Los Angeles daily herald. [volume] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1873-1876, 1874-03-03

ways well drained, and must have
also an abundance of surface moisture.
Originally a tropical fruit, it gets ac-
climatiZed in more temperate zone,
and with some shelter and in favor
able location will sustain without in
jury temperature of few degrees
below the freezing point. 1t is great
feeder, the roots spreading over the
surface of the ground absorb fertilizers
readily, and require all the solar heat
available; SO the trees should have
plenty of space, not less than fifteen
feet apart i'll the rows. They require
careful pruning and shortening in,
even of the sharp, spinny thorns. When
this is done, innumerabe bearing
shoots take their place; thus not only
is fruitfulness promoted but much in
jury to the fruit during wind-storms is
avoided. The story of the early his
tory of California fruit-culture is re-
peating itself. Then the product of a
peach tree was set at hundreds of dol
lars, and fortunes made by the single
rule of arithmetic; the consequences
of this initiation are, fewer trees now,
and decidedly inferior fruit. Some
count on 1000 oranges to tree; this,
multiplied by the ruling price for the
best fruit, looks very handsome, 50 we
see the market crowded with sour,
half-ripened, perfectly worthless fruit,
to the injury of the careful grower.
Now, in our latitude, anything like
two or three hundred large, rich, per-
feet oranges on tree in it's teens
should satisfy the cupidity even of a
diamond salter. Orange trees can be
bought now by the thousand, and at
a very low price, thus parties wishing
to plant extensively can be easily sup
piled and without loss of time. But
my object in writing this sketch is to
encourage the new conner, the man of
little means, but sturdy of arm and
will; and more so our girls, painting
for extended sphere of labor. TO these
l would say. obtain o few of the best
favored and largest ripe oranges, Sc
lect the plumpest seed, and plant it
fresh, in boxes with perforated bot
toms, and sides about eight inches
high, filled up with rich, mellow soil
that will not bake, dropping the seeds
five inches apart, and covering one
inch-keep the box in warm room
and the soil damp. When the young
plants appear, give plenty of air and
sunshine, and sprinkle them every
evening with slightly tepid water-if
there is no frost apprehended, and the
nights are warm, keep your boxes out
of doors, sheltered from wind and
burning sun; screen made of UNI
bleached muslin will answer for both.
Fork over the surface between the
plants occasionally, and mulch it tow
ards midsummer with well decompOs-
ed manure. The seedlings should at
tain the hight of l2--1S inches during
the seasOn-but be not too ambitious
to stimulate an eXuberant growth;
rather shorten in the rampant shoots
and secure stOcky symmetrical
growth. During the Winter keep
them in a dry, airy place, with tenn
perature never under 80 degrees and
not over 60 degrees, and in the Spring
transplant them to larger and deeper
boxes. This is the time to graft them
over-if you know of tree bearing
superior fruit, or a particular foreign
variety from which you could obtain
sciOns-Otherwise let them be, as the
fruit is reproduced true from seed.
Seedlings are the thriftiest and har-
diest, make larger and finer trees, and
if carefully shortened in and the form
ing of fruit buds promoted by nipping
the ends of shoots, will bear early
enough. All the grated foreign va
sieties are more tender, of slender
stunted growth, and the few oranges
they bear year or two earlier do not
amount to much, generally. Except in
very favorable localities the seedlings
should remain in boxes the second
year, afiording greater facility for
sheltering them during the Winter
and be transplanted out in the open
ground the third year. The time OF
the year for transplanting small trees
is immaterial, providing it is not done
during scorching midsummer days,
but, like other evergreens they should
always be lifted with the earth adher-
ing to and covering the roots in u
lump. r After transplanting they
should be copiOusly watered to settle
the ground, and the trees shaded from
the sun for week and more. In
choosing site for an orange grove
former observation is necessary to in
dictate the spot exempt from hard
freezing. A few feet of elevation
above the surrounding surface, q few
feet to the right or left of the prevail
ing currents, make vast difference
in the climatic peculiarities of a given
location. This was we'll understood
by the Digger Indians: their ancient
camps along the banks of creeks, in
the innumerable little valleys among
the hills, are just the places; they in
yariably combine mellow soil, en-
riched by the Offal of the camp, with
nearness to water, and are always the
most cosy and sheltered hooks in all
the country. In these hooks, vines,
tomatoes, and melons will remain
green nearly all winter, and young
plants are not injured by Spring frosts.
Next, free supply of water is essen
tial. The holes for the reception Of
orange trees should be four feet in
depth and the same In diameter, with
layer of old bones at the bottom, six
or eight inches deep, filled up half
way with the richest top soil, well
pulverized, and all drenched with
water till thoroughly settled. The
tree with the adherent ball of earth is
placed in the center a couple of inches
higher than it stood before, and the
hole filled in. The general rules as to
further treatment ami pruning must
be adhered to. Ul
In most parts of our State the trees
when young will require more or less
shelter during cold spells; anything
4 that will prevent a current of air
around a plant, after sunset, and con-
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