San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-07-20
The Land or Oranges.

The State Of Florida raised this year
over $1,000, 900 oranges, and this was a
short crop. asked DR.. Harris, the
Speaker OF the House, tonight, what
the crop would be Ave years from now,
and lie answered; "At least five times
that much, or 250,0OO,0O0l" "And five
years laterp" "Ah figures fail for that
compilation" he said, laughingly. l
have seen nothing in print that gives
an adequate idea OF the immensely of
the culture. In the Old days orange.
growing was fancy pursuit, INDUCED
in here and there. grove OF 800 trees
was then alarge one. The finest grove
in Florida is the Specr grove, near here,
which covers SIX acres and has 5SO
trees. The next best j. the Hart grove,
ut Palatka, which has 700 trees, The
first is worth si0, 600, and yields 100000
oranges, worth on the trees Sl5 thou
sand. The crop this year q short year,,
sold for 500, 900, and yields about So
900 o year. The only reason that these
groves are so valuable is that the trees
are about forty years old, and in full
bearing. Now, Mr.. Markham, ut At
lanta, has near the Speer grove, with
its $50 trees, n grove of 600 young trees
Just coming in" as they call It, His
son Marcellus, has 1900 trees, of which
only 600 are bearing, and Judge Hay
den grove of 1000 trees just bearing
their first fruit. General Sanford a
grove of 5000 young trees. Mr.. w. l.
Traywick, Of Macon, a grove OF 5000
trees. From these figures, samples OF
hundreds of others, it will be seen that
orange planting for the past few years
has been business on large scale in
stead of fancy, as formerly. For ex.
ample, Mr.. Markham's grove will pro-
duce ten times as many oranges as are
produced by the Speer grove. now the
finest in the State. General Sanford's
grove alone will produce more
oranges than are now produced in a
radius of eight miles, which has 392
groves. Or, to make it palmer, San
ford is the center Of the largest orange
producing portion of the State. In o
radius of eight miles from this hotel,
there are 1892 groves, with 1920
trees. These groves now produce 3
100000 oranges, but only 5 per cent.
of the trees in this radius are bearing.
When the other 95 per cent. come In,
this radius of eight miles will produce
10000 900 oranges, or as many as the
entire State now produces. To partic-
ularize: Colonel Markham now gets
$4,000 oranges from grove that in six
years will produce 100000; Judge
Hayden 100000 from. grove that in
four years will produce 100000; Gen.
eral Sanford $4,000 from grove that
in six years will produce 2,OO0,0 900; and
SO On through the list. In addition to
the accessions from these groves com,
ing in, the groves now bearing will in
crease their yield annually for many
years, as the full fruitage OF tree is
not reached under twenty years. In
addition to this there are thousands OF
new trees being put out annually that
in five or ten years will add millions
to the crop. 1t will be seen, therefore
that the estimate Of $50, 1000, 600 oranges
as the crop for 1887, is very feasona
! BILE one. Indeed. it may just as likely
be twice that much. In ten years L
will certainly be 500,0OO,OOO, with indie
finite extension beyond that point. :
4 Florida Letter. ,, -,