The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-12-25

soil, grow beautifully. l never hav,
been able to raise finer in any plac,
than here. 1 had onions that weighed
a pound apiece and we kept then
sound and good for family use unit
October, when fresh ones were sen
here from the North. These land.
produce sweet potatoes abundantly
when not too rich. The Doctor saw
he hears of their being raised on pine
lands up into the teens. I lately dug
169lbs. from one vine and saw one
potato at Port Orange that weighed
l5lbs. and one lately dug in this vii
lage that weighed 18lbs. These are
weights, not hearsay, and all grow on
hammock land. Again says the Doc
tor, true, the insect may be worse
and the fruit poorer but gives no
reason for the former while the latter
assertion quite surprises us here as
all Of our oranges are bright skinned
and of excellent quality. -. My friend
J. d. Mitchell has grove on the Ia
goon, on rich, heavy, hammock land
the fruit of which when ripe would
tickle the palate of an epicure; large,
thin skinned, tender pulp, full of rich
aromatic, luscious juice. have eat
en- oranges from the West Indies,
Rio Janeiro, the Sandwich Islands,
California, and the Mediterranean,
but never have eaten anything equal
in quality to the fruit produced in
this grove and have never eaten
poor orange when well ripened,
grown on a healthy hammock tree
but have eaten very poor oranges
both here and in Jacksonville grown
- r-.---s LII z. ss-'--1a7-:-a---,l ia f7;s
colored, tough pulp and with juice
that 1 have heard described as vine
gar and water. Nevertheless I have
no doubt that many fine oranges do
grow on pine land it is this supe-
riority SO seriously question, and
now may not something else than
hammock land have been the cause
of the Doctors failure. l have al
ways had a mlsgiving as to man
with prefix to his name raising
successful orange grove. Have not
professional duties interfered with
the care of his grove, for the orange
tree is one Of the finest of trees, one
of the noblest gifts of God to man
and will not brook neglect, but re-
quires thorough cultivation and nour-
ishment and the constant care of an
intelligent hand. A year ago last
February I set out five acres Of such
land as I have described with orange
trees, procuring the best seedlings /
could get, and since reading the arti-
Gle by DR.. Bracey have been measur-
ing them and will give results, in or
der as / said that we may compare
notes, as 1 am very desirous to know
where the orange tree does grow
best. Most of the trees were from I
to / inch in diameter, but / secured
20 trees from Il to 2 inches in diam
eter. These trees I cut back to 4 or
S feet high, removing all the leaves.
I find by measurement now after but
two years growth that they are from
8 to S inches in diameter with full
spreading tops from ten to fifteen
feet high and one lemon tree set at
the same time 2 inches in diameter,
now 4 inches in diameter with s feet
spread Of top and 16 feet high. This
trOe':has fruit upon it now, and sever.
al of the orange trees bid fair to
bear the coming season. This does
not look like waiting ten or twelve
years AL the other trees have done
equally we'll | have hundreds Of