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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, i88z. 



Layers root with facility, but do not make such fine plants. 



Gmftim/. — There are various ways of performing this 

 operation^ depeniient much on the size and character of the 

 stock. Some graft the young seedhngs which were sown in 

 early spring : these, by bottom-heat and high culture, are 

 rendered fit for this operation in about four or five months. 

 No clay is used in this delicate operation, but a little fine 

 moss. Some cut off the head of the stock and crown-graft; 

 others attach the graft to the growing .shoot, as in ordinary 

 whip-grafting. Jiuddiiii/ is also practised by some cultivators, 



liuirckiiuj has sometimes been practised by inarching 

 several plants on one large stock, in order to form a head 

 speedily. ,, . , ., 



^iorf-s.— The Citron has been mostly preferred; the 

 Shaddock, however, makes a robust stock. M'Intosh seems 

 to recommend sowing any ordinary seeds — from such fruit, 

 indeed, as have rotted in the warehouses, from which he has 

 had complete success. 



Seeds.— The mode of rearing them thus is simple enough. 

 A light, rich sod and a lively bottom-heat, with a some- 

 what close atmosphere, will produce plants eighteen inches 

 high in a few months. 



Soil and Culture.— AW the family love a generous sod. 

 One half a free, yet rich loam, and the other half com- 

 posed of leaf-mould, old cow-manure, and sandy heath-soil, 

 mil grow them in high perfection, adding a little sand and 

 some charred materials. Care must be taken to use the 

 turfy loam in lumps, and to drain well; indeed, aU the 

 materials .should be somewhat coarse. They require liberal 

 watering ; and it must, when given, penetr.ate the whole 

 mass of soil. They enjoy liquid-raanm-e occasionally. They 

 are not only grown in pots or tubs, but planted out as trees, 

 and against walls and trellises ; and they are equally adapted 

 for all these modes of culture. Span-roofed houses would 

 be highly ehgible for them as standards ; and the sides and 

 ends, being portable, might be removed in summer. The 

 Citron family are impatient of intense sunshine, being, for 

 the most part, natives of woods. A slight amount of 

 shading, therefore, becomes occasiou.ally necessary. The 

 temperature during winter — especially in houses with opaque 

 roofs— must be very moderate : 48 = to 50 ° , by means of 

 fire-heat, is quite suflicieut. As light increases with a re- 

 turning spring, the thermometer may be permitted to ad- 

 vance a little. In light houses, a thermometer of 50 ° to 

 55° will do no injm-y. Here, however, shading will, at 

 times, be requisite. 



Fri'itj U.'ies, i^-c. — Besides forming, in its natural state, one 

 of the adjuncts of the modern dessert, these fruits are used 

 in a variety of forms, both in confectionery, sweetmeats, 

 and liqueurs. Thus, the Seville, Bizarade, or ]5itter Orange, 

 having a very bitter rind, is used for marmalade, bitter 

 tinctm'es, caudied peel, and for flavouring curacoa. The 

 Bizarades are the kinds used principally for the production 

 of cut blossoms by the French gardeners. The Bergamot 

 has a pear-like fragrance ; from this the perfumer obtains 

 his bergamot essences. The Lime is used in flavouring punch 

 and confectionery. The Shaddock has a cooling and re- 

 freshing juice ; and the fruit is a splendid addition, in ap- 

 pearance, to the dessert. The Lemon is too well known to 

 need comment. The Citron is used for sweetmeats, lemonade, 

 and to flavour negus and punch. 



Diseases. — AVe are not aware of anything which may be 

 strictly termed a disease of this genus. A hlack fioii^us is 

 frequently found on the leaf, having the appearance of 

 soot, and perhaps arguing a corrupt atmosphere, through a 

 too close confinement. This must be cleaned away, by a 

 sponge, with warm water. 



Insects. — The ryj/i is and the scale (coccus) are amongst its 

 principal enemies. The former may at all times be readily 

 destroyed by fumigation ; the latter may be rubbed off by 

 means of sponge bound on a stick, frequently dipping the 

 sponge in a liquor consisting of two ounces of soft soap 

 beat up in a gallon of water. — Ed.] 



Prickinci off.— This is a term used by gardeners for the 

 process of transplanting small seedlings as soon as they 

 are fit to handle, and replanting them closely together, 

 preparatory to being planted in pot or in the open ground. 

