Stone County enterprise. [volume] (Wiggins, Stone County, Mississippi) 1916-current, 1922-12-21

gulf. TheE' fruit farms are in
the same latitude of ours. There
is no material difference in eli
mate, but a great difference in
rainfall in our favor. We need
that spirit of optimism spread
over our country, such as is
given by an examination of the
products of Mississippi Farms
and which seems to come natur-
ally to anyone who halls from
that great Western state whose
climatic conditions advantages
and disadvantages are SIM
liar.
The Mississippi Farm contains
eight hundred acres, but only
four-hundred are in cultivation.
The land is for the most
cart level of sandy loan with
sub b-clay foundation. It is well
draired and admirably located
fc'c the convenient handling of
the products of the farm.
The tract planted to orange
trees contains about IL acres, on
which are planted 1900 Satsu-
mas. TIE trees are placed about
twenty feet apart, which is just
a good distance for proper cul-
t::vation, fertilization etc. Dur
ing the months of March, April,
May and June the trees require
cultivation every week to insure
fne~smooth fruit and a good
crop. After the second or third
year the trees are pruned little
but they have to have a natural
tendency to grow in a symmetri-
cal shape and the greatest diff
Guilty the grower encounters
after the tree reaches maturity
is spraying necessary to keep
down diseases.
The Satsuma is native of
Japan where millions of trees
grow in the section of that coun-
try where the climate is very
mild, but the Satsuma, as we
know it, is a product of science.
1t is the bud of the original Sat-
suma grated on the Citrus
Trifoliata, when it becomes one
of the hardest known specimens
of citrus fruit and readily grows
all along the coast line of our
Southern states, and some dis
tance inland.
NJ. Pratt, the manager of the
farm figures that this years
shipment of Satsumas will net
around 100000 from the 1900
trees in bearing.
The fruit was shipped through
the Gulf Coast Citrus Exchange,
and a ready market was found
for all grown in this section, al
though no advertising campaign
was put on to bring the fruit to
the attention of the public.
Individual growers have for
the past several years shipped
fruit to various sections of the
country where the Satsuma was
little known and this quiet ad-
vertising campaign carried on
in an unobstrusive manner, to-
gether with the activities of the
Gulf Coast Citrus Exchange has
caused the fruit to come into
popularity it justly deserves.
Harvesting time on the Miss
issippi Farm is an interesting
and busy scene. The harvesters
are equipped with baskets and
clippers, with which the fruit is
clipped from the tree, leaving no
stem on the orange to puncture
another fruit. The orange is laid
carefully in the basket and car
ried to a centrally located place
where the fruits are packed in
cases and hauled by truck to the
railroad station. This year the
Stone County crop of oranges
were shipped to Lyman, where
model packing plant had been
erected. There the oranges were
graded, sorted and wrapped in
tissue paper, preparatory for
the final shipping.
The diseases that attack the
Satsuma are not many and are
easily overcome. The ravages
of the rust-mite, the scale and
the white fly have all been con-
quered, and taken all around,
the Satsuma is one of the easiest
trees to grow and keep in bear
ing condition.
Occupying a part of the
twenty acres set to oranges is
a small vineyard, which was
ctor+o oI oo oy, nvy,o,.s ~ ONT ~, Al n