Cultivation of the Orange and Lemon. 135 



mize water. Care should be taken, however, not to 

 mass dead leaves round a tree, as, when wetted in 

 large masses, they heat and might injure the roots. In 

 addition to its own fallen leaves, this surface leafage, 

 if properly attended to, adds annually to the leaf 

 mould and nourishes the surface roots. 



With regard to pruning, a little observation will 

 show that the flowers of the Citrus are produced from 

 the small twigs of the previous year. These, there- 

 fore, should not be pruned off. On the contrary, 

 when the tree has attained a certain age they should 

 be encouraged in preference to the strong cane-like 

 branches, which rarely bear fruit, till they have given 

 off small side twigs. Therefore, when a tree has 

 attained its full bearing age these cane-like branches 

 might be removed except when wanted to fill up a 

 vacant space in order that the fruit-bearing twigs on 

 the surface of the tree may be encouraged and multi- 

 plied. The object of pruning, besides removing any 

 dead and weak branches, is either to give shape to a 

 tree or to reduce the unproductive wood, with the 

 view of increasing the fertility of the fruit tree. In 

 this way, the annual nourishment given to it, after it 

 has attained its full size, will go mainly to the produc- 

 tion of fruit. This art is managed to a nicety by the 

 French orange growers in the South of Europe. There 

 is, perhaps, no fruit tree known which responds so 

 readily to any attention and care it may receive. 



In a large plantation it would, perhaps, be advisable 

 to set apart a portion of the trees for a Dumrez or 

 rain-crop alone. At first this might be done experi- 

 mentally, and then, if it turns out profitable, this alter- 

 nate cropping might be carried on systematically. In 

 Nagpur it is said each tree is made to bear only one 

 crop, either the spring or the rain crop. The Dum- 



