The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1904-12-09

Before making the suggestions |
have in mind, let us recall conditions
with which every old FlOridian is
perfectly familiar, but which are
| probably unknown to II large portion
OF the present residents of the state.
Graz efruit as a market crop, as a
table fruit in great favor, is of very
recent origin. Up to about the time
of the great freeze in 80, grapefruit
and shaddOCk We're grown almost en-
! tirely as curiosities and for some
small home demand. Many local
| devOtee of the fruit attempted to edu-
cate northern palates to recognition
OF the merits OF the grapefruit, on
! ly to find that his experimental
shipments would not bring the cost
of transportation. 1t was no unu-
sual thing to see large Seeding trees
rising from soil covered by the dropp-
ed, dccaying, useless fruit which
owners could not consume aud he
public would not buy.
Florida oranges then in single
| night went out of existence as II com
mercial factor. People deprived of
their accustomed table fruit turned
to the sour orange and oven the de
spised grapefruit for substitute, and
suddenly found that they really
liked the change Then began the
great demand for grapefruit, and
soon the formerly despiscd outcast
was worth even $500 per box in
New York, and the demand could
not be supplied
a fever of grapefruit planting set
in. For some years the production
of the. new groves did not greatly eX-
coed the demand, but the supply
gradually gained on the demand till
today marketable grapefruit is sell
| ing for $3.50 in northern markets,
and much fruit is not paying for
| transportation. 1t must be remem-
bered that the former demand for
| this fruit WAS not natural and though
thousands of people have discovered
"A craving for the fruit, its adapta-
tions are slight and the demand
must naturally be comparatively
small, as compared with that for the
orange which may be used in so
many more ways.
The fact today confronting the
grower of grapefruit is the inquest
Toned overprOduction. The business
is overdone; yet there are hundreds
of thousands of trees which have not
yet reached full bearing What is to
be done? This is the question to the
solution Of which | wish to offer a
few hints.
The first fact worth considering is
the undisputed existence Of so much
small and inferior fruit. The craze
tor grapefruit trees has led to the
planting of anything called a grape
fruit or Pomelo The result has been
the shipping of carloads of little
things hardly larger than good sized
Tangerines; still other carloads OF
nondescript things consisting OF
about half seed and quarter gall.
Notwithstanding these facts, good
grapefruit is bringing fair prices, and
will probably continue to do SO, but
the profits of the business will bt
controlled by the extent to which
the worthless trash is eliminated.
Large, thin-skinned, few seeded
varieties with the minimum of rag
ard bitter inner rind must he substi
tuted for the vast quantity of inferior
fruit now Cutting the markets. This |
means that thousands of trees must
he re-budded. The sooner the own
ers set to work Systematically to ac-
complish this task the sooner pre-
ent conditions will disappear, and
the pleasing prospects of two or three
years ago again appear.
In this connection, budding the
trees to oranges is worthy of consid-
Grafton. The value of the pomelo a.
a stock for oranges has been largely
overlooked in Florida, but in Cali
fOrnia this is probably the most popu
lar and largely used of all stocks fOI
orange budding.
There are two peCu liarties of the
pomelo tree development, which ART
worthy of special consideration IT.
this connection. i he tree is a NOR,
rapid grower and comes to maturity
at an earlier age than either the
sweet or sour orange. The result IL
that when used as a stock for orange
buds it comes into bearing earlier
than either of the other stocks The
grove thus budded begins to pay |
dividend on the investment sooner
than when other stocks are used |
The other trait which recommend, |
this stock to favor is the peculiarly |
a |
observation that grapefruit trees
suffer less from drought, and shed |
less fruit in times of drYneSs, than do |
orange trees. This fact is the result |
of the deeper roofing of the trees.
Sweet oranges, except for the tap |
root, are distinctly surface rooted
trees. Hence their susceptibility tt
drought. The grapefruit, on th,
contrary, is distictly a deep roOtec |
tree 1t is principle of tree bud |
ding that the trees retain the frui, |
qualities of the bud but the root
properties and character of the stock.
Orange buds, therefore, on grape
fruit stocks give the kind OF fruit
the parent bud, but produce the same
on trees deep rooted and compare
lively drought resistant. This
of special value on our dry |
Florida uplands, and its application
would give us orange groves in which |
the injury to trees, and the dropping
of fruit during the dry Mays of r, cent
years would have been comparative
ly insignificant BY budding som
of our inferior and unprofitabl,
grapefruit trees to approved vari
ties of oranges therefore, we ma.
accomplish the double object of i'm
proving the market and prices TO |
our grapefruit, and at the same tim
secure orange groves better adapted
to some of the conditions confront
ing the grower.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
Q. What is he place and value 0
apttOU-Sapd builS as feed for milpl |
COWS?
A. This material is commonly fec |
on an erroneous basis. 1t should not
De compared, in price and effect
with grains aud cen cntrated ioOd :,