The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-09-05
THE MOST FASCINATING
GAME IN THE WORLD

beautiful or impressive I have yet
to see it, unless it Is an orange tree
with the bloom, the green fruit and
the ripe fruit all upon it. This par
ticular tree, an unusually fine one
for its age-about twelve years-.Was
not more than that many feet tall
with its lower branches touching the
ground. Hanging upon them were
at least 400 grapefruit-about ten
or twelve boxes such as you see In
the stores. crawled under the
branches and tried to get an ade-
Quate picture Of the great yellow
globes, half a dozen of which could
be seen hanging to stem smaller
than lead pencil. But neither
words nor camera can describe it.
"Now you can understand" said
my host, "why the growing Of these
things Is the most fascinating occu-
patton in the world. No, the danger
from frost does not lessen or add to
it's zest, because it is much less than
1t used to be. We have learned
great many things about frost pro-
lection in a comparatively short
time.
Most varieties Of grapefruit and
oranges are now budded on the har-
der native or sour-orange stock and
close to the ground. That eliminates
the single tall trunk, so the branches
often seem to spring out Of the
earth. Before cold weather comes
the tree is banked with clean, dry
earth. sometimes to height Of three
feet. which effectually protects the
most valuable part Of it. And
should a very severe freeze occur,
at least fifty per cent of the trees
value would be saved, besides giving
us good long start on the new
growth.
Then, 100, the temperature in
grove located near fair-sized body
of water will be anywhere from six
to ten degrees warmer than other
wise. The land slopes gently from
the center in all directions, which
not only allows natural drainage,
but also enables us to irrigate it by
pumping water from the lake to the
highest point, whence it is evenly
distributed"
We had gone up to the pump house
and stood looking across 1875 acres
in full bloom, with acre and there
a tree on which the fruit had been
left to rpen. The perfume is not
the only thing that is likely to go
to your head.
Figures to Make Your Brain Reel
when this grove is in full bear
ing, when the youngest trees, are,
say, ten years old, how many boxes
of fruit ought it to produce each
year," | asked.
THAT is rather difficult thing to
say" was the reply. Like the
stars. one year differeth from an
other in glory. Neither are all trees
alike. But call it an average of
four boxes to a tree. There are
$4,000 of them in this grove, which
would make 10000 boxes"
AT what price a box?"
That again is hard to say. But
in good year grapefruit from this
grove have sold on basis of $3.50
a box on the tree; oranges from
$1.40 to 81; tangerines from 81 to
$3.50. But leave out those figures,
which are exceptional, and call it 81
a box"
That's $4,000 And the net
proflt?"
Even at so cents a box that
would be $30,0OO--twenty per cent
on $4,000, or $1,000 an acre, for
which this grove has been Sold"
Such figures as these set ones
brain to buzzing. And with that
ten-box tree in mind--it is there vet,
by the way--I wonder If four boxes
tree was not ultra-conservative for
such a grove. 1t seemed so, indeed,
for in the Florida Grower | found
this estimate on a five acre grove of
grapefruit beginning with the fifth
year. 1t will be noticed that the
cost Of fertilizer, which would
amount to s2,475, seems not to have
been included in the summary.
FER Yield
Year tilizer Labor Spraying Boxes
IL 40 10
6 rs .46 10
Z .21 SO is 8