Edible Products. 



26 



[July, 1910. 



on the Island is wholly lost sis?ht of. 

 Furthermore, a great deal of fruit has 

 not been shipped at all because of un- 

 developed shipping facilities, but the 

 shipping facilities are becoming better 

 every year and the time is past when 

 the home-market can take the bulk of 

 the product. Therefore Cuba must 

 henceforth be recognized as one of the 

 world's chief producers of citrus fruits. 



General Considerations. 

 There are but few branches of agri- 

 culture as highly developed as citrus 

 culture, but even those who know most 

 about it will cheerfully acknowledge 

 that they have much to learn, and are 

 learning every day. 



At the recent meeting of the Cuban 

 National Horticultural Society the most 

 interesting question was " How would 

 you make a grove if you had to do it 

 over again?" This does not imply that 

 all were entirely mistaken in the first 

 venture, but unquestionably some were 

 and all agree that they made some mis- 

 takes which they could avoid with their 

 present knowledge of local soil and 

 climatic conditions. 



The four main factors involved are 

 the man, the tree, the climate and 

 the soil. 



The man may be any kind of a man, 

 but commercial orange growing is a 

 business and the knowledge of it is a 

 science, therefore the man who does not 

 know must be prepared to pay for the 

 education and the experience before he 

 can expect to make a commercial 

 success. The education includes a 

 general knowledge of citrus trees, their 

 habit of growth, the differences between 

 the different species and varieties, their 

 behaviour in different soils and under 

 different climatic conditions aud the 

 influence of a certain budding stock on a 

 certain variety in different soils and 

 localities. 



The experience includes everything 

 from selecting and clearing the land to 

 marketing the fruit, but a man who has 

 gained such experience in one place and 

 knows nothing of other places, and has 

 no theoretical knowledge of the business 

 is almost sure to make mistakes when 

 placed in a position where the conditions 

 are radically different. Of course indi- 

 viduality, adaptability, and many other 

 things are of no less importance. 



The tree is the next factor for con- 

 sideration. As the citrus family does 

 not reproduce its varieties true to name 

 when propagated from seed, it becomes 

 necessary to bud or graft. 



For budding stock any of the citrus 

 family may be used, but ordinarily none 

 but the grapefruit, rough lemon and 

 sour orange are used. The shaddock is 

 also used to some extent, and it attains 

 the largest size in the least time daring 

 the first two years of the tree's growth, 

 after that, rough lemon, grapefruit and 

 sour orange come in the order named. 

 This difference is not so perceptible 

 after a few years, although it depends to 

 some extent on the soil and variety 

 budded on to the stock. According to 

 the experience of planters in Florida, 

 Porto Rico and Cuba, the sour is the 

 best all round stock on which to bud 

 most of the orange and grapefruit 

 varieties, although there are exceptions 

 to that rule. For instance, the Navel, 

 which does not succeed well on light 

 soil, will be more prolific when budded 

 on to the more vigorous shaddock and 

 rough lemon stock. The kid glove and 

 tangerine varieties are usually more 

 prolific when budded on rough lemon 

 than when budded on sour orange, and 

 the rough lemon stock is also frequently 

 used on light sandy soil where the sour 

 orange does not succeed so well. The 

 chief drawback with lemon and shad- 

 dock stock is that they are much more 

 subject to the various gum diseases than 

 the sour, and they should not be used 

 when planting on heavier soil, especially 

 if it is not well drained. Dwart stock, 

 like the Trifoliata, is absolutely unsuit- 

 able here- 

 of varieties there are legion, both of 

 orange and grapefruit. Most of the 

 named California and Florida varieties 

 are planted in Cuba,and there are several 

 good varieties of seedling oranges and 

 grapefruit besides. 



The first question in making a grove 

 is what to plant — oranges or grapefruit. 

 Usually a man plants both, but during 

 the last year the tendency has been to 

 plant mostly grapefruit. The reason 

 for this is that during the first few 

 years the grapefruit tree is more vigor- * 

 ous, it bears at an earlier age, the 

 fruit is easier to handle and it ships 

 better, besides the price has been better. 

 Those things are very strikiug to the 

 beginner, but in after years there will 

 not be so much difference in the vigour 

 and prolificness of the grapefruit aud 

 the orange tree, and as to the price, that 

 will be a question of supply and demand. 



The main considerations in selecting 

 varieties are, first of all, the time of 

 ripeness; next, outward appearance, 

 size, shape, colour and smoothness of the 

 fruit, and strange as it may seem, the 

 actual quality, such as flavour and juici- 

 ness comes last. When cutting a fruit 



