The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-04-06

Astounding as 1t does IN our stale, ana unappre-
ciated except for its lumber and resin, may ulti-
mately be made available for other purposes and
become still more valuable JT.B
Notes on Oranges and Olives.
Tread before the State Horticultural Society," on January
80, 1880, by B. B. Redding, San Francisco
ORANGES
have twelve hundred orange trees planted in
orchard form, at Brighton, in Sacramento county.
l was induced to made the experiment of plant
ing an orchard of oranges at this place because a
record of the temperature had been kept for q
number of years l saw by the comparison that
willie the summers were equally warm, the win
tiers were not colder than in those parts of Italy
where oranges are successfully grown for market
AS for illustration, the mean temperature at
Brighton for the year is 60 degrees 4S seconds
The mean temperature for Naples is 60 degrees
O3 seconds, and of Lisbon, 81 degrees O4 seconds
The mean temperature for the coolest months at
Brighton is 46 degrees 81 seconds; for Naples
AZ degrees 04 seconds, and Lisbon 81 degrees O4
seconds. Oranges are also successfully grown at
Rome, where the temperature for the year is 60
degrees O5 seconds, and for the coolest month As
degrees
The beginning of my orchard, in 1873, was the
purchase for dollar OF about two bushels of par
TALLY decayed oranges. These 1 put in a large
wash tub with some water and the oranges were
thoroughly broken and stirred with stick until
the seeds were separated from the pulp, when the
pulp and water were poured off leaving the seeds
in the bottom of the tub. These seeds were
planted in May, in bed of sandy loan. In four
weeks the young plants made their appearance
l had lost year experimenting before learned
that even in an orange sufficiently ripe for eat
ing but few of the seeds will sprout while the
seeds from decaying orange will grow as readily
as peas. AS they are readily killed when they
first appear above ground by hot sun, made
a rough frame of sticks, over which was spread
branches of willow. This gave them enough
sun and some shade BY the time the leaves
dropped from the willow branches the plants
werc sufficiently strong TO stand the sun. The
second year they were transplanted into BEDS
The fourth year they were planted out in the
orchard. The land is partially the red clay land
of the plains and partially the sandy loan de-
posted by the extreme floods of the American
river 1t is found that the trees planted on the
red land grow more rapidly and appear more
healthy and vigorous than those on the rich sandy
loan of the river deposit. In 1878 the orchard
was irrigated from water pumped by hot-air
engine, each tree receiving water once each three
weeks. Irrigation ceased on the 18th of Septem-
ber The trees made rapid growthand continued
to make wood and leaves until the frosty weather
of winter.
On the I'd of January, 1877 at z o'clock A. NJ,
the thermometer stood at 26 degrees, or degrees
below freezing. 1t was probably two degrees
colder during the night. During the following
week there was no night it did not fall to 26 de-
grees. This killed all the young wood, burst the
sap-vessels in the leaves, and they subsequently
dropped of. The orchard looked as if it had
been planted with deciduous trees. Lines went
first and were killed to the ground. Lemons
were more hardy than lines, but all new wood
was killed Where oranges had been budded,
and these buds had sprouted, but the tree had
not been cut back the foliage of the tree afforded
protection, and many sprouts from the buds were
thus saved. l am convinced if / had gone in the
orchard with the pruning knife and cut away all
the wood killed by the frost, many trees would
have been saved. did not then know that the
sap or juices Of q frost bitten branch of orange
descend to parts below not frost-bitten and cor
rupt and cause them to decay. The total loss in
trees was ten per cent / had however, ascer-
tanned ftom the loss some facts, and these are
that young orange trees irrigated and kept grow
ing until winter will lose all their leaves when
the temperature falls to 30 degrees, and ten per
cent will be killed outright; that under the same
conditions this temperature will kill fifty per cent.
of lemon trees and all of the lines. The vacant
places were replanted with trees from Los An
geles and / determined thereafter TO allow all
new wood to harden before winter frOss should
strike them. In the spring of 1879 they put on
new foliage, and by mid summer 1t could not
have been told that they had been injured They
received their last supply of water on the LIST of
August 1879 They continued to make leaves
and wood until the middle of October BY the
Goth of November all the leaves were hard and
glossy green, and there were no shoots of sappy
wood l did not want frost, but was anxious
to I'M no off Of hp nj
at so early period, if one did come. | did not
have long to wait. On the night of December
oath the thermometer fell TO 90 degrees on the
25th to 26 degrees. and on the goth TO % degrees,
or 10 degrees below freezing.
! did not visit the orchard until the 18th OF
January. AS the thermometer had fallen four
degrees lower than during the previous winter,
/ expected TO find as much injury from the in
creased cold, Notwithstanding the earlier cessa-
ton of irrigation. found that none of the wood
of the oranges was frozen. Some of the outside
leaves had curled and were shrunken, and q few
had dropped off. but the general appearance was
good My opinion is that they are practically
uninjured The lemons have suffered more in
their leaves, but no wood has been frozen
Lines have been still more injured; their leaves
have turned yellow and are dropping off, and all
the late growth of wood is killed.
After the severe frost which did this injury
there were two weeks of cloudy and fOggy
weather, and occasional showers. From my OBJ
servations have arrived at the conclusion that
in those parts of the State where the thermome-
ter occasionally falls below 90 degrees, the irri
CATION of orange trees should cease by August
1st so as 10 give ample time for all new wood to
harden that it may fall 10 % degrees without
freezing ripe wood, provided the cold weather is
followed Immediately by cloudy and rainy days
that it is not safe to plant lemon trees where the
thermometer occasionally falls to 25 degrees
that lines lose their leaves at 30 degrees and
young wood is killed at % degrees and that trees
grown from the seed in the local climate where
the orchard is planted appear to sustain without
injury three or four more degrees Of cold than
trees brought from a warmer climate.