Cultivation of the Orange and Lemon. 91 



them into the bag. Before descending, he removes 

 all the dead branches, moss, and parasites, within his 

 reach ; after descending, he empties the bag, and 

 climbs to another part, and so on. A dhaw (or 

 hatchet-knife) sticks in his belt, to chop off any dead 

 or cankered branch, or to cut out a bunch of the 

 bandha parasite (Loranthus species).* The orange 

 trees receive no other handling than the above. They 

 are never systematically pruned, or thinned, and are 

 allowed to retain just what fruit they set, and yet the 

 crop turns out wanting neither in size, flavour, nor 

 abundance. Contrast with this the elaborate summer 

 and winter pruning of the French gardens, and the 

 systematic cultivation and manuring of the Genoese. f 



"There is no regularity in the planting of the orange 

 trees, but no vacancies are left. In 1869, no grafting 

 or layering was ever practised, but all the Shalla 

 plantations were raised from seed. 



"In the Shalla groves there are trees of considerable 

 age, that have lived out at least three generations of 

 men. These old trees are great fruit bearers, and are 

 valued accordingly.! Some yield i,cco oranges. 

 Whatever may be their age, they never grow to a 

 greater girth than 3 ft. (about one foot diam.), or to a 

 greater height than 20 ft. Should a tree of this age 

 be blown down, they endeavour to right and prop it 

 up. Trees frequently get sickly, and gradually perish, 

 without any assignable cause, before reaching maturity, 



* This parasite infests many trees, especially the mango , in Upper 

 India. It should be cut out and burnt. 



f In the chapter on the commercial products of the orange and 

 lemon tree, will be seen the reasons, why in the South of Europe 

 so much attention is devoted to these trees. 



% Here is a hint for selection. Instead of selecting seed from any 

 tree, select from those which are much valued. 



