Arizona republican., 1898-06-14
ORANGE GROVES UNDER COVER

Editors Country Gentleman: A rug
 ged pioneer of Florida horticulture, be
 ginning in old age with resolution
 to rebuild his grove rom the ground
 up, declared he would never protect
 an orange tree; that there is ample scope and verge enough" to raise all our oranges outdoors; and that any Isectjon so liable to an occasional un- due chilliness as to recquire protection for the trees should never be planted at all. M i
 Is it any weakness, any backing down from Florida sub-tropical pre- tensions, to cover a mature orange tree? Must one kumor every caprice
 and demand of this pampered mem Der? Must we grind potash and bone, forsooth, at $40 ton, put in irrigatine plants, compass it roundabout with Ilive-oaks and palmettos, bud and graft and march, dig about and dung it. and still not have it satisfied? And
 now must we build a house over this piece of property and kindle a fire to warm it withal?
 MT. H. B. Everset of Riverside, Cal, is one of the shrewdest, business men of that shrewd community, and he is re- ported to be at the present time con- structing framework of wire and lathing to cover twenty acres of his
 orange grove; this webbing to be fur ther frightened with canvas against sudden irruptions of frost This is es- timated to cost s400 an acre. We may be very certain that this long=headeo investor would not undertake this outlay unless he expected to receive an equivalent in good clean coin. Sen timent counts for nothing with him: the reputation of California as s'trop- I ical paradise" is the foolishness of re- porters compared with his bank ac- cunt.
 There are dozens of men at Orlando, some at Citra, some at De Land, Or
 mond. St. Petersburg and Fort Myers.
 who do not lie awake nights worrying
 over the sub-trOpical reputation of Florida-Or their pines either. These are housed under sheds, some of them l elegantly squared up at the corners. | with cOrnice and bottom-hoarde plared and painted-acres of then These gentlemen are not here for their health. Even Gown on that eccentric river" which rises nowhere. runs
 nowhither and empties regardless of all geographical canons, some good
 business men are covering their pin cries. To use laconic Americanism- l it pays.
 The latest information at hand is to the effect that there is strong prob ability that one or more orange grow
 CTS at Citra will follow the example oi
 the pineapple growers and cover their groves with slat sheds. Not only that.
 but there will be provided movable sec. tions or panels of slats so arranged that by being slipped the width of a slat to one side, they will drop down into the cracks and convert slat roof from a half-shade into a tight cover, capable of retaining the heat to be generated by steam or pots of burning resin, prefrable the former. as being the cheapest and best means of heating yet tested. It is believed that in the long run this heavy outlay will prove |remunerative. Men who used to sell from $30,000 to $150,000 worth of or anges per year are competent judges in this matter s. POWERS.
 The above is reprinted from the Country Gentleman and is commended
 to the consideration of Arizona grow CTS. The frost line is robbed of it's deterrent influences while the expense is offset by certainty of results.