The place in the market are, prima facie, those which should 

 Cultivation of be se l ec ted. 

 Citrus Fruits 



Preparation of the Land. 



o 



Clearing should be thorough; everything that would 

 interfere with good cultivation should be removed; roots 

 should be grubbed; the ground should be levelled, and, where 

 needed, provision should be made for drainage and irriga- 

 tion. 



The soil should be broken up and reduced to a fine tilth, 

 which will permit of careful planting and staking. 



In most cases it is advisable to grow a field crop the 

 first year; better cultivation and aeration of the soil is thereby 

 secured and any sprouting from old roots is killed out. 



The orange in particular should have full possession of 

 the soil immediately surrounding it, undisputed by grass, 

 weeds or other trees. Its success will be indifferent under the 

 u hole-in-the-grass" method of cultivation. 



Propagation and Choice of Stocks for Budding. 



The orange cannot be trusted to come true from seed, 

 and for fruiting purposes seedlings may be regarded as 

 unprofitable to plant. Growth from the seed is now, how- 

 ever, the method almost exclusively followed for the pro- 

 duction of stocks for budding, to the exclusion of growth 

 from cuttings or from layers, and it is by far the best. 



In growing orange seedlings, good plump seed should 

 be selected and it should never be allowed to dry. Unless 

 it is to be sown at once, it should be mixed with moist sand 

 for storing. 



The best time for sowing is after the soil has become 

 warmed in the spring. 



The choice of seedling stocks for budding is a matter 

 of primary importance. A deep root system and broadly 

 extending laterals, not too near the surface, are essentials 

 to the ideal stock. 



It has been said by so eminent an authority as Wickson 

 (California Fruits, Chapter XXX, p-356) that "the orange 

 root is the best foundation for an orange tree, and the seed 

 of the seedling sweet orange is the main reliance''. The 

 sweet-orange, however, would appear to be a surface-growing 

 stock which has few deeply penetrating roots. In the Uni- 



