Vol. XVII. No, 420. 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



173 



SOME CITRUS CONDITIONS IN FLORIDA, 

 CALIFORNIA. AND CUBA. 



The importance of the citrus cultivation in Florida and 

 California may be judged from the fact that, according to 

 the census of 1910, Florida produced in round numbers 

 5,970,000 boxes, and California 17,300,000 boxes of citrus 

 fruit that year. In a paper by Professor Howard S. Fawcett, 

 Citrus Experiment Station, University of California, published 

 iu the Mo)ithlx Bulletin of the State Commission of Horti- 

 culture, September 1916, some comparisons are drawn 

 between the conditions of the industry in these two States, 

 and also of the same industry in Cuba. 



Florida's principal rainfall (40 to GO inches) comes 

 chiefly in the summer months. In contrast to this, California's 

 principal rainfall (10 to 25 inches) is in the winter or early 

 spring months. This is why citrus trees may be grown in 

 Florida mostly without irrigation, while in California the 

 industry is almost entirely dependent upon irrigation. The 

 greater summer humidity of Florida tends, however, to tbe 

 development of certain types of fungus diseases which are 

 absent or negligible in California. 



A comparison of soils shows great variation in both 

 States. Generally speaking the soil- in Florida are more 

 deficient in tke elements of plant food than those of 

 California. An artificial supply of water is the prime 

 necessity in California, while fertilizers are the prime neces- 

 sity in almost all types of soil in Florida. 



In Florida, within every citrus-growing section, with few 

 exceptions, the individual orchards are scattered, and not 

 in continuous, almost solidly planted areas, as are commonly 

 seen in California. One reason for this scattereil condition 

 within a region well suited for citrus cultivation is that since 

 there is no need for general irrigation, there is no necessity 

 for close cooperation in the formation of irrigation districts. 



The practices in cultivation of citrus orchards prevailing 

 in Florida and California differ to a considerable extent. In 

 Florida, cultivation is usually discontinued during the heavy 

 Tains of the summer, and only put into practice after the rains 

 are over. During this drier part of the year the cultivation 

 OD most soils is very shallow. Some growers use a definite 

 cover crop in summer, while others simply allow grass and 

 weeds to grow during the rains. If these grow too high and 

 rank, they are mowed down, and usually left as a mulch on the 

 ground. On some of the lands no cultivation at all is prac- 

 tised, apart from merely hoeing the weeds that come up 

 under the spread of the trees. Many such orchards without 

 any cultivation are thrifty and profitable. Professor Rolfs, 

 Director of the Florida Experiment Station, says that some 

 of the best groves in the State are heavily sodded with Ber- 

 muda grass, and are not cultivated. This is ijuite difterent 

 in many respects from the general cultivation practised in 

 California, where in the summer the ground is prepared for 

 irrigation everyone or two months, and instead of a cover 

 crop being grown in California in summer, it is usually grown 

 in winter during the period of rain. 



The varieties of citrus fruits generally grown ditfer 

 greatly in the two places. In Florida there are probably 

 twenty to thirty or more dift'erent standard varieties of 

 oranges, but in California there are only three or four grown. 

 In California nearly all oranges are classified under the three 

 names, Navel, Valencia, and Seedlings, while in Florida 

 a much larger number of varieties are grown, and many names 

 are in use. 



The Washington Navel has apparently never become 

 a successful orange in Florida, though it has been tried 

 repeatedly. Usually the trees of this variety in Florida do 



not bear well, and the fruit tends to become too large, and 

 in most locations to be lacking in juice. This also seems to 

 be the case in the West Indies where the Washington Navel 

 has been tried. 



What has been said as to the large number of standard 

 varieties of oranges cultivated in Florida is also true with 

 regard to grape fruit varieties. Commercially speaking grape 

 fruits are to Florida what lemons are to California. 



Lemon growing, such an important branch of the citrus 

 industry in California, is practically non-existent in Florida. 

 The last commercial lemon orchard of -tO acres was budded 

 over in grape fruit about 1911. It is said that the main 

 reason why lemon growing was discontinued in Florida was 

 that the fruit grew too large for the taste of the market. 

 Another reason was that lemons in Florida are apt to be 

 severely attacked by the rust mite. 



• The citrus stocks mostly used in Florida appear to be 

 sour orange, rough lemon, and grape fruit; in California the 

 principal stocks used are sweet and sour orange. Sour 

 orange is probab'.y used more in Florida than any other, and 

 is also now being used extensively in California, because of 

 its great resistance to gummosis. For years it has been 

 noted for its resistance in Florida to the foot-rot or mal-di- 

 gomma there. The same resistance to this disease on the 

 part of the sour orange has also been noted in some of these 

 West Indies. In Dominica for instance, it is well known 

 that unless grafted on a sour oranae or rough lemon stock, 

 no sweet orange tree is able to live many years without suc- 

 cumbing to gummosis. In Florida the rough lemon is 

 preferred by some because the scion appears to grow more 

 vigorously during the first two years. It is also said to be 

 able to stand drought better than other crops. An objection 

 has been made to the rough lemon stock in that it appears 

 in many cases to cause the fruit, at least for the first few 

 crops, to be coarse, pithy, and dry. 



It is estimated that in 1913 there were about 20,000 

 acres under citrus cultivation in (_'uba and the Isle of Pines, 

 about 14,000 acres being in grape fruit, .5,000 acres in 

 oranges, and 800 acres in lemons. The citrus chiefly exported 

 from Cuba is grape fruit, oranges being chiefly grown for local 

 consumption, and little attention being now paid to lemons. 

 The lemon orchards are being now budded over to other 

 citrus varieties. The Cubans themselves eat very little 

 grape fruit, but are very fond of what may be termed 

 oversweet, insipid oranges. It has been estimated that the 

 city of Havana alone consumes an average of 100,000 such 

 oranges daily the ye»r round. The citrus growers of Cuba 

 have one great advantage over most of the citrus regions of 

 Florida and California, namely, the total freedom from loss 

 owing to frost. 



The method of cultivation in Cuba varies from no 

 cultivation at all to clean cultivation throughout the year, or 

 mulching, and growing of cover crops. Practical experiments 

 as to the diti'erence between mulching and not having anycover 

 on the ground at all for a period of seven years have shown 

 the great benefit to citrus trees in Cuba of the practice of 

 mulching. Professor E. S. Earle believes that the secret of 

 success of mulching is largely due to the shading of the soil. 

 He is of opinion that in hot weather the sun interferes with 

 the work of the soil bacteria, and so prevents the formation 

 of humus. It is a frequent practice to place vegetable mulch 

 directly beneath the trees, and to cultivate and raise 

 cover crops between the rows. 



The pigeon pea {Cajaims imlici/s) seems to give excellent 

 results when grown between the rows of young trees, not 

 only in shading the soil, but in serving as a partial wind- 

 break. 



