52 



to cause the death of the plant or stunt its growth : pour in some 

 water and put in more earth, firming it again, continue putting 

 earth and water alternately until the soil is level with the highest 

 root; that highest root should now be about 6 inches higher than 

 the surrounding soil. As the earth settles, so will the tree, until 

 it takes up a permanent position with the top root just exposed to 

 the air. Citrus plants should never be planted deep, better to have 

 them six inches too high than half an inch too deep ; de- 

 fective planting has been the cause of more failures than all others 

 put together, as by planting too deep you will find it make no 

 growth and be a fitting subject to all the diseases to which the 

 citrus family is subject, and these are many, especially when 

 planted under unfavourable conditions. It will be well to spread 

 some dry grass or trash of any kind all over the hill until you are 

 certain that the tiees have taken root, say in about four weeks, as 

 by so doing you ;onserve the moisture in the soil ; if no rain, you 

 must water at lea ;t once a week until the first growth after plant- 

 ing has fairly ripened, this stage is reached when the new leaves 

 turn to a dark green. 



As it would be very expensive to keep the land clean for a 

 number of years where only citrus plants are cultivated it is ad- 

 viiable to establish catch crops which would give some revenue and 

 at the same time not injure the trees in your grove. Fortunately 

 theie are many such crops that may be grown without detriment, 

 such as bananas, cocoes, yams, cassava, corn or peas. Try to 

 avoid planting sweet potatoes in any citrus grove, except you plant 

 only two rows down the centres and keep the vines from 

 spreading too near to the trees, the same applies to pumpkins. 



I will now demonstrate to you the distances apart it would be 

 best to plant the plants I haye named so as to give you a maximum 

 yield and a minimum amount of damage to your citrus cultivation. 



(l) Banana as catch crop until orange trees are 2 or 3 years 

 old, orange trees 20 ft. apart, bananas in the middle of the rows at 

 a distance of 8 ft. from one another : — 



Oranges Bananas Oranges Bananas 



X o X o 



