FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
127 
there was a tractless wilderness. Sev¬ 
eral of the largest citrus projects in the 
world, together with thousands of small¬ 
er acreages, have made the Ridge of such 
major importance from a citrus stand¬ 
point that it is well for us to consider the 
methods obviously successful there. 
Too much care cannot be exercised in 
the planting of a citrus tree; it rapidly be¬ 
comes very valuable and will live through 
many generations. The planting of it is 
one of the least expensive items in its 
long history, yet faulty setting often 
causes trees to be weakened or stunted 
for years before the cause is recognized, 
or it may result in physiological disturb¬ 
ances, bringing losses far greater than 
the cost of more careful setting. If one 
has occasion to let a contract for setting 
his trees it might be best to let it to the 
highest bidder instead of to the lowest. 
It invariably pays well to get the soil in 
the best of tilth before setting trees, pref¬ 
erably allow it to lie over for a season, 
but at any rate thoroughly pulverize it 
and remove the roots as the accumulation 
of roots and bunches of grass prevent the 
soil from settling well about the tree roots 
when planted, as well as causes it to dry 
out. 
The most important consideration in 
planting a grove (aside from the soil) is 
to select good trees—trees with grey- 
green bark, vigorous looking buds, and a 
dense mass of fiber roots. The experi¬ 
ence of planting many thousands of trees 
has proven conclusively that invariably 
the ones which die or do poorly are those 
having a deficiency of fiber roots. The 
presence or absence of a tap root seems 
to be of little consequence, but if a tree 
is weak on fibers you will be farther 
ahead to throw it away. Be merciless in 
culling out doubtful nursery stock; be 
merciless again after the tree has been 
set and made its first growth. All trees 
have enough vitality in them, if alive 
when planted, to push out a preliminary 
growth; in fact this would occur even if 
the roots were cut off, but if the growth 
the first year is not strong and vigorous 
it would be best to discard the tree and 
start anew. 
On the loose sands of the Ridge sec¬ 
tion only trees on rough lemon stock 
should be used. This is a highly debat¬ 
able subject in other parts of the State 
but with those of us on the Ridge, the 
question is very thoroughly settled and 
we know of no one who would consider 
a commercial planting on sour stock on 
typical Ridge soil, unless the ground is 
near the lake level. 
The setting of trees is expedited by 
means of the following method: Stake 
the land with stakes one inch square set 
preferably 25x30 feet. Drive these 
stakes down about fifteen inches, shovel 
away a hole deep enough to accommo¬ 
date the fiber roots, putting the dirt on 
both sides of the hole. Pull the stake and 
insert the tap root in the hole at such a 
depth that the crown roots will be level 
with the surface of the ground. The tap 
root being on a prolongation with the 
trunk, the tree will automatically right 
itself. With the stake, pack the soil 
thoroughly about the tap root so the tree 
will not settle, then carefully place the 
soil with the hands about the fiber roots, 
being careful to spread them out as they 
originally grew and to thoroughly pack 
