1O2 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



myriads of fungi, and serves as nourishing mould for 

 other trees. Then, such forests are always tenanted 

 by animals, birds, &c., which probably drop in the 

 forest more than they remove. There is, therefore, a 

 natural system of conservation in a forest which the 

 owner of an orange grove would be wise to imitate. 

 All manner of rubbish and refuse might be utilised as 

 manure pigeon, fowl, and pig's dung being, perhaps, 

 among the best. 



With regard to the value of manures, the following 

 occurs in the Gardeners Chronicle, of April 25th, 

 1885, p. 535, on the " effect of manures on the growth 

 and quality of fruit." In this article it is sufficiently 

 proved that certain mineral ingredients in the manure 

 and soil are essential to the production of good fruit. 

 It is there shown that manured fruit trees produced 

 better, sweeter, and finer fruit than the adjoining un- 

 manured trees. It is also stated that many of the dis- 

 eases of plants classed under the names of mildew, 

 blight, &c., can be escaped by proper manuring, thus 

 furnishing the mineral ingredients necessary to the 

 healthy growth of the tree, and production of healthy 

 fruit and seed. 



In the Khasia hills the kamla orange tree is 

 simply stuck in the ground and then left to nature. 

 The only help it gets from the cultivator is to free the 

 soil roughly from competing jungle trees, and to cut 

 off once a year any parasitic plants and dead wood. 

 In the several annual floods, however, he may have 

 a compensating element. The floods not only irrigate 

 the orange gardens, but deposit a silt which may 

 be perpetually renovating the surface soil, and it is 

 presumed the fallen leaves remain there. Even 

 under these favourable conditions, Mr. Brownlow 

 says that orange trees there frequently sicken and 



