The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-06-05

! mer| comes. on. In case the trees are
planted during the early months of
the season, they should be banked with
clean soil, covering about two-thirds
/ of the body of the tree, above the I'M
/ ion, which should be about two inches
above the level surface if the budding
or grating has been properly done
( These banks should be removed, Of
course. and the ground should be
leyeled off as soon as all danger of
/ freeze is past.
Selection of Varieties.
1t may be said first, that there is
decided advantage in planting early
varieties, so that the fruit may be
gathered before frost. 1t is desirable
also to plant the variety that viii
produce fruit at an early age.
A selection of thirty varieties Of
oranges was planted at this itation
in March 1907. The trees were
small, and one year old when set; the
past year (1908), one year from set
ting the following varieties are bear
ing fruit: Satsuma, Dugat, Washing
ton Navel, Mandarin, Mediterranean
Sweet and Parson Brown. Other va
rieties are expected to commence this
year. The following is partial list
of early varieties, which mature their
! fruit about as follows: Satsuma,
Dugat, Boone's Early, Enterprise
SeedIess, Parson Brown and Oblong,
September to October; Centennial
China, and Surprise Navel, November
to December; Fancy Washington Ma
ii oud NOnDoroiT naoopobar RI lon
uary
The Satsuma is the hardest and
will resist more cold than any other
orange. So far as our experience
goes, the Dugat is the next hardest.
We have had more experience with
these two than with any other varie-
| ty. They are young and heavy bear
ers, and the fruit of both is excellent
| for market The Dugat has produced
| 200 nice, marketable oranges when
the tree was three years old. The Sat
suma will do about the same thing,
if properly cared for.
Stock for Citrus Trees.
! The sour orange, rough lemon
sweet orange and pomelo, are COM
monty used in propagating citrus
trees, but the Citrus trifoliata" stock
! is preferable, because it is hardest,
/ being deciduous. To some extent it
seems to impart some of its hardness
/ to the scions worked upon it. The
trees budded on this stock come into
/ bearing at an early age as rule, and
produce their fruit early in the season.
This applies to lemons and pomelos
as well as to oranges. 1t has been
claimed that the trifoliata stock
dwarfs the tree, but this seems to be
an error.
The POmeIO or Grapefruit.
is not properly appreciated. and the
tree is not. therefore, being extensive
ly planted in this rate. This is mainly
because the fruit is not so well known
as the orange. The planting and cul-
ture of the pomelo is the same as that
of the orange. All the varieties that
have so far been tried at this station
are heavy bearers the third year after
planting. Some of the individual APP
pies of the Tresca variety measure
five and a half inches in diameter
while the other varieties average four
and a half inches in diameter Our
experience is that the pomelo is as
easily grown as the orange, and nearly
as hardy The demand for the fruit
is steadily increasing, and the market
can not be supplied at reasonable
prices. The following table indicates
the varieties tested at this station
and the number of well-matured
fruits, at three and four years after
setting:
Name of No Fruits Produced at
Variety 3 yrs yrs size Box
Triumph = 10 1877 l41hin. SO
Duncan 8 176 din. SO
PernambucoI 65 276 41Ain. 81
Royal 49,. 80 GAS * in. SO
In the third column in above
table viii be found the diameter av-
erage size of fruit, fourth column,
number of fruits required to fill box)
The fruit intended for market
should be well graded and each grade
wrapped separately with tissue paper
and packed separately.
Lemons.
The commercial lemon has proven
to be a young, prolific bearer; fruit
is excellent in size and quality, and
will doubtless secure a permanent
place in the markets But it must be
remembered that the lemon is not so
hardy and resistant to cold as the
orange and pomelo. The only variety
that has been tried at this station is
the Villa Franco. The trees were
small, one-year size, planted in Feb
ruary, 1904 In 1907 they bore
six to twelve lemons to the tree. In
1908 some of the trees had as much