THE OEANGE; 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



REJUVENATING OLD TREES BUDDING OLD TREES. 



When old orange trees become sickly 

 and practically useless by reason of ex- 

 hausted vitality or insect pests they may 

 be restored by adopting the following 

 course; Denude the tree of leaves alto- 

 gether, cutting away all of the top except 

 the leading branches. Wash these branch- 

 es and the trunk thoroughly with an in- 

 secticide and wrap the trunk in burlap to 

 protect it from the sun. Manure the 

 ground about the tree, and irrigate thor- 

 oughly. The tree will send out a multi- 

 tude of new shoots, which should be 

 thinned out judiciously. In one year the 

 tree will have a fine top and in two years 

 will begin again. In this way diseased 

 trees may generally be entirely reclaimed. 



BUDDING OLD ORANGE ORCHARDS. 

 The question of converting old seedling 

 orange trees into budded trees is attract- 

 ing attention on account of the high price 

 of the Riverside Navel as compared with 

 the seedling fruit. A letter was recently 

 written to Mr. Alex. Craw, foreman of the 

 Wolfskill orchards in Los Angeles, for 

 information relative to the budding re- 

 cently done on the large trees in that or- 

 chard, and the following reply was had, 

 which was published in the Riverside 

 PPESS AND HORTICULTURIST: 



" TWOGOOD <fc EDWARDS Gentlemen: 

 Yours of the 20th inst. is received, and in 

 reply to your question relative to budding 

 large seedling orange trees I will give you 

 the particulars of how the trees were 

 treated that you refer to. 



" Orange budders know the difficulty of 



getting a bud to take in the old wood of 

 large trees. Knowing this, and wishing 

 to have the buds start nearer the center of 

 the trees, I sawed off one or two of the 

 leaders or center branches in the spring 

 and left the side branches to fruit the next 

 season. The branches so cut off should bo 

 painted with rubber paint. They will 

 produce a number of young shoots. These 

 should be thinned out to two or three, so 

 as to shape the tree, and the remaining 

 ones should be budded in the fall, and left 

 as dormant buds; or they may be budded 

 the next spring. After the fruit is all 

 picked from the side branches, cut all up- 

 right branches back one-half, as otherwise 

 the tendency would be to draw too much 

 vigor from the buds. In this way you 

 can have some fruit each year until the 

 buds come in and commence bearing. 

 Next season you will have a fine top and 

 can cut away all lower branches of the 

 seedling stock. Then wrap the trunk of 

 the tree and the exposed limbs with cy- 

 press branches or bullrushes to prevent 

 them from from becoming sunburnt. 



" In this way Mr. Wolfskill has had ripo 

 fruit on trees twenty months from the 

 bud, and has made large healthy trees 

 besides." 



Mr. Craw is one of the most experienced 

 orchardists in Southern California, especi- 

 ally in the management of the orange and 

 lemon. He has recently converted a large 

 orchard of seedling orange trees to budded 

 fruit in a most skillful manner, and the 

 modus operandi is given above very briefly. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



ANALYSES OF RIVERSIDE ORANGES AND LEMONS. 



The following is the University Experi- 

 ment Station Bulletin No. 39, on analyses 

 of the orange: 



The samples of Riverside citrus fruits 

 shown at the Citrus Fair March, 1885, with 

 the exception of those marked a and b 

 were received through the hands of Mr. 

 Chas. H. Dwinelle, on his return from the 



fair. All were in excellent condition and 

 were worked during the days following 

 April 3d, the day of receipt. 



The samples marked a and b formed 

 part of a collection received some time af- 

 terwards, through the courtesy of Mr. J. 

 E. Cutter, W. H. Backus, J. H. North and 

 other exhibtors, of Riverside. They were 



