32 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ing it with the soil. And this also makes 
a fire protection. For with us we use the 
open pine fire for frost protection, in 
every check in our bearing groves. With 
our young groves we make fire in our mar¬ 
gins, and bank high all young stock. And 
in cultivation in our hammock grove, 
nearly all the work is done with the hoe 
and scythe. Hoeing large circles around 
the trees and mowing the margin, this is 
done three times a year. 
PRUNING. 
I believe in the use of the knife wiith 
good judgment. And that along the line 
with Professor Harold Hume, gave uls in 
his able lecture two years ago at St. Pet¬ 
ersburg. Cut close and clean and using a 
dressing on all large cuts, of either graft¬ 
ing wax, or oil, lamp black and white 
lead. And keeping the center of your 
tree clean of all dead limbs and water 
sprouts, unless you want to bring out a 
new limb or leader to fill out the vacancy. 
By Jas. E. Kilgore. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
After thinking this subject over I have 
decided that it is a very large and diffi¬ 
cult one for me. Any method I advance 
will depend, for its success or failure, on 
the soil and the season where the test is 
made. A method that would give good 
results in a wet year may fail in a dry, 
without proper irrigation, and the dif¬ 
ferent conditions in warm and cold win¬ 
ters also interfere with our plans. 
The soil problem is also very compli¬ 
cated where we have citrus groves on ev¬ 
ery description of land from rich, damp 
hammock to spruce scrub. Many small 
groves extend over so wide a range of 
soil that one side will not do well with a 
treatment adapted to the other side. Un¬ 
der such conditions there is no best meth¬ 
od ; every grower must have a flexible 
system to suit himself and his groves. 
However, I think that I gain more use¬ 
ful information at our meetings than I 
do all the year alone in my grove, and I 
regret that I can give so little in return. 
In setting out citrus trees, I prefer mid¬ 
winter for moist land but for high, thirsty 
soil the summer rains often make up for 
the other conditions, so I take that time 
for setting out. When the trees begin to 
grow I watch the tops until they are five 
or six feet high and if two or more buds 
show equal strength I take off all but 
one or nip the buds. This prevents a 
crooked tree and causes little loss of fol¬ 
iage. I prune out water sprouts and dead 
branches and take off the lower branches 
as they Come to the ground. 
In general fertilizing I use a mixture 
containing little nitrogen and give all the 
trees a good share. If they look well they 
need it to keep them so and if they look 
badly it ’will help them. Then I go over 
the grove with my nitrogen 'and give such 
trees as need fit, a dose according to their 
needs. If a tree is pale, with small leaves, 
or has a heavy crop a good lot is used 1 , if 
it has large green leaves and few fruit 
little or none is needed. This is not a 
