CULTIVATION OF THE CITRUS TREE (LEMON).

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9012, 18 October 1892, Page 3

CULTIVATION OF THE CITRUS TREE (LEMON).

The monthly meeting of the Northcote and Birkenhead Fruit-growers' Association was held in the Zion Hill Schoolroom on Monday evening, the 10th October. There was a good attendance of members. Mr. J. G. Kay, the president, occupied the chair. A lengthy and interesting paper on the above subject was read by Mr. W. J, Palmer, nurseryman, Carlton Gore Road. , He said the climate of the Auckland district: was unsurpassed for the cultivation of the lemon. Here the fruit had its full amount of acidity, which was not the case in parts of Australia, America, and elsewhere, where the juices of the fruit were largely turned into saccharine. At present there was a fair local demand for all the lemons we could produce, and when properly cured there was no fruit that would stand exporting as well as the lemon. He believed it would be found that the export market was practically inexhaustible. He advocated the cultivation of the lemon instead of the grape, for which he thought our climate was unsuitable. In selecting the site for a lemon grove the soil and situation was of the utmost importance. The soil must be free and open, and clear of standing water to a depth of at least eight or ten feet. A rich warm sandy loam was perhaps the best. The tap-root must be enabled to go down, for if it met with any check the tree would become unhealthy at once, and soon die out. A large quantity of the old lemon trees round Auckland were dead or dying. This was caused by the plants being planted on unsuitable soil, and being on their own roots. Trees worked on the lemon were certain to take the foot-rot sooner or later. This disease was usually caused by a damp surface soil, and the sun scalding the collar of the plant. The bark of the lemon was softer than that of the orange, hence it was more susceptible to the disease, and for that reason all lemon trees should be grafted well above, the soil on seedling orange stocks. He preferred budding to grafting, for the reason that while any sort of wood, old or young, could be used for scions, only well ripened wood could be used to take buds from. Any situation for the lemon, to succeed, must be well above the heavy frost line. Warm valleys and slopes were generally suitable places, but low cold lying valleys should be avoided. He advocated pruning to a clean stem for ab least two feet above the ground. When pruning it was important that a clean cut be made, which, to prevent the entrance of the borer, should be covered with rubber paint, or a varnish made of shelac and wood naphtha. Just sufficient pruning should be resorted to to keep the head of the trees open for the free admission of air and light, but no more. In planting the grower should be careful not to injure the tap-root, for on this in a great measure depended the success of the tree. If the planter could not make a hole deep enough with the spade to admit the long tap-root, a hole should be made with the handle of an old spade, or a stake. ! The surface roots should be carefully spread out round the tree, and covered with firm soil. In planting great care was necessary to see that they were not planted too deeply ; in fact, it was well to make a mound of earth and place the tree upon that. In the matter of manure, all the citrus family were gross feeders, nevertheless the trees should not be stimulated too much while young, and at all times chemicals should only be used sparingly and with great care. Potash and nitrates used sparingly were good. Many authorities considered that sheep manure was the best of all. Cow manure was also good, but whichever was used, let it be well rotted and not put close up to the stem of the tree. In hot weather an application of liquid manure was good, but it must be used with care, and in no case must it be allowed near the stems of the trees. He believed that in the matter of manure, planting, and pruning, nature was the best teacher. This was true with all forms of both plant and animal life. They should follow out nature's laws, if they were to get the best results. As to diseases, perhaps the various scales were the worst they had to fight. For their destruction, he advocated spraying each fall and spring at a time when the trees were nob growing. For this purpose, he recommended a wash made by boiling together in water 41b of caustic soda, 251b rosin, 31b salt, and spraying on with an ordinary syringe. This solution was also good for the peach fungus. For the borer, he would recommend stopping the holes up with grafting wax, and if only small branches were affected, to cut them off altogether, and cover the wound as directed when pruning. For foot-rob no better plan could be gob than to clear away all the damp soil well below the affected parts, and then apply to the diseased bark a mixture of lime, sulphur, and cow dung, then tying a piece of old sack round