9 

 sunshine. Late ripening is rather an advantage in point of 

 the price olDtalned for the fruits. 



Orange seedlings are ordinarily transplanted when two or 

 three years old. The time for transplanting is May and June. 

 Ho^es are dug at suitalile intervals with a crowljar, or a thick 

 pointed stick, and the plants are placed in theui in a slanting 

 position. No manure is used at the time of transplanting or 

 at any other stage of grov^th, No fixed distance is olsserved 

 in planting the trees, the ground "being so uneven and full of 

 rocks that planting at regular in'f'ervals is out of the ques- 

 tion. Generally speaking, orange trees are planted a"bo;it ten 

 feet apart, hut are often planted closer. 



By the end of the rains, a mamLer of leading shoots will 

 have groid from the hase of the plant. These are more vigo- 

 rous and grow faster than the old stem which remains, more or 

 less stunted, and often dies down altogether. At the end of 

 two or three years the parent stem is pruned off, and one or 

 two of the most promising shoots are preserved, and the rest 

 cut off. The tree throws out a niJimiDer of main "branches a 

 short distance ahove the ground. These ascend at an acute 

 angle to the axis of the tree, and as they grow up almost ver- 

 tically, they give to the tree a compact pja-amidal shape not 

 unlike that of a pear tree. The tree receives no f\u-ther 

 pruning till it comes into "bearing. 



Orange trees "begin to "bear from eight to ten years from 

 the time of sowing the seed, sometimes twelve years or more in 

 unfavorable localities. 



