MULCHING AND PRUNING. 85 



There is a mode of mulching that we have not referred 

 to that is well worth general adoption, combining, as it 

 does, the double benefit of mulching and green manuring. 

 This is, to remove carefully the loose earth from the roots 

 of the trees to as great a depth as is practicable without 

 injuring them; then to fill in level with the ground the 

 mulching material, which in this case should be grass, 

 weeds, cow-peas, or other green stuff; sprinkle with lime 

 or ashes if handy it will do without, however then 

 tramp it down and throw on top the soil taken out. This 

 retains the moisture, hastens decay, and absorbs gases that 

 would otherwise escape. It is mulch and manure at the 

 same time. 



The question of pruning is one about which there is 

 little controversy, less so, perhaps, than any other one 

 point in orange culture, though even here there are some 

 who differ from the great majority. 



Of all domesticated fruit trees the citrus family requires 

 the least pruning; some say none at all, but experience 

 teaches otherwise. 



Pruning is one of nature's great laws in the vegetable 

 kingdom. Look at our forest trees; in their youth their 

 branches are low on the trunk, they are needed then to 

 shelter the tender stem from sun and rain. As the tree 

 grows older these first branches drop off, leaving the stem 

 clean and graceful. Dame Nature has pruned them. When 

 a branch dies, by and by, it decays and falls to the ground ; 

 it is useless, so that too is pruned away. Look at the 

 young pine trees; their branches are low and sweep the 

 ground, but the matured trunk rises eighty feet in the air 

 without a single branch. 



Never use a dull knife, saw, or shears in pruning a tree ; 

 the sharper the tool the better. It is always best to use 

 shears on the smaller branches rather than the knife, the 



