The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-10-03
BEAUTIFUL AND PROLIFIC
BEARING ORANGE GROVE

longing 10 our WHOM Irlenu, MI.
John Kendig, of Philadelphia. 1t is
located a few miles beyond the little
village of Spar, on the Ratliffe prai-
RE, about fifteen miles north of Ocala.
The approach to it is through as
dense a hammock as there is in the
county. In travelling from Ocala to-
Citra, which is a stretch of pine land
all the way, the view broken, Of
course, by many farms. and some
quite extensive ones. one would
scarcely believe that there could be
such marvellous body of hardwood
/ acres so near by. It was revelation
to US, although we have been living
+ in the county for nearly half cen
/ fury
! This character of land seems to be
the native home Of the orange. Wher-
! ever these lands are found in this inn
mediate section OF Florida. if still in
their virgin state. the orange tree
seems to be Indigenous to the soil
1 here the tree reaches its most sym
metrieal proportions. tie leaves theiE
most glossy appearance. and the fruit
its ulti mathule OF perfection-in
shape in color, in juiciness and in
sweetness and deIicacy of flavor.
This is historically true of the ham
mocks that border on the margin of
Lakes Orange, Bryant. Weir, Harris,
Griffin, Eustis, Okahumpkee, and the
Oklawaha and Withlacoochee rivers.
All abounded with a prodigality of
cred, as was also the big hammock
adjoining Ocala. The early settlers
remember when the orange trees
were as numerous in this hammock
as other hardwood trees. Indeed the
bitter sweet and sour orange trees
grew so prolifically and indigenously
on. the margins of Orange Lake and
Lake Bryant that they acquired
monopoly of the soil, with only here
and there an occasional live oak or
palmetto to dispute possession.
Taking advantage of this fact, the
late Hon. P. P. Bishop, one of our pio-
neer orange growers, selected these
lands for the field of his operations
He first bought part of the Har
ris tract on Orange Lake, near Citra,
the first orange grove planted for
profit in the state after the close of
our civil war. That was before the
founding of the little town of Citra.
He next selected a tract of land sit
uated between Lakes Harris and Crit
fin, in Lake county, with a similar
character of soil His third selection
was the Ratliffe hammock, now known
as the Kendig grove. 1t borders on
the prairie, which in reality is an open
lake, and has been one since the
memory of man runneth not to the
contrary.
judgment, as all met his most san
guine expectations, and the one I'M
der discussion has proven a most
ideal one The surroundings possess
all the adjuncts and adjectives that
unite to make the very poetry of ma
ture. The soil and climate seem to
have joined forces in perfecting this
most delicious of fruits.
The grove contains ffty-two acres
and has forty-hve hundred bearing
trees. The immense live oaks and
the tall limbless palmettos, with
their graceful fan-crowned tops, do
not require much stretch of the poet
ic fancy to imagine that they were
left the one as sentries and the other
symbotzing cur liberty pole, to stand
guard over this land of enchantment
and beauty.
Mr.. George L. Carlton is the super
intendent, and under his skillful di-
rection the grove has developed into
what it is, which is a self-demonstra-
ton of his thorough knowledge of the
culture OF this fruit.
Mr. Carlton saw the first forest tree
felled in 1888. when operations were
frst begun by Messrs. Bishop, Hoyt
and Company, and was retained by
Mr. Kendig as manager when he pur-
chased the property in 1897.
Twenty-Five years he and Mrs. Carl
ton have spent in those pleasant soli-
tudes, and they bid fair to spend
many more, and one can imagine
that the purity Of air and the beauty
of landscape have been incorporated
into their very natures. as they seem
so kind and hospitable,
In the pioneer DAYS Mr.. Bishop
stopped over one night with the late
Rev. James B. Owens, then living ten
miles north of 0caIa He had two
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