128 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
the. soil as it is placed in the hole. Water 
well on the day of planting and cover 
with a heavy dust mulch. Trees thus 
planted are bound to give good results. 
By this time we are led to believe that 
nearly every member of this Society 
knows the proper way to cultivate a cit¬ 
rus grove on high pine land; how often 
to cultivate, when to commence and when 
to cease. It is a subject frequently dis¬ 
cussed and printed over and over again 
in our horticultural publications. Surely 
there is no excuse for not being convers¬ 
ant with it, yet a glance at many groves 
indicates that their owners have failed 
to observe some of the cardinal points of 
cultivation, the word cultivation here be¬ 
ing confined to the use of tillage tools. 
Briefly to summarize the methods then, 
it may be said that cultivation commences 
about the first of February with an acme 
harrow and is repeated every two weeks 
until the commencement of the rains, af¬ 
ter which time trees over four years old 
are merely hoed while the younger ones 
are kept free from the voracious Natal 
grass by cultivating a strip six to eight 
feet wide along the tree row every two 
weeks. Once during the summer the cov¬ 
er crop is mowed. This cover crop is 
theoretically of beggar weed but some¬ 
how or other it always turns out to be 
Natal grass or else the very aggressive 
maiden cane. Shortly after the close of 
the rainy season, or surely before Feb¬ 
ruary first, all groves are plowed solid 
to a depth not to exceed four inches, thor¬ 
oughly disced and acmed. 
On account of the fact that Natal grass 
is on the jump every day in the year it 
often becomes necessary to harrow be¬ 
fore February first, but it will usually 
be found that a winter warm enough to 
force the grass will also force the trees 
and after a tree has once started the with¬ 
holding of cultivation will not protect it 
from the cold. One must not regulate 
his grove work entirely by the calendar 
or by written rule. When we plead for 
a standardized citrus industry we do . not 
mean everything should be done by rote— 
we merely suggest the benefits accruing 
to the grower when he learns the correct 
reason for doing as he does and if he ap¬ 
plies this knowledge the standardization 
will be to a great extent automatic. If 
the industry were thus put upon a busi¬ 
ness-like basis our northern visitors 
would cease to comment upon the un¬ 
kempt condition of many of our groves 
and the inferior quality of our fruit, 
shipped when it has “70 per cent of color” 
and 30 per cent cholera morbus. 
This paper is not meant to be an ex¬ 
haustive treatise on any phase of grove 
culture—it presupposes a general knowl¬ 
edge of the subject on the part of the au¬ 
dience. The title has been chosen largely 
in order to emphasize to the grower the 
necessity of analyzing his business with 
a view of eliminating inexpedient meth¬ 
ods and impractical notions, and it is be¬ 
lieved the methods in use on the Ridge 
demonstrate the present acme of Florida 
citrus culture, also the great success 
achieved there is due to the intensive ef¬ 
forts and uniform system of culture. 
