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CHAPTER XXIII.

REJUVENATING OLD TREES-BUDDING OLD TREES.

When old orange trees become sickly and practically useless by reason of exhausted vitality or insect pests they may be restored by adopting the following course; Denude the tree of leaves altogether, cutting away all of the top except the leading branches. Wash these branches and the trunk thoroughly with an insecticide and wrap the trunk in burlap to protect it from the sun. Manure the ground about the tree, and irrigate thoroughly. The tree will send out a multitude of new shoots, which should be thinned out judiciously. In one year the tree will have a fine top and in two years will begin again. In this way diseased trees may generally be entirely reclaimed. BUDDING OLD ORANGE ORCHARDS.The question of converting old seedling orange trees into budded trees is attracting attention on account of the high price of the Riverside Navel as compared with the seedling fruit. A letter was recently written to Mr. Alex. Craw, foreman of the Wolfskill orchards in Los Angeles, for information relative to the budding recently done on the large trees in that orchard, and the following reply was had, which was published in the Riverside PPESS AND HORTICULTURIST:

"TWOGOOD & EDWARDS-Gentlemen:Yours of the 20th inst. is received, and in reply to your question relative to budding large seedling orange trees I will give you the particulars of how the trees were treated that you refer to.

getting a bud to take in the old wood of large trees. Knowing this, and wishing to have the buds start nearer the center of the trees, I sawed off one or two of the leaders or center branches in the spring and left the side branches to fruit the next season. The branches so cut off should be painted with rubber paint. They will produce a number of young shoots. These should be thinned out to two or three, so as to shape the tree, and the remaining ones should be budded in the fall, and left as dormant buds; or they may be budded the next spring. After the fruit is all picked from the side branches, cut all upright branches back one-half, as otherwise the tendency would be to draw too much vigor from the buds. In this way you can have some fruit each year until the buds come in and commence bearing. Next season you will have a fine top and can cut away all lower branches of the seedling stock. Then wrap the trunk of the tree and the exposed limbs with cypress branches or bullrushes to prevent them from from becoming sunburnt.

"In this way Mr. Wolfskill has had ripe fruit on trees twenty months from the bud, and has made large healthy trees besides."

Mr. Craw is one of the most experienced orchardists in Southern California, especially in the management of the orange and lemon. He has recently converted a large orchard of seedling orange trees to budded fruit in a most skillful manner, and the

"Orange budders know the difficulty of modus operandi is given above very briefly.

CHAPTER XXIV.

ANALYSES OF RIVERSIDE ORANGES AND LEMONS.

The following is the University Experiment Station Bulletin No. 39, on analyses of the orange:

The samples of Riverside citrus fruits shown at the Citrus Fair March, 1885, with the exception of those marked a and b were received through the hands of Mr. Chas. H. Dwinelle, on his return from the

fair. All were in excellent condition and were worked during the days following April 3d, the day of receipt.

The samples marked a and b formed part of a collection received some time afterwards, through the courtesy of Mr. J. E. Cutter, W. H. Backus, J. H. North and other exhibtors, of Riverside. They were

kept on shelves in a room until May 15th, when the Navel had lost some of its original firmness and the Malta Blood was begining to show shrinkage from drying.

These samples had therefore been keep six weeks longer than the others, but were in good condition. Four of the Navels still on hand at this date-May 22d-though soft to the touch are perfectly sound.

found seedless, the largest proportion of seeds being found in the St. Michaels' orange. Column 5 gives the per cent of juice in cubic centimeters, referred to the weight of the fruit in grams; and since the density of the juice is somewhat above that of water, this percentage, if taken by weight, would be a little higher than here given; but for the practical comparison the figures hold good. Column 6 gives the actual amount of juice obtained per single fruit, again in cubic centimeters, which, by division by the number 30 may be reduced to fluid ounces. Column 7 and 8 give the percentage in the juice of cane sugar (sucrose) and fruit sugar (levulose), the sum of sugars being shown in column 9. Column 10, finally, gives the percentage of acid calculated as citric acid. ANALYSES OF CITRUS FRUITS.

The data given in the table below explains themselves. Column No. 1 gives the average weight, in drams, of the fruit examined, usualy two in number; a division by 30 gives this weight in ounces avoirdupois. Column 2, 3 and 4 give the percentage of rind, pulp and seed respectively.

It will be noted that the Navel and Malta Blood oranges and Eureka lemon were

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ally eaten instead of "sucked" as one is tempted to do with the other softer oranges.

The Mediterranean Sweet and the St. Michael dispute precedence, according as indivdual tastes differ in respect to size and flavor; but the St. Michael seems to have a greater firmness of flesh in its favor. The refreshing acidity and peculiar flavor of the Blood orange place it in a different category from the other three.

The first six columns, however, furnish food for additional consideration, especially when oranges are sold by the piece or thousand and not by weight. The Mediterranean Sweet shows a slightly heavier weight then the Navel, but the larger proportion of pulp in the latter more then makes up for the difference. Owing to an accident, the proportion of juice to pulp was not determined in the case of the Mediterranean Sweet; in the Navel the figures show it to have been about 59 per cent, whereas in the St. Micheals it goes as high as 65.6, in the Malta to 66.3 per cent. The latter two are, therefore, quite materially more juicy than the Navel, hence more delicate in transportation.

The St. Michaels show the highest percentage of pulp of all, notwithstanding the relative abundance of seed; and hence a given weight of this variety would furnish the largest amount of eatable pulp,while if bought per thousand, the light weight of the fruit would leave the consumer materially "short" as compared with the Navel or Mediterranean Sweet. Comparing the earlier fruit with that analysed six weeks later, there is in the case of both the Navel and St. Micheal a decided decrease of both sugar and acid; exactly the reverse of what would have been looked for, as these ingredients might have been supposed to be concentrated by evaporation. There is therefore a true deterioration in oranges kept beyond the point of proper ripeness,that amply justifies the preference of consumers for the freshest fruit.

As regards the lemons, the comparison between the Lisbon and Eureka tells strongly in favor of the latter. It is larger and has a higher percentage of pulp as well as juice, while at the same time the latter is considerably richer in citric

acid. Assuming 7 per cent as the usual average, it will be noted that the Eureka is nearly as much aboye it as the Lisbon is below. The limes stand nearly at the same point as the Lisbon, but show a considerable higher proportion of pulp as well as of juice then either of the two lemons, being fully 13 per cent above the Lisbon in the latter respect.

While these comparisons will probably hold good in general as between these varieties, the absolute figures (percentages) must be taken with allowance for the peculiarity of the season of 1884, with its unusual rains and low temperature. A reference to the analysis made in 1879 (see the report of the College of Agriculture for that year, pp. 59 and 60) shows a much higher average of both sugar and acid for the oranges and of acid for the lemons; the proportion of pulp also seems to haye been higher throughout.

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