The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-10-23
OUR VISIT TO CITRA

We take a more tnan friendly inter
est in Citra for the sake of Aud
Lang Syne," if nothing more.
We were present at its birth, and
all during its early history watched
its development with almost paternal
sOlicitude.
We were there when all along its
lake shore was an indigenous orange
forest, and among our most pleasant
"reminiscences are the picnics We at
tended under the grateful shade of
these trees. We remember what a
beautiful picture they presented with
their glossy leaves, fragrant blossoms
and yellow fruit Then, too, there is
photographed in the char1bers of our
memory the bevy of SWEEP, pretty, vi
vaciOus girls, now grown to be state
ly, silver-haired matrons, who attend
ed those delightful gatherings.
AS we turn the leaves of those by
gone days many lovely and vivid pic
lures troop before us, and we recall
no picture that has left anything but
a pleasant recollection.
We were present when the first wild
orange tree was grated with a sweet
bud. which eventually led to the de
yelopment of the greatest industry
the state has ever known.
We remember when Mr.. E. L. Wart-
mann, now so we'll and so highly hon
Ored throughout the state. worked on
one Of these groves al so much per -.
We watched him gradually unfold.
not unlike a beautiful dover, in man
ly character, until he now owns the
property he then worked on as a
youthful laborer, and it is but a small
part of his possessions.
From the single orange tree we saw
budded at Citra in 1870 we saw in a
few years afterwards continuation
OF orange groves in an almost unbrOk-
en- line from Citra to Oaklawn, and
il impressed itself on orr memory as
the most beautiful picture We had
ever beheid-tEere at once arose in
our imagination MOses's vision of
the promised land"
But there came a frOst-a killing
frOst''-that swept away in a single
night this beautiful picture and left
the owners penniless. We did not
have the heart to behold it, so il is
not riveted in our memory except as
"a tale that is told"
Whatever it may have been alter
that sad catastrophe, it now presents
nearly the same picture as we remem
Der it,
Mr.. A. c. White and Mr.. Wyckofi
met us at the train and we were ia
ken, as in the days of yore,' through
the groves and we are glad to say
that they again present a picture OF
wealth and beauty.
We were taken over the Colquitt
I grove, of which Governor Jennings
has the management, and Mr.. T. L
SherOuse is foreman. The grove mum
bers sixty-five acres and the trees LAP
each other, and the ripening fruit
mingling amid the glossy leaves pre-
sent a most hopeful and inspiring
scene and teaches a lesson OF what
pluck and enterprise will accomplish
In this grove there are thirty-fivt
acres planted to the pineapple orange
/ ten acres to the tangerine and twenty
to grapefruit. Mr.. Sherouse estimates
the present crop at 10000 boxes, bu
! others say that he is modest in hi:
estimates, and that it may yield a:
(! many as $4,000 boxes.
This grove has been literally sup
piled both with the black and brown
/ fungus. The former has entirely Grad
| icated the scale insect, and the latte
/ is making successful ravages on th'
white fly, and the final exterminatiol
of this pest is only a question of time
We witnessed it's ravages with on
own eyes, and deliberately state tina
it is the most hopeful sign that ha
come under our observation in man,
a year.
Mr. Borland, Mr.. Barcus, Mr.. WycB
off, Mr.. Wartmann, Mr.. Crosby, MI
Tunno, Mr.. Timmons, Mr.. Kells, an
quite a number of others have, wit
labor and patience, restored thei
groves, and are now beginning to rea
the rewards Of their labors, and ar
again able to dispense their princel
hospitality, the evidences of whic
were forced upon us at every turn.