88 



right through the whole country, regardless of the general condi- 

 tions prevailing in the district, there are sheltered spots eminently 

 suited for our purpose, many of which have already been located 

 for us. Given a site where temperature is right and also a water 

 supply, the next point to consider is the character of the soil. 

 There are no two opinions on this point. Citrus trees to grow 

 healthily and live long (in other w r ords to pay well) must be 

 planted on well drained soil ; personally we infinitely prefer a soil 

 naturally well drained ; in fact, a naturally dry soil, which is of 

 such a character that it readily accepts water into its depth. Of 

 such class of soils, there are hundreds of thousands of acres in 

 the Colony, provided the necessary water could be brought into 

 them in sufficient quantity for practical purposes. We should 

 always avoid sites which are naturally moist and wet, as the trees 

 will never give satisfaction in such a location. We remember a 

 noteworthy case in point. Mr. Rhodes some four years ago 

 dispatched a consignment of orange trees to Rhodesia to be dis- 

 tributed for planting, a couple of hundred were planted on his 

 own farm in the Matoppos, the only water supply here at that 

 time being a windmill pump, delivering the water into tubs. 

 The well had as usual been sunk in the part of the farm which 

 showed indications of being the wettest, and the trees were 

 planted in a couple of acres of land adjoining the well, so that 

 they would be handy for watering by means of the barrels,, 

 which were we believe placed on a sledge for this purpose, the 

 idea of course being that by placing them near -the water they 

 would be less likely to suffer, consequently they were standing in 

 soil where we feel certain they could not do themselves or indeed 

 anybody else credit. Here is th<3 point in planting citrus orchards : 

 don't take your trees to the ivater but lead your water to the trees, 



The site secured, which should be a sheltered one, little affected 

 by frost, the next vital consideration is water ; we think that in 

 only very few favoured spots in South Africa can Citrus growing 

 be made profitable without water. We would ourselves 

 hesitate to recommend the planting of such an orchard without 

 having a water supply behind it proportionate to the number of 

 trees to be irrigated. 



As to the method of applying water when one has the supply 

 available, we consider that there is great room for improvement,, 

 whilst recognizing the fact that it is in many instances impossible 

 to follow our directions. Owing to perhaps many causes we still 

 think it advisable to recommend the system of irrigation by 

 means of furrows as explained in the article under the head of 

 * 4 Orchard Irrigation " on page 22. 



