The Florida star., 1909-12-24
A BIT OF ANCIENT HISTORY
What the Florida Orange Crop Was
Some Eighty Years AgO

ter written in 1926 may be Of interest
to our readers Of today. 1t was
found amongst the papers of the late
Major George R. Fairbanks, one time
president of the Florida Fruit Ex-
change:
There are annually gathered at
st. Augustine about twelve hundred
thousand oranges and in the vicinity
about three hundred thousand more;
there are some trees supposed to be
one hundred and twenty years old
which bear at this time four thou
sand oranges. This quantity does not
supply the United States with one
twentieth part of the consumption of
this valuable article of necessity, as
well as luxury, and we are compelled
to depend on Portugal, Spain, Sicily,
France, the West Indies and South
America for this delicious fruit, as
well as lines, lemons, citrons and
olives, when they can be cultivated
in Florida in quantities sufficient to
supply the whole demand of the
United States. 1t is estimated that
an orange grove of ten acres. which
requires the attention of but two
hands, will produce as much as a cot
ton or sugar plantation by the en-
ployment and labor of forty. The
inducements to such cultivation will
soon stimulate the activity and enter
prise of those who are not so welded
to old habits as to resist the impulses
of interest and the convictions of
reason"
The item of special interest in the
above letter is the supposed age of
the trees mentioned, and their bear
ing capacity. That was before the
days of freezes in Florida.
The News presents thanks to Rev.
j. G. Glass for the bit of ancient his
tory given above.
Eighty-three years ago this month
this letter was written. At that time
the Ancient City seems to have been
bound around" with orange groves,
the owners driving a lucrative trade
in this golden fruit with the neigh
boring states to the northward, for
it is not to be supposed that the
transportation facilities which OBJ
tanned at that early date permitted
them to go very far afield with their
products. Perhaps there is no person
in Florida whose memory runneth
back to this period, but there are yet
extant some old-timers who can re-
peat the story told them by father of
how they used to roll the tobacco to
Ga, in casks from long
distances. There was never a railroad
in this whole world at that time, you
may recall. Very likely this fruit was
transported by ox-team. Certainly
the means of conveying all freight
were crude and laborious.
But the fruit found a market,
which brings a furthur reflection of
the affiuent manner of living in those
old days. Nothing was too good for
We ancient planter. What he could
not raise on the farm were luxuries
indeed, but he had them at any cost.
Oh, that we might get back to those
old times when every farmer Lived
at home and boarded at the same
place" when there was no occasion
for the farmer to go off the farm for
anything he actually required for the
comfort and well-being of man or
beast.
That was before the days of
freezes in Florida" concludes Mr..
Glass. Perhaps. The age of those
trees would certainly seem to sustain
the assertion. And yet there is
reason to believe that there were
"cOld spells" in We Olden days, and
the orange trees of that day
were of a harder growth. For, listen:
The coldest weather ever known in
Georgia, of which there is any record,
occurred in 1888, or l835-there is
a dispute as to the year, but re-
course to the record may be had. The
records may be found at the Univer-