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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, JULY 1, 1882.
across and the bud slipped carefully down
inside the flat part next to the tree, until
the whole of the cut part is hidden; at the
time that the bud is inserted, the buds of
the sour growth are pinched off to throw
more sap towards the new bud; if the latter
"takes,” it will be found, after the lapse of
two weeks, to be still plump and green, and
then the remainder of the sour growth is
cut off, thus concentrating the full rigor of
the roots upon the sweet bud; the result is
a most astonishing growth.
As an instance in point, the writer bud
ded two Sicily lemons on "native lemon”
stock; the buds commenced growing late in
November last, and as a result, In May, 1882,
could be seen two rigorous young trees with
branching stems, eight and nine feet in
height, and still growing rapidly. Such
trees, orange or lemon, will bear fruit In two
years or less, while seedlings usually require
eight or ten years. For this reason many
growers prefer budded stumps to orange
seedlings, but as it is the general idea that
the latter make the larger and more endur
ing trees, after a lapse of some years, most
grove owners, while setting out budded trees,
ulso set-out another grove of seedlings for a
reliable "stand-by.”
A few years ago nearly all agreed as to this
difference in the relative permanent value
of “stumps" and seedlings; now, however,
it Is becoming a mooted question, a number
of noted botanists asserting positively that
budding the common lemon or orange does
in no wise dwarf, or injure the permanency
of the trees.
It is impossible to say whence the idea
first originated, for certainly there has not
been tlmo enough in Florida culture to au
thorize a verdict against the budded trees;
so far they hold their own right right roy-
ally, as fully the equals of seedlings of the
same bearing age. In California this is the
case likewise.
Along the shores of the Mediterranean,
where the citrus family is cultivated with
the experience of generations, the sour or
ange is planted for the express purpose of
serving as stock upon which' to bud the
sweet orange; it is claimed that in addition
to bearing so much earlier than the sweet
seedling, the sour “stock" is hardier, more
precocious, grows faster and is less liable to
the few maladies that attack orange trees;
in ten years, according to some very exact
observations made by the RoyalAgricul t ural
College of Sicily, the sour stock gained fifty
I«r cent, in diameter over the sweet seed
lings. Another advantage possessed by the
sour stock, is that it will grow upon moist
land, where the sweet seedling cannot be
Many of the wild groves of Florida are
found upon such land, and where, as is
sometimes the case, sour stumps transplant
ed to pine land, either die or remain barely
alive; it is owing to the fact that they have
removed from moist spots, where as they
wero not needed, Dame Nature bad not pro
vided them with the numerous fine rootlets
that are so necessary to plants growing on
drier land, in gathering in a sufficient quan
tity of moisture from the earth; any tree,
therefore, removed from moist to drier spots,
is very apt to die of thirst and starvation.
Only two or three years ago, every one set
ting out a grove was compelled to bud his
own trees, now the case is different; fine,
thrifty, one year budded stumps can be
bought for fifteen cents each; sweet seed
lings, one, two, three, four or five years old,
can be purchased for ten, twenty, thirty,
forty and fifty cents each—an advance of ten
cents for each year of age; but it is not con
sidered advisable to set them out after the
third year, as their roots, after this period,
are large, and apt to suffer so much in the
removal, as to be put back fully a year in
growth, while if set-out at two or three years,
carefully, of course, they need not be put
bock in growth beyond a few weeks. And
now the trees safely planted, and thriving
in their new home, comes the question.
"How are they to be treated?”
As we have seen, it will not do to starve
or surfsltthem; fortunately there is a happy
medium course, which, as in other trades,
leads to success.
First, as to their proper food: A very few
experiments were sufficient to prove to all
growers that animal, or commercial manures,
especially those containing ammonia, are
not adapted to the wants of the orange; on
the contrary they are very injurious, unless
used with extreme caution, therefore, they
are best not used at all.