 It is distinguished from planting proper, inasmuch as the 

 " prickiug otf " process is always preparatory to the final 

 planting. For example, when tomatoes come up thickly 

 in the seed bed, they must be pricked off at a distance 

 of an inch or so apart in a hot-bed, again to be planted, 



either wider or in the open air. If this is not done, as 

 soon as they are fit to handle, the plants will spindle and 

 get weak, and often will die off altogether from damping. 



Propagation hi/ Seeds. — The most natinal way of increas- 

 ing plants is by seeds ; and, whenever it is practicable to do 

 so, it is preferable to all others, so that, in our own practice, 

 any plant of which we can procure the seed, we rarely 

 increase in any other way, unless, in cases where partic- 

 ular varieties are wanted that we know will not repro- 

 duce themselves from seed, so as to be certain of color or 

 form ; but in all cases where seed taken from a variety 

 or species will reproduce itself exactly, or in cases where 

 a general variety is wanted, the propagation by seed is 

 invariably practiced. As propagation by seed refers more 

 usually to ornamental plants cultivated under glass, we 

 will briefly relate our own practice, which we have greatly 

 improved during the past few years, and in which we 

 have attained almost unfailing satisfactory residts. We 

 have found that seeds sown in shallow boxes, from one and a 

 half to two inches deep, can be given a far more uniform 

 degree of moisture than when sown in earthen seed pans 

 made specially for that purpose. Those boxes are made 

 from the ordinary soaii-box, from feur to five being made 

 from each, with the bottom boards so put on as to allow 

 free escape of moisture, though of course, not so wide 

 apart as to allow the soil to wash through. These boxes 

 are filled with finely sifted soil, such as has been run through 

 a sieve fine as mosquito netting. This surface is then 

 made perfectly level and smooth, and the seeds sown on 

 it as evenly as possible, and in thickness corresponding 

 to the variety sowed, though it must be here remembered 

 that " in union there is strength" and that, if sown too 

 thin, weak seeds may fail to press up the soil, if isolated 

 too much. After the seeds are sown, and before they are 

 covered, they .are pressed down by a smooth board into 

 the soil, so that the sm-face is again smooth and level. 



The .seed box is now ready for its covering. For the 

 past year we have used finely-sifted moss (sphagnum) ex- 

 clusively for covering. To prepare this it is rubbed through 

 a mosquito wire sieve when dry and sifted over the seed 

 only thick enough to cover it, usually about one- 

 sixteenth part of an inch. In the absence of moss, dry 

 refuse hops, coconut fiber, or leaves will answer, prepai-ed 

 in the same manner, the great object being to use a material 

 light in weight, having non-conducting properties, and that 

 will thus hold the moisture uniformly. Of all these, we 

 think moss the best, and now use nothing el.se, as its 

 sponge-like character keeps just the right degi-ee of moist- 

 ure wanted. These seed boxes should be placed in the 

 open sunlight, in the windows of the dwelling-groom, in 

 the hotbed or gi-eeuhouse, and never shaded, in a temp- 

 erature running from 55 degrees to 65 degrees at night, 

 with 10 degrees during the day ; and, if a proper degree 

 of moisture is applied, say a light sprinkUng once a week, 

 if there is life in the seed, germination is certain. As soon 

 as the seeds have grown so as to attain the fii-st true leaves 

 (that is the first leaves that show after the seed-leaves) they 

 must be " pricked off " (_which see) carefully in soft, light 

 soil, similar to that used for the seeds, at from one to 

 two inches apart, according to the kind. This will not 

 only prevent them from damping off, as many of them 

 are' very apt to do, but they will be much stronger and 

 suffer less when put into flower pots or replanted in 

 the open ground. We prefer to replant the seedlings in 

 the shallow boxes already described. And here wo again 

 find that, if the soil is mixed with half its bulk of 

 sifted sphagnum, we get a far better development of fibr- 

 ous roots. They are more portable thus than if planted 

 again in the soil of the hotbed, or bench of the green- 

 house, though, of course, after planting in the boxes, these 

 are put again in the hotbed or greenhouse. After the 

 seeiUings have been planted in these boxes, lightly water 

 them and shade for two or three days. 



To such as have not the convenience of a hotbed or 

 greenhouse, vegetable or flower seeds may l)e sown in 

 the shallow boxes above mentioned, and placed in the 

 window of a south or east room, where the thermo- 

 meter does not average less than 70 degrees. Success would 

 be more complete, however, if panes of glass were placed 

 over the seeds, resting on the edge of the box an inch 

 or so from the soil. This woidd prevent evaporation, and 

 render watering less necessary. 



