Question Box. 
A VARIETY OF QUESTIONS FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES,, ANSWERED BY 
VARIOUS MEMBERS. 
I. What is the cause of thick-skinned 
grapefruit or oranges? Can the trees be 
fertilized in a way to produce thin-skin¬ 
ned fruit ? 
Mr.' Taber.—Mr. President, I think 
Mr. Sampson should be called upon to 
answer this question. 
Mr. Sampson.—There are a number of 
causes for thick-skinned fruit. 'The first 
crop might have thick skins while the sec¬ 
ond would not. If you put on too much 
ammonia in proportion to phosphoric acid 
and potash, you might expect coarse- 
skinned fruit. 
Mr. Sample.—I would like to know 
if cultivating it is conducive to thick 
skin. 
Mr. Sampson.—I think it is. We had 
a portion of a natural sour grove where 
trees were left too thick for anything but * 
hoe cultivation—three times a year—that 
invariably grew much thinner-skinned 
fruit than same variety where trees had 
clean cultivation till rainy reason. They 
produced much less fruit but it was solid, 
handsome fruit and ripened earlier. 
Maj. Fairbanks.—I have noticed that 
where I had my stables the land was very 
rich and the trees planted near there bore 
very thick skinned fruit. I concluded 
that too much ammonia was . the cause of 
this thick skin. 
Mr. Connor.—In my last report I said 
something about cultivation. I think the 
H—10 
matter of cultivation can be overdone to 
a great extent. I have some old soil and 
I think it is as poor as any in the State. 
My plan has been to cultivate it without 
cultivation, in other words, to make use 
of the growth of beggar weed etc., mow 
it down in summer and use what I want 
for hay, then in the fall and spring run 
over it with cutaway harrow and chop it 
into the soil. After three years such treat¬ 
ment it now looks like good soil. 
Mr. Cook.—I did not hear all that Mr. 
Fairbanks said in reference to thick- 
skinned grape fruit. My experience has 
been this; in cultivating the citrus tree 
and its fruit the use of a highly ammoni- 
ated fertilizer with constant and late cul¬ 
tivation produces a vigorous growth of 
wood and a large, coarse, ^thick-skinned 
fruit either grapefruit or orange. By the 
free use of potash this result can be modi¬ 
fied somewhat as to the fruit. 
Mr. Painter—The thickness of the or¬ 
ange peel depends on several conditions— 
fertilizer, cultivation and moisture, or a 
combination of the three. Young trees 
that are highly fertilized and thoroughly 
cultivated will bear thick skinned fruit if 
the season is one of abundant moisture. 
A dry season would produce thin-skinned 
fruit because the tree cannot take up as 
much of the plant food from the soil—a 
lack of moisture means a lack of nitrifi¬ 
cation. Old trees that have but little cul- 
