136 Oranges and Lemons of India. 



rez crop of oranges in the N. W. Provinces has 

 usually a dry pulp. I think this is because in that 

 climate the same tree cannot nourish satisfactorily two 

 crops. But if the fruit of the spring crop were all 

 picked off some trees, so that in the rains, they might 

 give a larger Dumrez crop which would be the 

 main crop of those particular trees a valuable lot of 

 fruit, ripening in the hot weather, might be the result. 

 Some experiments, I think, are needed in this direc- 

 tion to ascertain whether this system would pay. 



There are two modes of training orange and lemon 

 trees suited to this country, viz., either on one stem, 

 with a bushy head, or on many stems, making a large 

 bush from the ground upwards. The latter is the 

 result of allowing the tree to grow as it chooses. The 

 former is brought about by selecting a strong upright 

 branch, when the tree is young, and removing all the 

 side weak shoots below a certain height. This requires 

 some care to do neatly. In Sylhet they plant their 

 seedling orange trees in a slanting position instead of 

 upright. Close to the root are then thrown up strong 

 shoots, one of which is trained as a standard, while 

 the original tree eventually withers away. Something 

 of this sort might be tried with budded plants. The 

 original stock which is budded low down, might be 

 planted in a slanting position, with the base of the 

 bud slightly under the soil, so that the latter may be 

 trained upright. This might have the additional 

 advantage of enabling the shoot to give off roots of 

 its own, if it be of a variety which would easily do so. 



Finally, never allow the bhoojwa, or gramparcher, 

 to come near your orchard to sweep up the leaves 

 for heating his oven. I maintain that one of the 

 best manures for a tree is its own decayed leaves, 

 and if you prevent their being removed they will, by 



