44 



The Kid Glove Orange. 



Both Mandarin and Tangerines in America rejoice in the appella- 

 tion of " The Kid Glove Orange," owing to the fact that it is possible 

 for a lady to eat these fruiis with a new pair of gloves on and not soil 

 them. 



The arrangement of the different sections lends itself to assist the 

 most fastidious in the delicate manipulation of the fruit — each is 

 perfect in itself, easily detachable and perfectly dry, yet the skin 

 film which contains the j uice sacs is of the thinnest, and ' ' rag 

 which is present to a greater or lesser extent in all oranges • is prac- 

 tically unknown. In addition, the flavour of a really well -grown 

 " naartje " is inimitable, the absence of any superabundance of acid 

 renders it acceptable, even when in a half ripe condition, and it is 

 difficult to believe that, when this fruit becomes better known, the 

 demand will not increase a thousandfold. 



In discussing the naartje, it is not proposed to do more than touch 

 on some points whereon the treatment of the tree in matters of growth . 

 and cultivation differs somewhat from, that dealt with when speaking 

 of the orange. 



Soils and Stocks. 



Both trees belong to the same family, and have similar likes and 

 dislikes in regard to climafe, irrigation facilities, cultivation methods, 

 etc. The question of soil, however, is one which can only be 

 approached from the point of view of its suitability to the root upon 

 which the naartje is growing; this brings us to the question of stocks 

 for the naartje, and it is an extremely wide one in South Africa. On 

 its own root the tree puts on a vigorous upright growth, not imlike 

 that of a seedling orange, produces fruit typical of the variety to 

 which it is budded, and is, generally speaking, healthy and long-lived. 

 The naartje on its own root, either budded or grown from seed, rejoices 

 in a deep rich loam, capable of absorbing, and moderately retentive 

 of, moisture, yet not sufficiently heavy in texture to prevent good 

 drainage. The deeper the soil the longer-lived the tree should be. 



Budded on Street Orang^e. 



Budded on sweet orange, the frait produced is equally as good as 

 irhat borne on trees on naartje stock; on account, however, of its 

 tendency to_ disease the sweet orange is not extensively \ised, is not a 

 favourite with nurserymen, generally, perhaps, on account of a little 

 difficulty in "working," yet there are circumstances and conditions 

 under which it would be well to consider the use of this stock. Such, 

 in any case, would be of infrequent occurrence and limited to those 

 sites for a citrus grove which may be termed "ideal." On rough 

 lemon the naartje puts on a vigorous growth, scarcely as upright as 

 when found on its own root, the tree is hardier perhaps than when 

 worked on either of the stocks already mentioned and can be grown on 

 a wider range of soils. The use of the lemon as a graft carrier enables 

 the naartje to be cultivated witli success on light, sandy loams and on 

 silicous red ones, and greatly extends the area over which the fruit 

 may be grown. It cannot, however, be said that the fruit pi'oduced 

 on trees worked on rough lemon is as good as that found on either of 

 the stocks mentioned. 



