FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
55 
has been found to be quite advantageous 
in sweetening the soil and invigorating 
trees. Where the hard pan comes close to 
the surface (2 to 3 feet), dynamiting the 
subsoil has proven to be very beneficial, 
seemingly curing bad cases of die-back, in 
my own experience, and rendering the 
trees better able to withstand both drouth 
and extreme wetness. 
Cultivation in a close planted grove 
(carrying 200 trees to the acre) is limited 
after the first few years to an occasional 
hoeing, simply to keep the rank growth of 
weeds and grass from robbing the trees 
of moisture and plant food. A moderate 
growth of volunteer cover crops, especial¬ 
ly of legumes such as beggar weed, is per¬ 
mitted and encouraged to keep up the hu¬ 
mus content of the soil, and; thus main¬ 
tain even temperature and moisture con¬ 
ditions. 
Fertilizer is simply broadcasted through 
the grove and the occasional hoeing can 
usually be timed to follow an application 
of fertilizer. I have found it economical 
and satisfactory in every way to apply 
separately the fertilizer materials instead 
of using always the complete fertilizer 
mixture. I have used nitrate of soda in 
the spring, phosphate in April and May, 
and sulphate of potash in two small ap¬ 
plications during the summer. With 
heavy bearing trees, a complete fertilizer 
is later applied, in October or November. 
Spraying for rust mite, melanose, scab, 
etc., has not been necessary until the last 
two or three years, at least very fine bright 
fruit was usually produced without spray¬ 
ing; but we now find we must face the 
spraying problem, if we would produce 
marketable fruit. With thick planted 
groves this becomes indeed a problem. 
Large power sprayers are out of the ques¬ 
tion. However, a barrel mounted hori¬ 
zontally on a low sled, answers the pur¬ 
pose very well, especially where hydrants 
are distributed throughout the grove, con¬ 
venient for filling* the spray barrel. A 
double-acting pump with a suction hose 
leading to the barrel will furnish pressure 
up to 75 pounds if the air chamber of the 
pump is of good size. This will supply 
two leads of spray hose. One mule can 
draw the outfit; the driver does the 
pumping and alternates with those operat¬ 
ing the spray leads. One advantage the 
sled has over a wagon is that it may be 
dragged across open drain ditches, where 
they are not wider than one foot. 
As to the sprays advisable to use, this 
is fully covered in other reports. Spray¬ 
ing must be supplemented by careful and 
systematic pruning and the primings re¬ 
moved from the grove. It is only by at¬ 
tention to' these so-called refinements of 
grove management that we may hope to 
produce a large percentage of high-grade 
fruit, and it is only the grower who can 
and will produce this large percentage of 
high-grade fruit that will continue to be 
a grower of citrus fruits. 
