328 



GARDEN-l.NTG- FOK THE SOUTH. 



The orange seems to demand a calcareous soil. Lime 

 would, doubtless, prove a beneficial application in most 

 localities. 



The best soil for tlie orange is a deep, fertile loam. The 

 seeds of the wild orange give the hardiest stock. They 

 should be sown early in spring, and may be budded the 

 same season, or early in the next. They may also be 

 whip-grafted in the spring, just before the time the sap 

 comes into biisk motion. The hardiest kinds should be 

 selected for open air culture. 



The scale insect (Coccus Hisperidum) and others have, 

 of late years, proved a formidable enemy to the extended 

 culture of the orange. The female insects, in spring, are 

 found in a lifeless state, from which the eggs being hatched 

 by the warmth of the season, the young insects crawl forth, 

 puncturing the tender shoots and leaves, and sucking their 

 sap; they gradually increase in size, and in about eight 

 days permanently attach themselves to the trunk and 

 branches to undergo their transformations. During the 

 summer, all the young leaves and branches become rapidly 

 and successively covered with the scales of these insects, 

 of which there are successive generations during the sea- 

 son. In the green-house, this insect is kept down by a 

 strong tobacco wash, heated to the temperature of 100 de- 

 grees Fahrenheit, and applied to the whole affected sur- 

 face. The warm liquid irritates the insect, so that it looses 

 its hold, permitting the fluid to enter between it and the 

 bark, b}^ which means it is destroyed. Applied at ordi- 

 nary temperatures, tobacco water has no effect.* To be of 

 much benefit, the application must be universal. 



Varieties. — There are about forty sorts of oranges culti- 

 vated, of two principal classes, viz., the Sweet or China 

 Oi'ange, and the Bitter ^ Seville or Wild Orange. The latter 

 « Burst. 



