FLORIDA ,STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
63 
the hammock. About every two years I 
give the grove a good coating of leaves 
and trash. 
Mr. Temple: Mr. Thompson in his 
paper spoke of spraying with the sulphur 
solution two or three times a year. Now, 
I think we all know Mr. Hart’s position 
on spraying. Not trying to drag in the 
question of spraying or any one spray, I 
want to say that I happen to know from 
visual observation that Mr. Hart has no 
rust in his grove. I also know that Mr. 
Hart does not spray. Will Mr. Hart tell 
us how he gets bright fruit without 
spraying; whether by cultivation, fertili¬ 
zation or what? I would also like to ask 
in addition whether Mr. Thompson has 
used the sulphur or the sulphur and soda 
or sulphur and lime solutions, how often, 
and the results obtained from one as 
compared with the other; in other words, 
what I am trying to get at is what pre¬ 
caution to take tO' insure getting the most 
bright fruit. 
Mr. Hart: Replying to Mr. Temple’s 
question with regard to rust mite. I to¬ 
day heard it said that “citrus culture is 
not an exact science.” I wish I had less 
reason to realize this truth. 
I cannot attempt to say positively what 
action on my part or what element in the 
soil or condition of the atmosphere causes 
the results. I will say, though, that to 
my knowledge I have not shipped a gen 
uine rusty orange this year; haven’t had 
it to ship. I shipped a few that I marked 
russet oranges, but that rust was merely 
a manifestation of melanose, which gives 
it a rusty appearance. But not one or¬ 
ange, that I know of, has shown the re¬ 
sult of the work of rust mite. 
Years ago, one of my groves produced 
all russets, and they were such vigorous 
russets, or, rather, the rust was so vigor¬ 
ous, that the fruit was very small and 
black to such an extent that quite a por¬ 
tion of the crop I did not ship at all, and 
was much ashamed to> ship the rest of it; 
but I have noticed that on that grove this 
year not a rusty orange showed up from 
any cause. 
I have noticed that there is less rust 
on the hammock than on the pine land, 
especially where clean culture has been 
practiced; therefore, my practice has been 
to try to turn the soil into that as much 
like hammock soil as possible, raising 
grass, weeds, etc., and not taking them 
away from the land after they are cut, 
putting much humus into the soil, culti¬ 
vating early in the season while the 
drought is on, stopping it when the rains 
come, then using only the scythe until No¬ 
vember. 
The results in my groves are there, and 
anyone can see them, but I cannot say 
positively any more than the rest of you 
just what has brought them about. When 
results are right, I hold to the methods 
that bring them. 
Mr. Thompson: In regard to sulphur, I 
would say that I use very successfully 
and have used for two or three seasons, 
a solution or mixture of sulphur. First, 
I make a paste like that the paper hang¬ 
ers use to put paper on the wall. I have 
a regular formula for making it in large 
quantities. Then I take three gallons of 
that paste and mix in it seven pounds 
of Flowers of Sulphur. I use the Flow¬ 
ers because that is the lighter form. Then 
this whole mixture is stirred in fifty gal¬ 
lons of water. It mixes very readily, 
