FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
3)5 
many more if it had not been for the 
thrip, because they got into the bloom 
before they cracked open, and I expect 
in many cases they cracked the bloom. 
I noticed when the orange began to 
show itself, it was a very pale yellow, 
and I believe the thrip destroyed the 
life of the bloom. 
Mr. Neil—He asked when* he might 
estimate his crop. I have had some 
experience in that line, and I would 
say that the best time to estimate your 
crop is the day before you go to sell. 
There are so many circumstances that 
may affect your crop at any time, that 
it is difficult to say just when you can 
estimate with any degree of certainty. 
Now, about that dropping he speaks 
of. I have my very serious doubts 
whether a tree ever drops any more 
fruit than it ought to. We used 
to have these annual droughts; it was 
exceptional to go through a season 
without one and we used to fret a great 
deal about them. I used to water a 
great deal, but never saw that I had 
any more fruit than my neighbors who 
did not water at all. I don’t believe 
that a tree ever throws off any more 
than it should. 
Mr. Longley—I have had a little ex¬ 
perience with thrip. Year before last, 
I had considerable thrip in my bloom, 
but I had a good crop notwithstanding. 
Last year I saw a lot of it, and sent for 
some thrip juice. I sprayed my trees 
in the bloom and it cut off about half 
my crop. The thrip punctures the lit¬ 
tle orange when the bloom opens and 
you will often notice that the bloom be¬ 
fore it opens is punctured as though 
you had stuck a needle through it. You 
will find in one bloom a hundred of 
these little punctures. I believe we 
will have a pretty good crop of iruit 
this year, however. 
Mr. Wakelin—We notice our orang¬ 
es sometimes fall off after they are 
pretty well grown, and of a bright 
green color and glossy. They fall off 
and leave their stems on the tree. It 
looks as though something had gotten 
between the stem and the calyx and 
pried it off. You cannot see anything 
the matter with the orange, and the 
tree has not suffered for watei> either. 
Mr. Penny—I would like to ask the 
gentleman if he had a good crop of 
fruit after these fell off. 
Mr. Wakelin—No', I don’t think so. 
They robbed the tree. I notice often 
times where these oranges fell off, 
they would be the only ones on the 
ends of twigs and should not have fall¬ 
en off, for they had no neighbors to 
crowd them. 
Mr. Hubbard—The thrip has always 
been present with us more or less since 
I began orange culture some twenty- 
five years ago. Most seasons it has 
very little effect on the fruit. The 
thrip seems to get at and feed on the 
honey that is secreted at the base of 
the orange. In some cases, the thrip 
may be a benefit in mixing the pollen. 
I do not think it does much damage 
except to mar some specimens of fruit. 
They sometimes gnaw snaky, little 
tracks that run around on the peel.. 
As to the abnormal growth. I think 
it is caused by shock to the tree. The 
bloom and the foliage start from the 
same class of embryo and it depends 
on the condition of the tree at the time 
when that embryo is formed whether 
it will produce leaves or bloom. It 
depends largely on the climatic condi¬ 
tions. If the shock by cold is great. 
