The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1919-09-12
ANOTHER CONTRIBUTION ON
ORANGE CULTURE
Continued from Page Four.)

trees III Their OIIbludl SI@bO monO INC
best windbreak. We sometimes have
pretty high winds in Florida that do
considerable damage to fruit. If your
location is on top Of a high hill, and
If you can do so, leave belt OF for
est trees on the slopes of the hill, ex-
tending to the base Of the hill. In
this windbreak that would leave /
would plant out a lot Of choice Pc
cans and red cedars, until in the end
my windbreak would be composed of
only pecan and red cedar trees. Il
have in view the writing of an article
in the near future on the red cedar
of F1orida).
Another thing ] want to mention
that l think the orange growers of
Florida neglect 10 do, or have done so
in the past, and that is pruning or
cutting back your fruit trees, and not
let them grow SO nigh. The bulk of
the fruit is grown on the young wood
that the tree makes in the spring,
Just before the blossoms come. This
pruning back should mostly be done
in winter, when your trees are in a
dormant state. Don't be afraid to
cut back the growth of your trees.
They will make more new wood and
will bear more fruit than if you let
them grow haphazard. Besides II you
keep down the height of your tree
you can gather your fruit more easily
and cheaply. Your trees will put on
more inside fruit if you will keep the
surplus non-bearing wood cut out
from the inside, and thus let in light
and air. Keep the height of your
tree down to not over twenty feet,
otherwise they may grow to be thirty
feet in height, and I have seen trees
nearly forty feet in height.
/ do not contend that what / have
outlined in the foregoing article as TO
the making, ETC., Of an orange grove
in Florida is the best method. and
contains all the good points, but if
were doing it for myself would fol- |
low out and do as l have indicated. |
AS your trees grow they may become
infested with insects therefore you
should keep them healthy and thrifty. |
1t is the neglected grove that be"
comes infested with insects. Watch |
your trees for insects and when ne
cessary spray them. There are sew
eral good formulas for making insect
icides for destroying various insects
that you can get. Don't let the in
sects get the start of you.
When I was at Citra l thought |!
James B. Borland knew more about
the making, cultivating and caring
for an orange grove than anyone j.
knew of and he had a foreman nam
ed Crane who was also well up in the
business. ! thought I knew some
thing about orange culture, but I take
off my hat to these two men.
The lady bug" is one of the best
friends the orange grower has. Never
kill lady bug if you can avoid it.
/ think I ought to make retrac-
ton of the part / wrote in my article
on the History of the Orange Indus
try when I stated that / believed that
there were more wild orange trees
growing around the borders of Or.
ange Lake than in all the rest of the
state. fear | exaggerated somewhat
in this, for there are a great many
small wild orange groves in the state
and also many scattering trees, and
in making the count l suppose the
aggregate of all these will Over-bal-
ance the trees on Orange Lake, but
there was no other section of the
state that had anywhere near the
trees that Orange Lake had. | also
stated that there we're many acres In
the part / sold Bishop, Hoyt & Co.,
that had at least 10000 trees to the
acre Now, come to think of it, this
is a good many trees to grow on one
acre, but in that part of the wild
orange grove there were many acres
that the orange trees were so thick
that a full-sized man would have to
turn sideways to get through.
find I did not mention several of
the prominent growers of Citra.
did not omit their names Intentional
ly. Mr.. David Barcus had very fine
grove, which was located on about
the highest land in all the Citra
hammock, and on account of this lit
tie higher altitude than other groves
there l will guarantee his grove on
that account was a little more i'm
~.n,,,no @xro,ao a01I tho, h0 Urovoc IN