The Florida agriculturist., 1884-09-17

If one wishes to SOW it's seed it SHOULD
be done in this way: Spade the earth to
the depth of two feet, mixing in ashes,
then form small squares so the water
may run upon the sides in furrows; in
these squares open with the hands a
hole of four inches, and place three
seeds with their points touching below.
After covering, water them every day
they will come up sooner if moistened
with tepid water. AS soon as the sprouts
appear it is necessary to carefully re-
move the neighboring weeds. Finally,
at the third year, the young tree should
be transplanted to its place. Ii one de-
sires to put in a dragon, it must not be
buried deeper than one and a half foot,
so that it will not decay. 1t is more easy
to plant a bOuture, which should be of
| the size of the knife-handle, a foot and
half long, and smooth on all sides, with
knots and thorns cut off, but without
making the slightest cut upon the point
of the bud, which forms the hope OF the
| future sprout. The more industrious
people daub the extremities of the cut
ting to be planted, with compost, or COW
er it with sea-weed. Sometimes they
wrap it in soft clay, and prepared in this
way they put the cutting into well-tilled
ground.
''The mjetoe Ia sucker) may be more
slender and not so long. 1t is to be bu-
ried in a similar manner as the b0utore,
except the rejet0n must stand out of the
ground eight inches in place of being
covered entirely, as the b0uture As to
space there is not much required. The
citron tree ought not to touch any other
plant; it likes particularly warm and
moist places, and near the sea, where it
has an abundance OF water.
''But If one would force it to grow in
a cold climate it is necessary to carefully
put it in a spot we'll sheltered by mud
walls, or in southern exposure, and in
winter it must be covered with roof of
straw; when summer returns it could
safely be put in the air.
stThe reieton as we'll as the bouture
should be planted in autumn in warm
countries; in cold sections, on the con-
trary, they plant in July and August,
| and water it daily.
81 have myself, succeeded in thus ma
king them prosper, to the point of giving
fruit of extraordinary size. Some think
it is advantageous to SOW gourds around
citrons, and that their vines when burned
form an ashes useful to this tree.
1hC ClbiOAl llhCS lTcQucHb IL
is the means of getting the largest fruit;
they should be but rarely trimmed, un-
less it be to remove dead boughs.
'fThey graft the citron in April in
warm districts, and in May in colder lat
itudes, placing the graft, not upon the
bark, but opening the stem or trunk near
ground.
"Some say the citron may be grated
upon the pear and mulberry trees, but
one should carefully cover these grated
plants with little basket or flower
pot.
Martial assures us that in Assyria
this tree is always covered with fruit.
have observed the same in my posses
sions of Sardinia and Naples, as in those
provinces the climate is very soft, and
soil moist. The citrons there produce
perpetually.
''To the ripe fruit succeeds the green,
and to these the flowers. Indeed, Ma
ture seems to have endowed these trees
with a continual revolution of fruitful
ness.
cone can, they say, make the fruit
sweet, sour as they are, by macerating
for three days their seed in honey-water,
or in the milk OF eve, which is thought
to be better
Some cultlVatOrS, i'll February, make
at the foot of the trunk of the tree an
oblique hole, open at the lower end,
from which the sap is allowed to run
until the fruit is formed; it is then
closed with earth. They pretend that
by this process the fruit becomes sweet.
"Citrons may be kept all the year on
the tree, and still better in closed vases.
When they are to be plucked for preserv-
ing they should be taken from the tree,
with bough and leaf, in night when
there is no moon, and placed separately,
the one from the other, so they do not
touch. Some persons put each one into
a vase by itself, seal the vases with plas-
ter, and leave them in dark place
others save them in saw-dust from cedar
wood, or in such straw as is used to
thatch the trees in winter"
Progress thus marked could not but
be the result of a long course of wears
therefore we must date the introduction
of the citron tree into Italy from a peri
cd more than a century before Palladius.
Historians are not agreed upon the
time when Palladius tlourished.
The monks of st. Maur, in the history
Of French literature, insist that the wri-
ter of the book bearing the name Palla-
dius was son of Esuperantius, project
of the Gauls, a native of Poictiers, of
whom Rutilius speaks in his itinerary,
and who lived in the fifth century. 9th
ers have attributed the book to Palla-
dius who wrote in the reign OF Tiberius.