The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-01

Contrary to the supposition of many
people who find the orange growing
wild in Florida and other portions OF
America, this fruit is not indigenous to
the Western Hemisphere, says Prof.
Stockbridge in Florida Agriculturalist.
Seedlings of two distinct types are
found in a wild state, the citrus aur-
antium and the citrus vulgaris, re-
spectively swept and the sour orange,
have grown wild in Florida ever since
the first English speaking settler be-
came familiar with the country. They
We're, however, both introduced by the
early Spanish explorers Finding all
the requirements for development sup
piled by nature, they have thriVen so
long i'm a state of wildness as to often
pass for original occupants of the
land
The sweet Seeding constituted most
of the early groves of both Florida and
California. Most of the groves of to-
day. however, are the result of per-
petuating some distinct type of seed
ling, by budding. The Seeding orange,
like the peach and most other seed
fruits, does not perpetuate its own
qualities in the next generation. The
fruit of a tree need not resemble the
fruit of the tree producing the seed
from which it came. The planting of
seed, therefore, merely assures a tree,
but offers no indication of the charac-
ter of the fruit that tree may produce.
A few seeding trees produce fruit of
exceptional excellence. Desirable fruits
originating in this way are perpetual
ed by budding. that is. by transferring
buds of the tree desired to the growing
wood of the tree whose product it is
intended to thus improve.
Stocks-Those are the trees, usually
the entire roots of young trees, to
which the growing buds of the kind de-
sired are transferred. The result is a
tree producing fruit with the proper
ties of the tree from which the bud is
! taken. Although the fruit follows the
character of the bud. the tree itself Is
very materially influenced by the ma
ture of the stock on which it grows.
! This influence is particularly noticed
in the matter of hardness. and resist
ance to cold. The citrus trifoliata
stock greatly increases the cold-resist-
ing power of the tree budded on it. The
citrus vulgaris, when used as stock for
| budded trees, renders them cOmpara-
| lively immune to the NAL de gonna or
gum disease, so serious in some orange
growing sections.
1t is a fact particularly important
that the budded tree retains the root
~ GANlli VI TIE SUM uStus 40 SUI Ms
or different species of orange trees diff
fer very greatly in the character of
their root systems, this fact gives the
grower control over the nature of the
roots he will develop.
The sour orange is particularly deep
rooted, its feeding roots seeming to de-
| velop at the expense of the tap root.
1 The natural inference is that for dry
! localities or where the natural water
supply is deep, the sour stock is pref
cradle The rough lemon is particu-
! larry rank in growth and early to ma
| ture, this tree, therefore, is particular
| ~ adapted as a stock for fOrestless To-
! calities.
Budding-This is the form of graft
/ ing in which a single bud is inserted in
the cleft bark of the tree used as a
/ stock. The character of orange wood
makes budding the nearly universal
method of propa cation. The fruit OF
the tree thus produced is true to the
/ type from which the bud was taken
while the other characteristics follow
the nature of the stock used. The
buds used must he entirely dormant
and the tree budded should be in full
flow of sap.
Hybridizng-Se Several of the standard
varieties or oranges doubtless Originate
/ ed from the natural cross ilizatior
of quite distinct types, preserved foI
| commercial purposes by budding. The
| importance and possibilities of produc-
ing new types by the artificial fertiliz-
ing of the flowers or different species
resulting in true artificial hybrid trees
possessing some of the desirable traits
of both parents has just begun to re.
ceive the attention its possibilities JUS
tify.
Profs, Weber and Swingle of The
United States Department Of Agricul.
ture, have succeeded I'm crossing The
sweet orange with the citrus trifolia Ia
the deciduous inedihle orange Of ia,
pan, which is hardy as far north q.
Pennsylvania. The result has alread,