13 



than the centre of the interspaces. The plants should then be set so- 

 that the crown roots are at least a foot above the high >st level of the^ 

 land on which they are se . If planting is to be done by hand labour 

 a circle three feet in diameter, should be forked and thoroughly pul- 

 verized ; on this, the young plant should be set, and the roots covered 

 with surface soil taken from outside the circle already forked. Great 

 care must be taken to spread out the roots and to firmly surround 

 them all with soil, and to thoroughly water the whole of the stirred 

 soil after planting. The circle of soil on wh ch the plant is set should 

 never be hoed, but hand- weeded, throwing the weeds down on the 

 soil to form a mulch, if necessary ; the soil cau be loose ied with the 

 fork, but keep away the hoe as you value your plant ; I once saw a 

 young tree with eighteen big notches in the bark which had been 

 made with hoes. The owner wondered why the tree gummed and did 

 not grow, I did not ! 



Drainage — Drainage simply depends on the physical condition of 

 the soil of the grove. The three feet deep drains at Salt Ponds hav *. 

 simply worked marvels, the shallow drains at Hart lands have done a 

 lot of good. But there is little doubt that it ; s almost impossible to 

 drain too deeply on such flat lands with clay subsoils 



Tillage — Supposing the plants have been set sufficiently high, the 

 fork should be used to keep the land in tilth, and the plough or hoe 

 may be, but it must be clearly understood that tearing the roots off 

 the trees periodically with plough, hoe, or fork is not tillage. 



Pruning — Unless it is done by a very skilful pruner, it must be 

 strictly confined to removing undeveloped growths in the centre of the 

 trees. I have still to see the improvement of young trees by pruning ; 

 there is no doubt that young, vigor ms trees are often caused to gum 

 by pruning. 



Irrigation — It is extremely interesting to know that two years ago 

 the lovely trees at Salt Ponds were being vigorously irrigated, and 

 were practically undrained ; at that date the drains were made, and 

 since then they have not had a drop of artificially applied water. 

 Young plants on the dry plains must have water to start with, and 

 possibly water might be very useful in starting the trees into growth 

 so as to secure early fruit, but apart from this, it appors that Citrus 

 plants are able to subsist with a very small rainfall ; providing that 

 the preliminary cultivation has been such that the roots can go down 

 without meeting sour soil. The great thing in watering by irrigation 

 seems to be to run the water from the point of the roots to the base, 

 and not vice versa. If the planting in ploughed land has been done in 

 the way suggested, two lines for the water to run down should be 

 made, say eighteen inches from the stems when first the trees are 

 planted, these lines being gradually made further and further from the 

 stems as the trees develop, always remembering that it is the points 

 of the root that require most moisture. Where hand labour has been 

 used for planting, and the plants are set on the circles just described, 

 the water should be run round the outside of the circle, it will find 

 its way to the base quickly enough if the tillage has been thorough. 



Foot-rot — Orange trees are rendered liable to foot-rot by deep plant- 

 ing, and sour undrained subsoils. If orange trees are properly pLnted. 



