232 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
proved that not to be so. I have one 
tree with one stock and some with four, 
and I get a great many more off the four 
than off the one. As Brother Hart says, 
I do not pull all the extra sprouts off. 
I think the tree needs the leaf surface, 
and I leave them on in big bunches 
and after awhile I pull them off I think 
my grove is as fine a bearing grove as 
any in my neighborhood. 
Mr. (-)—Where you have a clus¬ 
ter of limbs growing up from the ground, 
do you prune or not? 
Mr. Seymour—I let nature do its own 
pruning. Unless a limb gets across 
another one and rubs it, I never cut it 
out. I have a neighbor who is all the 
time cutting his trees and he never gets 
more than half a crop any time. I think 
in pruning too much, you stop the bear¬ 
ing qualities of your tree. 
No. 5.—Is Frenching of the citrus 
family a disease in itself or simply a 
symptom of a derangement? How can 
it be treated? 
Mr. Painter—Frenching comes from' 
malnutrition. This may be from, differ¬ 
ent causes, therefore the treatment that 
will cure in one case will not necessarily 
cure in others. The most prevailing 
cause is humic acid in the soil. Apply a 
liberal application of airsl'acked or hy¬ 
drated lime to' th<* tree or on the side of 
the tree affected and harrow or hoe it in. 
Fertilize with a few pounds of nitrate 
of soda in addition to the regular appli¬ 
cation of fertilizer. In some cases three 
or four pounds of copperas applied to 
the diseased tree has apparently cured or 
helped the tree. 
No. 6—I especially would like to know 
why it is set down so positively that we 
cannot grow apple trees in Florida. With 
me several varieties are growing quite 
as well as they do in my New York 
orchard. I rely on heavy mulching for 
all trees, but especially for apples, plums, 
peaches, etc. I slope my mulch inward 
so as to catch and retain the rains. This 
mulch is made of any coarse material 
and covered with a layer of sand. If 
carefully made it equalizes the temper¬ 
ature around the roots. The hottest days 
do not affect the fine roots seriously. I 
am having excellent success so far with 
King David (one of Stark’s new apples), 
Stayman’s Winesap, and a few more of 
the fruits set down as hardly belonging 
in Florida. Of course my test has not 
yet reached the fruiting stage. I am suc¬ 
ceeding so far admirably well with Lam¬ 
bert and Bing cherries. I am planting 
freely of Mr. Munson’s hybrid grapes, 
and they promise exceedingly well. 
Among my peaches I have several from 
Stark Bros, in Missouri, that are doing 
quite as well as our Florida sorts. One 
of the best of these Is Wright. The 
Early Wheeler, (first received from Mr. 
Munson), is doing well. I think, how¬ 
ever, that this variety has some of the 
Chinese blood in it. 
What I miss in Florida is humus, and 
this I put forth every effort to create. 
Fortunately nature offers us abounding 
material for this purpose. I do not allow 
a pound of humus material to be burned. 
In such material I grew an 18 pound 
sweet potato this last year. Florida is 
full of problems, and is to me, immensely 
attractive. 
M(r. Painter—It has been set down 
that apples cannot be grown in Florida, 
