52 
THE CULTURE OF THE ORANGE TREE. 
in a. square this is unequal ; the roots arc, next 
the flat sides, growing too hard before the 
corners can be filled up with them. There 
should be hooks of iron fastened to the sides, 
so that by putting two poles under them two 
men can remove very heavy trees without 
difficulty. The inside of whatever it maybe, 
box or tub, should be pitched all over well. 
Plants are aided by pitch rather than injured, 
and the roots naturally cling to it wherever 
it may be found. The bottoms of carnation 
sticks are frequently pitched to prevent them 
from rotting ; one of these could not be pulled 
up at the end of the season without dragging 
the plant out with it, for the roots will have 
matted round it, while one that was merely 
charred before use, would leave the pot with- 
out disturbing a fibre. Tubs or boxes should 
have a number of small holes in the lowest 
part of the bottom, otherwise water would 
lodge, and this is always detrimental. The 
bottoms of tubs are often highest in the middle, 
where the holes are, but if the sides are low- 
est, a dozen gimlet-holes should be made round, 
otherwise the wet would lie, and rot the tub 
as well as the roots. 
SHIFTING THE PLANTS. 
If you find, on turning out the balls, that 
the roots are matted, and the ball hard, it will 
be necessary to soak it a while in water ; and 
if the soil appears too clogged, it may be de- 
sirable to wash it out from the roots ; in that 
case you will be obliged to reduce the plant, 
otherwise it will receive a check and flag, 
perhaps, so that the washing of the roots must 
be avoided if the soil looks at all congenial. 
If the plants are in boxes, such as they are 
imported in from France, Italy, and Belgium, 
remove them into pots whether they require 
a shift or not, for we object altogether to the 
square boxes : they are very well in export- 
ing, they pack close, and the confinement to 
the plants for the time is no object ; but when 
growing, the plants should be clear of each 
other ; the most distant branches should not 
touch ; there should not only be room to 
grow, but the air and light should be admitted 
freely, which cannot be the case if they are at 
all close. One-half the plants of every de- 
scription localised in England, are damaged 
by the disposition to crowd as many as pos- 
sible into a small compass. In shifting them 
from the square boxes to round pots, the roots 
should not be disturbed when it can be avoided. 
Of course there is no objection to rubbing off 
any of the soil that can be removed without 
disturbing the fibres, both from the corners 
and the surface ; but if the roots have grown 
into the corners of the box, the round pot 
must be large enough to take in the square 
without any violence. They must be gently 
watered to settle the new soil to the roots ; 
and as we lfave before observed, if the ball is 
hard and dry, the soaking is necessary, for the 
hard dry ball would never be penetrated by 
ordinary watering, for it would run through 
the new soil, and leave the centre as dry as 
ever ; for the purpose of preventing this after- 
wards, it may be necessary to run a sharp iron 
rod through the ball from the surface in seve- 
ral places. The plants should then be placed 
in the greenhouse, each having plenty of 
room, and the temperature ought never to be 
less than 40°. These will soon grow, and as 
their heads progress, the pots will fill with 
roots. Like all other fruiting plants, the potted 
plants can be bi'ought into bearing much 
sooner than those planted out in the conser- 
vatory, and both flowers and fruit will be 
produced annually until they arrive at a size 
fit to plant out. The shifting is best done in 
the spring, and they should be watered all 
over the leaves with a syringe, as well as the 
soil in the pot. It has been the practice with 
some to shift orange-trees but once in two 
years ; but while they are of a manageable 
size, once a-year is better. Keep them in the 
greenhouse all the year ; the placing them 
out of doors in summer subjects them to con- 
tinual checks, sometimes for want of water, 
the sun and wind drying them much faster 
than most people imagine. In shifting them 
the second year, as the pots are larger, they 
require more attention. The drainage must 
be secured by crocks, charcoal, or coal-ashes, 
or a mixture of them, all over the bottom, 
one-fourth of the height of the inside, until 
it is three inches thick, beyond which it is not 
necessary to go, however large the tub or pot. 
If the roots appear rotten and unhealthy, they 
must be pruned in a little, and in some cases 
, the same sized pot will do instead of a larger; 
j but if the roots are healthy they need not be 
disturbed. In this way, giving fresh pots 
every spring, they will soon be too large for 
! pots at all, and then we must obtain half- 
tubs. The same kind of drainage will do ; 
they must still be as distant from each other, 
in proportion, as when younger ; no two 
trees ought to be near enough to let the closest 
of their leaves touch, and when large there 
ought to be six or eight inches clear between 
the heads, and a foot or more would be better. 
The changes from pots to tubs, and from small 
tubs to larger ones, should go on, by right, as 
long as you intend the tree to grow larger, 
the compost the same, watering well attended 
to, and all the summer, or from March to 
September, the syringing over the leaves 
should be persevered in once a-day. Many 
omit this while the flowers are in perfection ; 
but we recommend a finer rose, so that instead 
