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water which might otherwise stagnate round the roots, these are about 

 one yard in depth, and are opened at distances varying between 25 and 

 30 yards from each other. Finally in April the ground is once more 

 broken and laid out for irrigation. 



In addition to these ordinary and regular labours, in some districts of 

 Sicily, and especially of the two Calabrias, an extra agricultural 

 operation is often practised by the richer landowners or landholders, 

 who alone are able to afford the outlay which this involves, and which 

 is unquestionably beneficial to those plantations on which trees are 

 reared " a secco," in which case, however, the proprietor is able to set 

 off the economy derived from the non-irrigation of the ground against 

 the cost of some extra digging. 



With regard to the all important question of irrigation, although 

 theories are, as usual, at variance, practice is pretty uniform. The rules 

 followed by Palermitan, Reggian and Messinese gardeners and growers 

 are very similar, the intervals of irrigation allowed by all are approxi- 

 mately the same ; thus, the interval between each irrigation during the 

 first year is 7 days, during the next two years about 12 days, from the 

 completion of the third year of the plant's life to the seventh, about 15 

 days, and finally the intervals after this period are of three weeks, and 

 they may be accepted as indicating fairly the relative amount of 

 moisture required by the tree at different stages in its growth, and the 

 average absolute quantity of liquid needed by trees under similar con- 

 ditions, in order to minimise as much as possible the amount of water 

 needful to the prosperity of the plant in those barren districts, and 

 through those long droughts which somtimes afflict Sicilian and 

 Calabrian plantations. The following ingenious method is resorted to 

 by those cultivators who are often compelled to convey the water in 

 carts from distant springs to the site to be irrigated : —a pipe of clay of 

 a little over 1 yard in length and 4 inches in diameter, is sunk close to 

 the stem or trunk of the tree, the water is then poured through this 

 conduit, impregnating the subsoil surrounding the roots, undiminished 

 by evaporation. 



Trimming and pruning of orange, lemon, and citron trees. 



These two arboricultural operations although quite distinct, both in 

 nature and in application, are frequently confounded in Sicily, although 

 their indiscriminate use is often productive of harm to the trees, besides 

 always involving additional labour. 



Thus in those cases in which a timely recourse to the clipping 

 scissors or pruning knife would be sufficient to obviate the need of 

 the hatchet or to limit its employ, a neglect of the landowner will 

 compel him later on to apply the pruning instrument, to the grevious 

 detriment of ( his purse, and as pruning is practised in Sicily to the 

 equally grave detriment of the tree, whose limbs are mercilessly lopped 

 until the bulging mutilated trunk shows clearly that the normal 

 development of the tree having been frustrated, the sap is forced to 

 flow laterally. 



The rules suggested by a very well informed writer ou the subject, 

 are briefly to trim the trees every winter towards its latter end, and to 

 follow by pruning, when the well- grown plant is either seriously affected 

 with one or other of the numerous ailments to which trees of the citrus 



