364 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 6, 1886. 
we have the three double forms of ineomparabilis—viz., Double Sulphur, 
Phoenix, double Orange Phoenix, and the well known Butter and Eggs 
variety. All these are useful pot planes and valuable as cut flowers, the 
Sulphur especially so on account of its large creamy-white flowers, which 
from established bulbs are of great size and substance ; this cannot be too 
strongly remembered for any purpose where choice cut flowers are 
needed. 
In the foregoing remarks I have only given the leading varieties of 
each section, all equally good and useful for the garden, the conservatory, 
the rockery, or for naturalising. It may also be noted that those grown 
in pots the first season may be planted out in clumps undisturbed, and 
where they will add beauty in years to come to beds, borders, and 
shrubberies alike, so that by annually purchasing a few for potting, 
and after flowering to be transferred to beds and borders outside, a gay 
spring garden may soon be made, and thus form a goodly collection of 
these choice spring bulbous plants.—J. H. G. 
ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. 
In a manual entitled “ Sunny Florida, ’ published at 30, Fleet Street, and 
giving a great variety of information concerning this American State, is a 
chapter upon Orange culture, which we have thought worthy of reproduc¬ 
tion. The cultivation of the Orange has become a highly important industry, 
and so many persons from this country are either already engaged in it or 
are preparing to do so, that the following remarks cannot fail to be instruc¬ 
tive. 
Whether an individual buys a grove already planted, or land on which to do 
his own planting, he needs to know enough to select a location most favourable 
to success. The Orange has been grown successfully on all classes of land 
in Florida, from the drained swamp-land to the high, poor, black-jack ridges. 
Nature planted her groves in the swamps and hammocks because circum¬ 
stances were there more favourable to her purpose and ability. The forest 
fires which annually swept over the Pine woods could not reach the 
young Orange trees planted in the swamps and hammocks. Nor were the 
cattle, especially in the swamps, so likely to cut down the young trees. In 
addition to these, Nature provided against frost by first planting under 
shelter of trees, and, where the frost was most severe, on the south or south¬ 
east side of our many beautiful lakes or rivers. Of course, under these 
circumstances, the Orange had to pay a high premium to the forest trees 
for their protection. It had to yield up to them the largest amount of the 
fertility of the soil, and hence never attained the large proportion, graceful 
form, and fruitfulness of the cultivated tree. These trees also bore sour 
fruit only. 
The Orange is not indigenous to Florida. It was evidently brought to this 
country by the Spaniards, and at a time prior to the introduction of the 
Sweet Orange into Europe. When, later, the Sweet Orange was brought to 
this country, the pollen of the Sweet Orange fertilised the flower of the 
sour, and in the next generation produced the hybrid “ Bitter-sweet,” now 
common in the wild groves. 
While Florida soil, of almost any kind, will produce the Orange, there 
are some soils better adapted to the growth of the Orange than others. A 
naturally weil-drained but moist soil should be chosen in preference to the 
poorly drained, for two reasons. First, a deeply drained soil will allow the 
roots of the trees to penetrate the earth more deeply, and hence give to them 
more feeding surface. Second, where the roots are deeply embedded in the 
soil they will allow deeper cultivation with the plough instead of the hoe. 
The roots will not grow beneath a level continuously saturated wi'h water; 
hence, to cultivate deeply such trees as stand on a poorly drained soil, 
necessitates the constant cutting of the roots on which the trees depend for 
life. I have seen many groves damaged and many trees destroyed by deep 
cultivation of trees planted in deep soils. 
The richer the land the more vigorously the Orange tree will grow, and 
the more abundant will be its fruit. The Orange tree is an abundant feeder, 
and provided the soil is healthful to the plant it is hard to get it too fertile. 
Hammock land, or land producing hard weod, is generally more fertile than 
Pine land, and hence the trees do better, usually, on such land. The hard 
wood indicates the presence in the soil of more potash, which is consumed 
largely in the production of the fruit of the Orange. This, however, is soon 
exhausted after the trees come into full bearing, and needs to be supplied, 
as it does on the Pine lands from the first, in order to secure the best 
results. The better kind of Pine land is well adapted to the growth of the 
Orange, especially when the land is gently rolling, and some Hickory is found 
mixed with the Pine. Pine with black-jack Oak is a healthful soil, but is 
usually deficient in humus and nitrogenous fertilisers. These should be 
furnished with such fertilisers. 
A rolling surface, with tall Pines thickly standing upon the land, 
indicates a fairly fertile soil, and well adapted to Oranges. 
******** 
The next thing that may be considered is suitable transportation, proxi¬ 
mity to lines of railroads or to navigable streams. Railroad transportation 
is cheaper and less damaging to fruit than waggon. Water transportation 
is better than either. It is well to be in reach of competing lines, for then 
the producer may be sure of reasonable freight. 
Care should be taken to plant groves where they are least likely to be 
damaged by frost. Much has been said about the frost line in Florida, but 
the settler will have to go below Cape Sable to find the line where frost 
never appears in Florida. I have frequently, since I have been in the State, 
known of its effect upon tender vegetation in every county in the State. In 
the same latitude, exemption from frost damage depends largely upon the 
presence of moisture in the atmosphere, and hence upon the presence of 
bodies of water—the wider the surface of water the better. Where water 
is at hand, the south or south-east side affords the best protection. Our cold 
winds are mainly from the north-west. When they come from the north¬ 
east and generally from the Wf-st, the cold is greatly moderated by the 
influence of the Gulf Stream. When a cold north-west wind passes over a 
considerable body of water, it is so saturated with warm vapour arising 
from the water as to greatly raise the temperature of the atmosphere and 
check the damaging effects of the frost. 
