THE ORANGE. 65 



DISEASED CHIPS AND SCRAPINGS. 



They must be put into a can as soon as taken from the tree 

 and burned. They should not be left on the ground, as in 

 irrigating the water will take them to healthy trees, and as 

 the substance is gummy, and as the germ of the disease is not 

 dead, will stick to the bodies of healthy trees, and the germ 

 will grow, and will cause serious trouble. 



THE CAUSE OF GUM DISEASE. 



Many claim that it is not a disease, but that it is only 

 caused by too much irrigation and neglect of cultivation at 

 the proper time. While this is partly true, it is a disease pro- 

 duced not alone by excessive irrigation, but also by the tree 

 being struck with the hoe in cultivating, or by the cultivator or 

 plow. I have also seen the gum flow from the bark, caused 

 by the hames of the harness of the horse rubbing in cultivat- 

 ing; also where trees had been shot by hunters, and by being 

 hit with rocks by boys while trying to knock oranges off the 

 trees. Therefore it must be seen how much a tree needs to 

 be protected by the cultivator as well as from intruders into 

 the orchard, for often the gum oozes from having a limb 

 broken by persons who, in picking an orange, care little for 

 the tree as long as they get the orange upon it. Other dis- 

 eases, such as DIE BACK, RUST, ROOT ROT, etc., are not 

 known in California. 



CUTTING THE TOPS OF GUM DISEASED TREES. 



Many have been led to believe that when badly diseased 

 trees begin to show signs of decay that they can be restored 

 to perfect health by simply removing all the limbs, to force 

 them to make new growth. The trees, of course, put forth, and 

 the new shoots will bear fruit until life still remains in the tree, 

 for generally there are a few healthy roots that keep the trees 

 alive. But such trees will never be of any value, and what 

 fruit they will bear will be very coarse, and much inferior to 

 that once borne by them. They generally remain green for 

 a long time, but such trees cannot come to life again. 



