566 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



when the grafts are inserted j the plants are then kept four to five years 

 longer in the nursery, thus taking from eight to ten years before the 

 tree is permanently located in the orchard. 



The general mode of propagation is by cutting. Large fine twigs of 

 last summer's growth are planted, either in November or in February. 

 In Western Andalusia the cutting is originally chosen from the variety 

 which it is desired to reproduce, and of course no further operation is 

 necessary. In Valencia, however, and adjacent districts, the cuttings 

 are chosen in reference to other points (they are often taken from the 

 lemon tree), and then grafting or budding is resorted to, the graft or 

 bud being of the variety it is desired to raise. The operation is usually 

 performed during the winter of the following year, and the grafts are 

 inserted at a height of about 10 centimeters above ground. 



Insect pests and fungous growth. Orange trees are exposed to the 

 attacks of both insects and of parasitic growths. The latter are, in this 

 section at least, considered as by far the most formidable, and will 

 therefore claim our first attention. These parasitic growths are all low 

 cryptogamic plants, and may be roughly divided into two classes, viz, 

 those attacking the roots, and such as confine their action to the exposed 

 parts of the tree. 



Among this class the most frequent is a species of white mold, be- 

 longing to the genus Byssus, which surrounds the roots of the tree with 

 its mycelium. The white filaments of which it is composed form a dense 

 network around the roots, and have given it its popular name of bianco 

 de las r aices (Anglice, " white of the roots "). A well-known Spanish 

 carpologist writes about this pest in the following terms : 



This parasite surrounds, exhausts, aud dries up the roots of the tree, which, how- 

 ever, does' not greatly alter in appearance during the wet season, but when the rising 

 of the sap takes place in the spring (and in a few cases somewhat later) the affected 

 trees quickly succumb. Indications of the evil are a certain backwardness in bud- 

 ding and blossoming, accompanied by pallor of the leaves and general vegetative 

 weakness. This shows that the Byssus has attacked the roots. In order to counteract 

 its effects it is necessary to completely expose the roots of the affected tree, remove 

 the filaments of the fungus, and cover the roots with fresh soil, ^hole should be dug 

 around the tree until the roots are laid bare ; the moldy surfaces should then be care- 

 fully and thoroughly scraped, and such parts as show deep injury or have begun to 

 putrefy are to be cut off. The usual practice has been to wash or bathe the clennsed 

 roots in water strongly charged with cow-dung, but 1n Valencia excellent i..-,ults 

 have been obtained from the use of hydrosulphide of lime, of a solution or sulphide 

 of copper, and also of protoxide of iron. When refilling the cavity around the tree 

 the fresh soil should be carefully screened, in order to eliminate all fragments of dead 

 roots or of rotten wood, as it is upon such matter that the Byssus develops most 

 readily. It is further advised to place upon the roots thus cleansed and treated a 

 small quantity of well-rotted cow- manure, and above this fresh earth, mixed with 

 salt, lixiviated ashes, and pulverized bones. 



There are undoubtedly a number of the noxious fungoid growths to 

 the attacks of which the roots are exposed, but the general features, 

 both of the development of the parasites and of the approved mode of 

 combating them, are, in the main, as described above. One of them, 



