Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-06-19
GOOD AS YELLOW GOLD.
THE RIGHT KIND OF FLORIDA
ORANGE FARM.
But There Are Groves aud Groves-An
Orange Grower Tells About the
Florida Fruit situation
Ono Farms Crop.


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 moro room for growing cotton.
Northern capital and Northern brains
got to work then, and now fortunes
enormously greater than ever cotton
could have been the source 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 produc-
ing very fine oranges. and glowing ac-
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 fenderfoot and try to sell
him land. He takes him around the
side of the house and shows him
magnificent orange tree blossoming
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 a fine fertilizer. But
no one can get dishwater enough to
fertlize a 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 dcciduous. and it is just
the opposite with the hammock land.
This is what think accounts for the
difference in fertility. The leaves of
the trees in the hammock lands have
been continuously shed for many years,
Al. IL =.
just proper for the growth of oranges.
These are lands of which no outsider
except dealer ever hears, either by adj
vertising or otherwise, for every owner
knows their value and does not care to
sell. or should he have any desire to
do this then he can find the purses of
his neighbors ready to accommodate
him.
The best orange district in Flori-
da is the vicinity of Lake Orange
which is two and one-half miles wide
and twelve miles long. Plantations
elsewhere, no doubt furnish oranges
just as fine, but / mean TO say that
there is no other like stretch OF terri
tory. All. what fine sight il is the
view OF grove after grove OF fourishing
orange trees. Imagine such stretch
of pear trees all in finest condition.
bearing magnificent yellow fruit. That
is sight worth seeing, and it is from
this place, hardly good-sized stock
raiser's farm, from which one-fourth
of all the Florida oranges comes.
At one end OF the lake is the Samp-
son farm, whose last years yield was
worth $45, 600. AT the southeast end
of the lake are the best orange groves
in the region. for here is where they
at the west end the fruit is poorer in
quality as the protection from frost is
not so complete there as at the ether
end of the lake, and besides the russell
mite gets in his work here. eating the
orange skin and giving it what some
think a beautiful tinge but which at
the same time destroys part of the
good flavor of the orange.
These orange groves are very care
fully watched. Every year dredge-
boats are run in the lake, the muck
from the bottom is brought up and be-
ing put on tramcar, by means of
movable rails the car is taken ali over
the field and the whole grove is fertil-
lied with natural fertilizer. A corps
of about thirty hands NOW all the rank
grass three times a year. When the
oranges are ripe an experienced over
seer goes through the grove telling his
men which oranges to pick. Some
persons have an idea that oranges
should be picked green. but that is n
mistake. An orange picked ripe will
keep longer than one left to ripen in a
box. 1t is peculiar that the older the
tree the sweeter, better and smaller
tho orange. This fruit is az carefully
handled as eggs.
mo one can prevent the frost.
which sometimes goes to the extreme
end of Florida. Bat bugs are kept off
by spraying the under side of the
leaves of the tree with solution
of sulphur. He may grow standard
oranges, which have some small defect
either in color or It may be dent
caused by the bursting of one or both
| of tho inside skins Yes the orange