70 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
Die-Back were either an excess of am¬ 
monia or too much acid in the soil, I came 
to the conclusion that if there was an ex¬ 
cess of ammonia the lime would release 
it; on the other hand, if too much acid 
the lime would correct it, and sweeten 
the soil. I began by cutting a trench at 
the outer extremities of the branches all 
around the tree, and twelve or eighteen 
inches deep. I then put in about a peck 
of unslacked rock lime. In a short time 
the trees thus treated put on a thrifty 
growth and we have had no Die-Back in 
them since. There was also a most lux¬ 
uriant growth of grass came up about 
these trees, much heavier than the trees 
around, although these trees were treated 
just the same as the rest of the grove with 
the exception of lime. I find since we 
have been using lime in our groves, we 
get a much heavier growth of grass. For 
applying our fertilizers, we use a Stevens 
broad-cast machine, which does fine work 
and is very simple in construction. 
