LIGHT FROM THE SOCIETIES. 



443 



cut to two eyes, the other to about 12 inches, and fas- 

 tened, also twisted and slanting. This third summer 

 there may appear two shoots on the spur, perhaps one 

 in the soil, and the two uppermost eyes on the 12-inch 

 arm will sprout. The amount of shoots or canes allowed 

 to g'ow and to fruit now and in the future will depend 

 on the strength and vigor of the vine. If four canes 

 have grown and fruited this third summer, more can 

 easily be left at the next trimming, and many more will 

 appear as required. The health and future of the vine 

 depend on the judgment of the grower, who should rub 

 off all superfluous shoots, when fruit can plainly be seen ; 

 those that appear later should remain. After the third 

 year a new cane should be encouraged to grow near to 

 the ground, and the process of trimming be repeated, 

 with the exception that no fruit should be removed from 

 this new cane. When this new cane has its two eyes 

 growing and fruiting, part of tho old cane is removed, 

 and whenever the new cane has attained size and age, 

 the old one is entirely cut away. I do this as soon as 

 fruit is off, not waiting for next trimming-time. Should 

 an old cane appear exhausted and the new one grow 

 tardily, I remove the old cane as soon as the first flow 

 of sap is over. 



Vegetable molds and muck were favorably mentioned 

 as fertilizers for Florida orange-growers. "Hauling 

 muck into our groves or gardens," said J. M. Hawks, " is 

 not only a ' harmless amusement,' as it has "been styled, 

 but it is profitable as well. Look at those onions, five 

 inches in diameter, on exhibition at the entrance of this 

 hall, grown without any fertilizer but muck. It would 

 pay to haul such muck several miles. Time and money 



may often have been wasted in moving a poor quality of 

 muck. Leaf-mold, or scrapings from the surface of the 

 ground in the woods, may be hauled directly into the 

 grove, and spread over the ground and allowed to rot on 

 the surface, or be lightly turned under with a plow, or 

 mixed with the soil by the cultivator. Fresh stable ma- 

 nures should be spread on the surface only, or very 

 lightly covered in. But it is not every orange-grower 

 who has a bed of rich muck, a forest with the ground 

 covered with leaf-mold, a stable, or a barnyard. Some 

 form of the commercial fertilizers must then be used — 

 blood and bone, cotton-seed or linseed-meal for growing 

 young trees, and ground-bone and potash for the bearing 

 grove, or some of the many complete orange-tree fertil- 

 izers in the market." 



C. A. Bacon gave a list of valuable native fruits of 

 Florida. The wild orange may be utilized for making 

 wine and marmalade, and its numerous seeds for grow- 

 ing the hardiest stocks upon which to bud any of the 

 citrus fruits. The wild persimmon is an excellent fruit 

 when ripened by frost, and the tree a good stock for im- 

 proved varieties of persimmons. Then there are a num- 

 ber of wild plums, good for certain uses, Wild Goose, 

 May-haw, hog-plum, etc. The huckleberry and blue- 

 berry fruit abundantly in certain places. Dewberries 

 grow wild, and could be cultivated with profit. The 

 wild gooseberry grows on bushes six feet high, fruit blue, 

 and the size of a small cranberry. The wild cherry's 

 bark is good for bitters. The prickly pear makes de- 

 licious jam and jelly. Wild grapes, elderberries and the 

 scrub-palmetto berry were also included in this list, which 

 seems to promise some good fruits. 



