OEANGES AND LEMONS IN VENETIA. 527 



industry for several centuries. It is on the western shore of the lake, 

 in the region of Brescia, that both fruits are produced with success; while 

 to the east, and properly within the Venetian territory, the lemon only, 

 being the more hardy, is cultivated to any extent for commerce, the 

 orange being more rarely planted, except for experiment or ornament; 

 its fruit does not generally come to maturity. 



Cultivation.— The lemon is cultivated in the open air and succeeds 

 perfectly, though requiring the nicest care and attention. It demands 

 a soil sufficiently loose and fresh to permit the free passage of solar 

 heat without baking or shrinking, and largely composed of the sub- 

 stances most suitable for the formation of acids, of sweet and aromatic 

 juices, such as the alkalies, and particularly those of potassa and lime. 



Analysis. — An analysis of the trunk and fruit of the lemon shows in the 

 fruit the presence of 47.48 per cent, of potassa, 22.82 per cent, of lime, 

 and 11.57 per cent, of phosphoric acid ; in the trunk, 55.13 per cent, of 

 lime, 17.09 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and 14.76 per cent, of potassa, 

 with smaller proportions of other substances. 



Manures. — The manure should be of a nature to complete the natural 

 resources of the soil, by still farther additions of alkaline and azotated 

 substances ; stable manure, mixed with leaves and sea-weed, and left to 

 decay together till they form a loam, to which may be added powdered 

 lime or plaster of Paris and night soil ; some cultivators use also the 

 refuse of the wine and oil press. 



Propagating. — For propagating the plants, a nursery is generally 

 formed in some spot particularly favorable for soil and exposure, and 

 here the plantation may be made in various ways — with the seed simply, 

 with a portion of root which has already given a sprout, with slips 

 buried till they commenced taking root. From the seed sown in spring 

 the plants are more robust, but such plants always require to be grafted 

 later, which is done sometimes in the simple split, but oftener by the 

 insertion of a bud on some thrifty shoot from one of the lower branches. 



The young plants remain for six years, more or less, in the nursery, 

 and here, or in the pots or cases to which they are sometimes trans- 

 ferred, they receive the care necessary to bring them to a certain de- 

 gree of vigor and solidity, as well as the pruning and shaping generally 

 to the form of a sphere or hollow vase. 



Transplanting. — "When ready for transplanting, the ground is prepared 

 by digging a broad ditch the whole length of the proposed line of trees, 

 taking care to break the earth as deeply and widely as possible to give 

 free passage for warmth and moisture, and clearing of any stones or 

 large pebbles. The plants are removed from the nursery or case, with 

 the mass of earth adhering to their roots, and set in the earth 9 or 10 

 inches deep. Care should be taken at the same time to separate and 

 spread any roots too closely grouped together, or tending too much in- 

 ward or downward. In refilling in and around the roots manure should 

 be used liberally, and a slight elevation of earth raised around the spot 



