Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-22
ILoRIDA,s LUSCIOUS FRUIT.
Outlook for the Orange Crop-Effect
OF Last Winters Freeze.


snap the almost universal belief was that
the orange trees were all ruined as far
south as Tampa at least. However, the
damage was not 80 great as it was
thought to be at first, and the trees now
promise a fair yield for the ensuing
season.
The dealers in Savannah say that all
their advices from Florida Indicate that
the crop will be about three-fourtbs of an
average crop. Florida oranges are be-
ginning to come in now, but not to any
great extent, and those that are received
now are Of rather inferior quality, being
what are known as drops" and wind
shakes'-that is those that drop from of
the trees before they are fully ripe, or that
are blown off by the wind.
A prominent dealer said yesterday
eve do not care TO handle drops or
'windshakes' because they are not go cd
orange, and they give bad name to fruit
that is really good early in the season.
At this season of the year 1t pays us
better and gives better satisfaction to our
customers to handle Jamaica oranges.
The Jamaica Is large, we'll made orange,
though 1t will not compare with the
sweeter and more luscious ones from the
Florida groves"
when will the season regularly begin,
that is, when do you commence receiving
tirst-class fruit from Florida"
"NOt sooner than Oct. /, and you
might as well say that it will not be I'M
der full Roadway for q month yet"
els Savannah good orange market"
Yes, our people are great lovers Of the
fruit, and there ls brisk trade in it all
during the winter. The ten days before
Christmas, though, are worth almost as
much to us as the whole of the rest of the
season, and for that time especially we
urge our shippers in Florida to send us
the very best fruit they can get. A box OF
oranges, you know, is considered stand
ing Christmas present, and for this pur-
pose people want the very best, and are
willing to pay well for them. Thousands
OF boxes are shipped from here all over
the country every Christmas, and the
most of them are bought by people
who send them as Christmas
present to some friend in the
North or East. But we ship a great
many more than we dispose of in Savan-
nah. The dealers in almost all of the
smaller towns in Georgia and adjoining
States order their supplies from Savan-
nah. You couldn't guess in a month to
what points Savannah dealers made some
OF their heaviest shipments during the
latter part of last season. To no other
place than Florida, the very home of the
orange. This was just after the great
freezeout of last winter, when oranges be-
came as scarce in Florida as any other
place. We were then receiving quanti-
ties of West India oranges, and found q
fine market Tor them in Florida, which
was then crowded with Northern tour
lists"
"Do you think the cold weather of last
winter Will affect the quality OF the or
angeV
mot in the least. The orange will he
just as large and just as sweet as it was
last season. The only effect of the cold
snap Will be to make the general yield Il
little less than IL was last season."
"Wil this shortage In the crop affect
prices any?"
IA little, of course, but the decrease in
the supply will not be large enough to at.
feet the market TO any great extent. Ad-
vices from nearly all of my Florida ship
pers state that their shipments will be
very nearly as large this season as they
were last"
The orange has an interesting history.
Gibbons insists In his decline and Fall
OF the Roman Empire" that among the
Romans the orange and lemon were gen.
orally classed with other fruit, among the
apples. But Pliny has expressly stated
that fruits of the citron order we're Guilt
waited in Italy in his time-that is, in the
first century of the Christian era. Virgil
aud others mention that the citron was
peculiar to Media and Persia. In fact,
who lived a few centuries before the
Christian era. 1t Is native OF China,
with which the heroic Greeks and Rom ans
had scarcely any intercourse.
The fruit did not come into Europe IN
til the sixteenth century, and the first
orange tree ever seen in England was In
1895. Some accounts credit the Portu-
guese with importing it; others say that
the Moors, who overran Spain In the mid
die ages, brought the orange from Arabia.
planting it largely at Seville, and that its
cultivation in Sicily, Rome and the south
of France followed. Hence the term, q
''China orange" at once names the
fruit and mentions from what country 1t
came.
1t is believed that the lemon was cuiti-
waited IN Italy 1000 years before the
China orange. No doubt both fruits came
| from Asia. The citron Is supposed to be
the Hebrew tappnach. The word is
translated in the English version OF the
| Old Testament as "apple." There is a
legend that the apple with which the SER
pent tempted Eve must have been the
orange, which is attractive, rich In color
and fragrant in smell. The golden apples
| OF the garden oi HeSperides may have
come from the same source. ana the one
| tree that bore them has been thought To
correspond with the tree of life in the
| garden of Eden.
In the island of Malta the blood orange
is grown, obtaining its name from the
! blood-red color OF Its pulp, which is de-
lightfully aromatic. II vote could be
taken the world over doubtless that the
orange by vast majority would be pro-
claimed the favorite fruit. The tangerine.
| or North African orange, with a rich and
luscious pulp and very fragrant rind. is
very dIminutive, but the ST. MichaePs
orange, very sweet and thin-skinned, is
the smallest. and the Brazil or Navel or
ange Of South America is the largest OF
all species of oranges. Tue orange finds
n luxuriant DEVELOPMENT in Florida.
! There are about 10. 900 trees under actual
| cultivation. AS everyone knows, there
are sweet oranges and bitter oranges.
! The bitter orange 10 grown in great abun-
| dance in Honolulu and in Seville.
Storekeeper, it will be 10 your interest
/ IN piva q n ShaftaI1 vour ordora ecr