100 STATE BOARD OF HOETICULTURE. 



near them and threaten to smother them. As the buds grow 

 the remaining sprouts are from time to time removed, being 

 careful, early in their growth, to keep a sufficient sprout growth 

 to maintain a rapid flow of sap. The top of the tree should 

 now be free from sprouts and occupied only by the buds. The 

 bud growth mUst be often pinched, to prevent a long, straggling, 

 weak growth. As the crown of bud growth increases, all sprouts 

 are removed from the trunk. Large trees treated in this 

 manner should appear with a solid bud growth, as in the illus- 

 tration (Plate IX, page 99). 



In some portions of the State the buds are 

 troubled by the leaf-eating beetle Aramigus ful- 

 leri, which climbs the trees and feeds on the ten- 

 der leaves and tip ends of the buds. To keep the 

 beetles from ascending the trees, bands of cotton- 

 batting are placed on the trunks of the trees below 

 Beetle — natural the buds. These bands are removed from time 



size and enlarged. +q time 



PLANTING. 



Preparation of the Soil.— The land should be thoroughly 

 worked through the winter and prepared to be planted in the 

 spring, when it becomes warmer. All weeds and stubble should 

 be plowed under; these will decompose and serve as a fertilizer 

 to the orchard. The thorough working of the soil liberates 

 crude gases and changes the nutritive principles to a form more 

 readily assimilated by the tree. 



* " The question is often propounded to us how to prepare 

 the land before planting the orange tree. Our advice to all 

 contemplating planting is to first have a thorough survey of the 

 land to be planted; then thoroughly grade same, so that water 

 can be successfully carried to every trees Here is where many 

 make a fatal mistake; they undertake to grade the land by 

 the "eye," and find after they have planted their grove that it is 

 impossible to properly water all trees in the grove; then their 

 lifelong trouble begins. So we would say most emphatically, 

 always have your land well graded. When this is properly 



* B. F. Dixon, in essay before Escondido Farmers' Institute, Nov., 1896. 



