Cultivation of the Orange and Lemon. 125 



to the orange tree because too much is given, and then 

 the heat of the sun kills the young, newly-formed root- 

 lets. Probably he meant that they are partially stewed. 

 He said leaving the fruit for a long time on the tree, 

 although it fetches a better price, weakens the tree, 

 and prevents it from fruiting well next season. Some- 

 times it is allowed to remain on the tree for a month 

 after Christmas. The weakening effect might, I think, 

 be easily modified by leaving only a small proportion 

 of the fruit on each tree. 



As the young oranges swell, the vigorous new shoots 

 of the bair trees lengthen and spread, and eventually 

 make an umbrella-shaped head to the tree. The bair 

 foliage is small and not very dense, so that a great deal 

 of diffused light reaches the orange trees. In due 

 course, the long bair branches become covered with 

 tiny flowers, and then with fruit. The bela flowers 

 are gathered daily as they blow, and the bair fruit as 

 soon as it becomes of full size and ripe. I believe 

 Furukabad and Shahjahanpur are noted for the best 

 varieties of grafted Zizyphus. Some of the best fruit 

 is as large as small hen's eggs. 



I have no doubt that if this mixed cultivation of 

 bair, orange trees, and bela were carried out syste- 

 matically by planting the bair and orange trees 

 regularly, in alternate rows, giving each a sufficient 

 space, with the low jessamine bushes between the 

 other trees, good profit might be made, and with 

 advantage to the orange crop, provided regular 

 manuring and watering were given. After the 

 oranges had swollen to a certain size, the umbrella 

 shaped and tall bair trees, if properly trained would 

 afford just the amount of shade needed by this variety 

 of orange, to prevent scorching by the direct rays of 

 the sun, in Summer ; and at the time of pruning the 



