CHANGES. 431 



The trees bear annually, come into bearing at four or 

 five years from bud or graft, and continue to improve from 

 year to year for a long period. They live to a great age 

 under favorable circumstances trees are recorded some 

 400 years old. 



Previous to the extraordinary frost of 1835, there were 

 single trees at St. Augustine that yielded annually about 

 40,000 oranges. 



This, at the average price in the grove, two cents, 

 would be $800. A handsome income from one tree ! The 

 oldest groves now in Florida are twenty-five to thirty 

 years old. The orange flourishes best in a rich calcareous 

 soil. The most thrifty and fruitful plantations we saw, 

 were on shell lands, which occur frequently in Florida a 

 dark, rich loam mixed with small shells. In the absence 

 of shells, lime will no doubt be beneficial. The propaga- 

 tion is similar to other fruit-trees. 



Stocks for grafting are either procured by raising seed- 

 lings of the Bitter or Wild Orange, which can be worked 

 at the age of one or two years from seed ; or plants may 

 in some places be procured from the woods. In many lo- 

 calities in Florida, the Wild Orange abounds in the woods, 

 and seems to be as much at home as though it were indi- 

 genous. The trees are planted in groves at twenty to 

 thirty feet apart. It takes ten or twelve years to bring 

 the trees to a really remunerative condition. 



After the fourth or fifth year the crop will probably pay 

 for cultivation. 



VARIETIES. 



There are a great many varieties in cultivation, intro- 

 duced from China, Spain, and other orange-growing coun- 

 tries, but that grown in Florida, which was no doubt in- 

 troduced by the Spaniards, has no superior. It is known 

 as the 



