Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1884-08-06
About Orange Trees.


Washington has good-sized hot-houso
devoted entirely to the cultivation of
orange and lomon trees. There is not
much use for any one TO apply for an
orange or lemon tree who does not live
in the orangc-growing belt. This en-
perimental nursery Is maintained for
the benefit of the practical growers of
citrus fruits, most of whom live in Cal
l!ornia and Florida. Ii every person
who wants IN orange tree for hot
house ornament was TO be gratiiied, the
department would have TO greatly en-
large its facilities for growing plants.
The object Is To introduce the best va
rictics of oranges that grow in any part
o. the world into the Florida and Cali
tornia orchards.
Running down the middle of the hot
house there l. a bed of earth, probably
four feet wide, in which the big orange
trees are growing. There may DO
twenty or more of these trees, and most
of them are fifteen or twenty years old.
Constant pruning and cutting has pre-
vented them from growing to the usual
size, and the trunk of the largest is not
more than two inches and half in Ill
ameter These trees represent the best
varieties of oranges, and once year
they bear fruit, which attcsts the excel
lcnce of the family of which each ono
belongs. The Scriptural maxim, "Ev-
cry tree is known by its fruit, is the law
of this experimental garden, and
such rs do not bear good fruit are
speedily torn up by the roots. In the
summer the roof is taken from the hot
house, and nature is allowed To have
II . A. NJ frost IL thraai-
cned the glass roof is put back in its
place, and If any branches have pushed
I eir.way above the ridgepolc they arc
cut off, SO that no tree ever gets to be
more than fourteen feet high. Orange
trees in Florida grow to n height of
! forty feet in twenty-five years. One
tree has been known 10 produce II crop
of 10000 oranges in single season.
The price of oranges ut the orchards
is about one cent apiece, so that this
tree brought its owner 500 year. Not
many trees are SO prolific, but an or
angc grove within easy reach of rail
road transportation is very lucrative
piece of property
Although the orange is more apt to
reproduce from the seed the distinctive
qualities of the variety To which it be-
longs than any other fruit, sometimes
il does not; hence the department does
not risk the growing of good oranges
from the seed. All the little trees
are gratis from the big trees in the hot
house. Seeds are put in pots, and
when the plant that springs thcrcfrom
gets large enough shoot from the big
tree is grated into 1t, When it arrives
at bear NJ age il produces the fruit of tho
big tree. These grated plants grow
very slowly in pots, and at three years
of age they arc nothing but switches.
When planted out in suitable soil they
grow much more rapidly, but at best
the orange tree is Of very slow growth.
| 1t is this circumstance that wrecks
the prospects of SO many people who
90 TO Florida expecting to make money
from an orange orchard. After they
plant their orchard they must wait
| about twelve years before il comes into
good bearing. IL i not surprising that
! those who are past middle life get tired
waiting for return for their invest
ment. Aged people should only plant
orange groves for their children. The
trees are hardy and live long time. 1t
is said that there are orange trees still
producing fruit that are over 800 years
old. This may be an eXaggeration. a
youth, however, whose parents have
planted ali orange orchard for him is
| likely to continue TO eat of the fruit
| through his whole life, oven if il be pro-
longcd through the four score years
allotted TO man.
There is an impression in the North
that Florida produces n variety of
oranges which differs from the oranges
of other countries. When people ask
for Florida oranges, and are given
oranges that were grown in that State,
they are satisfied, and if the fruit turns
out to be soar or woody in its structure
they presume that il has been pulled
before il was ipc, and make no COM
| plant about it, Now, as ma ter of
| fact, there are almost as many varieties
of oranges as of apples, and pretty
nearly all the varieties are grown in
! lorida. Some are delicious and some
are very bad. The Spaniards brought
! the orange TO Florida more than ) -
years ago, and probably for 800 years
! nothing was done To improve the stock.
! There is u great tendency in oil fruits
when grown from the seed to run back
/ into witness, and the Florida orange
suffered greatly from this deterioration.
/ The birds carried the seeds abo 4, and
the wild, sour oranges that grow in the
swamps are the legitimate descendants
of the good oranges of couple of cen
turtles ago. A good many sour and
| bitter oranges of The cd stocl are still
sent TO the North, and find purchaser
because they come from Florida.
! When Mr.. William Saunders, Superin-
tcndent of Gardens and rounds of the
Agricultural Department. was on tho
west coast of Florida last winter
year, he was told at Tampa that tho
very best oranges grew ut Manitcc.
| When the boat arrived at Manitce q
man came on board with basket of
oranges, and Mr.. saunders bought a
dozen. After tasting four or five and
finding them bitter and sour, he threw
them all into the water. The huckstcr
had evidently got hold of very bad
variety of the native orange. The best
oranges that grow in Florida have been
introduced there since the war,
The Agricultural Department gets
orange trees from all the orangc-grow.
ing countries in the world, and propa.
gates those that seem TO bear cool
fruit. The best orange tree i'm the hot.
house came from Bahia, Brazil. TIL!
fruit is mcdium-szcd, tbin-skinncd, OF
golden color, and delicious flavor
Many hundred shoots from this trcu
have been grated into plants and sent
TO California and Florida, and from
these whole orchards have been pro
duccd by budding and grating. In
California particularly this orange has
obtained the highest reputation, and il
has taken the premium at all tho fairs
where citrus fruits have been exhibited
Another very good orange IS the st.
Michacrs, variety that is highly
priced in London. IL seems 10 grow
better in Florida than in the tropics
The Florida winter gives the rest that
all fruit trees ought TO have. By far
the larger number of the orange trees
and plants in the collection of the Ag-
ricultural Department were obtained in