Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-03-12
FLORIDA ORANGES.
Visit to "a Grove of SeVenfy-FiVe
Thousand Orange Trees.

Thousand Orange Trees.
Boston Herald.l
The orange culture in Floridi
amounted to little OF nothing befor,
the war. Northern industry anC
methods have found their wayinto tn,
state since, and gave this cultivation
remarkable impetus. Ten years age
even the product amounted to but lit
tie. Now it brings millions to the
state, and its increase for the next ter
years can hardly be estimated. Gene.
raj Cameron was taken yesterday by
Ex-senator Yulee, a friend and former
associate, who represented Florida in
the senate thirty-fve years ago, to SEE
the largest orange grove in the world
This was the first time they had met
since Mr.. Yulee left the senate for the
south in 1861, and the renewal of the
friendship between the two has been
one of the pleasing incidents of the
stay in Florida. Colonel Duffy and
myself were invited to accompany the
party, and did SO. Long before We
reached the great grove toward which
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 black
muck, and early vegetables we're just
springing up. A little later the train
dropped us in the midst of 10000
orange trees, covering over 400 acres
Of ground. A perfect wilderness OF
orange trees, apparently not cultivated
with care, certainly not planted regu-
larly, but just as nature had sowp
the wild seed. The wild luxuri-
ance of nature had, however, been
curbed by man, who, in pursuit OF
wealth, had turnedvinegar into honey,
and, by grating on the sour trees the
FINER sweet varieties, had snatched
from the wilderness an income of oyer
$4,000 a year. General Cameron
rambled with us over the place, all of
US plucking the golden fruit ad lib,
and imagining ourselves in the vener-
able Garden Of Eden-earth, air and
sky, soft, balmy and ethereal, comhin-
ing to fix the illusion, and were only
brought back to a realization that we
were fifty miles from our hotel. "By
JOye, we're lostl' This fact soon be-
came apparent to us all, and just think
Of it-you are bound by bands OF
hick-ribbed ice-lost in an orange
grove in Florida General Cameron
enjoyed the joke, and busted himself
eating the fruit plucked with his own
hands. Many Of the trees were laden
with fruit of immense size and beau
tiful color, although much Of the crop
had been gathered. One Of the tempt
ing sights in the grove was the grape
fruit, Of great size and beautiful
lemon color. 1t is said to be the for.
hidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.
1t is useless, except to look at it and
for preserving, although it is eaten by
some. 1t has a sur, insipid taste.
Lemons of immense size, growing
upon small trees, now and then dotted
the orange orchard. After an hour
spent in looking over the grove we,
one by one, found our way back to the
packing house, where the superintend
ent told US hal 1900 boxes OIL
oranges had been shipped this season
from one-half of the grove over which
we had been rambling, that means
100000 oranges, for which the owner
had been offered $4,000 while the
fruit was on the trees.
How many years does it take fol
an orange grove to come into bearing?'
| asked the superintendent. Eight
years from the seed, and about five
years If grated or budded on the wild
fruit. That is, | mean to say they vii
bear in eight years from the seed, anc
in FIVE years from the graft. They
constantly grow better and bear more
oranges every year. No man can tel
how long the tree will be useful-eer
tainly moro than a hundred years."
People in Florida are naturally a.
enthusiastic over orange sultUre al
miners are who find rich p%lacers. anc
they tell almost as marvellous stories
You hear them talk about trees upor
which grow from 1900 to 1000 oranges
but there is a great deal Of fancy il
this statement, and tho truth IS mar.
vcllous enough.
! Mr.. Fairbanks. the historian o
/. Florida, and an eminent authorize
upon the orange, says that an average
tree will bear, season 10 and out, TO
oranges, and that, where they ar,
o grown from the seed or t~ransblanteC
regularly, about 60 trees 70 the acr,
. would be a fair average. These q
trees in a fair season would yielC
1900 oranges, worth at the grove
$40, This Is a cold, reliable estimat.
( Of what IN ordinary orange grove viii
I do; many will do more, and still NOR,
. will &c less, but $40 worth Of fruiI
upon an acre Of ground will strike the
northern farmer as being decidedly
Q profitable.