84 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



for something, especially when in almost every paper we 

 glance at we see notes here and there, showing that others 

 have made the same discovery. 



Altogether, mulching bids fair to play no unimportant 

 part in the future of orange culture. 



The least expensive way of mulching is to spread dried 

 or partly decayed vegetation (no woody fibers) around the 

 trees in the way we have already mentioned, several inches 

 deep, a foot from the trunk, and two feet beyond the outer 

 roots grass, weeds, leaves, straw, pine needles, well-rotted 

 sawdust, bagasse all these are good, and always to be had 

 in quantity merely for the labor of gathering them. When 

 the mulching becomes thin, as it will in time, when the 

 lower portions decay and work down to feed the little 

 rootlets, replace it, and at the same time enlarge its area, 

 remembering that the trees are growing all the time, and 

 their roots reaching out farther and farther. A top dress- 

 ing of lime, ashes, or potash will hasten the decay of the 

 mulch ; it is, at the same time, of great benefit. 



It is wonderful how a tree thus treated will flourish, 

 even when it has been in poor condition up to the time of 

 applying the mulch. An instance in point is that of a 

 bearing grove where the oranges were dropping off, the 

 leaves yellow, and the trees sickly. At this juncture the 

 owner caused two cart loads of mulch to a tree to be spread 

 on the ground so that the entire space between the trees 

 was covered, at a cost of twenty-five cents per load. In 

 two weeks the oranges ceased to drop, the leaves went 

 back to their healthy green color, and the trees bristled 

 with new growth. It was two years before the mulch had 

 to be renewed, and in all that time neither the expense of 

 hoeing nor cultivating the grove had to be met, the mulch 

 keeping the ground moist and friable, and choking out all 

 weeds. 



