CULTIVATION OF CITRUS GROVE 8. 267 



in the rain. Here, again, cultivation helps by admitting the 

 air to the soil and allowing the rain to penetrate. 



CLEAN CULTURE OR NO CULTURE. 



The practice of keeping the ground on which the 

 orange grove stands perfectly free from herbage and 

 thoroughly cultivated throughout the whole season, year 

 in and year out, has been indulged in by many and is still 

 followed by some. This practice has little to recommend 

 it. A soil so treated soon becomes depleted of its natu- 

 ral fertility and the humus soon becomes used up through 

 constant cultivation and the application of various ferti- 

 lizers. No amount of fertilizer will do the work it should 

 if the soil once loses its natural body and becomes defi- 

 cient in humus. In spite of every effort in the line of fer- 

 tilizing, such a soil will become poor and infertile and the 

 trees will soon show the effects in their unhealthy condi- 

 tion, and the owner will realize it in his diminishing re- 

 turns. 



If clean culture is adopted, humus must be supplied 

 in some way, and the plan used by a number of success- 

 ful growers in the citrus districts is to cover the 

 ground with a liberal coating of leaves and leaf mold 

 from an adjoining woods. By this means, a mulch and 

 the material from which humus may be formed are pro- 

 vided for the soil. It is far easier to maintain the humus 

 content of soils than it is to replace it after it has been 

 once worked out of them, a fact which it is well to bear 

 in mind. 



Humus, one of the most, if not the most important 

 ingredient in any fertile soil, is generally found in inade- 

 quate amounts in citrus soils, and any system of cultiva- 

 tion which does not tend to increase the amount or main- 



