amkhican aghiccjltukist. 
101 
1 .;7.1 
Oranges North and South. 
The diinate of the Gulf States is so avcU 
ailapJed to the eulture .if the Orange and its rel¬ 
atives, that it is prohalUe this will become, 
b fore long, an important branch of horticul¬ 
ture in that portion of the country. In 
- line parts of Florida the bitter Orange 
has l-ecome so thoroughly established 
th:.t it forms natural groves, and is there 
ki’.own as the “Wild Orange,” producing 
a yield of a bitter and sour fruit, and af¬ 
fording an abundance of stocks upon 
which to graft the finer kinds. Sometime 
age,, Doctor C. J. Kenworthy, an enthu¬ 
siastic traveler and horticulturist, brought 
us a collection of the various oranges and 
lemons from the St, John’s River, Flor¬ 
ida. The Sweet and IMandarin oranges 
were of excellent quality, and the speci¬ 
mens of the wild variety Avere so re¬ 
markably fruitful—as many being placed 
upon the stems as they 
would hold—that we 
had an engraving made 
of one of the branches, 
somewhat reduced in 
size. — Doctor K. has 
furnished the following 
notes upon their culti¬ 
vation ; “ I have tasted 
fruit from almost every 
orange producing coun¬ 
try of the Avorld, and 
for size, thinness of skin, 
amount of juice, and 
richness of flavor, I have 
never met with any to 
equal some I gathered 
during a visit to the 
banks of the St. John’s 
River, Florida. I arrived 
at the conclusion that 
(iiulependent of climatic 
influences), soil and ma¬ 
nure had much to do 
with the superiority of 
the fruit. The oil where 
they attain the greatest 
perfection is light and 
sandy, closely resem¬ 
bling that found in 
many of the poorer por¬ 
tions of New Jersey. 
The only manure used, 
is a remarkable depos¬ 
it found along the banks of the St. John’s 
River, and known as ‘ shell bank.’ These de¬ 
posits vary from a few inches to several feet in 
thickness, and consist almost entirely of the re¬ 
mains of snail shells. This deposit contains a 
large amount of calcareous and animal matter 
iii a dei-omposed state, furnishing an ample sup- 
plv of fo*d for the nourishment of the tree. 
A’oout once in four years, a bushel of‘shell 
bank ’ is forked in around each tree, and I was 
n prised at the deep green of tnc leaves, the 
luxuriance of growth, and the size of the fruit. 
I neglected to measure the oranges, but one of 
the lemons from the same locality, left at 
vour ofllce, measured five and one half inches 
in length, and eleven inches in circumference. 
“ The sf>il generally used as compost for the 
oran'^e tribe, when grown in pots, is composed 
of loam and rotten dung, and it is but seldom 
that we. see a healthy plant under green-house 
culture. I am of the opinion that the cultiva¬ 
tor of the orange tribe in pots should test light 
silicious soils, and use a manure containing an 
excess of calcareous and animal matter. In Flor¬ 
ida, where the wild orange attains its greatest 
perfection, the soil is always light, and the trees 
are usually shaded by the evergreen oaks.” 
The orange alTords a I'emarkable instance of 
CIXSTEn OV WILD OliANGES. 
the production of several dillerent odors, or 
flavors by the same plant, d he leaves are aio 
matic; the young fruit, Avhen of the sizeo a 
lar-^e pea, furnish a very strong and difierent 
flavor from that of the leaves; the character 
of the oil contained in the rind of the ripe frui 
is w^ell known, and the odor of the flowers, stil 
different from either, is among the most highly 
prized perfumes. So beautiful and fragrant arc 
orange blossoms, that Ave often find the tree m 
cultivation at the North for these alone In a 
cool green-house, suited to camellias theie is 
little difficulty with the orange; but m the dwel 
ing house, where its cultivation is often attempt¬ 
ed, it seldom succeeds. Since the introduction 
of the modern methods of heating and lighting 
our houses, avc now seldom see, as Ave formerly 
did, fine home-grown specimens of orange and 
lemon trees. They cannot endure a hot and 
dry atmosphere during the winter. They 
should be kept where they will not freeze, 
have Amry little Avater, and he kept clear 
of insects until spring. As soon as the 
Aveather is mild enough they may he set 
out of doors, and sheltered from theAvind. 
Concord and Discord Among Grapes. 
When the “ Greeley Prize ” for the best 
grape for general cultivati-'iiwas awarded 
to the “ Concord,” Ave supposed that the 
business Avas ended, and that the folly of 
a fcAV men, some of them not particular¬ 
ly interested in grape culture, attempting 
to decide upon one grape for a wide 
extent of country, em¬ 
bracing almost every di¬ 
versity of soil and cli¬ 
mate, would soon be 
forgotten. Had we been 
on the committee, wdth 
the imperative necessity 
of finding a verdict, we 
should, perhaps, have 
done as they did; but 
we hope never to be 
placed in so useless a 
predicament. To see the 
folly of any such de¬ 
cision upon any one 
fruit, one has only to 
compare, one year Avith 
another,the proceedings 
at the annual meetings 
of the Ohio, Indiana, Il¬ 
linois, or any other live 
State Pomological So¬ 
cieties. At these meet¬ 
ings a large share of the 
time is occupied in the 
revision of the fruit lists 
for one State only, and 
we find that the status 
of such generally culti¬ 
vated fruits as apples 
and pears is very diffi¬ 
cult to fix. A large Stale 
like that of Illinois is di¬ 
vided into three fruit re¬ 
gions, as those varieties suited to one extreme 
fail in the opposite end of the State. In some 
grape regions, the distance of a mile or less AAdll 
make a difference of one or tAVO hundred dol¬ 
lars an acre in the price of land, because some 
is favorably situated for grape culture and other 
is not. Now, can it be possible to fix upon one 
grape, one apple, or one pear, that Avill doeveij^- 
where? Andean there be a more unfortunate 
position in which to place pomologists who have 
a reputation at stake? When Ave announced 
the award of this prize, it was stated that i 
Avould cause much dissatisfiiction, anc le sam 
would have been the result, no matter what 
grape had received it. Already we find discus¬ 
sions in the various journals, and conflict of 
mnnion as to the justice of the award and Uie 
merits of the Concord. A marked i^jj-^sU-ation 
of the different views taken by people livin^ 
only in the same State, but in the same Coun }, 
],as just come to hand. At the meeting of the 
Warsaw (Hancock Co., Illinois) Horticultuia 
