CITRUS STOCK 
(A portion of a Lecture delivered by Horticultu 
Highlands Horticultural Society, 
We have but two stocks left to mention: sour orange 
and rough lemon. These are the two stocks most univer¬ 
sally used throughout Polk County. In fact, if we take 
the different citrus-producing sections of the world, Cal¬ 
ifornia, South America, South Africa, Europe and por¬ 
tions of Asia, we find that a majority of the trees will 
be budded on sour orange stock. It is because the sour 
orange stock will adapt itself to a far greater range of 
soils than rough lemon. Rough lemon is not adapted at 
all to low-lying lands such as we have in the hammocks 
and flatwoods and even the high hammock type of land. 
It is in the heavy clay or even adobe soils of California 
we find sour orange stock. There it does very much 
better and also in the soils of Spain. Portions of 
Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, are of this 
same type, rather heavy and at times very moist and 
on this kind of soil sour orange stock has been used. 
The first year after it is planted the greater part of the 
strength and life seems to be devoted to making root 
system. One of the young men told me this afternoon 
that he found roots on his trees, only planted last win¬ 
ter, reaching out 8 and 10 feet from the trunk of the 
tree, thus showing where the energy of the tree has been 
going. But when the root system gets pretty well es¬ 
tablished, sour orange stock will then go ahead quite 
rapidly. Even then it does not make a top as large as 
rough lemon stock will produce, especially not for the 
first two years. Oranges and grapefruit budded upon 
sour orange stock withstand more cold than those budded 
on rough lemon. The fruit produced upon trees budded 
on sour orange stock will be of first class quality on a 
four and five year old tree, that is, the first crop pro¬ 
duced will have smooth thin skins and have good flavor. 
At the same time that fruit will hold well on the trees, 
retaining its flavor and juices until late in the season. 
I have seen grapefruit off four-year-old trees budded on 
sour orange stock taken in the month of June, still 
showing no signs of drying out. That is not to be ex¬ 
pected of young trees, and yet the sour orange stock, 
under these conditions, does produce very good fruit. It 
was on a type of land that is lighter than land we have 
here. With heavier types of soil it is much easier for 
the sour orange stock to produce those results. Con¬ 
trary to the usual statements, trees budded on sour or¬ 
ange stock, fruit earlier. A great many advocates of 
the rough lemon stock claim that it will bear earlier 
than the sour orange stock, but all the evidence I have 
in hand seems to indicate the opposite. * * * * * 
All the data I have in hand seems to indicate that sour 
orange stock will bear earlier. In fact, we have trees on 
the property that are not three years old that would have 
borne anywhere from one-fourth to two and one-half 
boxes to the tree. I have never seen rough lemon stock 
do that. Sour orange stock does not produce as great 
quantity of fruit perhaps as rough lemon stock, but it 
certainly makes up for it in quality over the other stock. 
The sour orange itself is a late maturing variety, that 
is, the seedling sour orange does not mature its fruit 
until late in the spring, while rough lemon will mature 
its fruit early in the season. By the middle of winter 
at least you will find all the fruit on rough lemon trees, 
that is, of regular bloom, will be thoroughly matured. 
And it is thought that the stock upon which the tree 
may be budded influences the keeping quality of the 
fruit produced in this way. If your trees are budded on 
stock that matures its own fruit late in the season, that 
will be the tendency of the fruit budded upon that stock. 
That is true of the sour orange stock. It matures late 
rist S. F. Poole at the meeting of the Lakeland 
held on November 11, 1915.) 
and that may explain why oranges and grapefruit budded 
upon that stock will keep better on the tree until a late 
period. This is a decided advantage to shippers of citrus 
fruits. You can hold your fruit until a late market, 
which is usually the best paying market of the season. 
The early market sometimes pays very well, but there 
is always a lower level of prices prevailing through the 
middle of the season. If you do not ship your fruit 
early, you can hold it until April or May and even into 
June. Last year when prices were so poor all through 
the season, they took a decided increase during the last 
six weeks, and the man who was in a position to hold 
his fruit until that time was able to make money. I 
know growers that made as high as $300 per acre simply 
because they were in a position to hold the fruit. I 
simply throw that out as an indication that those whose 
trees are budded on sour orange stock in this neighbor¬ 
hood may expect to hold their fruit late, if they find the 
market will justify it. The growth of the tree produced 
upon sour orange stock is more upright and spire shaped. 
Rough lemon stock is a stock that reaches out long dis¬ 
tances in the soil, even further than sour stock does. 
The bulk of the root system is within ten inches of the 
surface. There are, of course, quite a number of large 
roots that are sent down deep in the soil to serve as 
anchors, but the root system of the rough lemon stock 
is not so deep as that of the sour orange. It is on this 
account that rough lemon stock will produce greater 
growth in the top. Neglected trees will recover quicker 
on rough lemon stock than on sour orange stock on ac¬ 
count of the greater forging power of the root systems. 
It has been intimated before that fruit produced 
on buds of rough lemon stock dry out early 
in the season. The top of the tree is more 
droopy in appearance. It is more spread out in 
proportion to its height than is true of buds on sour 
orange stock. The trees are larger and will also pro¬ 
duce greater quantities of fruit. The fruit has a slightly 
thicker skin, slightly rougher, and does not have the 
same flavor. Anyone who is familiar with fruit pro¬ 
duced on this stock can readily detect the difference in 
flavor and certain brands on the market in the north are 
more sought after than others simply because of their 
superior flavor. This difference in quality of flavor and 
keeping is not so marked as the trees become older. In 
fact, there are a great many who claim that they can 
produce as good fruit on rough lemon stock when the 
trees are fifteen or twenty years of age as they can upon 
sour orange stock. However, in regard to that state¬ 
ment, the difference is there. Of course, it is not so 
marked as when the trees were young, but yet the dif¬ 
ference is great enough so they can easily be detected. 
There will be the difference in peel and in the flavor that 
cannot be entirely overcome by age. Then again trees 
on rough lemon stock are more subject to attacks of 
die-back than those on sour orange stock on account of 
the greater forging ability of the root system. It takes 
up so much more nourishment and in case of sweet or¬ 
ange budded on rough lemon stock that amount of food 
brought up is sometimes more than the top can take 
care of, that is, the sweet orange is not such a heavy 
feeder as the rough lemon is. When you have them 
brought together upon the same plant you will find that 
there is a tendency to ammoniation and splitting of 
fruit, which is particularly true of the Valencia Late va¬ 
riety, more so than others. This is a topic of vital in¬ 
terest to the citrus grower because it spells the differ¬ 
ence between success and failure on account of the stock 
you may have your trees budded upon. 
Lake Region Print, Eustis, Florida 
