PROPAGATION OF CITRUS TREES. 177 



ing in mind always that cirtus trees generally make and 

 mature three or more distinct growths each season. In 

 cases where the variety is especially valuable, almost any 

 bud, small, immature or growing, may be used and made 

 to grow, but for general propagation work, such are not 

 desirable. For ordinary shield budding, round wood is 

 preferable, and to secure this the older wood must 

 generally be used. All very new growth is more 

 or less angular, it becomes round only as it grows 

 older. For shield-budding with a right angled or curved 

 incision, angled wood must be chosen, while for graft 

 cions, either will do, provided it is all right in other re- 

 spects. No wood should be taken from diseased or un- 

 thrifty trees; the parent tree should be healthy and vig- 

 orous. Thorny wood should be avoided whenever possible. 

 Thorns are very undesirable on citrus trees and every 

 effort should be made to eliminate them. Rigid selection, 

 throughout a number of bud generations, of buds or cions 

 from thornless shoots borne on those trees producing the 

 fewest thorns will eventually bring about the desired 

 change in most varieties. It has been a somewhat mooted 

 question as to whether it is a good practice to cut bud- 

 wood or cions from anything except bearing trees. The^ 

 general conclusion borne out by the experience of many/ 

 growers is that wood from young non-bearing trees gives! - 

 as good results in fruiting trees as when chosen from bear-J 

 ing trees. Here and there in nearly every grove unpro- 

 ductive trees are to be found, a condition probably brought 

 about by the use of naturally barren buds, but this is 

 as likely to occur where one practice is followed as where 

 the other is adopted. 



There is no way to prevent this undesirable condition, 

 and the best treatment for such trees is to top work them. 



