132 ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 



The other disease to which reference has been 

 made is " bleeding," an exudation of sap, harden- 

 ing into gum, from the trunk of the tree. As this 

 trouble is more frequent after a severe winter, I am 

 persuaded it is occasioned by a rupture of the sap- 

 vessels, inducing, as in " foot-rot, ' ' fermentation 

 beneath the bark, under which the diseased sap 

 collects, first forming a blister and then breaking 

 through the bark, corroding and hardening into 

 gum. The remedy is to cut away the diseased 

 bark as far as there is any discoloration of sap, and 

 whitewash the wound, or apply fresh cow-dung. 

 Thus treated, if the cutting has been to the sound 

 bark, the wound soon heals. It is not infrequently 

 the case that the bug, the same or similar to the 

 one that stings the deadened pine tree, attracted 

 by the fermenting sap, deposits its egg beneath the 

 bark. This egg develops into a borer which feeds 

 upon the fermenting wood, and may sometimes ex- 

 tend his operations into the sound wood. But the 

 presence of this borer is the result and not the 

 cause of the disease. When this invader appears 

 he must be hunted and taken out with the knife. 

 Dead limbs or dead wood on a tree will invite a 

 similar borer, which feeds on the dry wood of either 

 the orange or oak, but I have not known of this 

 insect doing any damage to the growing wood. 



