The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1880-01-21
Flat Lands Valuable.
Editor of The Florida Agriculturist


In your issue of January 7th there
appeared an article written by Mr..
Arthur III. Manville on Orange Gull
ture. The article is truly meritori-
GUS in many things and deserves the
careful attention Of ali orange grow
ers yet, like nearly all the writer's up
on the subject he has fallen into the
popular error of condemning what
is called "Flat woods pine land"
That there is certain quality of fiat
woods land that is apparently unfit
for the production OF any crop / do
not deny, yet there is another quail
ity OF the same styled fiat
wood that is ass much superior
to the high, sand ridges so much
sought after, as are the western prai-
ries 10 the rocky hills OF New Eng
land. And when persons of culture
tail to discriminate between the good
and the poor, they simply confess
their ignorance of the subject on
which they treat. aN s49He@ e
Much superstitious error is at
tached to orange culture. The or
ange tree, unfortunately is furnished
with a tap root which runs straight
down from the body of the tree and
the present grower seems to enter
tain great concern tor the same tap
root because he can neither faChom its
use nor administer to It's supposed
wants. Therefore they presume that
it is matter of much moment to the
tree and the larger and longer the
tap root the more vigorous will be
the growth hence a poor, though
high sand ridge is selected for an
orange grove that the tap root may
have ample length and proportions.
am not surprised at this state of
thought yet il does seem to me that
any man of experience In orange cui-
ture must have discovered ere this
that the orange tree is truly sur
face rooted tree and would best thrive
on soil that was rich at the surface
It is a we'll known fact that the very
best wild and sour groves have been
found in low, swampy ground, the
trees growing so near water that
they failed to produce any tap root
at all. Yet, despite this tact the or
anoe tree is so tenatious of life, such
a vigorous grower aud feeder that it
will grow and thrive even upon high
land that is poor in quality. But
the best success 10 be obtained at the
least expense is to plant your trees
on "low fiat woods land" that has a
good surface soil. Were a man to
advocate poor soil for corn, sugar
cane, rice and potatoes he would SIM
ply make himself ridiculous. Yet
writer after writer claims that high,
poor soil is best for an orange tree
when common sense should teach
them that the tree requires heavy
tertilizing, ard if properly set, will
accommodate itself TO almost any
condition in which it was placed. The
orange tree is surface rooted and
a surface cultivation is the only true
one to give. When first set small
trees may be worked with plow,
being careful not to plow too near.
But when the trees attain any consid-
cradle size the pIow or even cultiva-
tor should be discarded and the
grove cultivated with the hoe alone.
Be careful not to cultivate your trees
during the mid summer months but
let the grass and weeds grow as much
as they will tor the reason that the
roots being near the surface the dis
turbance of the soil about them
brings the heated earth to the roots,
producing death to them and "die-
back to the tree. Some say "Why
not use the plow instead of the hoe,
if it be run shadows" Because the
5 hoe even will reach some of the roots
and when it does SO it cuts them off
clean while the plow would simply
tear them up and produce disease and
decay clear to the body of the tree.
f A clay subsoil is preferable to all
other soils if it have a rich surface
soil, but a rich surface soil is indispen-
sible to the greatest success, no mat
ter what the subsoil may be. Your
high, rolling, sand ridges will make
good orange trees if You will prop
erly fertilize the ground. But nat
woods location with rich surface soil