274? Culture of the Orange and Lemon. 



in perfect health and vigour. By this method I have had an 

 orange tree, which was engrafted in January, standing on a 

 drawing-room table in March and April, with thirty-two blos- 

 soms upon it. This is done by taking a scion on which 

 incipient bloom is perceived. 



The great advantage to be derived from taking the earliest 

 period of the year for this operation will, independently of 

 the time gained, be found to be twofold: 1st, the stock is 

 readily made to advance the scion in vegetation, a matter of 

 most necessary importance ; and, 2dly, should the graft fail, 

 the stock, for two or three times over, may be employed for 

 other scions. With this view, I take care not to cut down 

 my stocks lower than within five or six inches of the surface 

 of the mould. 



This method will be found to have gained one year in ad- 

 vance of Mr. Reeve's method. What, then, shall we say to 

 a method of raising orange trees even more rapid than this ? 

 It is as follows : — Cuttings of the Madras citron are well 

 known, by the most scientific cultivators of these plants, to afford 

 the best stocks for every species of the orange tribe. A single 

 cutting, put into a small pot in January, the bottom part, or 

 end of the cutting, being made to touch the shards placed 

 below the mould in the pot, and plunged into a common hot- 

 bed of dung, will, by March or April, be found sufficiently 

 rooted and grown generally to allow of a scion being engrafted 

 upon it. The rank nature, if I may be allowed the expression, 

 of the stock, will give prodigious vigour to the graft, and, in 

 less than six months from the time of putting the cutting into 

 the pot, a more beautiful and luxuriant-growing tree will be 

 gained in this manner, than will be gained by Mr. Reeve's 

 method in two years, or my own method in one year. I saw 

 the effect of this experiment last spring. It had been tried, 

 with the fullest success, by a most able and experienced gar- 

 dener, whose skill in the management of this tribe of plants, 

 of which his employer has a rare collection, far exceeds any 

 thing of the kind which has yet come to my knowledge. 



The old system of propagating orange trees in this country 

 we all know to have been by budding. It is at this time the 

 universal practice of the French and the Italians. The pro- 

 cess is an exceedingly tedious one. The plants are never 

 well shaped or handsome, nor can we by this method get those 

 beautiful little dwarf-blooming ornaments to our drawing- 

 rooms and the front rows of our conservatories, so much to 

 be admired. Should we, however, require large trees, and 

 such as will yield us fruit for the table, I am of opinion we 



