PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



fHE writer for several years suffered greatly for 

 want of some reliable advice on Orange Cul- 

 ture. Could he have had such instructions as the 

 following pages contain he might have hastened 

 forward to profitable bearing by several years an 

 orange grove now crowning his labors with suc- 

 cess. He could have done this with half the 

 amount of money expended by him in experiment- 

 ing, in following unreliable advice, and in doing 

 what at the time seemed wisest. It is to save others 

 such useless expenditures and to help forward the 

 best material interests of Florida that he has un- 

 dertaken to give to the public the result of his ex- 

 perience and observation on ORANGE CULTURE IN 

 FLORIDA. 



Nor has he undertaken this without the earnest 

 solicitation of many who are engaged in orange 

 growing, and have witnessed his success and dis- 

 cussed with him. his plans. 



The writer has not only had ten years of actual 

 experience in orange growing, but he has had be- 

 fore him a wide field for observing the efforts of 

 others engaged in this business. He has had 

 throughout his life a passion for horticulture ; in 



