The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-02-04
Another View Of the Orange Ques-
ton,


as usual on time, and from it / learn
''Our Boom is Dead"
With not little curiosity l notice
your comments and interviews, as well
as the opinions and suggestions of your
many correspondents, and therefore
learn, that in the opinion of gentlemen
who should know whereof they speak,
that the trees are only set back, but not
killed, although the present crop of fruit
is ruined
To an outsider this looks as if the
Boom" was not so emphaticalIy Dead
as it deserved to be, and that an effort is
being made to reinstate the thing, and in
your editorial you suggest that in order
to avoid calamities of this kind it is only
necessary for the inventive genius of
your state, to devise some means of saw
ing the fruit, until such times as the de-
mand would absorb the supply, then the
Boom" may become king again, and
the people of all the states in the Union,
as well as the British Provinces, and
from the other side of the ocean may be
again induced help initiate and sustain
collapse must come.
As for saving oranges any consider.
able length of time after they are gath
cred, the first thing to be done is to
offer a suitable reward for some plan to
control the elements, and TO regulate the
temperature of the atmosphere. / claim
that in no other way can oranges be
kept any considerable length of time, for
the simple reason that their keeping
qualities depend entirely upon the tenn
perature and atmospheric conditions,
during the formation aud growth to
maturity of the fruit.
Last season Florida oranges decayed
to such an extent that Sy the time they
arrived in the markets of the north
many Of them were not worth the ex-
pense OF getting them there. Isaw in
New York lot of fruit sold at an aver
age OF ten cents a box, two hundred and
eighty boxes for twenty eight dollars.
and saw Harriss fruit, as good | believe
as any in the state, Offered at seventy
five cents box. Mr.. Harris's consignee
told me that his fruit i'll repacking made
a loss of thirty per cent until they stop
ped shipping. Later in the season they
came in good condition. My own fruit
showed a loss of over thirty per cent last
season. Shipped under same circumstan-
ces this season, they showed practically
no loss at all, and at the prices obtained
this season, the orange crop would not
have paid expenses of gathering and
transportation, had they arrived in as
bad condition as last season.
Can not our people see that the bust
ness is immensely oyerdone already
Will they not realize that in less than
ten years, if the trees now set out, live
and thrive, the product of the state will
exceed ten million boxes of oranges =
year, and that a crop of probably less
than two million boxes this season, with
one-third of it not gathered has com
pletely broken down the market twice
already and only rallied under suspen-
sion OF shipping.
Does it require intelligence OF the
most ordinary character, to comprehend
that when crop of two million boxes
breaks our markets, that crop of ten
million boxes, or even half that quantity
can not be sold at any price that will
pay expenses and that as consequence,
oranges or orange trees when in excess
OF The demand are worth no more than
the sand in which they grow. | have
been informed by two very intelligent
gentlemen largely interested in the
orange business, both in this country
and in Europe, that there are more
orange trees set out in Florida than in
aIl the orange producing countrie. of the
earth.
Is it not wise 10 look at this thing
square in the face. and \ duty to sound =
note of alarm ? Instead of initiating the
orange business under the delusion that
after five years work every man may
have an orange grove, upon which he
can live and support his family in ease
and comfort for the remainder of his life;
is it rot better TO say that there are vastly
too many trees and groves now?
My own opinion is that it would lie =
great benefit TO the state il every young
orange tree, say under five years of age
should be totally annihilated, and sim
cerely hope l will lose twelve hundred
out of my two thousand trees, and be-
lieve it would be great blessing to those
who have invested their all, in the bust
ness, if the same loss l welcome and
hope for in my own case, could be e--
tended 10 theirs.
If have given you 4 few ideas. and if
you think well OF them, hope to see
you along with the intelligent Gentlemen
of the press, give some note Of warning
and not let the land spectators have it