Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-16
TWO STATES COMPARED.

4 statistical comparison shows that
/ California is still far In the lead az a. ty.sl,
ducer of citrus fruit Last wear California
put nearly 10000, 600 boxes Of oranges on
| the market, while Florida sold only about
| half that number. Florida produces no
lemons to speak Of. but California sold
some 5000 carloads, of them last year. On
| the other hand, Florida grapefruit has a
| strong lead IN the market. Indeed, grape
| fruit is Floridas strongest asset IN the
| citrus line. The State produced nearly
5000, 600 boxes last year, and despite the
sugar shortage, the acreage IN grapefruit is
reported to be growing much faster than
that in oranges. The tangerine is a small
factor, only about 100000 boxes being
shipped annually. new variety of
citrus fruit, the tangelo, is still in the ex-
perimentAl stage.
The local dealers begin shipping grape
fruit in September and oranges in Octo-
Der, while the last shipments OF the two
varieties are made in May and April, re-
spectively. Very little ofthe fruit is kept
In storage. The tree is the storage plant
for citrus fruit. 1t is said that a grape
fruit will hang on the tree for year and
still be sweet and edible, while an orange
may be left there for months.
Zach broker here is usually the agent
for certain growers, and he orders the
fruit from them as he finds market for
it. From the broker here the fruit usually.
goes to d wholesaler in some northern
city, and by him is sold to retailers. aud
by them perhaps to peddlers. There are
at least three and sometimes four middle
men between the producer and the man
who eats the orange. The price which
the grower gets has been fluetuating this
winter between 50 so and 81 80 a box
for the best Florida oranges. The box
contains from l6S to 2SS oranges Strik-
ing rough average, it may be said that
the grower gets from little less than a
cent to almost two cents each for his
best oranges. 1t is evident therefore that
the consumer pays about four or five times
what the grower gets, and that the greatef
part of the price goes to support the sew
eral middlemen and to pay the freight.
Local dealers admit that some of the
prices charged by retailers are excessive.
They say also that hotels and restaurantsal
make excessive profits on grapefruit,
charging the same amount for half |
grapefruit, as they usually do, regardless |
OF the market price.
The orange grower is IN a somewhat |
hazardous business because his crop NAV |
at any time be DESTROYED by frost. The /
great all-destroying frosts ike that of /
1894 are comparatively rare, but frosts /
that destroy part of the crop are fire. /
quent. There We're bad frosts in 1917. 4
frost which destroys part OF crop. how |
ever, does not generally mean loss 10 |
Florida, for prices will then rise. and /
more money may be brought into the /
State by the short crop than BY large I
one. This Is the same phenomenon that /
may be witnessed in many other phases
ai farming. The one economic lesson /
which the farmer has learned we'll i that |
he tends 20 make more out OF small /
crop than out Of large enc, under oul
supply -and-temand system OF distriba- |