The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1912-06-21
BULLETIN ON HOW
TO WORK GROVES
rIohiDA AGRICULTURAL DE.
FARTMENT ISSUES STRONG
STATEMENT TO GROWERS.
The DEPTH TO CULTIVATE
valuable Information Given to the
Man Who Expects to Plant a
Grove.

n 1"lldldssee.-ln his quarterly hill
TN The commissioner of agricultu
+" gave SOME valuable pointers to til
c man who is expecting to plant
grove This information is based O
fl actual experiments covering a perio
II VI years, and is not only valuable
out IS as authentic as any documer
n could be made. The commissions
o said
lhere is probably no other subiec
vi Gurus growing that formerly eIit
!'eu SO much heated discussion as di
, the question of the time and kind n
cultivation Usually the debaters lie
hored entirely the kind of SOIL th,
| character of their land and the length
Vi tlme during which they had prac
tlced their particular hobbies. We
therefore, find that the sects were oil
Vlded INTO practically three schools
me perfectly clean culture man. who
considered it a disgrace to have q
sprlg of grass visible in their groves
the school who argued that since our
Wild trees never were cultivated in
the native state, therefore the grove
trees should not be cultivated: later,
a third school sprang up that consid-
cred 1t entirely proper to cultivate
during the drier part of the year, but
ceased cultivation altogether during
the rainy part of the year. 1t speaks
well for the hardihood of the orange
tree to be able to endure and produce
paying crop under all of these con-
dltions of cultivation Some of the
school Of clean cultivation conserved
the moisture of the soil by using a
liberal organic mulch. Some in fact,
went so far as to spend much time
and money in cutting shrubbery from
the hammock or piney woods and ap-
plying this under the trees as a
mulching, to add humus to the soil
and to conserve the moisture.
Later, and from necessity, num-
Der of orange growers have had to
take care of orange groves that be
came completely sodded with Bermu.
da grass. We might call these the
Bermuda sod groves.
"Ordinarily it is safe to discontinue
cultivation as soon as abundant rains |
occur, and to allow grass and weeds |
to grow at their will. If the grass and |
weeds become too tall and appear to |
be detriment to the grove, a mower |
In nttr |
ing the summer season these will rot |
and return to the soil as humus. If |
the grove does not need moking, the
grass and weeds may be allowed to
grow, and at the close of the rainy
season the grass may be made into
hay and removed.
The depth to which a grove may be
cultivated safely depends more on the
character of the soil than on any 9TH
er condition In sections where there
IS a deep clay coil, the roots of the
rees penetrated well into the ground.
n thin, sandy soil, the roots are apt
o keep close to the surface. This is
llsO the case in our low palmetto
. The depth to which we should cult
ate, then, will depend largely on the
haracter of the soil ON which the
rove has been planted. In general
We should never pillow or cultivate SO
eeply as to disturb any considerable
lumber of the fibrohs roots, and Ger
ainly not to the extent of breaking
lrge roots.
by observing the depth of the
cots in the soil, we will be able to
auge, in a measure, the depth to IL
hitch we can cultivate. This, we will
nd, varies, however, in the same
rove in different years. Consequent
T, very much depends on the judg- II
tent of the man who is doing the cul =
walton or having it done. !,
Under ordinary circumstances, the !
eavy two-horse pillow has no place in n
grove of good health. A light one u u
lrse pillow may be used to some eX- -
mt. This tool, however, is poor ..
lplement, since it wastes so mucn -
me to the grove owner. One of the IL
,st implements for deep cultivating -
the cutaway harrow or disc har- =
W. For small grove the one horse .,
Lrrow will be found preferable. For -
extensive grove this is too slow, O'
id we need a two or three-horse -
taway or disc harrow, The spading :"
rrow will also be found useful I'M
r. certain circumstances. The Acme
rrow is also an excellent imple-
ent to use when the vegetable mat W
r has been worked into the soil. 1t XII
es poor work, however, when con- sy
lerable amount of vegetable mat es
is present on the surface. The to
anet, Jr. ,cultivator or Sweep cult ia
tor is also excellent for shallow W
tivation. When the orchard has hi
IN put into good state of filth, W
4 our only object is to conserve
, moisture, the weeder is one of sp
best and most serviceable nipple IN
nts. The ordinary spring -toother Isl
tivators are not good implements,
ce they pull up too many of the nc
It's they happen to come in con- WI
t with" M
n January plant Irish potatoes, III
is, beets, turnips, cabbage and all
dy or semi-hardy vegetables;
Ike hot-beds for pushing the more GA
der plants, such as melons, toma- II.
S, okra, elephants, ETC.; set out
it and other trees and shrubbery.
v tobacco.
ebruary-Keep planting for sue
sion, same as in January; in ad- ine
on, plant vines of all kinds, shrub ~.
y and fruit trees of all kinds, es- .tn
tally the citrus family; snap beans me