FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
61 
and by discontinuing for a time the use 
of nitrogen-producing plants, for the 
legumes appear to be a contributing cause, 
the balance may usually be restored be¬ 
fore the fruit is greatly affected and the 
trees have lapsed into* that advanced stage 
of malnutrition known as dieback. When 
these steps do not prove effective, non¬ 
cultivation of the soil and elimination of 
all fertilizer will usually conquer the con¬ 
dition, and it is cheap treatment. Over¬ 
feeding is not the only cause of die-back, 
but gout and dyspepsia bear a close and 
frequent relation. 
Bluestone inoculated into the sap or 
scattered broadcast is advocated by some 
growers as a remedy for die-back. Per¬ 
sonally I am not certain that the last 
mentioned use of bluestone has ever re¬ 
sulted favorably. However, liquid blue- 
stone does not leave the experimenter 
long in doubt. It speedily converts the 
condition from die-back to stone-dead. 
In conclusion, while citrus culture is at 
present conducted to a certain extent by 
guess and as a science has few rules which 
have been firmly and exactly established. 
we have at least more theories than can 
be formulated within the narrow scope 
of this paper. Bearing in mind my own 
limitations, it has been the intention mere¬ 
ly to suggest a few of the practical prob¬ 
lems which confront the grower of 
oranges. Rigid economy on broad lines 
is necessary to wring the wherewithal to 
conserve and increase, and this paper re¬ 
flects the close calculation of ways and 
means, the sordidness, if you will, on 
which successful business is usually based. 
There is, of course, another side. We 
will call it the ideal. With this side -the 
paper here offered has no concern. Orange 
blossoms may be associated with brides; 
orange groves may suggest sub-tropical 
skies, golden fruit and eternal summer. 
Touching this aspect we have nothing to 
do. Three blades of crab grass may at 
times be induced to grow where one blade 
of wire grass grew before, but even this 
practical suggestion we accept grudging¬ 
ly. All that is of present moment is the 
production of a superior grade of oranges 
at 49 ^Tc per box; of an equally superior 
grade of grapefruit at sqjk+c. 
