18 CITRUS TREES AND THEIR DISEASES 



unless a basin is dug around the base of this tree at 

 least two feet from the body of the tree, and unless 

 the elements desired by the tree are placed in this 

 basin, your feeders will soon die and smother out, 

 leaving your tree in a choked condition of which the 

 receiving agency soon becomes closed and further ex- 

 pansion and growth is stopped. 



You must understand that, whatsoever comes in 

 contact with the body of the tree that would form a 

 tightening or exclude the air, will in due time cause 

 the action of the sap to relax. I do not mean to say 

 that your tree will not live for some time and produce 

 some fruit, yet, as year after year rolls around, the 

 death rate will be greater. 



It is so hard for the writer to impress upon the 

 minds of the citrus growers some facts that are being 

 practised year by year that do not bring noticeable 

 results for so long a time. For illustration; a great 

 many so-called tree doctors have made discoveries of 

 different body treatments that have never been thor- 

 oughly tested out. It requires several years to test out 

 any treatment upon a tree thoroughly perhaps the 

 Bordeaux mixture has been more thoroughly tested 

 than any other mixture. 



All of those who have tested the Bordeaux mixture 

 for five years, I am satisfied, will not speak favorably 

 of it, for the simple reason that anything that forms a 

 paste would have a tendency, if completely covering the 

 body, to exclude air and prevent proper expansion. 

 It will take time to tell as to the injury done to trees 

 by this mixture. 



