Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-16
Orange Town
BY Frederic ]. Hsskin

|
one OF the grcat-st citrus fruit markets il
the world. All Of the Florida oranges
grapefruit and tangcrines that arr sole
outside the State pass through the hands
Of tho Jacksonville brokers. To find nj
equally large business in oranges you must
travel clear across the continent to Cali.
fornia.
In this, as in various other ways. Florida
and California are sharp rivals II IL
curious how these two far separated States
are doomed by circumstances to fight
each other They are antagonists in the
orange market as winter resorts, md ms
winter homes of the moving picture in
dustry
As soon as you begin to talk 10 Florida
orange man, he begins explaining to you
the grtat advantages OF the Florida orange
| over the California variety. He admits
that California produces more oranges
and bigger ones, but there his concessions
end
In California, he tells you, "thcy raise
orange fiber We raise orange juice. They
| go in for quantity, but we produce quality
| and flavor"
The California orange IL a Brazilian
fruit, the navel orange and is distinguish
ed by the fact that IL has no seeds and
peels easily. If this same orange is planted
in Florida, the tree will flourish, but will
not produce enough fruit TO make il pay.
The Florida orange is said 10 be of Spanish
origin, and while full Of seeds and harder 20
peel than the California variety, is admit
tedly sweeter and juicier.
LIKE cAIIronSIA FRUIT.
Florida produces one variety of orange
however, which is as large and easy 20
peel as the California fruit, and even
jucier and better favored than the other
Florida varieties. II is appropriately
named the king orange. This orange is
raised only IN small quantities. and al
though sold everywhere within the State,
where il is the favorite citrus fruit, IL is
seldom seen outside of Florida. Why this
should be is mystery. After eating one
king oren ,e, the visitor 10 Florida viii
have no other kind He is inclined TO call
the king orange the best thing in Florida.
Its delicious flavor and wealth of juice
must be experienced TO be a ppreciated.
The only thing which can be urged against
it Is that tho ruini'iated person almost
needs raincoa. in order 10 eat one and
como through the experience dry.
Repeated inquiry fails TO discover any
good reason why the country q, large
should be deprived of king oranges.
Some retailers say it does not keep well,
and is therefore not shipped. But others
deny this, and II appears that few king
oranges are shipped 10 New YORK, where
they bring high prices from the few per-
SONS who are familiar with them. The
brokers say that If shipped 70 other
places these oranges will not sell. Their
appearance is against them. They are
great, warty-looking fruits, very differ
ent in appearance from the ordinary
orange, and looking rather az though they
had something the matter with them.
The average customer, being used 20 q
smooth golden orange will not buy these
dark rough-looking ones Hence few Of
them get more than q hundred miles from
the trees on which they grow.
Oranges Just now are fetching very
high prices, while the market for grape
fruit is little dull. All sorts Of factors
enter into the market For example, the
influenza epidemic has boosted orange
prices, becagse good many doctors said !
that oranges were valuable both as cure |
and as preventive OF the disease. Grape /
fruit, on the other hand, were less in de- 1
Inand than usual this winter, because OF |
the sugar shortage Many persons who /
could afford grapefruit could not afford 4
the sugar with which TO sweeten them.
The Florida growers and dealers are
preaching that sugar should not
be used on their grapefruit. They declare
that after January first, Florida grapefruit
is so sweet that it needs no sugar, and they
also say that at any time ii is better with
salt than with sugar. They say the per
,entage of people who eat grapefruit with
salt is steadily growing. They especially
iecry what they term the old-fashioned
notion that grapefruit should be buried
Inder sugar over night before it is eaten.
This they say masks the natural flavor and
'poils the fruit. OF course, their argyll
nents are to be taken, as they would have
iou take your grapefruit, with grain of
alt.
TWO STATES COMPARED