96 ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 



inches above the general surface, a pile of muck 

 left for a few weeks near a tree. 



Before trees reach the bearing state they should 

 be fed with nitrogenous manures, but after they 

 have begun to bear, potash and kindred manures 

 should be liberally used. Nitrogenous manures 

 encourage the development of new wood and foli- 

 age, while phosphate of lime and potash are neces- 

 sary to an abundance of fruit. The yellow leaves 

 of the tree indicate a deficiency of nitrogenous ma- 

 nures, while the dark green leaves show an abun- 

 dance. 



Where trees are slow in coming into bearing, or 

 where old trees do not set sufficient fruit, give the 

 trees a liberal manuring sufficiently early in the sea- 

 son to enable the rains to carry the soluble manure 

 to the roots before the time of forming the button 

 for the bloom. By so doing you develop the bud, 

 that would otherwise only make foliage, into a fruit 

 bud. It requires more nutriment to make fruit 

 than wood, and hence the importance of this in- 

 struction. 



In colder latitudes the frosts of winter lock up 

 the circulation of fruit trees that nature may have 

 sufficient time to store food for the greater effort 

 to bear fruit. But in the milder climate of the 

 orange regions this circulation is not always check- 

 ed sufficiently to prevent the consumption of the 

 soluble manures in the soil. And hence when the 

 time of fruiting comes, there is not a sufficient sup- 



