528 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



to retain water. The plants are sometimes grafted before this transfer, 

 sometimes only a year or two after. Each plant should have about 25 

 square yards of open ground around it ; in these intervening spaces, 

 however, small shoots are sometimes cultivated for sale or transplanta- 

 tion, but in all cases the earth should be well spaded during the first 

 year at least, lopping the roots which come too near the surface. The 

 young trees are sheltered during the winter, and the ration of manure 

 for each is prepared beforehand and placed under cover near it for pro- 

 tection from cold, to be well worked into the ground with the first spad- 

 ing, which takes place at the commencement of vegetation in spring. 



At the same time the tree should be pruned of its dried or weakly 

 branches and leaves, which would become points of attack for mildew 

 or insects, as well as to maintain its compact and advantageous form, 

 and this cleansing operation, after being carefully attended as soon as 

 the advancing season offers some security against returns of cold, should 

 be renewed towards the 1st of July, when the first period of vegetation 

 has well marked the relative vigor and promise of the young shoots. 



The plants should be watered according to the requirements of the 

 season, using for the purpose water from which the chill has been re- 

 moved by standing in the sun. This is done here mostly by hand with 

 the simple old-fashioned watering-pot. 



Where the plants are kept in pots or cases, here as elsewhere, they 

 are more for ornament than profit, and in this case the filling is entirely 

 of manure, and should be renewed every three years. At a certain 

 stage of growth, also, it is necessary to transfer the plant to a larger 

 recipient, though one change of the kind is generally sufficient, a case 

 of 2 to 2 feet in diameter being large enough for it at almost any age. 

 The operation should not be executed without due precaution. The 

 plant, enveloped in cloths or rags, and lifted gently by ropes and pul- 

 leys, should suffer no violence ; while suspended, the smaller and too 

 extended filaments of root trimmed away, and lowered with its mass of 

 earth undisturbed into its new receptacle on a stratum of fine gravel 

 prepared for it, the empty spaces filled as before with manure and loam 

 well worked into the roots. The plant should then stand in the shade 

 for about eight days, guarded, as far as possible, from sudden changes 

 of temperature, and copiously watered, admitting, however, the external 

 air if in the greenhouse, when the weather permits it. i 



Finally, and to prove that after all Italy is not the natural home for 

 these delicate products, even with all these precautions, the orange 

 and lemon plants, which thrive here in the open air during summer, 

 can not risk the winter without protection, either in the greenhouse or 

 under provisory sheds of light planking, provided with stoves and con- 

 ducting tubes sufficient to maintain a certain uniformity of temperature 

 in every part of the inclosure. Many cultivators regulate their practice 

 in heating by the simple expedient of placing a vessel of water near 

 the plant, and light their stoves when the water begins to freeze. This, 



