87 



the peach and similar trees. In case a branch of unusual 

 vigour should push out so as to interfere with the balance 

 of the head, it is best to cut it well behind the average 

 length of its neighbours, and if possible, to a shoot on the 

 lower side. By this means the vacancy will be sooner and 

 more regularly filled up, and the common outline restored. 

 But let it be remembered that the citrus tribe are impatient 

 of the knife, and that one cause of the failure of many 

 orchards is the original mistake of setting the little nurs- 

 lings too close, say twelve feet apart, when first planted, 

 and subsequently being obliged to keep catting at them 

 when they mature and begin to jostle each other with a 

 bare six feet of space left to each all round. The prophetic- 

 eye of the planter should see as in a vision what the trees 

 will become in a dozen years time and give them fair play 

 and full twenty feet or more to divide between the future 

 spread of every pair. 



The ease with which some kind of an orange may be 

 obtained by growing the seed, has, just as in the case of 

 the ppach, been the cause of the Colony being furnished to 

 a very large extent with trees bearing indifferent fruit. Of 

 these the most common seem to be derived from the well- 

 known Bahia orange of Brazil. Over fifty years ago one 

 of the patriarchs of fruit growing at the Cape, Mr. Joachim 

 Brehm of Uitenhage, became much dissatisfied with the 

 low class of orange then grown in the Eastern Province, 

 and introduced direct from Eio several young trees of the 

 true Bahia. From these, by careful bud-propagation large 

 numbers of this variety were dispersed far and wide, and 

 although the pernicious habit of allowing seedlings to fruit 

 has deteriorated the market supply, yet this most excellent 

 orange is in high favour and buds or grafts are readily 

 obtainable. Other seedling sorts are rather to be referred 

 to the large St. Michael and the Portugal orange. It 

 would therefore appear that the Colony possessed in the 

 first instance excellent named sorts of this delicious fruit, 

 but by the cultural error of propagating by seed, a mongrel 

 race has sprung up which does justice neither to the ex- 

 ceptionally suitable climate of the Cape nor to the possi- 

 bilities of the fruit itself. 



