The state herald., 1909-02-05
OFFICIAL PAPER OF PHILLIPS COUNTY
4 Orange Culture.

Lindsay, the Land of Orange Bios
SONS.
OranS es; how my mouth did water
for 'em when l was boy. One orange
then in my boy eyes was as large as a
mountain and was gifts enough for an
entire christmas. Beautiful are the
orange trees. green the year around, "A
symbol If Gods constant mercy. To
look at them is to admire them. They
are abort six feet high branching from
the grolnd up, dark evergreen color Ell
ther dot ed over with clusters of golden
fruit, some in the shadows, some in the
sunshine, resembling Xmas tree high
ly deco tied or lighted up in the spring
time with bridal robe of blossoms
scenting the air with perfume, it is a
thing Of beauty and joy forever. No
more b. ,utiful sight meets the eye of
man tn n grove of orange trees stall
wart, erect, like Gods sentinels, or
LAUGHING with the birds in the April
sunshin,,
You viii be Interested, am sure, in
learning how the orange tree is pro-
duced. In the first place they plant
the orrrge seed in beds and after
they hive grown to be few inches
high, Il ey are transplanted in rows,
after they have grown in this way for
two yes is they are cut down and bud
ded. Lntil they are budded they are
called ceilings, that is, if they were
let grnx to maturity and bear oranges,
the fnsi. would have seed in them that
wout. 4 ,yer DO. for California boasts
or ,t : , irvitss All fruit in California
is either grated or budded. When these
seedlings are budded they are budded
into the kind of fruit desired and have
no seed in them. Two years after they
have been budded they are carefully
dug up with about 80 pounds of dirt n
round the roots and planted in the or
chard. They are planted in rows from
20 to "a feet apart. The setting in the
orchard is done very carefully and ac-
curately. In looking over young or
chard you will not see single tree two
inches out Of line. After they are
planted they must be supplied with wa
ter immediately for an orange tree
roots cannot endure the air about them
and this water drives out the air from
about the roots as well as giving moist
ure. The watering is done by
renning furrow on either side Of the
tree letting the water stand from IL tc
"a hours. This must be done once
month during the summer months. One
will readily see that in order to rails,
orange groves there must be plenty OF
water. This is what we have arounC
Lindsay. The water is not in veins al
in the east but in htrattas from 30 to II
and 100 to 200 feet deep in the ground
This water is lifted by pumps to tn,
surface Of the ground. have littlc
pump on my place rum by electricity
that throws li0 gallons minute. be
gin the first Of April and run 1t day anc
night constantly for four months. by
this you can get some idea of how much
water is required for an orange grove
Of 20 acres. During the first year OF
two they raise Egyptian corn between
the trees to feed the horses. In the
fall these young trees must be covered
to protect them from the frost. They
take the stalks Of the Egyptian corn
that they have grown during the sum
mor between the trees and cover the
trees with them. They put the stalks
around them just us the people in the
east make corn shocks. So after the
trees are all covered the orange grove
looks just like u corn field In the east
and the corn In shock. These stalks
are left on usually until the middle or
last Of February when they are taken
OF and burned. The trees then look Ms
fresh and green as they did In the fall
ready for the next summers growth.
This covering is necessary for the
first winter only MS after the first sea-
sons growth tho trees are maturcd e.
nough 10 endure the cold.
! nearly forgot to tell you that m
orange tree grows by periods from -four
to six weeks only and they cannot be
forced TO grow between these periods,
They grow very rapidly during Tho
growing period something like corn h
July and August when Il has plenty Of
rain. They have several periods 1l
rr,sth during the summer, beginning