76 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



HOW TO CULTIVATE. 



Under this heading we come to the most vexed question 

 among the many that perplex the orange grower. Doubt- 

 less twenty years ago, before orange culture became an es- 

 tablished industry, the few men who counted a small num- 

 ber of these trees among their possessions deemed that 

 they knew all about their culture. But nowadays the 

 orange grower is feign to confess that there is much yet to 

 learn in his business, that time and experience are still 

 required before the best results can be certainly obtained. 



One lesson at least has been brought home to every 

 orange grower, and it is one that all new-comers should 

 heed, since second-hand experience is cheaper than that 

 paid for out of one's own pocket, and this is, that when an 

 orange grove is the Alpha and Omega, the sinew and back- 

 bone of a Florida home, it must be treated as such. 



Who would think of embarking in any commercial bus- 

 iness, stocking one's store, for instance, and then going off 

 here and there, leaving the business to take care of itself, 

 and the stock at the mercy of thieves ? Yet such a course 

 would be quite as sensible as that pursued by those who 

 set out an orange grove and then leave it uncared for, 

 save, perhaps, by a semi-occasional plowing, which is given 

 more in the interest of corn, cow-peas, or some such crop 

 planted among the trees, than in that of the latter them- 

 selves. 



Those who have bought their experience personally have 

 waked up by and by to the fact that all the time spent in 

 waiting for the trees to take a start, while being treated in 

 this shabby manner, is just so much time lost. 



