Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-02-12
IN The ORANGE GROVES.
Eos the Fruit Is Grewn- Harvested and
Marketed In FI2r.da-

Marketed In FI2rsda-
An orange grove Is one OF tle most
beautiful sights On the face OF the earth.
The leaves are a very dark green and
exceedingly glossy. and as there is NO
dust IN Florida, the sod being OF a
sandy nature. the contrast is Eery
striking and certainly most beautiful
This year rye covers the ground under
all the trees in Mrs alitchell's grove.
and by hiding the sand adds greatly to
the a1tractiyecess of the landscape
Fruit-growers think that the RE i'm
proves the trees also, as it absorbs
much Of the heavy dew, and keeps the
roots moist and cool The latter part
OF February this rye viii be all plowed
in and preparations made for another
wears growth The trees must be
pruned. washed and manured. Nature
does wonderfully well. but not ali that
Is requ red, By any means, TO make q
success OF an orange grove Great
skill and care must be exercised.
When does the fruit begin TO
rspen?" asked the reporter
Well, oranges are r.pe enough IN
December 10 allow the gathering of a
large portion of the crop. but the fruit
i rot considered IN its prime before
January Ist- The fiuit growers who
depend upon their crop for a living har-
vest when the fruit Is altogether too
green 4 frost sometimes steals upon
them uuawsres and 50 they ship their
oranges North. only TO find poor mar
ket To make the green fruit yellow
and attractive. they iii a packing house
with IL shut the building tight and
fuIne il with sulphur. This process
turns the fruit a brilliant yellow. but
unfortunately leaves the inside as sour
IS ever. These oranges color every
thing they come in contact with Mrs.
II tehell prefers 40 let the sun color her
fruit and 50 gathers nome until it Is ripe
There Is one fact about gathering
oranges that Is not very well known IN
the North. and that is that they must
be carefully cut from the tree with
scissors made for the express purpose
The negroes have large sack or apron
50 arranged that il can hold bslshei or
more oranges These are put aboaf
their necks and each orange must
be cut and laid IN these recep-
tscles- None must be allowed to drop
10 The ground. If they do, the little spot
that received the bruise VIII show
decay very soon. When the bags are
filled they are deposited IN large wheel
Darrows and taken 10 the packing
houses. where they are laid on shelves
made u STRIPS 80 as 10 allow the air 10
circulate freely The fruit requires
from two TO three days TO go through
the sweating process Then it Is
wiped and transferred TO q long table
running through the center of the
house, where the men roll each orange
in paper before II is packed for ship
ment- Mrs Mitchells packing house
viii hold 10000 oranges. and it NAV be
interesting TO people who have not been
South 10 know that trees produce all
the way from 5000 TO 10,00o oranges
each Two weeks ago 5. 900 were gath
cred from one tree Experts estimate
the crop this year at Alexandria Grove
ali the way from $4,000 TO 20. 900.
Among the varieties to be found there
are the St Michaels. Homasassas. Ma
Fals, Nonpareils. Mediterranean,
Sweets. Alexandrias, Mandarines, San
garines and SatSumas- The last three
named are small and OF q kind. differ
ing only in favor. They are all very
aromatic and are commonly called
kid glove oranges, because. when
peeled they are so dry that one can
eat them while wearing kid gloves
without damaging the kid gloves