38 



THE ORANGE; 



drop oft'. Oil the contrary, if it shrivels 

 and clings to the bud, the indication is 

 that the bud is dead. 



CUTTING THE STOCKS. As soon as one 

 is satisfied that the buds have adhered he 

 should cut off the stocks from four to eight 

 inches aboye the bud, the larger the tree 

 the higher up. An irrigation and cultiva- 

 tion immediately after this will have a 

 good effect in starting the bud. Within a 

 month after cutting away the stocks, the 

 strings should also be cut and removed, 

 especially the wraps above the bud. 



REBUDDING. Trees that fail to start the 

 bud should be rebudded as soon as possi- 

 ble. If the first work has been done early, 

 there will be time to rebud the skips the 

 (same season. 



SPROUTS. The common practice is to 

 remove all sprouts that put out from the 

 stock in order that its whole vitality may 

 be thrown into the bud. Some think the 

 single growth of the bud is insufficient to 

 keep the stock in a healthy condition, and 

 for the first few months leave several 

 sprouts, keeping them subordinate to the 

 bud. If any sprouts be left they should 

 be on the opposite side to the bud in order 

 that they may not interfere with its up- 

 ward growth. They should be occasion- 

 ally nipped off; and, finally, when the 

 main shoot gets fair proportions, the in- 

 terlopers may be dispensed with alto- 

 gether. 



PRUNING. If the growing bud-sprout 

 shows too great a tendency to branch, it 

 is advisable to thumb-prune it somewhat 

 or to shorten in the lower branches. The 

 new growth should be trained to sturdy 

 proportions and an upright growth. If 

 staking be necessary, stake it, but make 

 it grow upright without this if possible. 



CUTTING AWAY THK STUBS. When the 

 wood of the budded growth shall have 

 hardened up somewhat, cut away the 

 stub of the stock close to the point of 

 juncture. Pare the stock smooth, and 

 cover with paint, shellac, or wax, to pre- 

 vent the wood from drying out and 

 cracking. 



INFLUENCE; OK STOCK ON BUD. While, 

 in theory, the budding of a tree amounts 

 to an absolute change in the fruit, substi- 

 tuting the variety budded for that of the 

 native stock, practice demonstrates that 



the stock still exercises an influence- 

 through the budded growth. This influ- 

 ence varies with different fruits, iu some 

 being quite imperceptible, in others so 

 pronounced as to render budding nuga- 

 tory. For example, the lemon may be 

 budded upon orange stock with the best 

 results ; and, in fact, it has come to be a 

 universal custom to choose orange stock 

 for this purpose by reason of its greater 

 hardiness. But with the orange budded 

 upon lemon stock the case is different ; 

 deterioration of fruit is sure to follow. At 

 one time there was quite a furor for bud- 

 ding choice varieties of orange upon the 

 stock of Chinese lemon. The vigor of the 

 stock caused a marvelous growth in the 

 orange buds, and the experimenters were 

 in high feather until their trees came into 

 bearing. Then it was found that the fruit 

 was large, coarse, pulpy and insipid, be- 

 ing neither orange, lemon, nor a palatable 

 hybrid. 



STANDARD LOWERED BY REPEATED 

 BUDDING. It is safe to assume, then, tbat 

 all stocks exercise some influence on their 

 budded fruit, and though in a single in- 

 stance we might be unable to perceive it,, 

 the probability is that several generations 

 of buds, each taken from the last preced- 

 ing and each inserted in the same stock, 

 would finally bring a fruit much modified 

 and approaching in character that of the 

 seedling operated upon. Thus it is that, 

 the standard of certain varieties has been 

 lowered by successive buddings. A, im- 

 pressed by the excellence of the Mediter- 

 ranean Sweet, obtained buds from the 

 stock first introduced and inserted them, 

 in some of his poorest trees. B obtained* 

 buds from A, and inserted them in lemon 

 stock. Then C got them from B and D- 

 from C, and so the retrograde movement 

 continued until the product of the last 

 Mediterranean Sweet buds was found to 

 be very inferior. Other varieties beside 

 the Mediterranean Sweet have suffered in 

 this way. The Australian Navel, which 

 falls short of its twin sister, the Riverside 

 Navel, is one of the victims. 



ORIGINAL BUDS. It is advisable then , 

 in budding to a choice variety, to go back 

 to the original stock if possible ; otherwise 

 to get buds only one degree removed 

 from the original, and those grown on 



