The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-23
Orange Growing in Florida.

Correspondence of the New York Sum-
Chow long does it take an, orange
grove to come into bearing?" The
question was asked by a. northern
man in an earnest, deliberate way,
that was intended to evoke a. candid
reply from the orange grower to whom
it was put. ..-.. ..... ......5
Chow long is a piece of string?" re-
turned the orange grower.
If he had been disposed to attempt
an answer he might have said truth
fully that an oronge grove will "come
into bearing in from six months to
15 or 20 years from the time of start
ing it, and that whether the interval
is half a year or q fifth of century
depends almost wholly upon the wish
of the owner.
There is colored man in this town
who has in hisgrove a number of trees
whose topmost leaf is less than 18
inches above the ground, and whoseti-
ny branches are now weighed down by
young fruit. Their trunks are about
half an inch in. diameter. Kneeling
down over one of these miniature
trees, SO as to have his subject well in
hand, he said:-
tThis tree is q sweet bud on O. ma
tive stem. The sour stem was set out
here year ago last spring. 1t was a
sprout one OR two years old when I
took it from the nursery. / don't
know which. The bud was put in last
L
full of bloom that it looked like bou-
quet. The life of a tree is counted
from the time it was put in the ground
whether as a seed or q sprout-if it
is sweet tree. and from the time of
putting in the buds if sour tree So
you see here a tree that was in bloom,
or 'in bearing when it was six months
DID,"
Within half a mile of this colored
mans grove is a grove in which are so
or 60 sweet Seeding trees that are 13
years old. The largest of them are
about Is feet tall, with tops 1Ofeet in
diameter and trunks 16 inches in
circumference. Only one of them
has ever borne a blossom, and that
one now has four oranges on tits
first crop. This grove has never been
properly tended, and has had no fer
tilizer worth mentioning put omit.
An orange grower ofconsiderable ex-
perience said: ga sweet bud cut from
a bearing tree may have within itself
the germ and potency of twigs that
will straightway bear blossoms, or it
may not be such bud. In the former
case the twigs and the blossoms are
bound to come out if the bud can be
kept alive. If it could be kept alive
inserted in the cork of a bottle I don't
know but iewould be possible to show
a beer bottle bearing a full crop OF
young oranges within six months after
it left the brewery. Now, if the roots
of the sour tree are sufficient to sup
ply nutriment in the necessary guam
tity to the young bud the little oranges
may stay on and ripen, otherwise they
will fall off. If the oranges on the col
ored mans six months old bud don't
drop off pretty soon the tree itself will
i drop off. The probabilities are that
that tree, if allowed to have it's own
way, will drop it's fruit for three or
! four years, and will then begin to ripen
] half dozen oranges year, growing
! less new wood each year, and finally
standing still a stunted shrub that
will bear maybe SO or so oranges at a
crop.
"Now about the big, sweet seedlings
/ that have not begun to bear," the or
ange man went on. '"They are an ex-
! treme case, as much as the colorod
mans half-year-old bearing grove is.
They have been growing under the
| temporary disadvantage OF almost en-
! tire neglect. Fortunately the soil had
/ enough in it to keep them alive and
making healthy wood, though slowly.
Maybe next year, and maybe not till
| three or four years later they will
| show bloom. The first crop ought to
be, perhaps 100 oranges to the tree,
| the second close to 500, and the third
i fully 1000. If the colored man had
planted q sweet seed at the same time
he put the bud in his sour stem that
is now 'in bearing as they say, the
probability is that he would have got
profitable tree from the seed as soon
as from the bud, in casethe bud didn't
begin bearing SO early as to prevent it
ever making a valuable tree.
'How soon would expect to havea
grove that would payfor taking care of
itself and return a satisfactory profit
on the investment if began making it
now? Well, in 10 years-provided
oranges brought the same price then as
they bring now.''
The matter of fertilizing has a good
| deal to do with the growing of orange
trees in all except thefew favored spots
where the soil does not require suchre-
enforcement The colored orange
grower mentioned in the foregoing was
unable to buy fertilizers; so hefertil1zed
with fish caught in the St. Johns river
with a seine and drawn up on his
mule cart. He conducted this work
after the manner of an independent and
original investigator.
'aThis yer tree, said hefondly patting
the smooth yellow trunk of a fine seed
ling, ''is seven years old from the seed,
and was raised on shad. Not bit of
fertilizer but fish, and not a fish but
shad has ever been put on it. I al
ways boil up the fish. Then I care
fully dig away the earth, bury the
boiled meat on the fine roots and COW