The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-03-14
So UTHBRn sTbPLBs.
The Yield of an Aver
age Orange
Crop.
Growth of this Indus
try with the Past
Decade.
The Monopoly Of Cigars as
Treated in France.
ORANGE GROVE.

Northern industry and methods hav,
found their way into the state since. ant
gave this cultivation a remarkable impetus
Ten years ago even the product amounted
to but little. Nov 1t brings millions t,
the state, and ITS increased or the ten year,
can hardly be estimated. Gen. Cameron
was taken yesterday by ex Senator Yulee
a friend and former associate. who repre-.
scented Florida in the senate thirty. fvs
years ago, to see the largest orange grove
in the world. This was the first time
they had met since Mr. Yulee left thu
senate for the South in 1861. and the
renewal of the friendship between the two
has been one Of the pleasing incid ents oil
the stay IN Florida. Col. Duffy and my.
self were invited to accompany the party,
and did so. Long before we reached the
great grove toward whIcL we were tending
there were patches of orange trees to be
seen on every side, many of them with the
golden fruit still hanging to the branches.
Beautiful flowers bloomed in the BACKED
muck and carly vegetables were jast
springing up. A little later the train
dropped us in the midst of 5000 orange
trees. covering over 400 acres of ground.
A perfect wilderness of orange trees. ap-
parently not cultivated with care. certain
ly not planted regularly, bat j1st as nature
had sown the wild seed,
The wild luZuriance of nature had.
however, been eurbed by man, who, 10
pursuit of wealth, had turned vinegar into
honey. bnd. by grating on the sour trees
tho finer sweet varieties. had snatched
FROM the wilderness an income VI over
$40 900 year. Gen Cameron rambled
with US over the place. all OF US plucking
the golden fruit od lib, and imag iuipe
ourselves in the veritabie garden of Eden
earth, air and sky soft, balmy and
ethereal, com biDipg TO fix the illusion. and
were only brought back to a realization
that we were fifty miles frem cur hotel by
an exclamation from one of the party:
by Jove, were los, T. This fact soon
became apparent to Us all, and just think
of it-you who are bound by bands OF
thick ribbed ics-lost in an orange grove
in Florida! Gen. Cameron enjoyed the
Joke and busted himself eating the fruI,
plucked with bis own hands. Many OF the
trees were !a!eu with fruit Of Immense
size and beautiful color, although much Of
the crop bad been gathered. On Of the
tempting sights in the grove was the grape
fruit. Of great size and heau'ifat lemon
color. 1t l. said IT, be he Tor hiddcu iTut
OF the Garden ol Eden, l. is use -.
except to ioak at end for preserving
although 1t is eaten by some. Ii has q
sour Insipid taste Lemons of i'm mense size
growing upon small trees, nov and then
dotted the orapge orchard. After an
hour spent ia looking over the grove. W,
one by one, found our way back 20 the
packing house. where the superintendent
told Us that Is 600 boxes of oranges had
been shipped this season from one half OF
til grove over which We had been ramb-
ling; that means 100000 oranges. for
which the owner had been offered $35 600
while the fruit was on the trees
How many years does it take for an
orange grove to come into bearing2" I
asked the superintendent. Eight years
from the seed. and about FIVE years ii
grated or bndded on to the wild fruit
That is, ] mean to say they will bear in
eight years irrnl the seed, aud in Eve years
from the graft. They constantly grow
better and bear more oranges every year
No man can tell how long the tree will be
more than 100 years.
People 10 Florida are naturally as 90
thusiastic over orange culture as miners
are who find rich places, and they tell
almos: as marvellous stories. You hear
them talk about trees upon which grew
from 600 TO 1000 oranges, but there is a
great deal of fancy in this statement, and
the truth is marvellous enough.
Mr. Fairbanks, the historian of Florida
and an eminent authority upon the orange
says that the average tree viii bear, season
il aud our, 700 oranges. and that, where
they are grown from the seed or trans
planted regularly. about sixty trees to the
acre would he fair average. These sixty
trees in fair season would yield AZ 600
oranges, worth at the grove S840 This
is cold. reliable estimate of what an or
binary orange grove will do; many will do
more, and still more will do less. but $50
worth OF fruit upon al acre of groupd vi
strike the Northern farmer as being de-
cidedly profitable.