The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1891-06-18
GOOD AS YELLOW GOLD.
THE RIGHT KIND OF A FLORIDA
ORANGE FARM.
Prt There Are Groves and Groves--An
Orange Grower Tells About tho
Florida Fruit situation
One Farms Crop.

bin an a-grubbin' to git desc yah vile
orange trees outen de way and heah
comes desc yeah men frum up Nawth
an gifts rich often EN-" is what the
colored people around the plantations
in the Citra district of Florida say.
That is the fact and represents the
orange industry In that region. Be-
fore the late war the Southern planters
always ordered their slaves to chop
the wild orange trees down so as to
get more room for growing cotton.
Northern capital and Northern brains
got to work then, and now fortunes
enormously greater than ever cotton
could have been thesource of are being
accumulated from these very wild
orange trees by the grating of tame
stems on them.
A Cincinnati Times-Star reporter
saw one of the prominent orange grow
ers OF that region from which come
The finest oranges in the world in the
store of one of his customers.
There are two sorts of land for
growing oranges in Florida" said he,
1.-THE pine land and the hammock land.
The first is often advertised as pcoduc-
ing very fine oranges. and glowing &C
counts are written showing why real
estate should be bought there and fam
lilies should settle there. But in reality
1t is not known that any good oranges
or any large quantity OF oranges come
from any of these lands. They are
the lands which support the pine trees
and oranges do not grow on them.
There is something funny about this.
A pine land owner in Florida will
tackle tenderfoot and try to sell
him land. He takes him around the
side of the house and shows him a
magnificent orange tree poisoning
fully and growing bravely Now he |
says, people try to say that you can't
grow oranges on pine land The fact |
is that this particular tree has been |
fertilized by all the dishwater of the |
house. which is fine fertilizer. But |
no one can get dishwater enough to
fertlize whole grove.
''The tenderfoot is entrapped and
forthwith buys the land. He will get
a few poor trees and some bad oranges.
That will teach him little bit about
orange land.
''But there is another sort of land
the hammock land as it is called. You
notice on the pine land grow trees
which are not deciduous, and 1t is lust
The opposite with the hammock land.
This Is what l think accounts for the
difference in fertility. The leaves of
'he trees in the hammock lands have
oeen continuously shed for many years.
IND have enriched the soil so that it is
ust proper for the growth of oranges.
these are lands of which no outsider
except a dealer ever hears, either by adj
or otherwise, for every owner
'nows their value and does not care to
ell, or should he have any desire to }
10 this then he can find the purses of ,
us nelghbors ready to accommodate ,
lin. '
1.-The best orange district in Flori- 9
"a Is the vicinity of Lake Orange
mich is two and one-half miles wide
nd twelve miles long Plantations
lsewhere, no doubt furnish oranges v
lst as fine, but l mean to saw that .
here Is no other like stretch of terri Il
Dry. All, what fine sight it is the O
lew OF grove after grove Of fourishing i,
range trees. Imagine such a stretch +,
pear trees all in finest condition. o.
caring magnificent yellow fruit That Ii
sight worth seeing, and it is from b
us place, hardly good-sized stock Il
ilsers farm, from which one-fourth II
all the Florida oranges comes. Y
AT one end of the lake is the Samn-. Or
IN farm, whose last years yield was B
orth $40, 900. At the southeast end fr
the lake are the best orange groves v,
the region, for here is where thew IL
'e best protected from frosts. while d,
the west end the fruit is poorer in o.
lality as the protection from FROST Is o,
ot SO complete there as at the other
Id OF the lake, and besides the russet
lite gets in his work here, eating the
'ange skin and giving it what some
INK beautiful tinge, but which at W
le same time destroys part of the "
bod flavor of the orange. =,
"Ihese orange groves are very care OF
lily watched. Every year dredpe-
BATS are run in the lake the muck RI
ON the bottom is brought up and be- ar
g put ON tramcar, by means of ha
ovable rails the car is taken all over m
e field and the whole grove is fertil-
ed with natural fertilizer A corns sh
about thirty hands NOW all the rank ,l
ass three times a year. When the i 20,
anges are ripe an experienced over o.
or goes through the grove telling his ov
en- winch oranges to pick. Some lei
rsons have an idea that oranges un
ould be picked green, but that is by
stake. An orange picked ripe will
ep longer than one left to ripen in a col
K. IL is peculiar that the older the VIC
'e the sweeter better and smale. las
orange. This fruit is rs carefully gri
ndled as eggs.
NO one can prevent the frost. WI
llch sometimes goes to the extreme o eic
OF Florida But bugs are kent off ths
spraying the under side of the SIS
YES OF the treo with n solution :
sulphur He may grow standard, fin,
lnges, which have some small defect roll
her IN color or it may be a dent ma
lsed by the bursting of one or both nnC
the inside skins. Yes tho ora.,o-- clo
three skins, one within tho other, !
e threes' are good oranges but NAV nor
'e many defects of flavor shane ing
3 etc II the orange is very moor - ~
5 shipped to somo near point to be mol
at auction. ~ ~