THE NAVEL OEANGE OF BAHIA. 9 



PROPAGATION AND STOCKS USED FOR THE NAVEL ORANGE. 



Shield budding, essentially the same as practiced in the United 

 States but differing in a few minor details, is the method used for 

 propagating the navel orange in Bahia. Seedlings of laranja da 

 terra {Citrus auraiitiunn L.) , the bitter or sour orange, are practically 

 always employed as stock plants. The chief reason for the almost 

 exclusive use of this stock seems to lie in the fact that it is more 

 easily budded than others. Laranja da china {Citrus sinensis (L.) 

 Osb.), which is sometimes used, is objected to in Brazil because of its 

 thorniness, and also because it does not heal well around the bud and 

 is apt to die back when it is cut off after the bud has started into 

 growth. Very little is known of the comparative effect of these two 

 stocks on the scion, but some of the orchardists in Rio de Janeiro, 

 where both these stocks are used, hold that laranja da china produces 

 a longer lived tree than laranja da terra. 



Seeds of laranja da terra are sown in beds or rows, preferably on 

 high, well-drained, sandy land. When the seedlings have attained a 

 height of about 6 inches they are either transplanted to nursery 

 rows about 3 feet apart, setting the plants about 12 inches apart in 

 the row, or they are transferred to the place the budded trees are to 

 occupy permanently in the new orchard and later budded in situ. 

 The orchardists give as a reason for this latter practice that it pro- 

 duces hardier trees and that the trees come into bearing sooner than 

 those transplanted from the nursery after budding. 



When the seedlings are 1 to 2 years old they are budded, no care 

 being used in the selection of bud sticks, as a rule, other than to cut 

 thrifty water sprouts from large and vigorous trees. Budding is 

 usually done in the dry season; buds cut in the shape of a shield 

 three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half in length are inserted 

 in the stocks 15 to 20 inches above the ground. The bud sticks are 

 sometimes an inch or more in diameter, the small bud wood gener- 

 ally used in the United States not being considered desirable by 

 Bahia propagators. 



Budding is always done when there is an abundance of sap in 

 both stock and scion and the bark slips readily. If either is found 

 to be dry and the bark does not slip readily, the operation is post- 

 poned until a more favorable time. 



The incision in the stock is made in the form of an inverted T. 

 The bud, aftci- insertion, is ti('(l firmly in place with a portion of a 

 leaflet of tlio niciiri palm {('ocas coronata Mart.)? made soft and 

 pliable by s<''aliling. This palm is common in all the orange-growing 

 (listi'ifts <){ Ijiiliia. Fifteen diiys aftei- insertion the wrap is i-enioved, 

 arxl at thec-nd of anollicr 15 days, if the biid has started into gi'owth, 

 the stock is ent oH' about 2 indues above it. 

 r,W)sr— I'.iil). MO— 17 2 



