FEUIT CULTURE IN THE ALPS MAEITIME. 931 



The bitter orauge is cultivated only for its seed, the essence, and the 

 flower. It is not eaten. The tree begins to bear fruit in two or three 

 years after the grafting, but it does notarrive at full maturity until ten 

 years of age. They last for two or three hundred years. 



PKOPAttATION. 



Are the trees seedlings, grafted, or budded f 



All three practices prevail. The bitter orange is grown from the 

 seed, and when it attains the thickness ofl inch and the height of 5 or 

 6 feet it is grafted or budded with the sweet orange of whatever variety 

 desired. 



The same process in effect is pursued with the lemon trees. 



MALABIBS. 



Frost, or freezing, is hardly to be called a malady, but it is equally 

 fatal, and the tree requires care and protection against it. 



The principal malady attacking the trees here is that called La Mousse. 

 It seems to be a blight, but whether fungus or not I can not say. It 

 would seem to be produced (I don't know which is cause and which 

 effect) by a superabundance of water in the trunk of the tree under 

 the bark. The symptoms are that the tree withers and becomes yellow, 

 the fruit, flowers, and leaves fall, and all begin to decay and rot. The 

 disease seems to be contagious or infectious. There appears to be no 

 cure, and the only course to save the trees or gardens a^acent seems 

 to be the immediate destruction of the diseased trees. 



HOW PLANTED. 



At what distance are the trees planted ? 

 Oranges about 5 meters, lemons 3 meters. 



SITUATION OF ORCHARDS. 



Are orchards inland or on the sea-coast, hiil-sidfe, valley, or upland? 



Protected from the cold, the orange tree will grow in any of these sit- 

 uations, but that preferable is the valley, where it can be irrigated when 

 necessary. The lemon tr^e prefers a dry soil, and not having absolute 

 need of irrigation, will flourish on the hill-side. But as both these trees 

 love the warmth, they can not be liere transplanted far from the sea. 

 They (especially the lemon) are to be found with the greatest success 

 on an espalier, or trellis, on the protected side of the high stone walls 

 which are the common garden-fence in this country. 



How near to the sea-shore are the orchards ? 



Within 100 meters for the oranges and even less for the lemons. 



IRRIGATION. 



irrigation is requisite for the orange in this country. 



\ h:i-ve given the raiu-fiill (maximum fall) iu ten years, 1870-'79, 1,384 



