Book I. 



ORANGE TRIBE. 



773 



used, the water is about the consistence of cream. {Hort. Trans, v. 310.) The French water once after 

 shifting with a very strong lessive; they also mulch with recent cow and horse droppings, renewing these 

 once a-month or oftener during summer, that there may be always abundance of soluble matter for the 

 water to convey to their roots. (Nouveau Cours, &c. art. Orange.) M'Phail mentions a case in which very 

 large orange-trees in the border of a conservatory looked sickly ; when, on digging deep into the borders 

 to examine the cause, he found the earth quite dry, and by afterwards continuing to water them regu- 

 larly he recovered them. (G. Rem. 242.) 



5925. Air. During the winter season, Miller observes, orange-trees require a large share of air when the 

 weather is favorable ; for nothing is more injurious to these trees than stifling them. The prevention of 

 damp, Mean observes, is as essential to the perfection of the plants as the exclusion of cold. Where these 

 trees are kept in old-fashioned opaque-roofed green-houses, these cautions as to air and damp deserve parti- 

 cular attention. Ayres says, the more air orange-trees have during the blossoming season, the more cer- 

 tain will they be of setting the fruit. 



5926. Light. Many gardeners are of opinion that the orange tribe do not require so much light as other 

 exotics, which may have arisen from the gloomy conservatories in which they used to be formerly kept 

 during winter ; for certainly to look at the orange-houses at Versailles and Kew, one would not con- 

 clude light to be a very essential requisite. But though these trees, like other evergreens, when in a state 

 of inaction, will live with less light than evergreens or deciduous plants in a growing state, they always 

 suffer for the want of it, which is indicated by the paleness of the leaves in spring, and by their falling 

 off when set out in the open air and fully exposed to the influence of day. Whoever intends to grow the 

 orange in any degree of perfection, should adopt houses, if not with glass on all sides, at least with glass 

 fronts and roofs. When the plants are placed in the naked ground as standards, glass on all sides is 

 highly desirable ; for otherwise their leaves and shoots will all be turned to the south, and the north side 

 of each tree will in a short time become naked and unsightly. 



5927. Manner of grmuing the trees. All the species may either be grown as dwarfs in 



moderate-sized pots or boxes ; as standards with stems from two to six feet high in large 



boxes ; as standards planted in the naked ground ; and either as dwarfs or standards 



planted and trained against a wall or trellis under glass. The two first modes are more 



adapted for ornament than producing crops of large fruit ; for all the art of the gardener 



will never make plants grow as vigorously in boxes as in the free ground. Standards 



planted in the free ground or floor of the conservatory, combine both elegance and utility; 



as in a house properly constructed, they will make handsome heads, and produce abundant 



crops of fruit. The last mode, or that of planting against walls or trellises, is much the 



most certain way of having large crops. Every part of the plant above ground can thus 



be brought near the glass and equally exposed to the sun's influence and that of the air 



and heat : they can be more readily pruned, and correctly trained, watered, and washed; 



and they occupy less room in proportion to the produce. The trees at Wood Hall, in 



West Lothian, some of those at Shipley, and at some places in Devonshire, are trained 



in this way. In a very few favorable situations in the South of England, as at Gerston 



and Woodville, in Devonshire, they are trained against walls in the open garden. 



5928. Plans for orange- houses. These must naturally depend on the mode of growing. For plants in 

 moderate-sized pots and boxes, a common green-house is the obvious habitation ; for, being plants of orna- 

 ment, they require merely the treatment of that department. The conservatories in Italy have generally 

 opaque roofs, but some of the more enlightened nobles of Lombardy have lately erected splendid construc- 

 tions with glass roofs, in which they combine the culture of the citron tribe with other, large-growing 

 exotics. {Jig. 520.) 



520 



5929. For trees in large boxes, a proportionably large and lofty house is requisite; it may be opaque 

 on the north side with a glass roof, front, and ends, of any convenient or desired length, width, and height. 

 For one of moderate size, the height at the back wall may be fifteen feet, at front ten feet, and the 

 width of the house fifteen feet. The floor may be either perfectly level, and the boxes placed on it, the lar- 

 gest behind, so as their tops may form a slope to the front glass, as in the conservatory of Prince Borghese, 



at Home ; or if the trees are young, a stage may be erected for a few years, in order to raise the plants to 

 the light : but if the trees are of a considerable size, the best way is to have square pits in the floor at re- 

 gular distances, somewhat larger than each box, and in these to sink the boxes, covering them with 



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