The Democratic advocate., 1878-07-20
Letter From Florida.
- Of lhe - Aa.oea.s.

LoxGwooD, June 30, 1875
Mesrs Editors:-As / have in my preYi-
ous letter spoken Of orange raising being the
chief production Of Orange county, ] will give
a few ideas in regard to its cultivation The
Florida orange has worldwide reputation,
as It is considered By persons that have eaten
oranges in every country where they grow, as
being the most perfect, both in flavor and
quality, of any orange grown. A great deal
depends, as far as the flavor and quality are
concerned, upon the care taken OF the young
trees and the amount of cultivation they re-
ceive before they come into bearing. II nos
properly attended while young the fruit VII
be small with thick rind and more or less
acid, and oftimes will be coated with rust.
his rust, however, Is considered more due
TO the absence of lime in the soil. The fol-
lowing advice has been given me by one Of
the most successful fruit growers in our State:
In the first place the location should be Sc
ieeted with water protection on she west,
northwest and north. This is not very diff
cult to obtain, as there are so many lakes.
This will give protection from frost An east,
south east, or south slope is considered best
The timber should be cut when the sap is
down, as 1t ruins the land to cut il when the
sap IS up. Any time between the middle of
Octob@ and the middle of February will do
After that time the sap begins to run again.
Some persons burn the timber, while others
haul 1t off the ground-there being differ
ence of opinion. Some contend that burning
the timber ruins the ground, while others
claim the ashes from the logs more than repay
for what little substance is burnt out. Alter
the land is cleared and plowed il is sown in
''coro-peas,' a species of bean that grows
here on the poorest soil, and makes an excel
lent fertilizer. This takes all the sourness
out of the land and shades the ground. The
land Is then laid off-twenty, twenty-five and
thirty feet, just as you wish. Twenty-Five feet
being the standard measure. The holes are
then dug, 3 feet square and Is inches deep.
The orange Is a top feeder, nothing but the
top roots going deep. ! could give many
more hints in regard to the planting, but not
deemIng II of interest To your readers, as /
have no idea there viii ever be a grove
planted in dear old Carroll. In selecting
trees | have found in my short experience
here, the best plan is TO buy from men that
have planted nurseries for their own especial
use. They select only the best seed and
nearly every man that comes here plants his
own nursery. So it is an easy matter to get
fine fruit, as there is generally an overplus.
The past winter have purchased 500 orange
trees, from TO years old, and had but one
to die out of that number. We have IN our
Seeding bed 5000 eighteen months old orange
trees that we will soon transplant in our nur
sery, l also have lemon, eitron, grape fruit
/ trees, and little of everything else that can
be raised here. The ''grape fruit is spe-
cies OF orange, but grows as large as your
head and hangs in clusters like grapes, hence
its name. When your readers are eating rice
fruit cake with conserved eitron sparkling all
through, they may know what delicious fruit
we have here (if we have not got the cake. }
| Citrons here grow on trees and should not be
compared to the simple oitron vine use to
raise in the meadow at the dear old ''home-
stead" The orange season here is from the
| first of December to the first of April. Ap-
I pies will not grow here, but peaches viii, and
command as good price as oranges. There
are plenty OF haokheFFies In the swamps, but
are small and have q slightly hitter taste
Raspberries do not grow here; strawberries
/ we have six months in the year. The best
berry we have is the blueberry. They grow as
large az q cherry, and there are bushels Of
them. They commence TO ripen about the
middle of May and last about two months.
We have blueberry dolly two or three times
week. want to 60 two hundred miles
/ farther south sometime this winter, down on
Lake Worth, to start pineapple plantation.
/ Pineapple growing is considered very profit
-SAc a. AohN1~tl1 ~ - VI A@tA1
| trouble. All you have to do is clear of
the ground clean, then go TO the marsh and
cut marsh grass enough to cover the ground
two or three inches deep; after that you take
a string and stretch il across where you want
/ your apples, then every three feet you make
a little hole through the grass and down in
/ the ground an inch or two, and stick. in your
I pineapple sprout. In this manner you plant
the whole piece, it taking about 5000 sprouts
to plant an acre, then you go away and leave
them to grow; they need no more attention,
and the next winter you 60 and cut them out.
| You pull off all the sprouts, (of which there
will be from six to ten on each stock except
one, and this one yol leave 10 bear the next
year. The sprouts you pull of, If you wish
I TO exteRd yonr patch, you treat them the same
as the first, and they will bear the next year
also. It only takes them ons year to bear
| from the sprout and Is months from the
crown. You can sell them right in the patch
/ for 10 cents apiece, and counting 5000 pine
/ apples to the acre, this will realize you $500,
deduct $50 for clearing the land aud $l60 for
/ sprouts, you still have a clear profit of $500,
besides three-fourths of the year 10 work at
your orange grove. | have already made
this letter more lengthy than l expected or
wished il 10 be. Hoping l may be excused,
| remain, respectively yours,
JQHy B. SHRIxBR.