking only 

 the heaviest clays and such as have become soured 

 through deficiency of drainage; showing that the 

 subsoil is, in most cases, of equal or greater importance 

 than the true soil. With these exceptions, we believe 

 there is very little soil in the northern districts, un- 

 less where there is hardly anything but sand, in which 

 the orange would not succeed. It, however, does best 

 in a friable loam mixed with vegetable matter on a 

 porous subsoil ; it may be therefore assumed that the 

 Oak Eises on the northern plains would be specially 

 adapted to its requirements. The black and brown 

 soils with clay subsoils, which occur .so frequently in 

 the colony, are also suitable if properly drained. It 

 is stated by Mr. Pye, of Parramatta, that " a small 

 proportion of salt in the soil sulHcient to render the 

 drainage water slightly brackish has a very beneficial 

 ell'ect upon the growth of the orange. " Very light 

 sandy soils are not to be recommended as they re- 

 quire too DQuch manure. There is, at present, a 

 drawback to the use of some of the .soils in the 

 northern districts, in the deficiency of moisture, which, 

 however, is certain to be to a large extent remedied 

 erelong; for though the orange invariably succeeds 

 best where artificial water is not recjuirt^d, it cannot 

 thrive on soils that are subject to drought during 

 several months of the year unless water is used ; 

 but watering orange is a very particular process, and 

 frequently produces results more injurious than liene- 

 ficial when applied by the inexperienced. The novice 

 should he therefore, particularly cautious in his first 

 applications of water, and it regular, irrigation is to 

 be practised then drainage is the first process to wliich 

 the land should be subjected in its preparation. 

 Regarding aspect and shelter the best aspect is north- 

 east on a gentle slope, sheltered from south and 

 westerly winds. In .situations liable to be aft'ected with 

 spring "frosts, it is not advisable to choose an aspect 

 directly opposite the rising sun, its heat causing a too 

 sudden expansion of the frozen sap, which may pro- 

 duce serious injury to the foliage. Should the situ- 

 ation chosen be a sloping valley, it is not advisable 

 to plant the lower part, as there frosts are most 

 severe; but if it should meet another valley running 

 across its mouth with a good slope, and especially if 

 it contains running water, the cold air wouhl be carried 

 away and no injury might result. The practice of 

 sniothei- burning' might be also beneficial in such cases. 

 ShtMter from violent winds, from whatever (juarter 

 they may come, is absolutely necessary. It may be 

 obtained— imtnrally— either from the confonnation of 

 the grounil or from indigenous timber; artificially — 

 from orc.h;uds, belts of plantation, high hedges, tall 

 brush f(^nces, or stone wall ; of which the first two 

 arc decidedly the most efficient. 