it. In gathering the crop the lemon should be cut (nob pulled) just as they commence to turn yellow, and laid in the shade under the trees, where they should be left for a week or two, for the skin to toughen. They should then be taken up and placed in a close room, and covered with sacks, and left a short time to sweat, after which they should be wiped dry, graded, wrapped in tissue paper, and packed for market. There was one point, he said, he wished to refer to again, and that was the subject of stocks. There was always some objections to everything, and this was the case with the orange stock. Though only an amateur himself, he had always been fond of horticultural pursuits, and had visited many lemon-growers in South Africa and Australia. In both countries, as well as in America, the lemon stock was giving place to the orange. Various sorts of orange stocks had been tried, but none had been found to equal seedlings raised from the Island orange pips. He had been told that there was no tree so hard to kill in the Islands as the orange, as the roots wont down a great distance. They could cub a tree down, light a fire on the stump, and burn it into the ground, yet each little bit of root that was left unburned would spring up and grow. It had been stated that the orange was a good nurseryman's stock. Such was nob the case, as the young seedlings required to be at least two years old before they were fib to bud, and then they had to stand in the nursery twelve months at least before they were fii; to send out. Mr. Fuller asked if it was true thab the foot-rot was bad in New South Wales. Mr. Palmer replied that Mr. Shepherd had losb 20,000 trees last year that was mainly due to the floods. Replying to a question as to the tap-root theory,' Mr. Palmer said thab rocky soil suited the lemon well, provided ib was porous. He instanced some of the oldest trees round Auckland which were growing on the scoria land. Mr. Fuller said he had an old lemon tree which grew on a cliff 40 feet high. The soil under it was a porous sandstone, yet it had the foot-rob badly. He could not tell whether ib was on an orange or lemon stock. Replying to Mr. A. Wilson,- Mr. Palmer said he had found by experience thab October and November were the best months for budding the lemon. They made better trees if budded at thab time. Ho advocated (though he knew ib was against the general practice) to take the bud off by commencing at the top above the eye, and bringing the knife out under the bud. In preparing the stock he said he did nob believe in making the usual T cub in the bark. A diagonal cut was better every way. Ib was stronger, and less likely to break off ab the end with the wind. Try the effect of the two-shaped cuts on any piece of green wood with the bark on, and they would be surprised ab the extra strength of the diagonal cuts. Mr. G. A. Green said in reference to soil, while he admitted that a deep soil was best, yet his experience was that lemons of fine quality could be profitably grown even i on stiff clay, provided the ground was well worked and drained to a moderate depth. Aboub the statemenb referred bo by Mr. Palmer, thab the orange stock was a good nurseryman's stock, he had made the statement publicly on several occasions, and therefore he felt thab an explanation was duo to himself and them. While the length of time stated by Mr. Palmer as required to raise good trees from orange seeds was correct, yeb he would remind them thab a cart load of rotten Island oranges would produce many'bhousands of stocks, whereas to jaise lemons from layers required a large number of large lemon trees to work from, and a large fruit-bearing tree layered all round had its fruiting powers destroyed . for three seasons. This meant the loss of ma»y pounds' worth of fruit, which had to be deducted from what was received for the young plants gold. Also, it took two years

to make good saleable trees from the layer, viz., one year as layers and one year in the nursery rows. Nob only so, bub most nurserymen had nob a supply of large lemon trees to la yer from He said they had never had a case of footrote in their lemon grove," which was composed of layer-raised trees exclusively. He had made the subject a study and had never seen a case of root-rot but where wrong planting or other easily assignable cause had produced it. Some of the oldesb trees he knew of had been raised from the layer. He instanced one at Takaka, Nelson, over 30 years old growing on limestone land. He said follow nature, which was the lemon on its own roots. Mr. Palmer replied that he did not profess to know everything, bub he thought they ought to be guided by the experience of those who grew 1000 acres of those trees. Perhaps Mr. Green's place had something exceptionally favourable about it, and that accounted for the immunity from the footrot. A vote of thanks to Mr. Palmer, proposed by Mr. H. Flewellyn, and seconded by Mr. T. B. Smith, broughb the meeting to a close.—[Lucas' Creek Correspondent.]