An analysis of the fruit shows that water
predominates enormously in its texture;
the pulp contains ninety-one per cent of
water, the seed fifty per cent, and the skin
seventy-eight per cent, the remaining por
tions of each distinctive part are made up
of organic matter and asb. The saccharine
principle of the sweet orange is not, as was
once supposed, glucose, or grape sugar, but
pure cane sugar; nor is its acid wholly mal*
lie, but equally citric as well; the varieties
of'ash contained in the orange are several;
giving them in the order in which they pre
dominate, they are as follows: potash, lime,
phosphoric acid, soda, magnesia, silica, sul
phur and ferric phosphate—of these, potash
forms thirty-eight parts, lime twenty-three,
and phosphoric acid fourteen parts. With
this analysis before us, it is easy to see that
the chief food required by the orange tree is
a combination in which the potash and phos
phoric elements preponderate; water fur
nishes all the rest of the food they need, and
this they are usually able to draw for them
selves from the earth and atmosphere.
With this understanding, it is no very diffi
cult matter to supply their wants; their de
mands are surely not excessive; a box of two
hundred oranges, weighing one hundred
pounds, takes from the soil only two and a
half pounds of ashes, and this fertilizer is
neither expensive nor difficult to procure.
The muck found along the shores of Flori
da’s numerous large and small lakes, can
readily be dug out during the low water pe
riods, and may either be hauled away at
once, or left on the spot in small piles to
dry, and thus make lighter carriage before
removal.
This muck, whether obtained from swamp
or lake shore, is rich in potash; so are the
ashes from the burned roots of the saw-
palmetto, and may either be used alone, or
better still, in a compost formed of weeds,
grass, dead animals, fisli and birds, and the
other refuse that ever collects where a fam
ily dwells—the whole pile being kept well
wetted by the slop-water and soap suds, un
til thoroughly rotten.
Crops of corn, English peas, bunch beans,
cucumbers, white potatoes, and other low-
growing plants can be raised among the
young trees to advantage until they nearly
approach the bearing age; cow peas form an
excellent mulch for their tender roots, and
when plowed in just as they are coming into
bloom, furnish a fine fertilizer also, as they
draw nearly all their nutriment from the
air, decay quickly, and are rich in potash.
A small cart load of manure should be fur
nished each bearing tree every spring, to
Jceep it in full vigor; Jt should be spread
early over the whole grove, turned over by
horse power in the clear spaces, but beneath
the branches of the trees, which serve as a
guide to the spread of the tender rootlets
they shade, the ground must be stirred with
a hoe only.
Deep plowing should never be allowed in
a grove at all; the roots of the orange tree
lie near the surface, and the plow, unless
handled with care, is sure to tear up and de
stroy many of these industrious little cater
ers, who are ever wandering forth seeking
what they may find wherewith to feed their
beautiful charges.
Many argue, and we think rightly, that no
plowing should be allowed after the trees
have passed their fifth year, as by that time
the ground is interlaced with a net-work of
fine rootlets lying near the surface; but the
fastgrowing weeds must be kept down, and a
monthly stirring of the ground is necessary;
this, however, can be done with a light cul
tivator or harrow, and thus the minimum of
injury be done to the rootlets.
As for pruning the trees, they do not need
it, nay, are better off without it, except it
may be, a very little in the early spring,
where branches threaten to interfere with
each other; dead limbs should, of course, be
cut out; instead of pruning after the tree
has arrived at maturity, It is far better to
secure the proper pyramidal shape, and sin
gle trunk, by the careful pinching off of
objectionable shoots when both they and
the tree are just setting out on “life’s ardu
ous journey;” by this method the desirable
"open center” for the proper admission of
sun and air to the interior fruit, is easily se
cured as a permanency.
Some of the earlier growers trimmed up
their trees so os to keep them bare of branch
es to a height of six or seven feet from the
ground, thus directly thwarting Nature’s
wise efforts to shield their trunks and root
lets from the heat of the summer sun, but
they are wiser now by sad experience, and
the trees are allowed to droop their lower
branches almost to the ground.
