FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
195 
in June, the fourth in September, the fifth 
in October, and the sixth in November, 
but these are varied according to the 
weather conditions. 
Three pounds of fertilizer per tree is 
allowed for the first year, and then the 
amount gradually increased as the tree 
seems able to use all the material applied. 
Mr. Poole uses a uniform formula for 
I the different applications, using 2^ per 
cent ammonia, 10 per cent to 12 per cent 
potash, and 8 per cent phosphoric acid, 
but would vary the formula for bearing 
' groves according to whether the crop was 
large or not. 
Mr. S. J. McKinney applies a fertilizer 
composed of 4 per cent ammonia, 7 to 10 
per cent potash and 8 per cent phosphoric 
acid. 
Question 21. Do you believe that 
grass in a grove is harmful? 
Mr. Stanley, Drainage Engineer of the 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
discussed the question at length, and 
thought it would become harmful in that 
it decreases the amount of moisture pres¬ 
ent in the soil in the spring. Mr. Seple 
then asked whether the grass in the grove 
was bad or good as a whole. He wanted 
to know whether the presence of grass 
in the grove causes any other harm than 
drying out the soil in the spring. Was 
the advantage to the grove in other direc¬ 
tions greater than the harm by loss of 
moisture. 
To this, Col. Gaitskill replied that he 
had not plowed or cultivated in his grove 
in ten years. He made two applications 
of fertilizer, one in the spring and one in 
the fall. His grove is on high hammock 
land. He allows any kind of grass, in¬ 
cluding Bermuda, to grow in the ground 
and make a solid sod if it pleases. He 
uses the fertilizer at the rate of one thou¬ 
sand pounds per acre at each application. 
There are about 170 trees to the acre. He 
finds this method of procedure much bet¬ 
ter and more economical than his former 
methods of clean culture. 
Question 22. What size is best to 
use in setting citrus trees ? 
Mr. Hart: Personally, I would prefer 
to take the largest sized trees—the larg¬ 
er the better, up to those that had a trunk 
four or five inches in diameter. The 
larger the size, the sooner you get a crop 
from it. Of course, the larger trees cost 
more to transplant and need greater atten¬ 
tion to prevent suffering a severe shock 
in transplanting. 
The opinion was also expressed by 
others that for general grove planting 
two or three year trees were very desir¬ 
able where these could be obtained. 
Question 23. Can you advise a spray 
for the rust mite and what time would 
you use it? 
The rust mite is easily and satisfactor¬ 
ily controlled by the use of the dry sul¬ 
phur or sulphur lime mixture. The light¬ 
er the sulphur the better it will work in 
the grove. Large power machines can be 
used so as to distribute the sulphur very 
evenly and thoroughly through the grove. 
If the work is to be done by hand it will 
probably be better to use some of the 
soluble sulphur compounds. 
Col. Gaitskill explained that he was not 
inclined to make much use of spraying 
mixtures of any kind, and cited the ex¬ 
perience of Mr. Sampson, where he great¬ 
ly increased the scales by spraying. 
