Edible Products. 



116 



[August, 1910. 



sphere lias suddenly been changed into a 

 hot dry wind, and even isolated torest 

 trees that may have been left will die on 

 account of the changes. Such extensive 

 clearing has already changed the climate 

 in many localities, and if it continues 

 uninterrupted it will be but a few years 

 before Cuba will be the " Pearl of the 

 Antilles " in name only. Irrigation is 

 to-day a standard subject for discussion, 

 but Avith alcohol at 40 cents per gallon ifc 

 costs money to pump water from a 

 depth of 50 to 150 feet, and it is worth 

 almost any outlay to preserve what 

 moisture we have. 



Those who cleared land a few years 

 ago without leaving wiudbreaks around 

 their orange groves are to-day planting 

 such in many places, and where the trees 

 have been severely injured by wind, it 

 is now recognized as being necessary to 

 plant local wind protection of quick 

 growing plants in the grove. 



HOW TO MAKE A GROVE. 



The man who started out to plan and 

 to plant an orange grove according to 

 some set rule will certainly fail unless 

 the rule happens to be made for his 

 identical locality. The procedure must 

 depend upon all of the foregoing factors, 

 and an ounce of common sense is far 

 more valuable than a pound of rule of 

 thumb. 



If the land is cleared it may be plough- 

 ed and harrowed before planting, or strips 

 may be ploughed where the trees are 

 to be planted. The trees may be planted 

 immediately after ploughing, or a cover 

 crop may be planted first to serve as pro- 

 tection for the young trees. The trees may 

 be bought from a far off nursery, or 

 they may be taken from the home nursery 

 and planted with a ball of earth, in 

 which case there is scarcely any loss 

 of foliage. Stakes may also be placed 

 20 to 25 feet apart, holes dug and 

 again filled, seeds of sour orange, rough 

 lemon or whichever stock is wanted, 

 may be planted close to the stake and 

 thinned out to one after a few weeks, 

 which may then be budded as soon as 

 it reaches the size of a small lead pencil. 

 All of these methods are successful wher- 

 ever the conditions are right, but the 

 last for instance could not be recommend- 

 ed in a dry season or in very dry soil, as 

 the success depends upon the germina- 

 tion of the seeds and quick growth of 

 the stock. If the land is covered 

 with forest it may be cleared of roots 

 and stumps and ploughed, or the timber 

 may be cut off and hauled away leav- 

 ing only the small stuff to be burned, or 

 everything may be burned right there, 

 and the stumps that cannot be burned 



may be left until they rot. But no 

 matter what method is used, strips of 

 forests should always be left about every 

 five hundred feet in order to serve as 

 a windbreak. In burning, care should 

 be taken to burn nothing but what is 

 absolutely in the way. Leaf mould and 

 grass should be left to make humus. 



In planting a tree there are certain 

 precautions that should never be for- 

 gotten. One is not to plant too deep. 

 The hole should be dug wide and deep, 

 the soil again filled in and heaped up 

 and preferably be left to settle before 

 planting the tree, but even if the soil is 

 settled the tree will almost invariably 

 settle after planting and be from one 

 to three inches too deep when well root- 

 ed. To avoid this mistake a board 

 about 8 feet long should be provided, 

 a notch cut in the middle and a block 4 

 to 6 inches thick nailed to each end. 

 "When planting, the board should be plac- 

 ed over the hole, and with the blocks 

 resting on the ground, the tree should 

 then be placed in the notch with the 

 board x'esting on the crown roots and 

 the earth filled in. Such a tree when 

 settled will stand with its crown roots 

 well exposed, even though the soil may 

 have been soft and loose when planting. 

 A tree wtih its crown below the level 

 of the soil is not a success in Cuba. 



Cultivation. 



How to cultivate a grove will depend 

 entirely on local conditions, The ground 

 should be kept clean and loose in a circle 

 around the young tree in all cases, 

 which may be accomplished by working 

 it or by mulching. The latter is very 

 successful whenever sufficient grass is 

 available for the purpose. 



The land between the rows may be 

 planted to corn or some legumiuous 

 crop, which is always better than to 

 leave it in grass, and the legumes es- 

 pecially are very beneficial unless as 

 it happens sometimes insects become 

 numerous and find a lodging place there, 

 The Parasol ant, the small stinging ant 

 and the beetle, Pachnceus, are trouble- 

 some enemies of the orange trees in 

 Cuba, and it sometimes becomes neces- 

 sary to keep clean cultivation for some 

 length of time in order to leave them no 

 nesting place and extra food plants. 

 But aside from that, legumes are desir- 

 able in the grove. On heavier soil, such 

 as is found in the eastern part of the 

 Island, the very best cover crop has 

 been found to be the Dolichos lab-lab or 

 Lab-lab bean, as it is usually called. This 

 is a very prolific plant, covering the 

 ground entirely in a few months and 

 growing continuously for several years. 



