THE CULTURE OF THE ORANGE TREE. 
53 
of ducking them, the moisture should fall 
almost as fine as dew. 
PRUNING. 
The flowers and fruit are produced on the. 
young wood of the current season in a general 
way, although there will occasionally be a few 
bunches come on two-year-old wood. The 
pruning, therefore, should be done with two 
or three objects ; first, to keep the branches 
from being too numerous, and thereby making 
the foliage too thick, so as to exclude air and 
light to a great part of the head ; secondly, 
to check those branches which grow too 
vigorously for the rest of the tree ; thirdly, 
to remove old and bare wood, and make way 
for the young. In pruning to keep the head 
thin and open, the weakest branches should be 
removed altogether, and this should be done 
in February or March, before the spring 
growth ; no fruit-tree requires more care in 
this particular. All fruit is the better for light 
and air ; half our orchard-trees are literally 
spoiled for want of the knife and saw ; the 
sun rarely penetrates the interior ; whatever 
fruit there may be in the middle, or towards 
the middle of a tree, is smaller and coarse 
flavoured ; whereas if the heads were kept 
thinner of branches they would be as fine as 
those outside. With the orange-tree this is 
the more requisite/ because, being an ever- 
green, it is always alike. The tree has not 
even the benefit which even a badly managed 
deciduous tree has at the fall of the leaf. All 
the little spindly wood that has come weakly, 
should be taken close off. Some of the 
branches may be advantageously cut off or 
shortened, due regard being had to the shape 
of the head. All the shoots below the head 
should be taken off while young ; and in a 
general way, a shortened branch sends out 
young wood and flower, unless it be shortened 
too much, when the growth of the young 
wood may be too vigorous to bloom, and so 
spoil the appearance. The pruning to keep 
the tree from growing to an ill shape, through 
some branches taking to rapid growth to the 
detriment of others, requires but little judg- 
ment ; but it is well that even these should 
be shortened no more than necessary. If it 
can be spared altogether, cut it off close to the 
stock. With regard to the removal of old 
and barren wood, it must be done with care. 
A succession of young branches must be 
nursed before it is taken away altogether ; 
sometimes it is necessary to remove it only 
a portion of the way ; as when healthy shoots 
are running out from it, in which case it should 
only be cut back to the first healthy sboot. 
But there is another kind of pruning appli- 
cable to old trees, which it is difficult to shift; 
for as the nourishment is more limited, the 
tree must have less to do. Sharpish pruning 
is then necessary. Every season will bring 
with it a fresh necessity for the free use of 
the knife. We are told that in France they 
actually cut back the heads so much, about 
every seventh or eighth season, that the tree 
is three years recovering itself; we prefer 
continual care and watchfulness, that the tree 
may not be made unsightly ; and when the 
plant will no longer grow well and cannot 
have an increased quantity of soil, there is no 
remedy but a violent one ; violent pruning of 
both head and root, and a move into a smaller 
tub to undergo its shifts again. This should 
be done in the spring, before it begins to grow, 
but the operation may be protracted a long 
while by timely sharp pruning and the appli- 
cation of top dressing and liquid manure, 
when the tub is filled with roots, and begins 
to feel a lack of its ordinary nourishment. 
It is not the orange alone that is in danger of 
ill health, when the pot or tub gets full of 
roots. The nourishment being very limited, 
must be increased by extreme vigilance in 
watering, by the occasional use of liquid manure, 
and by top dressing, which is in its operation 
very like it, because the ordinary water carries 
it down, and it may as well be deposited in 
the water at once. 
ORANGES AS' WALL-FRUIT. 
Orange trees may be grown on a south wall, 
but should be glassed in winter and covered 
against frost ; or they may be planted in a 
border against the wall of a grapery, where 
the rafters only are used for the vines ; or in 
a pinery. The branches then must be trained 
carefully, the branches spread out well, and 
the young wood on which fruit are set must 
be supported, because they will not be so 
robust as when on standards, and the fruit 
will be heavier. The training and pruning 
bears the same relation to standards as that 
of pear-trees ; the saving of bearing branches, 
the removal of old barren ones, the neat and 
uniform disposal of those that are to remain, 
so that they be not in each other's way, and 
fastening the young wood with its fruit, so as 
to derive support without being in any way 
cramped. The borders should be well drained ; 
the soil as directed for pots ; the trees planted 
with the collar close to the surface. When 
planted against a south wall, the plants should 
be dwarf, and the nearer they are trained to 
the ground, the better. The glass should fit 
against sloping supports, and there should be 
partitions for each tree ; the wall should be 
coped, to prevent the wet running down the 
surface ; about two, or.if narrow, three lights 
to a tree. The partitions being to prevent the 
draught or current of air that would run from 
end to end, perhaps every third support might 
