FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
135 
The prices were good and we thought 
it would be a good thing for us to get 
some oranges in to market right away. 
So we put on a good application, and 
lost the fruit. 
Mr. Painter—That experience has 
been had by a good many, not only 
with potash. Some time ago, a man 
wrote me that his trees had just put 
out a fine bloom and wanted to make 
an unusually fine crop of fruit. He 
ordered an extra amount of fertilizer, 
applied it, harrowed and worked it in, 
and the result in due course of time 
was that the young fruit dropped. You 
can do that without the fertilizer if you 
happen to have a good rain about the 
time you do the cultivating. It is the 
stimulating effect given to the tree 
that causes the dropping. My experi¬ 
ence has been that the orange trees 
ought to be left severely alone during 
the setting period. 
Mr.-How long do you consider 
the setting period? 
Mr. Painter—Until the orange 
reaches the size of a good-sized 
marble. Of course, up to that time 
there will be a good deal of fruit drop¬ 
ping on account of being imperfect. 
Mr.-Will the cultivation of trees 
alone, without fertilizer, cause the 
fruit and foliage to drop ? 
Mr. Painter—I have known of cases 
of that kind. 
Prof. Rolfs—I congratulate the au¬ 
thor of the paper, which has brought 
on more discussion than any other we 
have had. 
