244 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



able harm by defoliating the trees. These may both 

 be kept in check by occasional spraying with Bor- 

 deaux mixture. 



A stem borer is troublesome in Louisiana, and one 

 of the native scale insects seriously injures the fig in 

 Cuba. Neither insect has received much study. 



Pomegranate (^Punica). — This fruit has about the 

 same range as the fig. The small amount of pulp 

 surrounding the seeds contains a pleasant acid, and 

 they are often used for making a cooling drink, but 

 the fruit has no commercial importance. It is fre- 

 quently grown in family gardens, but quite as much 

 as an ornament as for its fruit. 



Olives (^Oled). — The olive is fairly hardy to cold 

 and will grow and bear in the latitude of the Gulf 

 coast. It has, however, been but little planted, and 

 whether it can ever be of commercial importance is 

 doubtful, as the climate does not seem to be well 

 suited to it. The tree grows well in the West 

 Indies. Some seen at Hope Gardens, Jamaica, fifteen 

 years old, were thirty feet high, but for some un- 

 known cause they had never borne fruit. The fact 

 that it is not found in old Cuban gardens indicates 

 that it will not succeed there, since it must have 

 been early introduced by the Spaniards. 



Oranges {Citrus aurantium and 0. nohilis). — 

 Oranges, while in reality tropical evergreens, are 

 able to endure light frosts without injury, especially 

 if in a half dormant condition, and they are, there- 

 fore, classed among the subtropical fruits. They 

 are grown as far north as New Orleans and the 

 Gulf coast of Mississippi and Alabama ; but in this 



