The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-05-09
ORANGE CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES Early SpaniardS Brought First
 Seed to America CALIFORNIA IS NOW LEADER Florida Has Never Recovered From the Celebrated Freeze of 1s94-e5.
 Louisiana Grows Several
 Kinds of Oranges.
CALIFORNIA IS NOW LEADER
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKlN.

Those gay conquistadors who came in the train of De Soto, De Leon and Cor | tez seem to have had other ideas be- l yond those of conquest and adventure, for they brought with them the founda- tions of many of the present-day Amer ican industries. Among those adventu- rers were evidently thoughtful and prov ident souls who saw the possibilities of the garden lands through which they 1 passed. Seeds and plants became parts l of the imped1menta of travel and the dropping of these here and there, whether 1 through carelessness or good intent, has brought much good to the people of today. All along the route of the Span ish in Florida there sprang up orange trees with their golden spheres, and when nature herself did not SOW the fruit from hammock to hammock the Indians did, l and in the shelter of live oak and pine the orange forests throve and spread, until many acres in Florida and the delta country of New Orleans were ready for the first permanent settlers that came that way ready with contributions from | Cordova and other Old World centers to the upbuilding of the new nation.
 Between 1865 and 1870 an enterprising horticulturist bought up a large part of wild grove of sour oranges in the St. John river country of Florida, near Orange Lake, and budded the tops of the trees to sweet variety He invested 5000 in this enterprise and so phenomenal was the growth of his industry that at the of nalo fal of his crop was estimated at $2S1OOO. Others followed his lead, taking up the wild groves, improving the stock and study
 ing transportation methods until the in- dustry became the leading one of the state Up until 1880 the orange section was frostless. The groves spread through the northern part of the state and when trees were twelve years old the profits were from 10 to 15O per cent of the value of the trees. By the time a tree is twelve years old 1t is usually valued at $10O. In 1886 there came a blizzard that cut back all the trees in Florida, and only those In the protected stations and in the far south escaped Since then the annual frosts have kept back the younger trees, and few have devel- oped north of Tampa. Then came the great freeze of the winter of 1s94-1S95, freeze that(wrought disaster in the orange industry from which the state has not recovered First, in December there was great freeze, and in the following Feb ruary a still greater one. There would have been about 6,0O0,000 boxes that year, and the total loss has been estimated at over $100,O00000.
 This disaster to Florida turned the attention of buyers and consumers toward California, where preparations were im- mediately made to meet the demands. There. too, the Spaniards in their work of civilizing the new possessions of their crown had brought the orange, the vine, the olive and the fig. From Mexico the fearless Jesuits had carried the fruits of Spain over the mountains and the gulf Into their lower California missions, and in the fall of 1897 Salvatierra planted an orchard and brought cattle and horses into the mission grounds at Loreto. Under the management of good Father ugarte, "the founder of agriculture in lower Cali fornia," the vineyards and groves pros- pered and by HOT the peninsula had good export trade into Mexico.
 Into upper California Father Junipero Serra carried the principles of agricul- ture as well as the gospel of peace in 1769, and under his direction the valleys about the missions blossomed with the fruit and flowers of old Spain, and were balm to the home-sick eyes of the padres, as well as a comfort to the weary trav- eler who sought refuge at this or that hospice. It was Don Joseph de Galvez, godfather of Galveston, Tex, who or- dered the taking of the seeds of frYit, grain and vegetables Into the California country. Under the tuteiage of the fa- thers and of the early Spanish settlers, the fruit and grain industries throve rapidly. Vancouver, when exploring that country commented on the gardens, and as early as 1880 General Vallejo had plant ed groves in Sonoma valley. In 1884 the mission gardens began to decline, the "Gringo" had come, the land went from ecclesiastical to secular control and when Fremont passed through in 1S46 he wrote that little remained of the ordchards that had been kept and cultivated at the mis- sions. Wild mustard swept over the val leys eonauering the garden and orchard lands, and for awhile neglect and discour- agement hung over the fertile valleys.
 The gold fever of '49, bringing death to the power and glory or the nelpIul HIS sions, revived the orange culture to some degree. the first fruit shipped being taken from the lower part of the state by steamer to San Francisco and from there by pack train to the miners camps where it brought a fabulous sum. There was no especial impetus to shipping un- til 1886 By then the treasured Acapulco orange of the old padres had been taken from the Los Angeles orchards at San Gabriel mission, and planted in Sacramen- to, and in Butte county in the far north ern part of the state, over 300 miles from the first mission garden. By 1899 the acreage of oranges in California was 35. GOO, the groves had climbed the foot hills of the Sierras, had taken possession of Kern, Tulare and Fresno counties ahd In the northern part of the state were competing for recognition with the mineral resources Today the acreage is . 100000 and orange culture is the leading industry of the Thermal belt which runs from Butte and Tehama counties on the north to San Diego county on the south, following the line of the foothills for 700 miles. in a path from three to thirty miles wide and at an altitude of from 300 to 1900 feet above the sea.
 Oranges are shipped out of California all the year around, beginning with the navels in November in time for the Christmas trade. These ship until June then crme the Mediterranean sweets, the blood oranges and others. Thousands of picKers swarm over the fields. Japanese, Chinese. Mexicans. half-breeds, whites, in an indiscriminate mixture, who with knives, ladders, bags and boxes climb, cIio ar6 mack until the groves resemble