540 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



said ball be of small size, so that the plants should lose less. With 

 a mountain knife, or other similar garden tool, a series of holes are 

 made of superficial depth, to admit the roots of the young plants, 

 which are placed in same conditions as they were in the nursery. The 

 orange trees are planted in the plantation at a distance of from 40 to 

 50 centimeters apart, if wished to be of short trunk ; but should the 

 contrary be desired, they are planted at a greater distance from each 

 other. On transplanting the young trees, a series of light beds are 

 made and the trees are planted at the base of the same and in regular 

 files, but on the opposite side of the beds to that where they are irri- 

 gated, thus preventing the water from reaching the young shoots. 



Now and then the top soil is loosened with a weeding-hook, and thus 

 the beds gradually get lower, until at last they are level with the sur- 

 rounding earth at the time when the plants have taken firm root and 

 are flourishing. The plantation is irrigated once in every three weeks 

 in ordinary weather, but oftener should it be very dry ; and about at 

 the end of two or three months after transplanting, say in July or 

 August, a small quantity of guano or of rotten dung may be applied. 

 At the expiration of a year in the plantation, the young trees are suffi- 

 ciently advanced for grafting, should they have been tended with great 

 care and are required for trees of short trunk ; but should they be re- 

 quired to be of long trunk, every means should be availed of for favor- 

 ing the development of the terminal bud. To this end, every year, 

 about June, by means of nipping, the too forward growth of the lateral 

 buds is checked. In April, branches, leaves, and thorns on the lower 

 half of the stem are cut off, as are also the lateral branches above the 

 same which are vigorous. 



This same care is bestowed every year until the stem, straight and 

 devoid of knots, reaches a height of from 1J to 2 meters, when grafting 

 is effected on its upper part. Should any of the plants take a crooked 

 direction, they are cut off in April of the second year at about 10 cen- 

 timeters from the surface of the soil, when they shoot afresh during the 

 summer, and when the shoots have reached a height of about 20 cen- 

 timeters the most vigorous are selected and the rest done away with. 

 In this province, trees of short trunk are those invariably grown, con- 

 sequently this last plan is but little, if at all, availed of. 



i 



GRAPTING. 



This is one of the most important means for the propagation of the 

 orange tree. 



Grafting consists in the insertion of a branch or cutting of one plant 

 into another, which operation has to be carefully done, so that both may 

 unite and ultimately form a single plant growing on the same stem. 

 Grafting is also done on a plant with some of its own shoots. 



Grafting is principally performed with the object of procuring flowers, 

 leaves, wood, or fruit of superior quality or more merit than that previ- 

 ously obtained. 



