848 JOURNAL OE THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Full-grown Orange Trees of Unhealthy Growth. 
Sulphate of aminonia . . . 
250 kilos 
( 551 
Nitrate of soda .... 
300 
( 661 
Superphosphate of lime man- 
ganese 
700 
5> 
( 1,543 
Kainit 
100 
( 220 
Sulphate of iron 
200 
( 441 
Horse manure .... 
12,000 
(26,446 
Sulphate of ammonia . 
160 
( 353 
Nitrate of soda .... 
300 
( 661 
Superphosphate of lime man- 
ganese 
625 
J? 
( 1,378 
Sulphate of iron 
200 
( 441 
Note. — When the tree has recovered and is in a condition to bear 
fruit normally, the use of this fertiliser must be discontinued, using in 
its place one of the formulae that have been mentioned for Orange trees 
in full production. Before using either of these two formul^e, it would 
be well to try a good liming, unless the soil is naturally limy. 
Orange Trees with Much Wood, Leaf, and Flower, but Littlb 
Fruit. 
It is a not uncommon disappointment for Orange trees to have a 
strong, beautiful, and almost luxuriant growth without these promising 
signs being materialised in fruit. 
There are varieties of the Orange which are very shy bearers, useless, 
in fact, as fruit producers, because all their expanse of foliage is nothing 
but a misleading illusion deceiving the grower with vain hopes of a good 
return. To such trees manuring does little good, because they are not 
naturally bearers. As we improve breeds of animals by crossing, so we 
correct trees of a bad variety by budding or grafting. After budding the 
trees are manured in the ordinary way. 
But there are cases, not a few, in which the tree leaves off fruiting 
without it being possible to attribute this natural or congenital barren- 
ness to the variety, since similar trees under other conditions give 
abundant crops. In such cases the defect is due either to a deficiency of 
nutrition, or to a deficiency of the phosphates which promote the fecunda- 
tion of the ovary of the flower, or to the exaggerated predominance of 
nitrogen, which by excessively expanding the sexual organs of the 
flower produces its abortion. Whatever be the cause, we must employ a 
fertiliser in which phosphates predominate. Nitrogen should be applied 
in small quantities, and if the leafage is excessive it may be omitted 
altogether. The use of sulphate of lime is beneficial, because the tree 
absorbs the greater part of the lime which, mineralising the tissues, 
modifies the excessive growth of the green organs, and makes the sap, now 
enriched by the phosphates, direct itself to the flowering parts or to the 
