ORANGES AND LEMONS IN PALERMO. .")()!) 



The following varieties are also cultivated, each having its special 

 merits, viz : 



Varieties. 



Citrus bigaratlia 21 



Citnis limetta 7 



Citrns lumia -. 1 



Citrus medica 8- 



Citrus bergamia 2 



Citrus aurantiain 22 



Citms deliciosa 1 



Citrus limonum 19 



PLANTING AND PROPAGATING. 



Orange trees are planted 5 meters apart, and lemon trees from 5 to G 

 apart, depending on circumstances. 



The old lemon and orange gardens in this vicinage are generally 

 either the result of certain succulent slips, which were cut from the 

 trees and buried or planted two-thirds of their length in moist friable 

 ground, or curving or bending a live branch, without detaching 

 it from the tree, and inserting it to a depth of about 30 centimeters in 

 rich, soft friable soil. At the end of about two years, or when suf- 

 ficient roots sprouted from the branch thus bended in order to enable it 

 to live without the mother tree, the branch in question was detached 

 therefrom and allowed to proceed, in growth, on its own account. 



This method of propagation has become almost extinct. There are 

 certain cases, however, in which it is still resorted to because of the 

 rapidity with which the trees develop and which make it preferable to 

 any other, as well as on account of the abundance of the yield of trees 

 thus propagated. But the fact that such trees are susceptible of at- 

 tack by male della gomma and readily destroyed thereby in a few years, 

 has convinced even the most steadfast adherent of the method that it 

 should be abandoned and a resort had to propagation through the 

 several varieties of melangoli seed, called here aranci amari (Citrus 

 bigaradia) and the trees thus derived grafted with the various varie- 

 ties, as they resist the malady in question with much more vigor. In 

 fact, the orange and lemon trees of Palermo, which are generally ob- 

 tained by the seed of the melangoli, have resisted the male della gomma 

 much better than those of Messina which were formed from plants de- 

 rived from lemon branches. The best varieties are budded. 



The orchards in Sicily are very large and are, in view of the great profit 

 ensuing therefrom, increasing rapidly. 



Fructification. They fructify at the age of three years, the yield 

 being largest thereafter, from year to year, up to the twentieth, when 

 they are becoming old and subject to all diseases. At this period they 

 are denuded of their branches and a new graft resorted to. 



Insect pests. The most troublesome insect, and that which injures 

 t lie orange and lemon trees most, is called Coccus hesperidum lin or Coccus 

 citry. 



