The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-02-05
THE LAKELAND NEWS,
GOOD SUGGESTION TO HELP
THE GRAPEFRUIT MARKET

The agitation recently started in
the Florida press for increasing the
sale of our citrus fruits Is doing
good, and from the white heat of
the discussion ought to come one or
more remedies that will cure the de :
feet in part at least. We've got the
whole vast republic east of the Mis-
sississippi river as a natural and
legitimate market in comparatively
fruits in the world. The transpor
tation facilities are abundant, and
II we can't take hold of such a stu
alton and put our oranges and
grapefruit in all those States among
the more than sixty millions of PEG :
pie who can be taught to love them
and eat them regularly, it is be :
cause we lack the enterprise, the
ambition and the ingenuity.
California under heavy disadvan :
tages, both as to distance from mar
'ket and the quality of the fruit, Is
outselling us in these States for no
reason in the world except that she
Is beating us on the advertising
game. The citrus crop in that State
Is handled almost exclusively by the
California Citrus Exchange, and you
can hardly pick up popular maya :.
zine in this country without seeing
q page devoted to appealing adver-
tisements for the California citrus
fruit. These advertisements are
written by experts; they carry sc :
ductive pictures of the fruit itself in
tempting forms of preparation, and
they are being seen and read every
week in the year by millions of peo-
pie, many Of whom in time yield to
the lure and get the orange and
grapefruit habit.
Nothing is palmer than that Flor
ida should do likewise; and 1t is
equally plain that the people OF
Florida should patronize their own
goods vastly more than they do,
double, even quadruple their con.
sumption of fruit and thus broaden
and strengthen their home market
and help to increase the profits of
the industry.
A local correspondent of the TEL
egram, Mr.. M. G. Willard, in a re-
cent communication in this paper
discussed the subject intelligently,
and on this point or increasing the
home consumption we reproduce
here a part Of what he said as being
a plan entirely practicable and easy
to put into operation right here
and right now in Lakeland. Says
Mr.. Willard:
II believe the growers around
Lakeland and throughout Polk
county, with little effort, no expense
and considerable present benefit to
their groves and the public health,
can do much to create in the North
such a widespread demand for cit
rus fruit, by first starting the appe.
lite and habit here, that inside Of
three years the citrus fruit demand
Of this country would be doubled,
and that the increasing demand
would continue indefinitely.
+ "How do this? Why. by the
growers, little and big. selling their
(srapefruiD at fraction
Of cent apiece-rather than let
them rot on the ground breeding
harmful insects. and polluting the
air we breathe-to worthy and re-
liable men, needing to earn more
than they now can, and arrange to
have them sell these drops" from
house to house at one to two cents
each to the hundreds Of northern
ers wintering or visiting here. and
not overlooking actual residents. AT
sach price as that they will go, AID
they will start a movement for their
sreat future benefit, sure"