Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1916-09-15

"a t*' eA0 "
touched once by the naked hand from
the tree till it gets to its detination. We
have reduced our loss from bad fruit from
eleven per cent TO one-fouI.h of one per
cent, or practically negligible. And is not
-- Packing House ore of the
best in California;" When they aid il
was, he said: 1.-THE washing machine tore,
we would throw into the junk pile: it =
old, antiquated and the new machine does
the work much better. And it is so with
many of your plants. They were put in
years ago and the managers have been
afraid to spend money for real modern
machinery
VIEWING A VALLEY ORCHARD.
81 took Mr.. Gillett up the Valley in my
auto and, among others, We stopped at the
McColl orchard and went over it. Mr..
Best, its manager told us that last season
he sold 81 ,450 6f fruit from two acres Of
trees planted two years ago last February.
Mr.. Gillett said il was a good showing and
that the trees looked fine, they showed re-
markabie growth for age and turning to
Mr.. Best, he asked: "IIow much fertilizer
did you use per acrei" With a kind of a
gasp, Mr.. Best replied: "Why we did not
use any" And | supplemented by saying
1--WE do not use any fertilizing in the Val
ley; outside of a little used by the onion
grower TO hasten the maturing Of their
onions, | doubt If there is a ton of ferti-
lizer brought into the Valley q year. II
was then Mr.. Gillett's turn To be astonish-
ed, and he told how they simply could not
get along without fertilizer and they used
from $4,000 TO $4,000 worth per acre per
year and "it paid because we get the
crop"
VALLEY CITRUS CONDITIONS.
He examined many trees and said their
growth was strong and good and about the
same as the Florida trees when the Flor
ida trees were well fertilized. He exam
appeared well suited to citrus trees. In
Florida the wild citrus trees grow on the
sandy soil and he thinks citrus trees do
better on sandy soil. Further, a citrus
tree grown on sandy soil and tr~ansplanted
so that its tap root il cut, makes a large
| DunCU Vi iiuItuS WI NHith ~ hpcS ~
make in a heavy soil and so, while they
do not ball any citrus fruit trees grown
on sandy soil and In fact can only ball
them when grown on heavy clay soil, he
SAYS that the sandy soil, bare root tree,
makes a quicker. stronger and more last
ing growth and bears fruit quicker and Of
finer quality than that grown on heavy
- a.nul lc.n ,--1.tDc.
ORCHARDS AT $4,000 PER ACRE.
Four years ago, the company of which
he i manager set out 100 acres Of citrus
orchard around Lake Lucern, a section
not far from Tampa. The next year, they
set out 800 acres more and the next. 400
more acres, and last winter, a final 100
acres. He said there had been 80 many
fake orchard schemes in Florida that he
made up his mind there should be an honest
one To show it could be done. They fixed
a price Of s .50O.00 for n ten acre tract
with a house lot on the lake and the place
il sold ont and so well satisfied are the
people, that in two or three cases where
the owner died. etc, ~neighbors have bought
these few tracts at advances from $3.50 TO
5000 per acre. The company cares for
these trees for three years and markets
the crop and turns the proceeds over to
the owner. Mr.. Gillett said il was n big job
and tha. another time he would have gotten
| $500 an acre, as that could have been got
toa as ea-iiy as the lower $3.50 and perhaps
even $500 or 81 200 per acre.
| WHAT ARE FLORIDA ORCHARDS
WORTH.
Florida orchards are not selling. The
owners want to keep them. Whenever n
good one comes up for sale. the neighbors
lust pick it up. We are making good money
on our archards and why should we self
they ask. Some few years ago q young
fellow came from the north, Travelled over
the state and studied the citrus situation
and finally bought a fifteen acre orchard
slightly run Down pox far from Winter
Haven. lie cultivated it. up nnd fed II
well and the third year u crop paid the
purchase price Of $4,000 ard interest and
all expenses from the time he had bought.
Since then he has had q steady, nice m
come and dose he want to self Not n
bit Of it. Suppose he got $4,000 an acre,
and that i a top price, how could he in
vest the money to bring anything like what
il j. bringing him nowf
In a second article, ! viii tell somewhat
about Mr.. Gilletts experiments IN bud &C.
lection and what is means 70 the citrus
- .f,ctar