such water be at least three feet below the soil surface, in which well aerated moist zone the abundance of surface feeding roots of the tree can thrive. Conditions such as the foregoing are to be found in relatively few and restricted instances in areas suited to litchi growing, and therefore it is necessary to have available during most of the year a sufficient amount of irrigation water to supplement the natural rainfall.''

Young Lychee trees may be planted at any time of the year. They should be set out in fertile soil, well mulched and watered more frequently than the average fruit tree planting.

Well rotted manure may be added to the soil when planting. They can later utilize more fertilizer and water than citrus. If set in low ground they should be elevated when planted. If planted in the summer and the trees show flush growth, they should be lightly shaded with cheese cloth until the new growth is dark green. They should be protected from frost while young. If planted in orchard formation the distance between trees should be forty feet each way, with a tree in the center of the square thus formed. This will require fifty trees to the acre. The center tree will not interfere for fifteen to eighteen years when it can be reduced in size by air-layering the ends of the limbs that interfere, thus creating new young trees. Mulching the young trees is highly desirable.

Lychees seem to require about the same fertilizer formula as citrus, but the much greater leaf spread will, as the trees mature, demand more fertilizer and more water than the average citrus tree. After about four years the Lychee outgrows citrus on suitable soil.

On the subject of frost protection, the Lychee appears to be about as hardy, when mature, as the average sweet orange tree. In most areas of South Florida, freezes that would injure young Lychee trees must be expected every few years and provisions for firing will be necessary.

At Lychee Orchards, Inc., at Laurel the temperature has been as low as 23° for a few hours, but with wood as the heating medium no severe loss was sustained.

At present no known diseases affect the Lychee in Florida although diseases do affect the tree in China, and some will doubtless develop here.

The fruit ripens from about June 20th to July 10th. Bearing usually begins about the fourth year.

Like other fruits, Lychees are subject to crop failures, apparently largely due to lack of water during the season when. the fruit is developing. This was especially true in 1949 which was extremely dry from February to June, the fruiting season. Trees that were well watered produced well and those not well watered did not hold their fruit.