1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
39 
ABOUT NEW HARDY ORANGES. 
While it is true that the officials of the Government 
at Washington are working to develop varieties of the 
orange that will prove to be hardier than all those that 
have been previously grown in this or any other coun¬ 
try, and have already originated a few varieties of this 
character, there is another plant breeder who has been 
doing the same. This is J. L. Normand, Marksville, 
Louisiana. He has been quietly working away, saying 
nothing of what he was doing, except to a few intimate 
friends. It was my privilege to spend several days, re¬ 
cently. at the home of Mr. Normand, looking over the 
various things of a horticultural nature which he has. 
and among them his Citrus trees. He has other things 
in the way of fruits and ornamentals that I may men¬ 
tion some other time, but it is of his cross-bred oranges 
that I wish to speak now. Marksville is not in the 
Gulf Coast region of Louisiana, where the climate is 
usually mild, and where oranges have been grown with 
more or less success since its first settlement by the 
Spaniards and French, but it is about 150 miles north 
of the coast; being midway and on a direct line be¬ 
tween New Orleans and Shreveport. It is in the midst 
of the great cotton belt of the country, and above 
where sugar cane is grown as a business. Many of 
the more northern fruits, such as the peach and plum 
and to some extent the apple, are grown there. The 
cold spells are not very severe, nor of long duration 
there, but a temperature of 10 to 12 degrees above zero 
is not uncommon. It is there that Mr. Normand is 
making his efforts to originate varieties of the orange 
that will be sufficiently hardy safely to pass the Winters 
to which they arc subject, and if there, then to endure 
the Winters of other sections equally as cold. Although 
it has only been a few years since he began his experi¬ 
ments in cross-breeding the oranges, he has already 
succeeded in getting several varieties that give promise 
of being very valuable, because of their combined 
hardiness of tree and good size and flavor of fruit. 
As may be known to nearly all who have given any 
attention to the study of the Citrus fruits, the species 
known as Citrus trifoliata is the hardiest of ’all the 
species of that genus, and it is able to withstand the 
Winters as far north as Long Island, on the Atlantic 
coast, and is perfectly at home at Washington, D. C., 
and other places where it is no colder than there. It 
is this species that Mr. Normand and the officials of the 
United States Department of Agriculture have been 
experimenting with and trying so to combine with the 
sweet oranges, by crossing, that some of the progeny 
will be far hardier than the old and tender varieties, 
and yet bear delicious fruit. The fruit of Citrus tri¬ 
foliata is small, acrid to the taste and very seedy. The 
tree is very small, being more of a bush than a tree, 
and exceedingly thorny; which peculiarly fits it for 
making hedges. It is both serviceable as a fence and as 
an ornamental. The leaves are dark, shiny green, and 
the flowers arc pure white and very frag¬ 
rant. Air. Normand has many thousands 
of the young plants in his nursery, which 
he frequently sells for the above purpose, 
principally. He has so far used this hardy 
species for the male parent of his crosses, 
which I understand is ^different from the 
plan of the Government experimenters, in 
that they have used it as the female par¬ 
ent. He has a great predominance of the 
appearance of the sweet oranges in his 
cross-bred seedlings, in leaf, fruit and ab¬ 
sence of thorns; while the contrary is the 
rule among the many seedlings of the 
Government crosses that I have seen in 
the trial orchard in northern Florida, and 
to some extent elsewhere. 
So far, Air. Normand has not fruited 
many of his Citrus crosses, nor has he 
deemed it wise to give but few of them 
varietal names. He has sent little of the 
stock out to be tested by experimenters, 
and that is under the most rigid rule of 
his control, and he has none of it for sale. 
It will take several years yet to determine 
the hardiness and other valuable qualities 
that they will probably prove to possess. 
When this is done it will be time to give the varieties 
out to the public. One variety he has given the name 
Carnegie, (Fig. 20) in honor of the man who has shown 
a disposition to use a part of his wealth in furthering 
scientific investigation. It is a cross from the Boone, 
which is a very early orange. I have seen the original 
tree of Carnegie and others that have been budded 
from it at Air. Normand’s place. One was hanging 
full of fruit that was fully ripe November 25, 1905. 
There is scarcely any resemblance in tree or leaf to 
the thorny, trifoliate-leaved parent; nor was the fruit 
like the little bitter oranges that are borne on the old 
stock. The oranges averaged over two inches in diam¬ 
eter and were of good flavor. I do not think it equal 
in flavor to any of the really choice oranges, but I 
have eaten many that were sold in our markets, espe¬ 
cially those from the Mediterranean countries, that were 
no better, and in some cases not so good. There is an 
abundance of seed in this orange, which is not desirable, 
and this is true of many that we buy. Air. Normand 
has other cross-bred oranges that have equal hardiness 
with the Carnegie, and that otherwise give indications 
of valuable traits, and which may prove to be superior 
to it upon further trial. In the meantime we who are 
wishing to test or see good oranges far north of the 
KIEFFER SEEDLING FEAR. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 22. 
See Ruralisms, Page 44. 
present limit of successful Citrus culture should be 
patient and hopeful. The illustration will give some 
idea of the character of the one variety which Air. Nor¬ 
mand thinks is advisable now to mention publicly. 
Others will, doubtless, soon follow. H. E. van deman. 
PREPARATION OF LIME AND SULPHUR. 
How Long Should If Boil? 
