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UNIVERSITY } 



FLORIDA FRUITS 



CHAPTER I. 



RISE AND PROGRESS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 



Throughout the length and breadth of the horticultural 1 

 world there is at this moment, and will be for years to 

 come, no one tree or fruit possessing so all-absorbing an 

 interest as the far-famed, luscious orange. And good rea- 

 son there is for this pre-eminence of the "golden apple," 

 as we shall presently see its fame is not built upon a 

 sandy foundation, but upon a gold-bearing rock, and as 

 such it shall stand forevermore. 



An orange grove is at all times intrinsically beautiful, 

 whether laden down with its yellow fruit glistening amid 

 the dark green foliage, or standing clothed in the glossy 

 glory of the latter alone, or dotted all over with its starry 

 white blossoms, and filling the balmy air with their sweet 

 breath. 



Most truly "a thing of beauty and a joy forever" is an 

 orange grove to its happy possessor, and in using the word 

 " forever," we do so advisably, for no one who owns a grove 

 at the present day will live to see its decay, or the failure 

 of one jot or tittle of its usefulness, rather the contrary. 



We remember reading a rather sarcastic story of some 

 young girls, who, to settle a disputed point, applied to a 

 maiden lady of eighty years with the question : 



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