October 1, 1909 
Spanish System of Growing 
Orange Trees. 
‘In the second edition of Mr. E. H. 
Benson’s work on * Citrus Culture, he 
Mentions ‘ collar rot? and the remedy for 
his disease. He also states that, if an 
orange tree is planted on badly-drained 
clayey soil, no treatment will prevent or 
cure collar rot. 
The Government Viticulturist of 
Victoria (Mr. F. de Castella), writing in 
the February number of the ‘ Journal of 
Agriculture’ of that ‘State on «Th 
Orange in Eastern Spain,’ describes * 
Temarkable method adopted in that 
Country for the prevention of collar 
Tot. He says:— : 
‘The most remarkable: peculiarity in 
connection with the cultivation of citrus 
fruits in the Levante is the system of 
rowing the trees over a hole, with the 
Collar and starting point of the main 
Toots exposed to the air. This system is 
very generally followed. It was at the 
Granja Valenciana (experimental station 
and school at Valencia) that I first re- 
Marked this curious method, but all the 
Orange trees which I saw subsequently ~ 
Were treated i in the same way. The tree 
is reared, budded, and planted: in’ the 
Usual way, and until about three or four 
Years old is treated much as-we would do 
in Victoria. By this time its surface 
Toots have become sufficiently strong to 
Support it; a hole is dug underneath 
it, and the tap root is GUS cut off with 
& saw, 
“The hole, which is a foot or so in 
diameter, and of about the same depth, is 
not filled up. It remains always open, any 
dirt or rubbish which may fall into it 
béing regularly removed. When 
irrigating, which is usually done by 
flooding, a small dam is made around the 
tree at a distance of a couple feet from 
it, to prevent water getting into the 
hole, The appearance of these trees is 
Very striking ; their bases may be com- 
Pared to large spiders sitting over holes 
in the ground. The object of the treat- 
Ment is to prevent collar rot and gumming 
(Mal de Goma), which used to be 
Prevalent, but now seems to give little 
_ THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Fs aaape-aTnTTSunNT=j05755= STSUNRIDI -IND | PISIENEST eet HUE 
trouble, ‘The sour orange stock is the 
one usually employed, even for Ismons ; 
lemons worked on lemon stock are said to 
be liableto Mal de’ Goma. The trees 
struck me as being very healthy. They 
were loaded with an abundant crop of fine 
fruit ; in fact, everything seemed satis- 
factory excepting the price.’ 
Lemon Culture in Italy. 
— Explanation of the Verdal System. — 
Mr. G. Harold J?owell (says ‘Australian 
Field’), in a lecture before the Lemon 
Growers’ Club of Southern California, in 
Los Angeles, on ‘Lemon Culture: in 
Italy,’ gave a'detailed explanation of the 
Verdel system of lemon culture. Mr 
Powell said.— tats 
_ ‘The Verdel lemons arg among the best 
known and finest lemons in the 
world. The Italians have developed this 
system to a remarkable degree. Verdel 
stands not for a variety of lemon trees 
but for the lemons grown on any trees 
after they have been’ treated according to 
the method of the system, 
‘If the blossoms at the first part of the 
year are not prolific or other climatic 
conditions are unfavorable, and the crop 
seems destined to be small, the Verdal 
system is brought into use. The ground 
around the tree is removed, and the roots 
are allowed to remain exposed for a period 
of forty to sixty. days, when a. strong 
fertiliser, usually sulphate | of ammonia, is 
placed on the roots and the soil laid over: 
this, Irrigation must then” follow 
constantly, the ground being kept moist - 
all the time until’the blossoms are brought 
forthv 
‘This insures a good second crop of 
lemons, the Verdels. The period of 
picking in Italy is about six months 
~ during which time- the fruit is pluckes 
about every six weeks. The Italians have 
- no systematised ‘packing-houses and each 
grower usually packs’ his own stock. The 
first-class fruit is all packed for export 
trade. ~The TE is ehae chiefly by 
women. 
‘The second or Sait lemons are 
utilised inthe manufacture of citrate 
« 
25 
of lime, from which citrate acid is later 
manufactured. The presses and other 
machinery used in the manufacture of the- 
citrate afte nearly all hand or mule 
power. The finest oil of lemon and 
orange is made in Sicily. The best of all 
is produced in a primitive way by 
hand, and the oil is collected in 
sponges, dropped, when these are fully 
saturated, on water, and then blown off 
the water into any ordinary receptacle.’ 
Green’ Persimmoms made 
Marketable. 
Mr. George C. Roeding, of Fresno (says 
the ‘ Fresno Republican’) has just com- 
pleted a series of experiments with 
Japanese persimmons, which are of the 
utmost importance not only to the 
orchardiats of this State but to those of 
the whole of the southern part of the 
United States, as far north as the latitude 
of Washington, D.C. He has succeeded 
in removing from the green persimmon its 
well-known astringeut quality, so that it 
will be possible from now on to so prepare 
the fruit actually on the farm that it may 
be shipped, marketed, and eaten while 
still firm, and what is now termed 
green, The marketing of this fine fruit 
has always been very seriously affected by 
the fact that it is not, in its natural 
atate, fit to be eaten until it has become 
so ripe as to be on the verge of decay, and 
so not strictly wholesome, and certainly 
of no use for extensive shipping. This 
difficulty is now removed. Mr. Roeding 
has been working on this idea for the past 
two or three years, but actually produced 
the fruit in marketable quantities only ‘a 
few days ago, and had 1,000 lb. of it 
shipped east by the East Fruit Company 
of this city, thus -putting it into the 
regular channels of trade. He has also 
sent some of itin packages to Washington 
to be inspected .by the authorities 
there. The shipping was done in 2061b 
boxes, and the boxes were sent out in 
refrigerator cars. The process by which 
the astringent’ quality is’ removed from 
the fruit is simple enough, and is borrowed 
from a widespread’ practice in Japan. It 
is simply-to place'the fruit in tubs, ‘from 
