GOLDEN-FRUITED ORANGE-TREE. 67 
height to bear fruit, which is ordinarily about fifteen, or twenty feet. It is well 
known there, that the period of bearing might be hastened by grafting or bud- 
ding ; but this has never been resorted to generally. It is true, several individ- 
uals have practised these operations very successfully on wild stocks, but these 
are mere exceptions. The propagation of the orange by cuttings, or by layers, 
does not succeed well in Florida, probably owing to the aridity of the soil and 
climate. 
Near the equator, the fructification of the orange is constant, and is at one and 
the same time, in all stages of its bearing ; but in higher latitudes, it continues 
flowering during nearly all the summer, and the fruit takes two years to come to 
maturity ; so that perpetually, at the equator, and for a considerable portion of 
the year in higher latitudes, a healthy tree exhibits every stage of the production, 
from the flower-bud to the ripe fruit in perfection, at the same time. The gath- 
ering of oranges, intended for the European and American markets, usually takes 
place from October to January, while they are green ; but they do not fully ma- 
ture before spring has commenced. And it is a remarkable fact, that the trees 
from which the fruit is gathered green, bear plentifully every year, while those 
upon which the fruit is suffered to ripen, afford abundant crops only on alternate 
years. 
Insects. The principal insects that infest the orange-tree, are several species 
of coccidae, or bark-lice, the habits of which are nearly uniform, and may be 
described as follows : On examining the trees early in the spring, the female 
insects may be found, in a lifeless state, fastened close to the bark, having been 
fixed in this position ever since the year before. A little later in the season, their 
bodies become more distended, and on carefully removing them, numerous eggs 
will be found beneath them. At this period, the internal parts of their bodies 
appear to be dried up and dead, their outer skins only remaining, which serve 
as shields for protecting their future progeny. On the approach of the heats of 
summer, the larva? are hatched, and escape at the lower extremities of the 
shields, which are slightly elevated or notched at these parts. In this stage of 
their existence, they usually have the appearance of small, oval, roundish, or 
oblong scales, of a brownish colour, and much in the shape of their parent 
shields, but thinner, more flattened, and of a paler colour. At first, they are 
full of activity, disperse themselves over the young shoots and leaves, puncture 
the tender parts, exhaust the sap by suction, and increase in size, till they 
prepare for change. In the early period of their growth, their heads are com- 
pletely concealed beneath the shells of their bodies ; their beaks or suckers appear 
to proceed from their breasts ; and their legs, which are six in number, are so 
short that they are not visible from above. When they have completed the 
larva state, they prepare for transformation by emitting from the under sides of 
their bodies, numerous little downy threads, by which they securely confine them- 
selves to the bark. After becoming thus fixed, they remain, for a time, in a 
torpid state, and under these inanimate scales, the transformations of both sexes 
take place. The outer coverings of the males serve as cocoons, from which they 
appear to shrink and become detached. In the course of time, they push them- 
selves out of their shells, at the little fissures at their extremities, and appear in 
their perfect form, having two wings, which lie flatly upon their bodies, but no 
beaks, as they had previous to their transformation. In a few days after the 
females fasten themselves to the bark, they contrive to burst, and throw off in 
flakes, their outer coats, and betake similar forms as those which they before 
assumed, and enter into the pupa or chrysalis state. When mature, they retain 
their beaks or suckers, and are wingless, but are destined never to change their 
places after they have once become fixed. In this condition, their bodies are 
greatly enlarged, and in some species, approach more or less to a spherica 