Many of the largest wild groves were cut down years ago, before the 
Orange interest started, for planfingCotton and Sugar Cane. But mnnysmaller 
groves were standing when the writer first came to this State, a little less 
than twenty years ago. These have since been budded, and are now yielding 
sweet fruit. 
The rolling lands of our peninsula, especially in the vicinity of lakes, 
furnish many picturesque and favourable locations for Orange-growing. 
The Orange, however, is not so delicate as to heed entire protection from 
frost. I have seen it fruiting in the open air along the southern line of 
Georgia. It has for a century been grown to some profit on the coast 
islands of Georgia. It is grown in some parts of Italy where there are 
occasionally snowfalls, and one variety is grown in Japan, where winter 
snows are usual. 
Several plans are employed for propagating the Orange : planting sour 
stumps taken from the wild grove, and budding with sweet varieties ; 
planting sweet unbudded stock ; planting sweet stock budded with special 
varieties ; ana planting sour stock grown from seeds of sour Orange and 
budded with sweet varieties. The last is rapidly becoming very popular. 
The sour stock is not so liable to som“ diseases that attack the sweet stock. 
It is more hardy; it grows more rapidly ; fruits earlier and more abundantly ; 
and some of us think we can detect a spiciness and richness of flavour not 
found in fruit budded on sweet stock. As a rule, the budded stock is now 
preferred to the sweet seedling, because the trees come into bearing sooner. 
In saving the seed for planting care should be taken to prevent their 
becoming dry, as they are very hard to germinate when once thoroughly 
dry. When taken from the fruit they should be put at once in a box con¬ 
taining moist earth, and so kept till time for planting. Care should be 
taken not to keep the soil in which the seed are placed so warm as to cause 
them to sprout before the time for planting. 
The best result the writer ever had in obtaining a good stand of plants, 
the fruit was allowed to decay in barrels till the seed readily sepai ated from 
the fruit. The seed were then washed out and put into a barrel with 
alternate layers of moist sand. Careful watch was kept over the seed to 
note th- first indication of sprouting. The land for the nurserj was then 
laid off with a plough, and the seed dropped in the furrow and covered to a 
depth of 2 inches. They came up as readily and uniformly as corn. When 
the plants are 3 or 4 inches high they should be drawn and transferred to the 
nursery, and set at a distance of 6 inches by 24 inches. If well cultivated 
and fertilised, they are ready for budding the Becond or third year. The 
buds can be put in at any time the s ip is flowing readily, which is indicated 
by the bark being easily separated from the wood by the point of the knife. 
If the bark does not part readily from the wood, better stimulate your trees 
by giving them a good dressing of manure and good working, as these will 
soon start the sap and help the trees. 
It is usual to set out trees into the fields one year after budding. But, 
with as good results as I have known, the buds were inserted with last flow 
of sap in the fall, remained dormant during winter, and during the next 
spring the sap was allowed to start only so far as to swell the buds, when 
the tree was cut back to within an inch of the new bud, and transplanted to 
its position in the field. In four years thereafter some of the trees were in 
bearing. Distances between trees in the grove should vary with the 
character of the tree to be planted. Twenty-one feet distance between sour- 
stock budded, twenty-five between sweet-stock budded, and thirty between 
seedlings, are good distances to observe. 
Of course, the better prepared the soil in which the trees are to be set, the 
better the results will be. If time and means are at the command of the 
planter, it is best to take up all the stumps and thoroughly break the ground, 
by giving to it several ploughings and harrowings, till the surface is well 
levelled. If the stumps are allowed to stand upon the ground, they will, 
for some years, hinder and add to the cost of cultivation. They will further 
furnish a cover for insects, and food for the white ant, or “ wood-lice,” which, 
as the dead wood disappears from the ground, force the white ants to feed 
npon the roots of the Orange trees, frequently with fatal effect to the trees. 
Thoroughly levelling the surface will enable the planter to set his trees a 
uniform depth. 
The richer the soil is made, provided no manures are added that will 
induce fermentation, the more rapidly the trees will grow,, the better will 
they resist the influence of disease, insects, and cold, to which they are 
subject. Fertilising should be done in the spring or early summer, so as not 
to induce a late and winter growth of new wood, which would subject the 
trees to damage from frost. The trees should not be set deeper in the soil 
than they grew in the nursery. It is better to set them a little high than 
too low. This rule should be observed especially in low or flat lands. 
PRIMROSES AND PRIMROSES. 
“ A Primrose by the river brim, 
A yellow Primrose was to him, 
And it was nothing more.” 
Those Primroses by the river brim or from the woodland’s shade differ 
materially from the Primrose of the garden. Unless the garden Primrose 
can have its habitat under as nearly as possible the same conditions as it 
enjoys in a natural state its form becomes smaller and more circular, the 
colour is not so deep, and the perfume not so sweet and distinct. In large 
gardens where each specimen may have its own space and its own treat¬ 
ment such deterioration may be avoided ; but in a 3mall garden where 
Roses are more the consideration the Primrose sometimes suffers from 
contact with the richer soil required by the Rose in the way I have de¬ 
scribed ; and it is refreshing to scent and sight to see the genuine stars of 
the woods and lanes in all their delici ius glow of the softest and most 
luminous gold displaying their beauty lavishly around. 
I think we are too covetous. Surely smaller quantities might suffice 
for our decorations in memoriam wreaths, and our badge-bunches on Prim¬ 
rose day might out of consideration for the flower so loved by our late 
