350 Journal of Afjricultnrc, Victoria. [10 June, 1916. 



In New South Wales, the sweet lemon was regarded as the best. 

 From a nurseryman's point of view, this stock was the most profitable, as 

 it was easily raised and a very free grower. Mr. Snider, who was in 

 charge of the nursery, regarded this stock as excelling all others, not 

 only from the nurseryman's point of view,. but also from the growers'. 

 He had had a long experience of this stock- in Palestine, and knew of 

 groves of 50 years' standing to be highly profitable and to withstand 

 hardships and disease superior to any other stock in general use. Other 

 growers were favorable to the Citrus trifoliata, a stock that had a 

 dwarfing effect on the scion, but under unfavorable soil conditions v/as, 

 perhaps, the hardiest of all. 



During last year's drought the Mildura growers applied to their 

 citrus groves the water from the Murray, which, late in the season, 

 was exceptionally salty, and had a most disastrous effect upon the 

 orange trees. The leaves fell off, and the trees were in a very perilous 

 condition, and the first application of fresh water during the subsequent 

 irrigation season accentuated the trouble to an alarming extent. The 



General citrus stocks of 1915 seeding, State Nursery, Wahgunyah. 



trees that came through the trying ordeal were those which had been 

 worked on the sour orange stock. Mr. Davidson, the district orchard 

 supervisor, informed him that, not only the oranges worked on the sour 

 orange stock, but also the lemons on the same stock, unquestionably 

 came off the best. The stock had an exceptionally good root system, 

 but certainly the trees worked on it required, if not planted out in a 

 very fertile soil, that they should be heavily fed with manures and the 

 soil properly managed. The lemon stock grows rapidly, and was a good 

 forager, so that in poor soils trees on this stock had the advantage and 

 should be given preference to. In addition, they came into bearing 

 early, so that settlers were assured of comparatively quick returns. 



The 2,000 seedling lemon stocks now under process of budding were 

 only planted out from seed last spring, so that one could readily under- 

 stand the popularity this stock obtained with nurserymen. 



The sour orange stock block, which consisted of about 25,000, was 

 being budded with buds obtained principally from Mildura, and, as 



