The Ocala banner., 1922-03-24

fancy to it because of the beauty of
| the trees, for it was for some time
after he imported them that they
were used only for ornamental pur-
poses. Captain Shaddock's fruit was
pink inside, and not at all palatable.
After time, however, farseeing cit
rus growers saw it's possibilities and
bred it with the orange and rough
lemon with the result that we know
today
introduced into Florida only about
century ago, just see what the rise
of the grapefruit industry has been
The first grapefruit were shipped north
about 1880 and brought so cents a bar
rel. 1t is not often that they bring
less than that dozen now. Today
they are being shipped in carload lots
at excellent prices and still the demand
for them is not satisfied, the capacity
of the trees now bearing being ap-
proximately 100000 boxes with more
trees coming on.
After centuries of study of the or
ange, which is believed to have been
brought to Florida from Spain by
Menendez, in 1905, the discovery
cannot prove true with the grapefruit
and other citrus fruits, and various
methods of propagating have been per-
fected. This is done by means of
budding, grating, cutting and laver-
ing, but budding is by far the most
common method used by most grow
ers. Seeding trees produce good
fruit, but that fruit is not always true
to the variety of the seed and there
fore may not be prolific, or it may be
undersized. The fruit usually retains
its eating qualities, however, which is
not true OF plums, apples or pears,
which are oftentimes unfit to eat when
grown from the seed.
Budded trees have many advan-
tages, chief of which are that they
bear at an earlier age and are Of uni
form size and quality. They may also
be, SO budded as to ripen at different
seasons of the year, thus lengthening
the citrus season out considerably. In
fact, citrus growers in some parts OF
this state have so perfected their art
as to produce fruit almost uninter-
ruptedly throughout the entire year.
As result Of scientific budding
among these trees, Florida now has
pedigreed citrus stock just as there is
pedigreed stock among animals.
Although propagation by means Of
budding and grating is an art and a
science that fills pages in its detail,
little idea may be given the reader in
a few words. For instance, to obtain
an excellent quality of fruit, the seeds
of lemon, grapefruit or sour orange
is planted and allowed to grow for two
or three years. Then the top is cut
back and the bud of an AL orange tree
is budded into the roots. Then follow
about two more years of growth on
the new top in the nursery. the tree
which by this time is about five or
six feet tall is transplanted into the
grove and bear earlier than the
seeding trees do. Another adj
vantage of the budded tree is
that it spreads rather than grows tall
thus making the matter of gathering
! the fruit simpler than that from the
seedlings.
AS scientific growing Of citrus fruits
has progressed, so have the picking.
packing and marketing, so that today
the consumer recognizes the fact that
the product as presented in the mar
ket is the last word in efficiency. In
contrast to the old method of knock
| ing the golden fruits from their IA
tive haunts to the ground and then
picking them up by hand many Of them
bruised so as to cause decay before
reaching their destination is the me-
thod used today. In the first place
each fruit is clipped so that very
little of the stem is left, it having
been discovered in recent years that
that little bit of stem aids in keeping
the fruit. This method Of course ne
Ecessitates the picker being close tc
the fruit and therefore long ladders