The Orange for Health, Pleasure and Profit. in 



The orange tree is commonly propagated in this country from 

 the seed, and by grafting or budding. The tree can also be 

 propagated from cuttings Seedlings are much more likely to 

 produce fruit of a quality inferior to that of the parent tree, than 

 fruit of an equal or superior quality; but the most of our supe- 

 rior varieties of oranges we owe to this tendency to sport. When 

 a superior variety has been produced it is propagated by graft- 

 ing or budding onto the roots of other seedlings. The Chinese 

 have a curious method of propagating desirable varieties. 'A 

 branch of the diameter of four or five inches is chosen, around 

 which a circular incision is made. Around this straw matting is 

 wound in the shape of a funnel, and filled with beaten earth. 

 Roots soon begin to push, and by the following season it is pro- 

 vided with sufficient to support it when detached from the parent 

 stem. The young tree thus obtained often bears fruit at the end 

 of two or three years.' 



Pruning of the orange tree is denounced by some growers, 

 but the more experienced advocate the inteligent use of the 

 shears, for the shaping of the tree,for the removal of dead wood, 

 or branches growing in the wrong direction, projecting limbs or 

 those touching the ground, and for the removal of the small 

 branches and suckers which choke up the inside of the tree, ex- 

 cluding needed light and air, and forming dangerous places for 

 the multiplying of injurious insects. 



An ideal orange tree, at eight years of age, may be described 

 as twelve feet high, symmetrical in shape, with limbs projecting 

 evenly on all sides, about eight feet in diameter; of compact 

 growth, the dense foliage hiding the larger limbs, and the trunk 

 visible for about a foot above the ground. To secure an ideal 

 tree some pruning is necessary at times, but should be very spar- 

 ingly indulged in and not overdone. Too little is better than 

 too much pruning. The early spring is conceded to be the best 

 season of the year to do the heavy pruning. They may be lightly 

 trimmed at other seasons as they need the attention. 



The yield of the orange tree is very great. The usual yield is 

 600 to 1,000, sometimes, but rarely, as high as 6,000 to the tree. 

 'In Malta and Naples as many as 15,000 oranges have been picked 

 from a single tree; in the Sandwich Islands a tree was estimated 

 to bear 20,000 fruits; while 33,000 oranges have twice been re- 

 ported from one tree in southern Europe !' The tree comes into 

 bearing at three to five years of age from the seed, in some places 

 arriving at maturity much earlier than in other countries. The 

 yield at Riverside, California, per tree, in merchantable fruit, has 

 been given as follows: Ninth year from seed, half box; tenth 

 year, one to three boxes; eleventh year, one to five boxes; twelfth 

 year, same; thirteenth year, three to five boxes; fifteenth year, 

 six to eight boxes; with an average increase of a half box there- 

 after up to the twentieth year. The fruit has sold at from $1.40 

 per box on the tree, to $6 per box, according to quality and sea- 

 son. 



