SOME SUBTROPICAL ORCHARD FRUITS. 197 



as pollards. By cutting back the tops quite severely, large 

 trees are planted successfully with roots cut so short that 

 northern men are certain they will fail to grow. It also 

 layers as easily as the grape, and often shoots resting on 

 the ground will take root. When on own roots it is also 

 propagated from root-cuttings (50). Summer layering 

 (53) is also practised successfully, and this is a principal 

 method of propagation by the natives of Cuba. 



Where the Otaheite orange is used for stocks it is mainly 

 propagated by mounding (51). It also grows well from 

 cuttings of the young wood with a heel of the two-year-old 

 wood planted in the dormant period. But in propagating 

 by mounding, layering, or cuttings, it must be remembered 

 that the orange must have water. If neglected in a dry 

 time they will fail, Skilful propagators even insert buds 

 in the top of a long cutting which is planted with the bud 

 just above the surface in boxes of earth kept well watered. 

 In this case the buds remain nearly dormant until the 

 cuttings take root. But all these methods are confined to 

 home-groAvers. 



The commercial method is to grow seedlings in beds in 

 well-prepared and rich soil. From the beds they are 

 transplanted to nursery rows and budded when the bark 

 peels well, as we manage the stone fruits at the North. 

 The transplanting of the seedlings from the bed requires 

 care, as the stocks have a full supply of leaves for rapid 

 evaporation. A moist soil and cloudy weather are requisite 

 for success in planting. 



Some growers familiar with northern methods plant the 

 seeds in well-prepared rich soil in the nursery rows early 

 and bud the same season, as practised at the North with 

 the peach and plum (74). This plan gives trees large 

 enough for orchard planting in less time than the common 

 plan, but the root system is not so good if the tap-roots 



