ORANGE 



2375 



Insects and diseases. 



Unfortunately, not enough attention has been given 

 toward preventing the introduction of pests, both 

 insects and diseases, nor to accomplish their control 

 after becoming established. Consequently, through 

 carelessness and neglect principally, the pests have 

 spread nearly everywhere and made many trees unpro- 

 ductive. The leading growers have been compelled to 

 fight these enemies in order to produce clean fruit in 

 sufficient quantity to make commercial growing pay. 

 Added to the cost of spraying groves regularly, some 

 packers clean and polish their fruit, which process 

 involves an investment in a properly equipped plant 

 and further labor for the purpose. The chief insect 

 foes are the citrus white-fly (Aleyrodes citri), the purple 

 scale (Lepidosaphes beckii), Glover's or long scale 

 (Lepidosaphes gloverii), and the chaff scale (Parlatoria 

 pergandii). Recently, the cottony cushion or fluted 

 scale (Icerya purchasi) has appeared to a limited extent 

 in one locality. With the advent of the Argentine ant 

 (Iridomyrmex humilis), the attendance of this pest upon 

 scale insects has greatly increased the abundance of the 

 latter and complicated the problem of their control. 

 Russeting of fruit, due to infestation by mites, occurs 

 in some places. 



Following the discovery of the canker disease in 1914, 

 many thousands of nursery stock plants and numbers 

 of older trees were entirely destroyed by cutting and 

 burning in efforts to eradicate this incurable evil. The 

 danger of this menace has brought the growers to a 

 realization of the need of having adequate state pro- 

 tective measures provided for the industry. Awakening 

 to the necessity of aiding in the development of citrous 

 culture, the General Assembly in special session during 

 1915 appropriated $5,000 for eradication of canker, 

 other diseases, and pests. This recognition, however, 

 gives some hope that sufficient provision will be made 

 by the state in the near future to bring it to the fore 

 rank in horticultural prosperity through the suppres- 

 sion of enemies and the promotion of all fitting lines 

 of fruit-growing. The leading orange culturists have 

 effected an organization called the Louisiana Citrus 

 Growers' Association, whose object is to protect their 

 interests against natural foes. 



Propagation. 



The propagation of oranges is effected directly from 

 seed and from buds. Budding is done at any time of the 

 year from early spring to late fall. When performed in 

 the fall, the buds remain dormant through the winter. 

 The various stocks have particular merits for special 

 soils and other conditions, and several kinds are used, 

 as already said; but when the chief obstacle to suc- 

 cessful orange-culture is cold, all other considerations 

 must be dispensed with and only the most resistant 

 stocks used. These stocks, are, first, Poncirus trifoliata, 

 and, second, sour orange. The latter, however, is not 

 very well adapted to the climate much north of the 

 latitude of New Orleans. Hence, nearly all Louisiana 

 groves have been propagated on these two stocks, a 

 large part being on the former. 



Planting a grove is always preceded by a nursery, 

 and though home-grown stock is being produced in 

 extensive quantities, most trees for planting are yet 

 brought from outside of the state. The nursery is 

 started by planting the seed of the Poncirm trifoliata 

 or sour orange. When the shoots are one to two years 

 old, they are shield-budded with buds from selected 

 varieties, or rarely grafted to obtain the desired kind 

 of top-growth. One year later, as a rule, the combined 

 growth is large enough to be planted out in groves. 



Soil and fertilizer. 



The soil selected for groves is first thoroughly pre- 

 pared and pulverized, and needs to be well drained. 

 The trees are planted at intervals of 12 to 20 feet (some- 



time more or less) apart both ways, and the grove is 

 cultivated until the trees become large enough to shade 

 the ground. After that period, only the weeds and 

 bushes are kept down. Very early or late cultivation of 

 trees is usually discouraged, as having a tendency to 

 induce a too luxuriant, sappy growth, which may be 

 injured by subsequent frosts. The cultivation is usually 

 performed with light plows or suitable cultivators. 



A fertilizer containing fifty pounds of nitrogen, fifty 

 pounds potash, and twenty-five pounds phosphoric 

 acid to an acre is the one usually recommended in 

 this state. Of course, special requirements should be 

 considered, depending on the age of trees. Sometimes 

 on rich soils, only a dressing of lime or bone-meal is 

 needed. Truck or leguminous crops may be advan- 

 tageously grown between the rows of young trees. 



Yield. 



In three years after a grove is planted, the trees 

 should begin to bear, increasing their products every 

 year thereafter, and becoming profitable at five to six 

 years of growth. When ripe, the fruit is carefully 

 gathered by hand with clippers, using ladders to reach 

 the high limbs, then assorted and packed in boxes, and 

 shipped to market, generally in New Orleans. 



Some idea of the status of production may be obtained 

 from figures secured in 1915 by the entomologist in 

 charge of Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Insect Investi- 

 gations of the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, having a station in New Orleans. According to 

 the data applying to 361 groves, the yield is classified 

 proportionately as follows: sweet, 63 per cent; mandarin, 

 20 per cent; tangerine, 5 per cent; navel, 7 per cent; 

 pomelo, 3 per cent; Satsuma, 1 per cent; and Valencia, 

 kumquat and miscellaneous, 1 per cent. On an average, 

 108 trees are planted to the acre. In Plaquemines, St. 

 Bernard and Cameron parishes, the number of bearing 

 trees amounted to 270,505, while 73,285 trees were 

 found that had not yet borne any fruit. A large part 

 of a tract of 7,000 acres, located near the city of New 

 Orleans, has been planted in groves, and the company 

 is proceeding in preparations to cover the whole area 

 with one vast orchard. 



The marketable crop for 1914 was placed at 275,000 

 boxes by a well-posted commission merchant of New 

 Orleans. To quote his experience during the past 

 twenty years in marketing the fruit, he says: "When my 

 first visits were made to groves, the growers were not 



2622. The banking of orange trees on the Mississippi delta. 



disposed to deal with commission merchants, owing to 

 previous unfair treatment, and the industry was entirely 

 without organization. The growers then had no knowl- 

 edge of the value of their oranges, or of how to market 

 them. They sold their fruit to speculators, who bought 

 it on the trees, for any price that they chose to give for 

 the crop. These speculators' manner of handling the 

 fruit was very crude. They pulled the oranges from 

 the trees without the use of clippers, threw them into 

 buckets, dumped them into boxes, hauled them to the 



