THE CULTURE OF THE OKANGE TREE. 
51 
Light brown mould (loam ?), one part. 
Peat (such as heaths grow in), one part. 
Clean sand, two parts. 
Rotten hot-bed dung, one part. 
Leaf mould, one part. 
Here we have a compost consisting of two- 
thirds soil, and one-third manure, probably not 
differing very materially from Miller's. But 
need we wonder that a healthy orange tree is 
a scarcity, when so many whims and fancies 
sprang up among the gardeners of old, and 
when the Horticultural Society of London 
gives place to communications recommending 
garbage from dog-kennels, and other exciting 
and unnatural stuff, as the soil for them to 
grow in ? Few men used to grow orange 
trees in better health than Ronalds, of Brent- 
ford, and hundreds of ill-used trees, in all 
sorts of tubs, boxes, pots and contrivance^ 
nevertheless exhibited all the signs of rude 
health, plenty of good coloured foliage, abund- 
ance of bloom and fruit. There was nothing 
poisonous in the soil, nothing detrimental to 
the growth. In our experience, (and we had 
many of his plants, some of all sizes,) we fol- 
lowed Miller as nearly as may be ; at least we 
began all our composts with one staple article, 
rotted turves cut rather thicker than they would 
be laid down, and when this can be got from 
a good loamy pasture, there is nothing to be 
so well depended on. This, with one part of 
well-rotted dung from an old melon bed to 
every two of the loam, will grow almost every 
thing well ; but the orange tree, or the camel- 
lia, or myrtle, will 'flourish in it better than 
in any other compost that can be tried. It is 
true that when the fruit is swelling, the tree 
is the better for an occasional watering with 
liquid manure, but it must be more carefully 
administered than many are in the habit of 
doing it, and if overdone there is more mis- 
chief done in a short time, than can be un- 
done in a season or tw r o, and the best way 
when a soil has been overcharged with any 
particular manure, is to re-pot the plant as 
soon as it is discovered. There should never 
be less than two waterings with plain water 
to one of liquid manure, and even then the 
manure should not be too strong. We there- 
fore recommend the soil to be as nearly as 
may be composed of rotted turves, two parts, 
rotted dung from a melon bed, one part ; or if 
the loam be poor instead of charged with 
vegetable matter, let there be half loam, one- 
fourth leaf or vegetable mould, and one-fourth 
dung. It may be that the loam is of too stiff 
a nature ; if so, a little sand, no more than 
sufficient to open it and make it divide 
easily, should be mixed with the loam be- 
fore you measure it ; but as the sole object 
of the sand is to prevent the loam from being 
too adhesive, let there he no more used than 
will accomplish that object. We prefer, how- 
ever, above all things, the loam of rotted turves 
two-thirds, and dung one-third, well mixed 
.together, and broken through a coarse sieve. 
So much for the soil. 
THE CHOICE OF PLANTS. 
The object in view must determine the 
choice of plants ; if it be to grow and enjoy 
the fruit, some of the most beautiful of the 
tribe are not edible, or rather are fit only for 
marmalade, being very bitter. The Maltese 
or blood orange is as rich as a sweetmeat, the 
peeling being as fine as the juice. It is also 
an abundant bearer ; but there are several 
other varieties of the sweet orange that are 
worth cultivating in this country for the sake 
of their fruit. If, on the other hand, the 
trees are wanted for their appearance only, 
and the fruit are to be allowed to hang till 
they drop, the bitter kinds are far better. 
They tempt nobody to pluck them for eating, 
and many of them have curious, interesting, 
or very handsome foliage ; gold and silver 
striped, myrtle leaved, willow leaved, plain 
and striped, tricolor striped, and many others, 
showy as plants, but valueless as to their fruit. 
We recommend the sorts that can be eaten, 
and have no particular fancy for botanical 
curiosities. A striped holly is much handsomer 
than a striped orange. It is a tribe of trees 
that we above all others like to cultivate, and 
we should confine ourselves to the really useful 
varieties. The lemon and lime would have a 
place with us, and perhaps the citron, but 
certainly none of the shaddock tribe, for they 
are but mawkish, flat things, and in perfection 
are not to be compared even to a bad orange. 
The plants then should be chosen at a nursery, 
well-established but not too large, in good 
health, but not rapidly growing. Choose 
plants with healthy foliage, short joints, stocky 
and bushy habit, good spreading heads free 
from weakly spindly shoots, and the grafting 
place or budding place clean, healthy and 
neat. Turn out the balls without damage as 
soon as j 7 ou get them home, and if the roots 
be at all grown to the sides, shift them. 
CHOICE OF POTS, BOXES, OR TUBS. 
Ordinary sized plants in pots, and doing well, 
are in our estimation better than those in 
boxes or small tubs ; but when plants have 
been shifted time after time until they are in 
peck pots, they may be removed to tubs or 
boxes, because they become unwieldy, and it 
is only in wooden vessels that we can conve- 
niently make provision for lifting about with 
poles. Tubs are better than boxes, because 
the roots spread all round alike, and there is 
the same quantity of soil on all sides, whereas 
e 2 
