CULTIVATION OF THE ORANGE. 



273 



Thoniih it is the opinion of gardeners that 

 Binairsized boxes are best for this tree, I can- 

 not conceive tliat asmiill tree — which it must 

 be, comparatively, with its roots so confined — 

 can produce 2(>,000 oraiij;es. In very stiff 

 soil, if holes be dus; in this way, and any g^reat 

 qu;uitity of water led over it, indeed with the 

 raui of a wet winter npon it, it will be neces- 

 sary to form drains from the hotloin of each 

 hole, which drains may bo either hollow in 

 the miuiner of nnderih-aining, by means of 

 stones or logs, or it may be siillicient to fill 

 m the hollows of these di'ains with very loose, 

 coarse sand, gravel, or other very penneable 

 substance. In the nei''hl)orhood of Seville, 

 the or;mge trees are irrigated every ten days, 

 and the soil is disposed in small trenches to 

 allow the water to spread. One plantation 

 was there irrigated by means of a steam- 

 engine, not, however, erected for the purpose. 

 Tnis may serve as a hint itir those so favora- 

 bly situated, to make use of any power at 

 their command, whether wind, water, or 

 Bteara, to raise vvater for this or a similar pur- 

 pose. I dislike surface irrigation for two rea- 

 sons — firstly, because where water is scarce 

 there is necessarily a much greater evapora- 

 tion, juid consequently waste ; secondly, lie- 

 cause the soil, when moistened at and near 

 the surface, will offer a greater inducement 

 llian the drier soil beneath to the roots of the 

 tree to push into it, where they will, in this 

 dry climate, be in greater danger of being 

 injured by the sun, especially if, by any ac- 

 cident, the in-igation were suspended for any 

 length of time. In which case not only may 

 a crop of fruit be lost, but even the life of 

 the tree, and thus the labor and hope of years 

 at once blasted. I would say, if you irrigate 

 — if you lead water in trenches through a 

 soil naturally dry, let your trenches be at 

 least one foot and from that to two feet deep. 

 The writer has thus, by trenches about a foot 

 deep, led water to thirty or forty orange trees 

 planted on dry soil at sixteen and a half feet 

 apart every way ; the water having been ob- 

 tained by digging horizontally into a sand- 

 bank diyon the surface, and upvvai-d of fifty 

 feet from the nearest row of trees. A trench 

 runs along one side of each row at an uni- 

 form distance of three or four feet fi-om it. 

 This may turn out to be too near when the 

 trees become larger and extend their roots. 

 ^Vhen this time arrives, these trenches may 

 be advantageously filled up with rich soil or 

 c(mipost, and new ones dug in lieu of them 

 one or two feel farther off. 



Soil. — The soil for the orange must he 

 rich. Some writers — among others Loudon 

 — insist en the necessity of clay being a com- 

 ponent part of the soil, but though it thrives 

 Well in a clay, provided it be richly manured, 

 I am of opinion, from all that I have read and 

 seen of its cultivation, that it will do equally 

 well in a rich soil into the composition of 

 which clay does not enter. In the neighbor- 

 hood of Genoa and Florence the sod is clayey, 

 which is richly manured. Shepherd says, 

 (561) 18 



" The soil best adapted for the orange is a 

 fine, free, rich, black or yellow loam." In 

 the south of lt;dy, and at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, I have seen onuige trees growing well 

 in i! rich, dark soil, and in the fonner of gi-eat 

 size. At Naples, and ui the Azores, in lioth 

 of which places the soil is entirely of v olcanic 

 origin, the mountain slopes are planted with 

 oranges and lemons. When we recollect 

 that one of these islands, St. Michael, is the 

 source wh?ncc chiefly England is supplied 

 with this fruit, we may venture to pronounce 

 that clay is not indispensable. The French 

 gardeners recommend as a soil fijr the orange 

 a compost made as follows : To a fresh loam, 

 which contains one-third clay, one-third sand, 

 and one-third vegetable matter, and which 

 has lain a long time in a heap, add an equal 

 bulk of h;df rotten cow dung. The following 

 year turn it over twice. The succeeding 

 year mix it with nearly half its bulk of de- 

 composed horse dung. Turn it over twice or 

 three times, and the winter before using add 

 one-twelfth part of sheep's dung, one-twen- 

 tieth part of pigeon's dung, and one-twentieth 

 of dried ordure. 



Henderson, a most successful cultivator of 

 the citrus tribe, takes one part of light brown 

 mould from a piece of ground that has not 

 been cropped nor manured for many yeai's, 

 one part peat earth, two parts river sand, or 

 pit sand if it be free from mineral substances, 

 one part rotted hot-bed dung, and one pai't 

 rotted leaves of trees, and mixes all well to- 

 gether, so as to form a compost of uniform. 

 quality. 



Ma.n'ures. — Well prepared rotten leaves, 

 two to three years old, one-half; rotten cow 

 dung, two, three, and four years old, one- 

 fourth ; mellow loam one-fourth ; with a 

 small quantity of sand or grit. Garbage from 

 the butcher's yard is reconunendod to be 

 added to compost for these trees, but to be 

 mixed twelve months before using. Shep- 

 herd says rotten dmig should be applied to 

 the soil in which the trees are to be planted. 



From the practice, then, of different culti- 

 vators, we may say that the soil should be 

 richly manured, but I would say on no ac- 

 count apply crude or mirotted dung. 



Tkmi'ek.\tiire and Shkltf.k. — Loudon 

 says: "The standard temperature for the cit- 

 rus tribe is 48 degrees ; but in the gi'owing 

 season they require at least 10 degrees of ad- 

 ditional heat to force them to produce luxu- 

 riant shoots. The air should never be al- 

 lowed to fall under forty degrees, though the 

 orange will endure a severe degree of cold 

 for a few hours without injury." Humboldt 

 observes : " The orange requires an average 

 temperature of 64 degrees." I do not under- 

 stand what Loudon means by stating 48 de- 

 grees as the standard temperature : I think 

 he cannot mean the average. It requires a 

 situation well sheltered fiom every cold wind, 

 as a violent storm will sometimes lay the 

 whole crop on the ground in a night, and in 

 New South ^Vales it succeeds very well with- 



