24 



ORA>'GE CULTURE. 



you will hereafter want to hoe and weed your young plants ; 

 therefore leave a space two feet wide between them, the beds 

 themselves being three feet in width. This will allow you to reach 

 the centre from each side. 



See that the seed beds are well cleared of tmsh,. grass, sticks, 

 etc... and make them level and smooth ; then make your trenches 

 six inches apart, and drop your seed as in the boxes, or sow broad- 

 cast if you prefer it, being careftil not to sow too thickly ; press 

 the soil down firmly, then cover your beds with a mulch of pine 

 straw, grass, well rotted sawdust, or moss, it matters little what is 

 used so that it keeps in the moismre, and shields from the 

 hot sun. 



A barrel of oranges will furnish from four to eight tliousand 

 plants ; to separate the seed from the pulp, when such large quan- 

 tities are to be sorted, one needs a seive with a quarter-inch 

 mesh , a good stifi" brush, and an abundance of water. 



The ground should be moist when the seeds are planted, either 

 by rain or jDrofuse artificial watering, and should be kept so, until 

 the seed are up, which will be in from ten days to two weeks ; 

 without mulching they are often four or five weeks in making an 

 appearance. 



As soon as the first plants are fairly up, remove a pait of the 

 mulch, so that they will meet with no resistance in pushing their 

 way upward, and after a few days remove it entirely. 



Keep the seed bed watered until the plants are about three 

 or four inches high, and then after a drenching rain, replace the 

 mulch around the slender stems. 



It is an excellent plan to soak the mulching material in 

 liquid stable manure twenty pounds to a barrel of water for a 

 few hours before applying it to the nursery bed. 



Orange, or any other plants, in fact, thus raised and cared 

 for, will make such a thrifty growth as will astonish their owner, 

 and amply repay all the time and trouble lavished upon them. 



There is another way of protecting the young trees from the 

 direct rays of the sun ; a method that is extensively practised in 

 many large nurseries ; it is more trouble and expense than the 

 process just described, but as it has the endorsement of practical 



