The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1920-02-20
ARE ENJOYING GREATER PROS
PERlTY PROBABLY THAN EVER
BEFORE KNOWN.
ONLY ONE fly IN 0lIMlEINI
Fear Of a Recurrence Of the Great
Freeze Of Quarter Of a Century
Ago Disturbs Dreams-of Old Timers.
Cost Of Production.
(Staff Correspondence

of it's size anywhere in this country
than Orlando the writer, has never
seen it. or course the season for a
visit to Orlando could not have been
more fortunate. The people Of this
county are now busily engaged in
packing and shipping the most profit
able citrous fruit crop they have ever
grown The sub-tropical fair, truly
great exhibit of its kind is in progress
and the tourist season is at its height.
Orange county, of which this beau
tiful city, by far the prettiest inland
town in Florida, is the capital, ranks
third in orange production, being ex-
celled in quality Of oranges and grape
fruit by Manatee and Polk counties.
The growers have made magnificent
yields and they are getting record
prices for oranges, although grape
fruit is low. During the past ten days
the price of oranges on the trees has
increased from $1.65 to $2.25 to $3.50
a box. 1t is not believed that it will
go under these figures.
Many growers have received from
Their fruit crops for the past year
half of the cost of their groves. One
grower purchased a grove of eleven
acres for $4,000. He will get $1,000
in the trees for the fruit from it.
Others have done equally as well. 1t
is a common thing to find a grower
who has received $500 an acre for his
fruit. Groves in fine bearing condi-
ton sell at from $1,000 to $4,000 an
acre. One big grove of forty-eight
acres in the county is priced at $780,
900. The owner has just refused $780,
600. The small growers practically
all sell their fruit on the trees. The
big growers. those who have large
acreages own their packing houses
and do their own shipping.
1t costs lot of money to pack and
ship oranges, fact that one does not
always recognize in complaining at
the difference between what the grow
er gets and what the consumer pays.
Col. Bert Roper, Of Winter Garden,
one of the biggest shippers of citrous
fruits In the county, states that it
takes dollar a box to pick and pack
and box eoranges. This includes the
cost of picking, which is extremely
high. Negroes make as high as Sc
day picking oranges. The fruit must
be conveyed to the packing house,
where 1t Is washed, dried, polished,
graded, wrapped and then packed.
The boxes alone cost around thirty
five cents each.
All of the work incident to packing
oranges is done now with machinery,
a marvellous transformation since the
writer's experience in the state a
quarter of century ago. The ma
chinery is generally operated by cleo
tricity. The oranges are never touch
ed by hand from the time they reach
the packing house until they are in
the boxes except when they are wrap
ped and placed in the box. They are
wrapped by hand, work usually done
by girls. The washing, drying and
sizing are all done by machinery. The
cost of a packing house, with all of
the machinery necessary, is large and
the packer must have profit
Contrary to the general belief of
those who have never investigated
the question, not all of the land in
the orange belt is suitable for grow
ing oranges. The writer saw some
abandoned groves in the midst of the
finest orange belt in the world. In
luiry developed the fact that they
we're planted on land wholly unsuita-
bic for growing citrous fruits 1t re-
luires a deep soil to produce long
ifed, well developed tree. Much of
he land in Florida is underlaid few
'eet from the surface with a hard
PAN" Through this the roots of the
.rees cannot penetrate. After they
ire five or six years old they cease to
develop. Some growers owning
groves of this description. are begin
ling to use dynamite under the trees
md have achieved some success.
No one should purchase an orange
,rove, or buy orange" land, unless
lie has had experience in growing or
Inges, or has a friend, whom he can
rust absolutely who is experienced
nd who will give him wholly disinter-
sted advice. Oranges cannot be sue
.essfully grown anywhere without
lean cultivation. careful pruning and ;
lenty of fertilizer In fact Florida
ives more to commercial fertilizer /:
han to any other source except its |:
Innate. /.
The climate here is ideal for citrous !
ulture, only and except that haunt
lg fear from which the old timers
ave never recovered of a recurrence |:
{ the awful disaster of just twenty
We wears ago. which killed the trees :