Himalayan Times (1953)

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ihttvrn lagan (Times

\

February 15, 19

SAVE THE ORANGE

.AO SITL1NG, BSc.

HOW often do we hear the expression :
“Things, aren’t what they used to
be !’’ This is very true of the orange
trees in this sub divis.on (Ivalimpong), if
not in the district. If we walk through
'busUe? and look ar und the.orange groves,
wo are bound to find a good percentage
of sickly trees with etiolated leaves and
withered twigs. There are enough oran-
ges in the market, hut no one can
deny that the quality 4>f our fruits is
gradually detei iorating! One of the main
;Casii crops of the. district, orang-s arc
;n imminent . danger of fading to the
background, if We do not act un tim u
' Wo began .with virgin, forest'- soils;
our trees' were gdod. our crops' bounti-
tid-. 'I.liroiign years of constant cultiva-
tion these-,soils are now impoverished.
IncV ease. in -the efficiency of trans-

pOrU.systems, and the war .-.years have
aljdwed for the locomotion of a large
. number of peopl.» to and XromN the dis-
trict. It is inevitable that many plants
pests {gnd diseases -should have been in-
troduced Our methods (of 'cultivation
have, I .grant,v unproved on the whole,
..but, theSe are not good enough,/. For the
fact’- reinamsothat we are getting poorer
orange annu 11 v. At this stage the old
method of '.trusting ^to the wind and
the weather will, not carry us very far.
It is imperative that something be done,
and this specially, to safeguard .the future
of our oranges

We. cannot compare our orange indus-
try to that ;of other parts'of the country
or the world. Ours , is admail concern
restricted to a few in ter-cropped trees.
We are cultivators and must utilise every
possible patch of soil for field crops

such as maize or millet. We are not in
a position to devote whole acres to fruit
trees alone. So our chief aim would bo
to improve the few trees wo do have.

Only the wearer knows where . the,
shoe pinches. Consumers are not aware
of the various problems they e.ypect
growers to make til * fruits available; and
they also expect that the fruits be pi good
qualitv To pb*ase the consumefV as,
well as make some• .profit for hnJsotT-the
grower must increase pro lifotioiv 4 per
tree ma detaining or impoving where
possible, all the dcsirabl feints qualities
In orde. to accomplish this un* grower
must he an inform <1 person. It is tor the .
better educated growers an! ihe. Agri-
culture Department.to see that the mass-oi
our growers arc informed. I rrc.ill having
seen a pamphlet issued by the Publicity
Department treating with comp «st mak-
ing Similar pampnlets of informa'iuns
and instructions to orange gia wcrs could
also be issued in co-operation with the
Government Agricultural Department.

• The chief problem at the moment
seems to be that of the ‘borer’. This
worm is responsible for the death of a
la»-ge number of our orange trees. The
attack once b'gun can hardly be stem-
med. Prevention, it would seem, is bettor
than, cure in this case. The use of
‘budded’ trees might help a long way
in attacking this problem. For in most
cases, the ‘horror* makes his entry into
the root or ‘collar’ at soil level. It
depends on experiment and research to
discover the most suitable rootstocks to
be used. In theory I would suggest trials
on the following. They are in order of
preferanc i: