10 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



" How old must a woman be before she gives up all hope 

 of getting married?" 



The old lady (so the story runs) shook her head, and 

 made reply : 



"Girls, you must ask some one older than I am." So 

 with the orange tree. 



At Cordova, that far-famed seat of ancient Moorish 

 splendor and luxury, there are still remaining a number 

 of monster orange trees, known to be seven hundred years 

 old; their trunks are partly hollow, their bark cracked 

 and rugged, and yet each year these doughty old giants 

 yield up their seven and ten thousands of large, luscious 

 golden balls, as though yet in the hey-day of their youth ; 

 and who knows? perhaps they are! Certainly, as yet, 

 they show no intention of dying of old age, nor of retiring 

 on half pay, nor of shirking the active business of their 

 lives, and doubtless if one versed in their native tongue 

 were to say to them : 



"How old must an orange tree be before it ceases to 

 bear?" they would shake their great, bushy heads and 

 reply: 



" You must ask older trees than we are." 



Even in England, at Hampton Court, where the tree is 

 raised only as a curiosity, and is carefully sheltered under 

 glass, there are several, the register of whose birth bears 

 date of over three hundred years ago. 



^ "" So you see it is no rash assertion, this of ours, that no 

 orange grove owner will live to see his trees cease to yield 

 him an income, and a good one too, if he but treats them 

 with moderate kindness, unless, indeed, some extraordinary 

 extraneous cause supervenes to destroy them, such as fire 

 or flood, which may be reckoned as among the impossibil- 

 ^ities. 



Before referring in detail to the mode of culture pur- 



