161 

 PRUNING OF ORANGE TREES. 



On no account plant below the level of surrounding- surface, or 

 so that the original ground level of tree will sink below that 

 plane. It is very much preferable to err on the other side ; the 

 roots will extend downwards where necessary, but the base of 

 stem is a fixture and will remain where placed unless forcibly 

 moved. Nursery stock is not infrequently trained to a long bare 

 stem terminating in a bunch of small branches. Such samples 

 should be cut back to within 18 inches or less of the ground level 

 — in fact, all trees other than those reared in pots should be well 

 shortened at planting, four or five shoots which are to form the 

 main branches being allowed to start at regular intervals. A 

 little extra attention in the early stage and the first two years' 

 growth will, by the removal of surplus and misplaced shoots, not 

 only remove the necessity of later amputation of larger branches, 

 but by directing the growth into permanent channels assist in 

 the earlier development of the tree. No hard-and-fast rules can 

 be followed for pruning young trees, but misplaced shoots should 

 be removed in the earliest stages by a sharp knife and cut close 

 to the base, thus removing any adventitious buds which the prac- 

 tice of rubbing oiT with finger and thumb allows to remain, 1o 

 become a perpetual source of trouble and the formation of un- 

 sightlv callus. The orange being exceedingly susceptible to 

 injury by exposure of its roots, for this reason the handling of 

 young trees must be such as to allow a minimvm'i of exposure. 

 They should not be allowed to become dry under any condition, 

 and the application of water at planting should be as soon after 

 insertion as possible. — Queoisland Agriciiltiiral Journal. 



FRUITING CAPACITY OF THE PAPAYA. 



The question of the advantage derived from thinning out the 

 ring of fruits on the papaya tree is discussed in an Indian article 

 reproduced in the Tropical Agriculturist for January, 1915. An 

 experiment was conducted at Poona with the fruit of twenty 

 plants, ten of which were thinned and ten unthinned. The num- 

 ber of fruits obtained from the thinned was ten, whilst the un- 

 thinned gave twenty-four. Although the increase in weight of 

 the individual fruit in the case of the thinned plants was very 

 considerable, and although there was an accompanying rise in 

 the price, the results showed that the increase of weight and value 

 was not sufficient to compensate for the loss of fruits. This con- 

 clusion refers only to the particular experiment just described. 

 The article goes on to say that with a small number of, say six, 

 good fruits per plant the experiment may pay ultimately when 

 carried out on a large scale as indicated in the Annual Report of 

 the Government Horticultural Gardens, Lucknow, for 1912, 

 where it is stated that an acre of land carrying 1000 plants, each 



