THE CULTIVATION OF CITRUS FRUITS IN THE WEST INDIES. 433 



good, strong, straight stocks until about the following October, when they 

 should be cut back to about 3 inches above the soil. If the stocks are 

 in good health new shoots will be readily thrown out. The strongest 

 two of these might be allowed to develop for a couple of months, 

 and then the weaker should be cut off, leaving the stronger to develop. 

 In about four or five months this shoot should have developed to about 

 the thickness of a lead pencil, and should be from 12 to 18 inches in 

 height. It is then ready for budding. 



Budding. 



' Budding of Citrus trees is performed in the same manner as for 

 roses or other fruit trees, with one exception, the T cut is inverted 

 thus J_, and the buds pushed upwards instead of downwards. By 

 this method water is prevented from entering the cut and causing 

 the bud to rot. Budwood of Citrus trees may be angular or round. 

 The new growth is usually angular and develops roundness as it 

 gets older ; either kind will do for budding, the round being easier, as 

 a rule, to cut ; but some budders consider that the young or more angular 

 wood gives best results. For choice one should try to secure budwood 

 from the last ripened growth, and being of not more than one season's 

 growth, endeavour to obtain wood neither too angular nor too round. 

 In cutting the bud the cut should be made deep enough to take a thin 

 slice of the wood as well as the bark. This wood should not be removed 

 from the bud; "wood buds" take much more readily than mere bark 

 buds. A good sharp knife, a steady skilful hand, and a bright day are 

 the essential conditions for successful budding. 



Mal-di-goma, or Boot Rot, having been known to attack Citrus trees 

 from ten to twelve inches above the soil, resistant stocks should not, 

 therefore, be budded below this height, or the object to be gained by 

 budding on resistant stocks will be likely to be lost. If the bark of the 

 stock does not lift readily in one place, then a little higher up the stem 

 may be tried with advantage. 



When the bud has been properly inserted it should be bound round 

 firmly with raffia, and finally wrapped round with budding tape. About 

 three inches of the extreme top of the stock should then be bent down 

 this enables the budder to see at a glance the plants that have been 

 budded. After ten days the tape should be unwrapped and the bud 

 examined, and if found to be growing, the tape should be wrapped round 

 again very loosely to enable the bud to get hardened, and, in the mean- 

 time, to give it some slight protection from the sun. The top of the stock 

 should then be bent in half, and as the bud continues to grow this top 

 should be cut away at the bend, thus leaving eight or nine inches of the 

 original stock to protect the growing bud. When the bud has fully 

 emerged from the bark the tape should be entirely removed, and after it 

 has made its second strong growth the remainder of the stock should be 

 cut off close above the bud. Many growers, however, leave this portion of 

 the stock until the plants are removed to their permanent quarters, but 

 this is not necessary, and certainly checks the plant in its quick develop- 

 ment of healing- tissue over the union of bud and stock, 



VOL. XXXIV. F F 



