Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-15
IN THE ORANGE GROVES.
III ow the Fruit Is Crown and Har-
vested in Florida.


vested in Florida.
From an Interview with Milwaukee Lady
IAN orange grove is one of the most
beautiful sights on the face of the
earth. The leaves are d very dark
green and exceedingly glossy, and, as
there is no dust in Florida, the soil
being of sandy nature, the contrast
is very striking and certainly most
beautiful. This year rye covers the
grouad under all the trees in Mrs.
Mitchell's grove, and by hiding the
sand adds greatly to the attract veness
OF the landscape. Fruit growers
think that the rye improves 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 will be plowed in and preparations
made for another years growth. The
trees must be pruned, washed and
MANFRED. Nature does wonderfully
well, but not all that is required, by
any means, to make a success of an
orange grove. Great care must be ex-
1rcised."
''When does the fruit riped?" asked
the reporter
We'll, oranges are ripe enough in
December to allow the gathering of
large portion of the crop, but the fruit
is not considered la its prime before
January l. The fruit growers who
depend on their crop for a living mar
vest their fruit when it is too green.
A frost sometimes steals upon them
unawares and SO they shi p their crop
North, only to find poor market. To
make the green fruit yellow and at
tractive, they fill a packing house
with it, shut the building tight and
fume it with sulphur. This process
turns the fruit brilliant yellow, but
unfortunately leaves the inside as
sour as ever. These oranges color
everything they come in contact with.
Mrs Mitchell prefers to let the sun
color her fruit, and SO gathers none
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 a
Large sack or apron SO arranged that
1t can hold bushel or more oranges.
These are put about their necks and
each orange must be cut and laid ia
these receptacles. None must be al
lowed to drop to the ground, if they
do, the little spot that received the
bruise will show decay very soon.
When the bags are filled they are de-
posted in large wheel barrows and
taken to the packing houses, where
they are laid on shelves made Ia strips
so as to allow the air to circulate free
ly."
How long are they kept on the
shelves?"
The fruit requires from two to three
days to go through the Sweating"
process. Then ii is wiped and trans
ferred to long table running through
the cenUer of the house, where the
men roll each orange Ia paper before
1t is packed for shipment. Mrs Nit
chell's packing house will hold 10, GOO
oranges, and it may be interesting to
people who have not been South to
know that trees produce all the way
from 5000 to 10000 oranges each.
Two weeks ago 5000 were gathered
from one tree. Experts estimate the
crop this year at Alexandra Grove all
the way from us, 900 to 200, 600.
Among the varieties to be found there
are the ST. MIchaels, Homasassas, Ma
walls, Nonpareils, Mediterraneans.
Sweets, Alexandrias, Mandarines,
Sangarines and Satsumas. The last
three named are small and of a kind,
differing only in flavor. They are
very aromatice, 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 gloves In the
least. During the latter part of No
vember and all through Decemb Der it
would seem that all the world could
be supplied with all the oranges that
could be eaten if one stood on the
wharves at Jacksonville and watched
the cargoes unloaded from up the
river. Every boat, even train of cars
is loaded to its utmost capacity Some
10000 boxes day are poured into the
Way Cross Depot alone Iced cars
and refrigerators are constantly NOV
ing the fruit northward. Iced cars
are different from refrigerator cars,
and are SO arranged that steady cur
rent of cold air passes over the fruit
This keeps steady temperature, and
these cars, instead of heated cars,
which one would naturally suppose
to be the proper thing, are used in
very cold weather. There is pile of
trouble in shipping the fruit, the great
difficulty being to ship it fast enough.
In Florida, at the present time, the
warehouses, wharves and every CON
ceivable place are full, and much must
be lost. as the transportation com
panies seem half paralyzed by the
quantity OF oranges to be shipped.
This difficulty wilt not occur again as
most of the crop is gathered.