270 



CITRUS TRIPOLI ATA 



AND THE DWARF ORANGES. 



December. This tree, which is illustrated here- 

 with from a photograph, was 4.} feet high, and 

 about 7 feet through. This dwarf habit renders 

 the fruit easy to gather, and the tree is exceedingly 

 handsome and attractive in appearance, gs may be 

 imagined. 



A remarkable feature of the Satsuma when bud- 

 ded on Citrus trifoliata stock is its hardiness, which 

 is yet an unknown quantity, as none have ever 

 succumbed, even where the ground has been frozen 

 several inches deep. It is suggested that it may in- 

 troduce profitable orange culture into Texas ; trees 

 of Satsuma set there several years ago have done 

 remarkably well. Indeed, it is possible that in a 

 sheltered spot the variety may be hardy as far north 

 as Delaware, and by acclimation come yet more 

 into the so-far-forbidden land for orange culture; 

 who knows ! With a hardy stock and a still hardier 

 bud, the elements are certainly favorable for an 

 extensive widening of the "orange belt." 



The commercial importance of the Satsuma can- 

 not be overestimated. The past winter one nur- 

 seryman disposed of his crop at $9 per box, whole- 

 sale, in New York, and the demand is certainly 



limited only by the supply, as the peculiar features 

 of the fruit create a taste for it in any one favorably 

 impressed at first, even where there is a dislike for 

 the original Mandarin type. The expense of grow- 

 ing a crop must be less than for other varieties, so 

 that even when the vastly increased production re- 

 duces prices, there will still be a profitable margin. 

 The variety keeps fairly well, and packs very attrac- 

 tively, owing to its peculiar skin. 



There has been extensive planting of budded 

 Satsumas in Florida in the last two or three years, 

 particularly since the trees have been offered by 

 nurserymen at reasonable prices. A large produc- 

 tion of the fruit may therefore be expected in the 

 next few years, when all the county will have a 

 chance to become acquainted with this fine variety. 



Owing to the dwarf habit of the Satsuma it is ad- 

 mirably adapted to pot culture ; moderate-sized 

 plants grown for two years only in greenhouses in 

 Virginia, have produced 40 to 60 fruits each, and 

 make a very handsome display when set with the 

 oddly shaped oranges. Indeed, there can be but 

 little question that this is one of the most valuable 

 introductions of many years among citrus fruits. 



J. Horace McFarland. 



CITRUS TRIFOLIATA AND THE DWARF ORANGES. 



The introduction of the Satsuma type of oranges 

 and the use of Citrus trifoliata stocks promise to 

 extend and greatly modify the culture of the orange. 

 It appears that both the stock and the variety are 

 peculiarly hardy, and apt to succeed where climatic 

 conditions prevent the profitable culture of other 

 citrus fruits. In addition to the Satsuma or Man- 

 darin type, other varieties are dwarfed and will 

 flourish when budded on the trifoliata stock, and 

 it provides an easy means of making trees for pot 

 culture which shall bear early and abundantly. Dr. 

 Devron, of New Orleans, writing to the Southern 

 Horticultural Journal, makes the following remarks 

 concerning Citrus trifoliata : 



"Having been one of the first to cultivate the Citrus 

 trifoliata in the open ground, in the United States, and 

 perhaps the first to see it bloom and produce fruit in 

 this country, I must say that I know of no variety of the 

 citrus family that can be more neglected, more exposed 

 to the extremes of temperature, or to excesses of mois- 

 ture and dryness, with so much impunity. In seventeen 

 years that I have had that citrus under observation I 

 never found an injurious insect on the tree, or its leaves, 

 flowers or fruit. The Citrus trifoliata used as a stock of- 

 fers another advantage — the portions above the bud when 

 removed are not lost ; when treated as cuttings they read- 



ily strike root and furnish new plants for the following 

 year — a fact which renders this stock very cheap in pro- 

 duction. 



"The tree in Louisiana grows to the height of 10 to 

 12 feet, with numerous straight, stout and very sharp 

 thorns (a good substitute for our barbed wire) ; the 

 leaves are trifoliate, the flowers are very large and have 

 no odor, or if any, a very faint one. In New Orleans 

 this tree is a deciduous one, and its flowers appear a week 

 or two before the new leaves. 



"I have been told that this tree is an evergreen in 

 Japan, but in my garden in this city it is always a dec- 

 iduous tree, except seedlings of less than two years, which 

 retain their leaves the first winter. The unpalatable 

 but very pretty fruit is of the size of a Mandarin orange, 

 and contains some thirty seeds, which on being immedi- 

 ately planted reproduce the original plant, thus proving 

 this tree to be a wild plant, and neither a hybrid nor a 

 sprout from some other citrus. When the first blossoms 

 of March do not produce much fruit a second and third 

 bloom occur in May or June, and yet all the fruits ma- 

 ture at the end of October. In November the leaves 

 turn yellow and drop gradually, so that at the end of 

 December none remain. 



" The deciduousness of this citrus increases its hardi- 

 ness ; being dormant in winter and the circulation of the 

 sap very limited, rupture of the cells and death to the 



