Middletown transcript., 1877-01-20
FLORIDA'S GOLDEN FRUIT.
Orange Culture in the PenInsuIar State
A short Road to Fortune.

Fla to the Atlanta Constitution paints
glowing picture Of the orange groves
and thus dilates upon the wealth they
contain:
1t is bard to say how much an orange
grove is worth. Mr. Bishop, president
Of the Fruit Growers Association, said,
i am really afraid to say what ! hon
estly believe an orange grove Of l,OOO
bearing trees are worth One thou
sand bearing trees is a lifelong cOmps-
tency for any man, says Captain Dunn
NIT. John Robinson says that an orange
grove may be safely purchased on ba-
sis Of 800 per tree-that is $40, 900
for 100 trees, or 800. 900 for q grove
Of 1000 trees, J. L. Adams put the
lowest estimate at $50 per tree. Mrs.
Harriet Beecher Stowe says that her
trees have averaged SIS per annum for
each tree for five years. Mr.. Hart, the
largest grower in the State, puts the
average yield at $50 per tree. A tree
will yield after its fourth year of bear
ing, 1000 oranges year. These
oranges can be sold at from | ] to 3 cts.
piece. A good quality will command
as much as 4 cents net--a great deal
depending Oh freight advantages. These
trees will bear for fifty years. It is safe
to say. then, that good grove Of l, 200
trees is worth anywhere from $50, 900
to $4,000.
The great question of Importance then
is, How long does it take to establish
grover The Sicily oranges, a. we
all know, produce fruit in fourteen years
from the time the seed sprouts, and will
bear for seventy years thereafter. The
Florida oranges will produce fruit much
earlier-in eight years. In other words,
man may plant 1000 trees this year.
In ten years he will have an average
Weld of 100 to the tree or 100, 900
oranges to his grove, with from 81. 800
to $4,000 on the trees. In five years
longer, or in fifteen yeals from the
planting, be will have 500 oranges to
the tree, or 5OO,OOO oranges glimmer-
ing in the green foliage Of his grove,
worth from $500 to $4,000 on the
trees. He will thus have by an origi-
nal outlay of. say $4,000, in ten years
an income of $1,000 year, increasing
itself to $4,000 per annum in the
next five years. His property will be
worth, at a low estimate, $50, 900 to
$4,000.
Colonel Dancy, Of Orange Mills, has
a grove of sixty trees. eleven years old.
He shipped $3.50 oranges, or nearly
1000 tree, in the eleventh year He
got % cts. apiece for his oranges, which
thus nstted him 1000 or $26 tree.
Some Of the trees bore $500 oranges,
netting S68. Mr.. E. NJ. Graham, Of
Manatee county, put out 800 trees seven
years ago. He sold in the seventh
year 1000 oranges, netting him only
one cent apiece, as he is very remote
from market and has to wagon his fruit
to the steamer. He made $500 clear
in the seventh year. He estimates that
his yield in the tenth year will be 25,-
900. which will yield him $4,000 net.
He says bis place cost him in all about
$4,000, and be wouldn't take $50, 900
for it.
Thirty mechanics in a machine shop
in Connecticut put in 800 each, and
bought a place in VOlusia county Of
1900 acres, and planted out a grove Of
1900 six years ago They have been Of
fsred $50, 900 for the place, which makes
their shares Of 800 each worth $1,000
each. The trees are doing well, and in
two years more will yield an annual div
idSnd of more than twice the capital in
vested, and increasing to four times the
amount in FIVE years Fourteen fami-
lies of those Interested are coming down
this winter to build on the tract, and
take up their permanent residence
there. l might give hundreds of in
stances TO prove that grove Of 500
orange trees, set out from seedlings will
in seven years produce an income ot
$1,000, and in ten years Of So, 900, and
be worth flom $25. 900 to $40, 900; but
there is even shorter way of coming
at this splendid fortune This is by
Transforming sour oranges into sweet
ones, oy planting sweet buds IN the
body Of the sour tree There are mil
lions Of these wild orange trees growing
all through Florida
A man who is in hurry for an in
come selects one Of these wild groves
Then cutting the tree smooth off about
six feet from the ground. he inserts a
number of sweet orange buds between
the bark and wood of the stump, cover
ing them carefully SO that the air can
not get to them. These buds sprout
readily, and in three Or four years be
has fine grove Of sweet orange trees
growing on sour orange stumps These
transformed trees are the hardest and
healthiest that can be found Another
short cut to mature orange grove is to