60 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
sequently I throw two furrows together 
for the tree row, and continue turning 
dirt towards the two furrows till I get a 
strip about ten feet wide. This leaves 
the trash undisturbed on the unplowed 
middle. Then I stake off for the trees 
and set them, move the trash in between 
the trees, and finish plowing out the mid¬ 
dle. I use a two horse disc harrow on 
all the plowing to pulverize and smooth 
up the ground. I mulch the trees at time 
of planting, and always put about i 1-2 
inches more dirt to the tree than should 
be there permanently when trees are set 
in winter, this helps retain the moisture 
through the spring drought, and at time 
of first working after the drought is over 
and tree is established, this surplus dirt is 
worked away, leaving the tree with the 
crown roots just covered. In preparing 
hammock land, I modify the above meth¬ 
ods to suit the growth on the land. I 
leave, on an average, four or five palmet¬ 
to trees to each orange tree, and grad¬ 
ually thin these out as trees get larger, 
and original supply of trash has rotted 
away. Live oaks, water oaks, etc., I top 
and girdle. When plowing the first time, 
I keep two men, with grub hoes and axes, 
following the plow, to remove all roots, 
etc., that had not been previously re¬ 
moved. In this way, at the next plowing, 
it should plow like old land. I find that 
young trees grow off much better and are 
much less apt to become hide bound 
where they have partial shade. In case 
of a hide bound tree, the point of a knife 
blade run the length of the trunk, split¬ 
ting the bark, and a little extra feed, will 
usually effect a cure. As regards leaving 
palmetto trees in a grove, to be removed 
later, some persons raise the objection 
that they are difficult to get down with¬ 
out damage to- the orange tree, after the 
orange tree has attained much size. This 
can be easily done in the following way. 
Take a ladder say 16 or 18 feet long, 
place against trunk of palmetto tree- to 
be removed, on side opposite to which 
you wish the tree to fall. Take a rope 
(about 3-8 or 1-2 inch) and tie in a slip 
noose around the trunk of the tree as 
high above top of ladder as is convenient; 
and push it up the trunk of the tree as 
far as you can, with a pole having a fork 
or similar contrivance on top end, then 
have a person on the ground tighten on 
the rope. Then, with a short, one-man 
cross-cut saw, saw the tree as nearly off 
as is safe at a point that is convenient 
above the top of the ladder; then get 
down and remove 'the ladder, and with 
the rope the top can be pulled just where 
wanted, and very seldom will an orange 
tree ever be injured. The snag left 
standing will do no harm, but it can be 
easily cut down if it is desirable to get it 
out o f the way. In setting trees, I have 
had fine results by thoroughly mixing 1 
or 2 lbs. of fine ground steamed bone in 
the soil before setting the tree. Other 
than this I give the trees no fertilizer for 
a year, depending upon plenty of mulch 
and trash to furnish what they need for 
that time. Then I give them about 1 lb. 
each early in the spring and another 
pound each in the summer, and continue 
plowing till I get the land shaped up to 
suit, when all plowing is cut out. After 
that our dependence is on hoe working the 
trees in circles and using mowing ma¬ 
chines once or twice per year, as occa¬ 
sion demands, on the unworked part. 
When the trees get large enough to shade 
