The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-06-13
THE UNsUsPEcTED VALUE OF A
BOX OF ORANGES

The citrus growers OF the state
have been congratulating themselves
ever since the close of the shipping
season that it was one of the most
prosperous in the history of the state.
An eight million box crop with prices
running from three to eight dollars
per box has brought to the state
enough dollars to ransom several
kings. The deposit of this immense
sum in the local banks and it's dis.
tribution by the growers themselves
through all the channels of industry
in the purchase of needed supplies
and equipment and the payment made
to labor, has silenced all the croak-
ing of the pessimists and make the
talk of hard times broad joke. Hard
times and Florida must be strangers
for long time to come Indeed there
should never be hard times in Flor,
ida so long as the sunshine and the
ever welcome rains combine to force
vegetation forward with rapidity
and certainly unknown in any other
part of this broad land.
But now comes the Jacksonville
Times-Dnion and injects fly into
our ointment of satisfaction and hap
piness, by showing us how much more
we might have received for our or.
anges 1t reminds us of the old
Cracker who lamented that he was
losing thousands of dollars because
he didn't have enough hogs to eat
all the mast that fell in sue habun-
dance from the oak trees of the for
est. We were rejoicing at the
thought of selling our oranges for
the unprecedented price of So per
box, and thought we we're adding to
our wealth at a tremendous rate, but
wait. The Times-Union has been talk.
ing with chemist sharp, one OF
those fellows who are alawsy nosing
around and finding out things in adj
vance of common folks, and he tells
the esteemed T.-U. that every box
of oranges will yield from four to six
ounces of essential oil, worth Sc per
ounce. And all the time we thought
we were fortunate in getting So when
we were really giving the buyer from
$24 to $36 of value.
This fact opens up tremendous
possibilities for the growers, and
ought to start a wonderful boom in
the price of groves. Think of the pos
sibilities of wealth in a so acre grove
with its thousands of boxes bringing
an average price of, say $25 per box.
Shades of Croesus and Midas. and
all those golden monarchs of ancient
times to say nothing of those modern
m1llionaires, the kings of oil and steel
ana copper. They will all look like
plkers beside our lucky kings of or.
ange No more will long trains of or,
H-AAS0 S<~AO IO11 IOT
the delectation of our Yankee friends.
they must content themselves with
the REDEEMED Strawberries and the
crisp vegetables which we will spare
them at the frosty Christmas time.
These contain no essential oil worth
30 per ounce, and we shall be willing
20 see them go. But oranges, never,
they are the real golden apples of
Hesperides. and @will be too costly
Tor human consumption. Never more
viii the baby find an orange snugIy
esconced in the toe of the stocking
on Christmas morn. Such expensive
gifts will be only for those who have
money to burn or to throw at the
birds. The T.-U. gives US no inkling
to how the oil is to be extracted from
the skin of the orange We suppose
all that is left to its chemist friends
who, it tells us, have devised ways
and means for profitably extracting
the essential oils from the rind Of the