The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-03-04
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DIVERSIFIED farming

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"Some of these times and not
far in the future, we people OF
Florida will have to change our
plans in the use OF the soil, OF
we will be in trouble" yester-
day said George NJ. Chaplin,
manager Florida department
Southern Settlement and Devel-
opment Organization, in discus
sing the work OF his organiza-
ton throughout the South
1T used to be said that the
damaging effect OF the freezes OF
1894 and 1896 were greater be-
cause fruit growers had all or
most OF their eggs in one bas-
ket, and when that basket was
broken and the citrus groves OF
large part OF the state were
wiped out, they had little else in
any other package said MIR.
Chaplin. continuing.
The Citrus Industry.
"In some recent travelling
about the state | have seen a
good many thousand boxes OF
oranges and grapefruit hanging
on the trees, still unmarketed,
and the reason given was that
present prices do not warrant
the expense of picking and ship
ping. | admit that this is an
unusual year and financial con-
ditions have lessened the pur-
chasing power OF thousands OF
people in all parts of the coun-
try. They are practicing rigid
economy because they have to.
They have always regarded
Florida fruits as luxuries and
not as necessities, and they have
stopped eating them. And there
is still notion, very wide
spread, that citrus fruits, espec--
tally grapefruit, are rich mans
food and that the man OF mod
crate means can not afford
them.
The Price Discrepancy
This idea has been fostered
by the prices charged in North
ern restaurants, and in South
erin cafes, too, for portion of
grapefruit. You don't have to
go outside the state to find a
portion of grapefruit on the
hotel or restaurant menu listed
at fifteen and on up to thirty
cents. and that is for one-half a
grapefruit. With this fruit SELL
ing for less than So box in the
Chicago and other Northern
markets, that price is not fair
to fruit growers in Florida.
Taking sixty grapefruit as the
contents of a box, the cost of
EACH. at the rate of S. a box, is
Just a. trifle more than three
cents. The cost of the raw ma
terial to the hotel man or the
restaurant keeper for a portion
is just one and one-half cents.
Allowing for service. overhead
expenses and all the rest. the
profit is more than legitimate.
Railroads Cooperation
1T is gratifying to see that
several of the more important
railroads coming into the South,
the Pullman as we'll, have re-
duced the price of portion on
their dining cars to ten cents, or
in one or two cases, fifteen cents,
in place of thirty-fve to fifty
cents.
Il was told the other day by
a New Yorker that the famous
Childs' restaurant in the metro
polls reduced the price to ten
cents with the result that the
orders for grapefruit increased
800 per cent.
Those who have the inter-
est of Florida at heart must push
a campaign of education, to
demonstrate that these fruits
are within the reach of even
moderate conditions, or that
they can be made so.
The Present Difficulty
But with the difficulty in the
present season of marketing at
paying prices a citrus crop of
between 100000 and 100000
boxes. what will we do when
this annual outputs mounts to
100000 to 100000 boxes?I
With the present bearing sur
face and with that already ma
turing. the lower East Coast
counties will probably produce
100000 to 100000 boxes an
nually, within the next four
years. The output from the
rest of the state is likely to
oring the totals to nearly or
quite 2o.ooopoo packages.
1t seems to me that some
other baskets r,,st h.