DIVISION OP GARDENS AND GROUNDS. 697 



the end of May. In August the soil should be hoed thoroughly; this proceso to be 

 repeated in September or October. The best growers affect the use of the harrow- 

 after each plowing, as it leaves the soil in a mellower condition, breaks up the clods, 

 and destroys the weeds. 



The raising of siiccessive orange crops year after year must necessarily end in 

 withdrawing from the soil all available material for such culture; hence the atten- 

 tion of agronomists has long been devoted to devising means for ascertaining the 

 exact nature of the constituents withdrawn, as well as the best mode of resupplying 

 the soil with such constituents or their equivalents in an assimilable form. The 

 following analysis, taken from a recent treatise by the well-known Si)anish agron- 

 omist, Don Luis Maria Utor, sliow what these constituents are and their relative 

 quantitative proportions. The ashes of the fruit of the orange tree show the follow- 

 ing constituents: Potash, 20.15; soda, 10.23; lime, 30.12; magnesia, 9.02; phosphoric 

 acid, 20.04; sulphuric acid, 1.08; silicious acid, 4.50; oxide of iron, 4.25; residue un- 

 accoimted for, 0.62. 



The ashes of the trunk, branches, and leaves of the orange tree show the following 

 constituents: Potash, 14.15; soda, 16.67; lime, 31.57; magnesia, 10.64; phosphoric 

 acid, 18.82; sulphuric acid 4r.S9' sihcious acid, 2.82; iron and unaccounted residue, 

 0.44. 



The yield of orange trees, admitting all other conditions to be equal, must neces- 

 sarily vary according to age and kind. In Castellon the product is stated at from 400 

 to 500 oranges per tree at ten years old, but full productivity is not reached before 

 sixteen to twenty years. Very large single trees give occasionally extraordinary- 

 yields. There are in the province of Seville two colossal trees, knoNvn as " Los Mi- 

 gueletes," of which each has been kno-wn to yield up to 38,000 oranges in one year. 

 Large and robust trees frequently yield from 2,000 to 5,000 each, but, on a large scale, 

 from 800 to 1,000 per tree is all that can be assumed as a fair average yield. 



H. 0. MARSTON, CONSUL, MALAGA, SPAIN. 



Oranges and lemons. — The trees are grafted upon stocks raised from seed from the 

 sour orange. In the orchards they are planted about 24 feet apart. The orchards 

 are inland, valley, and table-land, and some upland; valley and table-land yield the 

 best results. The nearest orchards to the sea-coast are from 4 to 5 miles distant. 



Artificial irrigation is commonly practiced and various methods are m vogue for 

 distribution of water. The ground used as orange and lemon orchards is always 

 cultivated for the growth of garden vegetables, or any food for cattle which is to be 

 cut green once or twice a year. 



In the best orange orchards an average crop would be from 80,000 to 100,000 oranges 

 per acre per annum, the proceeds of which would amount to, in the orchard, from 

 |200 to $250. 



S. W. DABNEY, CONSUL, FAYAL, AZORES. 



Oranges and lemons. — The lemon, never raised in large quantities in the Azores, 

 has become quite extinct as an article of trade, in consequence of the liabihty to dis- 

 ease of the tree-roots. 



The orange of the Azores, the China orange, is a fine fruit, but of so perishable a 

 nature as to be incapable of resisting a long voyage. 



In Fayal and Terceha it has ceased to be exported, not being able to compete in 

 price -with oranges sent from other countries in the markets of England, the only 

 markets really within the reach of so delicate a fruit. 



At th6 island of St. Michael, which has always been immensely in advance of the 

 others in point of quantity produced and exported, the trade, although yet an im- 

 portant one, has diminished very seriously. 



The varieties preferred are the Selecta and the Navel. They are grafted upon 

 stocks raised from seed. 



The orange tree at St. Michael appears to be subject to a drying up of the branches 

 -without any apparent cause and without the presence of any insect or fungus, and 

 no remedy has yet been discovered for this dirtease. 



It is customary to set out orange trees about 25 feet apart. The best orange gar- 

 dens are some 2 miles from the coast line. The spaces between the trees are some- 

 tinaes filled vdth corn and vegetables, but the more sagacious cultivators abstain from 

 this. Where the garden is devoted exclusively to oranges it is hoed twice a year, 

 but as a rule not manured, and never irrigated. 



The Azorean orange has been, with few exceptions, packed in corn husks, it being 

 found that, liable as it is to decay, the h.usks, being thicker and firmer than paper, 

 protect the so\md cues more e^ectively from a decayed comrade. 



