WILD ORANGE GROVE BUDDED. 23 



duce the vitality of the tree by pulling off the young 

 shoots, until at last the sap, for want of elaboration 

 through the leaf, becomes diseased, and the tree, 

 tenacious of life as it is, dies of the double cause of 

 exhaustion and disease. It may be well to caution 

 the orange-grower at once against the commission 

 or repetition of this frequent blunder. Few of our 

 forest trees will survive being cut down to a stump ; 

 still fewer will survive if the young shoots are kept 

 down for a few months. Every time the young 

 shoots are pulled off, the young rootlets, correspond- 

 ing to and starting at the same instant with the 

 shoots, die, and the effort of nature to restore vital- 

 ity is checked and weakened until the hardiest tree 

 is soon killed. In budding old stumps I have found 

 it of great advantage to allow a few shoots to grow 

 along the trunk, below the bud, pinching back 

 these shoots, allowing a few leaves on each shoot 

 to grow to full size, and so furnishing the tree with 

 healthy sap, encouraging the development and ma- 

 turity of new wood and new roots, and keeping up 

 an active circulation. Continue this until the sweet 

 bud has so far advanced as to be able to furnish the 

 tree with sufficient leaf to enable it to collect suf- 

 ficient carbon from the atmosphere to insure the 

 health of the tree. After this point has been reach- 

 ed you may then pluck off all the sour shoots and 

 keep them off. In some instances where a sweet 

 bud has made an early start, a more vigorous 

 growth of the sweet bud may be obtained by pluck- 



