The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1882-02-22
Orange Culture for Profit.
II. ". c. in, Florida Dispatch.

H. ". u III, rtOTtuU LdSputCHs
Having come thus far it seems su-
perf1uous to answer the almost daily
question, DO you consider Florida
good orange growing State !" This
question is often backed by the figures
OF those whose friends have tried it
and been disappointed, and by an
array OF statistics, protesting to be
based upon actual experiment. |
would say to these questioners and
doubters, first, that Florida is the
best place for the profitable culture
OF the orange that l have seen or
know of. But, second, that there is
no State or country on the earth in
which every section and every acre
is suited to orange raising, if profit is
expected. China is supposed to be
the native home of The orange, pro-
vided the vale of Cashmere be not
taken for the original Eden, and the
residence of the old gardner and his
wife, from whom we all come. And
yet only a portion of China, and Sc.
lect soils and localities in that portion,
are well suited to the orange. Spain
is famous orange country, and yet
Seville is not all one orchard, and
the valley Of the Granddaughter is not
all orange land. The south of France
has, at times, the killing frost, and
even Southern Italy is not all suited
to the olive and grape.
An able writer in the Florida Dis.
patch Of January, a year ago, says
that the orange belt is as well defined
as the cotton belt, and that it extends
from % to 291 degrees of north lati-
tude. Parallel % degrees, strikes
the east coast of Florida few miles
above cape Malabar, or between that
and Lake Washington, the source OF
the St. Johns. 1t crosses between
Cypress and Kissimee lakes, dividing
the head of Tampa Bay, and leaving
the land for the Gulf at Fort Harri~
son. Parallel 299 degrees enters the
State below Mantanzas ON the east,
leaving Palatka to the north, taking
in Orange Lake, and entering the
Gulf in the southern part OF Dead
mans Bay, below Point Edward.
This will seem to leave out some of
the best and most successful groves
in the State. One OF the first princ-
Piles in physical geography IS that
straight lines are not isothermal lines,
and it is impossible to lay out any
definite hundreds of square miles any
where, and to say with certainty that
there is the natural region for any
particular crop. Our authority is as
nearly right as can be in map des-
criptlon; but q water course-the
side on which lake may lie-an ele.
walton or depression, however slight,
and such artificial things as canal,
a drainage, or the cutting OF dense
forest, will make difference readily
appreciate in dollars and cents. i
should not like 10 own a grove north
OF Jacksonville. although L am pres
pairing to set out few trees In Sa>
vannah, and l should not think the
banks of the kissimee river so desir-
able as the St. Johns. There is some
thing about the soil and the cli>
mate OF the so-called orange belt
something not to be tested and regis
tered by the thermometer and the
hydrometer, not capable Of analysis
by the chemist, that conduces 10 the
Perfection of the orange. 1t is not
hard TO find country where all OF
the conditions of successful orange
culture may seem to exist. But orr
ange culture is practical science,
and theory does not always work. In
household chemistry there is no reas
son to'suppose that oil and water and
alkali will unite into substance dis
fering from all three, but they do; ;
and in Florida it is moi easy TO dem>
onstrate why it is the best Of orange
countries, but it is. Soap is the
proof of the one experiment, and Or
anges, that all the world is clamoring
to-, are the proof Of the other.
Another frequent question is,
"Where is the frost line, and must |
90 below it to raise oranges 10 sell ?'
In Ebert county Ga, there is a belt
of thin land, known as the flat woods
of Ebert, but / have never seen a
farmer yet who would own that his
land was in it. So with Florida.
The man who has orange land to sell
is never above the frost line, or point
OF Ijury. But this is not all>impor-
tant. 1t is true that no orange tree
can live through an average Atlanta
winter; but many persons in South
Georgia eat oranges from their own
trees, and 20 degrees above zero will
not kill old trees. 1t will not even
hurt them if they are not excessively