THE NAVEL ORANGE OF BAHIA. 9 
PROPAGATION AND STOCKS USED FOR THE NAVEL ORANGE. 
Shield budding, essentially the same as practiced in the United 
States but differing in a few minor details, is the method used for 
propagating the navel orange in Bahia. Seedlings of laranja da 
terra (Citrus aurantium L.), the bitter or sour orange, are practically 
always employed as stock plants. The chief reason for the almost 
exclusive use of this stock seems to lie in the fact that it is more 
easily budded than others. Laranja da china (Citrus sinensis (L.) 
Osb.), which is sometimes used, is objected to in Brazil because of its 
thorniness, and also because it does not heal well around the bud and 
is apt to die back when it is cut off after the bud has started into 
growth. Very little is known of the comparative effect of these two 
stocks on the scion, but some of the orchardists in Rio de Janeiro, 
where both these stocks are used, hold that laranja da china produces 
a longer lived tree than laranja da terra. 
Seeds of laranja da terra are sown in beds or rows, preferably on 
high, well-drained, sandy land. When the seedlings have attained a 
height of about 6 inches they are either transplanted to nursery 
rows about 3 feet apart, setting the plants about 12 inches apart in 
the row, or they are transferred to the place the budded trees are to 
occupy permanently in the new orchard and later budded in situ. 
The orchardists give as a reason for this latter practice that it pro- 
duces hardier trees and that the trees come into bearing sooner than 
those transplanted from the nursery after budding. 
When the seedlings are 1 to 2 years old they are budded, no care 
being used in the selection of bud sticks, as a rule, other than to cut 
thrifty water sprouts from large and vigorous trees. Budding is 
usually done in the dry season; buds cut in the shape of « shield 
three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half in length are inserted 
in the stocks 15 to 20 inches above the ground. The bud sticks are 
sometimes an inch or more in diameter, the small bud wood gener- 
ally used in the United States not being considered desirable by 
Bahia propagators. 
Budding is always done when there is an abundance of sap in 
both stock and scion and the bark slips readily. If either is found 
to be dry and the bark does not slip readily, the operation is post- 
poned until a more favorable time. 
The incision in the stock is made in the form of an inverted T. 
The bud,.after insertion, is tied firmly in place with a portion of a 
leaflet of the nicuri palm (Cocos coronata Mart.), made soft and 
pliable by scalding. This palm is common in all the orange-growing 
districts of Bahia. Fifteen days after insertion the wrap is removed, 
and at the end of another 15 days, if the bud has started into growth, 
the stock is cut off about 2 inches above it. 
58081°—Bull, 445—17 2 
