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438 ORANGE CULTURE IN FLORIDA. Swe*f or Soirr Stocks —Time and Mode of Planting, Budding, Tiie Lemon, Lin* and Guava, etc. I promished to give you an article on the Or ange and its cultivation in this latitude, which, I think, will be equally applicable to your region. 1 will now proeeed to carry out this promise as succinctly as possible; premising that I do not profess to be a scientific Pomologist; and simply give my mode of procedure which has been very successful. In the first place, select a location with an op en exposure to the Northwest (this being the point from which our coldest freezing winds come), with as broad a sheet of water as possible to the Northwest!of the site chosen. In pass ing over this sheet of water, ice winds lose a por tion of their cold and are rendered less damag ing to tender vegetation than where no water exists. This exposure also retards the flow of sap, rendering the trees less sensitive to the effect of sudden cold. The land should be sufficiently high to drain itself; if it does not, it must be drained artificially. It is by no means necessa ry that the soil should be very rich ; a sandy loam that, in this region, will yield twelve to fif teen bushels of com, will do. It should be well prepared by deep plowing and harrowing. The holes should be dug three feet deep, and accord ing to the size of the tree, two and a half to five feet in diameter; a bushel or two of swamp muck thrown into each hole and w T ell mixed with the surrounding soil. The holes should not be less than twenty-five feet from Center to center. Trees do better wiiile young at a less distance, but when fifteen to twenty years old, will nearly double or quite shade the space at twenty-five feet. The distance gives a free grow th and makes a more shapely tree, allowing it to expand equally in every direction. A row of Peach or Guava may be planted immediately between the rows of Orange without ifljury to them. Second. As to the kind of trees, whether Seedlings, or the Wild or Sour Orange stock. If the Wild or Sour Orange is chosen, a trunk or stem from two and a half to four inches in diameter is the best. In fact a bearing stock of any size will do; with a sharp spade or axe, make a circular cut around the tree, three to four feet in diameter, cutting square or outw rard ly all the lateral roots; then, with a hoe or shov el, undermine on one side till you can reach the SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. tap root, say tw T o and a half feet below’ the sur face ; cut it off, slanting downwards ; then, if the lateral roots have been well cut, the tree may be heeled over to one side and easily taken out. It should then be sawed off sloping about four feet above the surface roots. The roots, especially the small fibrous ones, should not be allowed to get dry, which they do very easily; and w hen such is the case, tL e tree, when planted, may live and grow, slowly or vigorously, according to the degree of injury received by these roots —they being the principal feeders for the Orange tree. The tree should be set so as to bring the upper roots not more than two inches under the surface when the whole is filled up. The earth should be w T ell worked in around the roots by hand, oc casionally throwing in a quantity of W’ater, say from two to four gallons. If this is well done, leaving no hollows about the roots, ninety out of every hundred trees should be saved. The best time for transplanting is from the fifteenth of No vember to the first of March, the sap being more dormant and sluggish at that period than any other. The Orange may be transplanted at al most any season if proper care and mulching is attended to. Too much watering in many in stances is injurious and frequently causes the de cay of those fibrous roots, when they have be come partially dry before being put in the ground. On account of their dormant condition, one thorough watering is sufficient in ordinary seasons. As to the choice between the Sour Stock and the Seedling: The Sweet is the most hardy ; will stand a greater degree of cold. It therefore sometimes happens that the cold is sufficient to kill the Sour Stock, and not- serious ly injure the Sweet Seedling. In this event, of course, the sweet bud on the Sour Stock must die, and the grow r er has to wait until the Sour Stock sprouts from the root and grows la-ge enough to admit of being re-budded; w T hereas, when the Seedling is killed, the new sprouts from the roots will besw r eet and will bear in three years. Again, lam convinced the Seedling makes the most durable tree, and the most lus cious fruit It is true, fruit mayfbe had from the budded tree in from two to four years, when it requires from four to six for the Seedling to bear. I have had budded trees to bear in twelve months from twenty to fifty Oranges, but this is not usual; I have also gathered two hundred to two hundred and fifty-five ripe Oranges from buds of two and three years growth.