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ferablj^ should be supplied to the orange grove are the assimilable salts 

 of phosphorus and potash. Already we see that the more experienced 

 foreign cultivators are abandoning the use of nitrate of soda ani have 

 taken to use the superphosphates and chloride of potassium in moderate 

 quantities. To this chemical manure I prefer bone-dust and wood 

 ashes, which are cheap 3r, less active, and have, a more durable 

 influence on the soil. Stable manure, particularly cow- manure, is an 

 excellent compost f )r the orange grove, provided it is sufficientl}^ rot- 

 ten to prevent any undue fermentation when suppUad to the soil. But 

 as it contains a high percentage c : nitrogen compounds, a liberal 

 suppl}" should be avoided to prevent the deterioration of the fruit. 



The orange tree can be multiplied by seed, by cuttings or by layers ; 

 but the practice of propagating the orange tree by layers and cuttings 

 has been long ago abandoned in this Island, and even on the northern 

 shores of the Mediterranean where it was, until lately, the preferred 

 method ; it is getting superseied by the propagation by seeds It 

 was, anciently, the practice in these Islands, to raise all the varities of 

 the orange tree directl}' from seed. Experienc3 teaches us that sweet 

 orange trees thus obtained are very liable to suffer from gummosis ; 

 the great bane of the orange grove. Of all trees of the orange tribe, 

 the Bit'er or Seville Orange is the least subject to infection by gum- 

 mosis, and if infected, it is the best constituted to bear it for a long 

 time and often to overcome it. In fact in favourable years such as this 

 year, the diseased bark soon gets covered by a new layer of healthy 

 bark which definitely prevents the extension of the disease. For this 

 reason it is now the common practice to sow the pips of the Seville 

 Orange and when the young seedlings have acquired a sufficient size, 

 they are removed from their beds to a proper place in a nursery, plant- 

 ing them about two feet apart When the trunk is about J of an inch 

 thick it may be grafted with those varieties of the orange tree which 

 we desire to propagate. When the grafted trees have grown enough, 

 the}" are transplanted in summer with a good ball of earth to their de- 

 finite place in the orange grove, setting them at a distance of 15 feet 

 apart. 



I must pass over, as useless or impracticable, all the various 

 forms of grafts which have been recommended for the orange tree. 

 Some of these grafts, such as the graft Houard, the whip grafting, the 

 saddle graft and others, are used oaly by amateurs to procure young 

 productive trees ol much interest from a horticultural point of view. 

 But the trees thus obtained are very short lived, and the graft itself is 

 a precarious operation, which requires much skill and patience on the 

 part of the gardener. The same may be said of the graft by inarching, 

 which was much recommended by some Maltese orange growers. But 

 although it produces trees of a sufficiently long life, it is not suited for 

 an extensive nursery where the orange grower has to raise hundreds of 

 grafted trees every year. Shield budding is the only kind of graft 

 which I can recommend for the orange tree and of the various methods 

 of shield buddiog, I prefer the upright T method. " In order to effect 

 this, a longitudinal incision is made through the bark of the stojk 

 down to the wood, and is then crossed at the upper end by a similar 

 cut, so that the whole wound resembles the letter T. Toen from the 

 scion is pared off a bud with a portion of the bark, having the form of 



