66 



ORAJfGE CULTURE. 



either the plow, cultivator or harrow. It cuts off weeds under 

 ground better than the two latter, and taken altogether, it does 

 better and cheaper work in a grove free from stumps, and better 

 than any other implement we know of. 



The ground throughout the grove should be kept level, 

 and the surface stirred with sweep or cultivator every two weeks, 

 to a depth of no more than three inches, as far out as the roots have 

 extended. Each time the cultivator or harrow passes through 

 the grove it should be followed by the hoe, not only to cut 

 down all grass and weeds, but to draw any soil that may 

 have been thrown against the trunks of the trees, or piled up on 

 top of the crown of the lateral surface roots. 



We have in a previous chapter referred to the importance 

 of allowing the crown of these roots to be level with, or slightly 

 above the surface of the ground, and now refer to it again 

 because it is a point, the why and wherefore of which is but little 

 understood or heeded, even by those growers who are esteemed 

 most intelligent and wide awake to the best methods of 

 culture. 



If the crown of these laterals is left a little above the soil 

 when the young tree is set out, as nature intended it to be, they 

 will develop very rapidly, and as these are the main channels 

 for conveying food and drink to the inner parts of the tree, the 

 importance of this point is readily seen. 



It is exactly on the same principle that we draw away the 

 earth from around an onion to hasten the growth of the bulb, 

 and everywhere among the forest trees we see Dame Nature em- 

 ploying this method to brace and strengthen their growth. 



As a general rule, clean culture gives the best results, where 

 the ground is dry and rolling. When it is low and damp, allow- 

 ing it to grow, cutting in once or Uxice in the season, and leav- 

 ing it to decay on the surface, is the better plan. 



The former is the best for new pine lands, the latter for wild 

 hammock groves, although circumstances may, in individual 

 cases, modify these rules, but, generally, they hold good. 



We know of a pine land grove, where for several years 

 grass was allowed to grow, and three or four times in a season 



