Good plump St. Michael's seeds would be all right if you desire to use sweet seedling stock. Grapefruit seedlings are good and quite widely used, though the general preference is for sour-stock seedlings.
Acres of Oranges to a Man.
In your opinion, is it possible for one man, of average strength, to take perfect care of a twenty-acre citrus orchard? Are the services of a man who takes the entire responsibility of an orchard (citrus) worth more than those of a common ranch hand?
It depends upon the man, upon the age of the trees, upon the kind of soil he has to handle, upon the irrigation arrangements and upon what you mean by "perfect care." If you contract the picking and hauling of fruit, the fumigation and allow extra help when conditions require that something must be done quickly, whatever it may be, a man with good legs and arms, and a good head full of special knowledge to make them go, can handle twenty acres and if he does it right you ought to pay him twice as much as an ordinary ranch hand.
Roots for Orange Trees.
What are the conditions most favorable to orange trees budded upon sour stock; also upon sweet stock and trifoliata?
The sour stock is believed to be more hardy against trying conditions of soil moisture - both excess and deficiency, and diseases incident thereto. The sweet stock is a free growing and satisfactory stock and most of the older orchards are upon this root, but it is held to be less resistant of soil troubles than the sour stock, and therefore propagators are now largely using the latter. The trifoliata has been promoted as more likely to induce dormancy of the top growth during cold weather, because of its own deciduous habit. It has also been advocated as likely to induce earlier maturity in the fruit and thus minister to early marketing. The objection urged against it has been a claimed dwarfing of the tree worked upon it.
Citrus Budding.
I wish to bud some Maltese blood orange trees to pomelos and lemons. Will they make good stock for them, and, if so, is it necessary to cut below the original bud?
It is possible to bud as you propose, and it is not necessary to go back to the old stock. Work in above the forks.