And now a few words about the “rusty"
orange -of Florida: every one is familiar
with its appearance—it is among oranges as
the russet apple among apples, only that the
latter has become a distinct variety of recog
nized and uniform quality. No one dreams
of rejecting the russet apple because of its
color, yet many are those who reject the
Florida "rusty” orange for this reason, be
lieving it to be of inferior quality; now this
is very far from the truth; the “rusty" or
ange is borne on the same tree, aye, on the
same branch and in the same cluster with
fruit of the brightest, clearest yellow, and
its quality is identical. Its rusty cost is
caused by a fungus growth, whose primary
cause has, until very recently, been an un
solved mystery, but as it has now been
demonstrated that the application of lime
around the "rusty” tree when the fruit is
forming, will surely prevent the appearance
of any rusty oranges, it is clear it was the
poverty of the soil in this necessary con
stituent to the health of the orange tree,
that causes the fungus deposit on a portion
of the fruit.
To sum up in brief: in locating a grove,
choose dry, not depressed land, and a spot
protected from the semi-occasional cold
winds of winter, by a large body of water, a
desideratum easily obtainable in Florida,
the land of placid watery mirrors; the
southern shore is the best always, a cold
blast from the north that will injure trees
without water protection, will leave un
touched those thus sheltered; allow no
weeds among the trees, rake them out and
put them in the compost heap, or else use
them in mulching the young trees in sum
mer; the moment a sign of the coccus (scale
insect) or any other insect appears on the
leaves or branches apply liberal drenching
of whale oil soap, one pound to six gallons
of water; this is easily and thoroughly done
by means of a hand-pump with a rose
sprinkler.
The money value of a bearing grove, is by
this time, so well known, as to need no ex
tended reference in this article; the business
of orange raisingis destined to be a fountain
of wealth to those who patiently and intel
ligently engage in it, and that people are
rapidly awakening to this truth, is abun
dantly attested by the thousands who are
now flocking to the “Land of Flowers” in
tent upon buying or “making" orange groves
and becoming owners of these famous trees,
which are "things of beauty” forever and at
all times, whether in fruit or flower, or only
clad in their dark green suits.- -
It is impossible that the business should
ever be over done, as some foolish individu
als may be beard to Insinuate; a glance at
the limited area of the orange belt of Flori
da, as compared with that of the great mar
ket of the whole United States, to say noth
ing of Europe, where even now, a few Flor
ida oranges have been sold by way of ex
periment, at far higher prices than those ob
tained for European oranges, is enough to
show the complete fallacy of the idea.
We will give in conclusion, a few instan
ces of what orange trees can and are doing
for their owners, with the sure promise of
still better things to come. Ten years ago a
clerk in a Palatka store, bought, for a trifle,
a few acres of land on the St. John’s river,
which included a wild grove. He could
not dwell on the spot, having his bus
iness to attend to, but he cut off and
budded the sour stumps and placed a negro
in a log hut to take charge of them; they
commenced to bear in two yean, and yielded
him a good and increasing income. In five
yean from the time of budding the sour
stumps, he sold the grove for $10,000, and
now it could not be bought from its present
owner for $50,0001 Its average yearly crop
of oranges sells on the trees for from four to
five thousand dollan, an income not to be
despised by any one.
On the Manatee river, from a group of fif
teen young trees, are shipped yearly, an av
erage of fifteen thousand oranges, which
will be doubled in two yean more; another
small grove of eighty trees, clean thirteen
hundred dollan per annum. Again, near
Leesburg, a growing town in the center of
the lake and orange region (the writer’s
home) may be seen a group of five or six
trees, among the oldest in the State; one of
them twenty-five yean of age, yields yearly
an income of from seventy-five to eighty dol
lan, and the othen do nearly as well.
Yet once again, a doctor from another
State, weary of toiling year after year to se
cure a mere maintenance for his family came
to this section a few yean ago, homesteaded
hummuck land containing a wild grove (at a
cost of fourteen dollan) budded the trees,
and now says, with a sigh of supreme con
tent : “At last I am a free man 1 I need
work no more! I can support my family
in luxury now on the income from my
grove, which will increase constantly, till it
amounts to from eight to ten thousand a
year."
Another case is that of a ruined planter,
who nine yean ago could not afford to buy
the commonest kind of furniture for his log
hut, but made it, like his home, with his
own hands; this past season pocketed five
thousand dollars, and the coming 'year will
bring him nearly double that sum.
Yet one more instance, out of hundreds we
could cite: two yean ago two young men
who had “made” a large “budded grove,”
but were tired and desired to leave it, tried
to sell itfor twelve thousand dollan; failing
in this they retained the grove; this last
winter the crop of oranges returned them a
clear profit of seven thousand, dollan, and
next winter it will bring at least twelve
thousand. That grove is not for sale now at
any price.
These are not exceptional cases, but the
rule, wherever patience, industry and intel
ligence go hand in band. All hail then to
the orange groves of Florida, those beautiful
ever-living mines of luscious fruit, the veri
table "golden apples” of the South.
A Bn.b.l, More or l>eaa—It» Immense
Influence on the Country.
There are now growing in this country,
about forty million acres of wheat. A bush
el, more or less, at harvest will make a differ-
nee of eighty million bushels in the ag
gregate crop. At $1.25 per bushel, the value
would be $100,000,000. That sum diffused
through the country, three-quarters to the
producing farmers, and one-quarter to the
railways, canals, lake and river shipping,
and dealers—and from all these classes, pass
ing from band to hand, to merchants for
goods, to manufacturers for their products—
from these to the workmen, and from these
again to dealers in provisions, goods, etc.,
would be a wonderful stimulant to the en
tire business of the whole country—an influ
ence sufficient to turn the scale from pros
perity to depression, or the reverse. But
the above is for a single product. There are
over eighty million of acres in corn and
oats. A difference of a bushel, more or
less per acre in the yield of these, at an av
erage of only forty cents per bushel, counts
up $04,000,000 more. .Then, of say sixteen
million acres in cotton, the difference of only
fifty pounds per acre, more oroless, at ten
cents per pound, counts up $80,000,000 more.
Passing over the dairy products, an immense
interoat, the potato, barley, rye and tobacco
products, we have in the previously named
crops, a difference of $264,000,000, from so
small a change in tbe-yield, as a single bush- .
el of grain per acre. And a single week of
favorable or unfavorable weather through
out the country, between this time and the
ingathering of the crops, will easily make
all the difference wo have noted, and thus
affect the interests of the whole nation.
In this connection we may add, that if the
Government Weather Bureau can in the
slightest degree help the farming interests by
early reports widely diffused, of the state of
the weather, and tho probabilities for a day
or two in advance, and thus aid the cultiva
tors of the soil in their plans and opera
tions, Congress should not haggle a day or
an hour over a few hundred thousand dol
lars appropriation to the Bureau to make It
more efficient, while they vote away, with
out hesitation, tens of millions to clearing
out diminutive mud creeks and the erection
of costly public structures wjiere their chief
use is to put money into thepocketsof “con
stituents.—Am. Agriculturist.
Tax novel, interesting process announced
sometime since in France, by which the
wool on sheepskins may be transformed in
to velvet, is likely to prove of industrial
importance. Up to the present time sheep-
skins, tanned with the wool on, have only
been used for mats, lining for coats, etc.,
and the wool, not having been subjected to
any preparation, is always matted or curled.
Observing that the innumerable fibres are
naturally disposed in the most perfect and
regular order, peculiarly fitted for velvet
ing, an ingenious chemist conceived the
idea of cleansing the skin and wool of ail
impurities, and of so preparing and dress
ing them that the hairs would be well pre
served and not entangled one with the other
-the occurrence of the latter contingency
beingof course, fatal to the success of the
operation. After long and continuous ex
periments success has been achieved, the
article produced being alike beautiful and
serviceable, and destined, it is thought, to
become a permanent and important article
of manufacture.—2«wu Farmer.
A pretty fancy is for young ladies with
floral names to wear their individual flower
as a corsage bouquet Thus, Miss Lily con
fines herself to lilies; Violet wears violets;
Daisy and Morguorlte, daisies; while Rose
has a wider choice among all the numerous
family of her name-flower.