I have been following with great interest the discussion 
in The R. N.-Y. of spraying, particularly the different ex¬ 
periences with the lime and sulphur mixture. It lias oc¬ 
curred to me, as it doubtless has to many others, that the 
varied experiences as to the efficiency of this spray might 
he in some measure dependent upon the length of time of 
boiling, and upon the length of the interval between prepara¬ 
tion of the spray and its application. I have been unable 
to find anything bearing directly upon these points in the 
publications of the experiment stations or the Division of 
Chemistry at: Washington. Can you give me any information 
on these two points? How long must it be boiled? Must 
it be applied immediately after making? This last point 
makes Quite a difference practically, because if a fruit 
grower must get up at two o'clock in the morning to start 
the stuff, enthusiasm is likely to lag. It has been the 
opinion here that the spray must be applied immediately. 
Michigan. c. G. w. 
We prefer to apply the lime-sulphur wash as soon as 
possible after being prepared. The wash never applies 
better than after just made. When standing several 
days and becoming thoroughly cold we have found diffi¬ 
culty in applying nicely, owing to a fibrous substance 
forming in the wash, and clogging hose and nozzles. 
Then it must be reboiled or thrown away. If, after 
being prepared the wash cannot be used within a few 
hours we keep warm if possible, turning on the heat 
again if necessary. In preparation, the materials should 
be boiled until the liquid is a brick-red color, or perhaps 
a green brown, a high degree of heat and about 30 
minutes’ boiling tending to give the latter color. In our 
old steam outfit we boiled one to one and a half hours, 
securing a brick-red liquid that gave us good results 
when applied. Last Spring (1905) we used a much 
greater steam volume, and could hurry the cooking, 
dissolving the material in 30 minutes, and more often 
secured a green-brown liquid. We think we have good 
results from this preparation, but whether as good as 
the previous way of making we are not yet yet prepared 
to say. If the right materials are used there should be 
little, if any, sediment left in the bottom of cask, when 
cooked enough. As to materials, we have used some 
prepared (fine) finishing lime, but mostly lump (white¬ 
wash) lime, and flowers of sulphur, containing about 
150 pounds to barrel. This costs a trifle more than 
sulphur flour, and is more bulky, the latter weighing 
250 pounds per barrel. j. norris barnes. 
New Haven Co., Conn. 
We think the lime and sulphur wash should be applied 
while hot, and should say it was necessary to apply im¬ 
mediately after the mixture was boiled. How long 
must it be boiled? Thirty minutes’ good boiling will 
make the mixture in good shape for the spray pump. 
The,mixture should always be strained through a fine 
wire strainer before using. ethelbert buss. 
Massachusetts. 
It is better to apply mixture as soon as made, as it 
will spray better when hot. If allowed to get cold after 
being made I always bring it to a boil before using. 
I don’t think its composition is changed by standing; 
that is, its effectiveness is not changed. Boil at least 
an hour, or until a thorough combination is secured. 
Part of this time can be saved if the sulphur is made 
into a paste and thrown with the lime, while the latter 
is being slaked. The mechanical heat of the lime is se¬ 
cured, and saves about half of the time of boiling. If 
this method is used (and I think it best), a half-hour 
of boiling should be enough, but longer boiling will do 
no harm. While it is absolutely necessary to have a 
thorough combination of the ingredients, it is equally 
important to have a thorough application of the mix¬ 
ture. I believe most failures are caused by lack of 
thoroughness in application. This spraying business is 
a matter in which the most careful attention must be 
given to details to make it successful. 
New Jersey. w. h. skillman. 
The lime and sulphur wash works much better if 
applied soon after boiling or preparing. In some in¬ 
stances we have been obliged to let it stand over night, 
or perhaps over Sunday. At the bottom we always find 
a large number of needle-shaped crystals of an amber 
color. It is almost impossible to put this material 
through a fine strainer, and of course it will not go 
through the nozzles without giving trouble. I cannot 
say whether the composition changes' greatly, or whether 
certain compounds crystallize out in the solution; my 
experience has been, however, that when applied it does 
not stay on the trees nearly as long as if it was applied 
when freshly made. In such a case I 
would either bring it to a boil to dissolve 
these crystals, or else I would throw it 
away. I should not attempt to use it in 
this condition. It will clog the pump if 
left in the barrel over night. In reply to 
the second question, I will state that the 
recommendation commonly given, that is, 
for an hour’s boiling, is a safe one to fol¬ 
low. We have sometimes boiled it for 30 
minutes with good results. Forty-five 
minutes is long enough, but I believe 30 is 
too short a time for the average orchard- 
ist. It is necessary to have the sulphur 
well mixed with water to make a paste, 
and everything in perfect condition for 
the 30-minute boiling. It costs more to 
make these preliminary preparations than 
it does to put in the sulphur dry and boil 
it, say, from 45 to 60 minutes. I do not 
believe it is safe to boil it for less than 
30 minutes. I can give you no figures to 
show that the mixture is less effective 
when boiled for a long time, yet I have 
been told by chemists that the com¬ 
position might be so changed that it 
would be a disadvantage. In our ex¬ 
perience I did not consider it any advantage to boil it 
more than 60 minutes, and we should certainly work 
along the lines of making the mixture with as little 
expense as possible. w. e. britton. 
Connecticut State Entomologist. 
A common error is lack of boiling, resulting in imper¬ 
fect union of the lime and sulphur. With live steam 
from 45 minutes to one hour is enough, but over a fire 
one to 114 hour is needed. When the union is complete 
the surface of the mixture becomes a rich amber color 
when boiling is stopped for a minute. In our experi¬ 
ence 20 hours’ boiling did not impair the mixture. It 
should be applied as soon as possible after cooking to 
prevent settling and the formation of the amber crystals, 
found after 36 to 48 hours’ standing, which are thought 
to impair the value of the wash. If application is de¬ 
layed until the mixture is cold, and the crystals have 
not formed, it should be brought to boiling point before 
using. J. R. HOUSER. 
Ohio Experiment Station. 
