SELECTING A LOCATION. 49 



roots containing an unusually large per cent. But 

 ' ' what is fun' ' and life to the palmetto is death to 

 the orange, as well as to the pockets of hundreds of 

 those who have attempted in vain to grow oranges 

 on lands underlaid with " hard-pan/' If your 

 land has on it an abundance of saw palmetto with 

 roots on the surface, do not select that location for 

 an orange grove until you have dug a few feet be- 

 . low the surface in search of ' * hard-pan. ' ' If you 

 wish to ascertain the depth of natural drainage, re- 

 visit the hole twenty-four hours after it is dug, and 

 measure the distance from the top of the water to 

 the surface of the ground. The distance is the 

 depth of the natural drainage of the soil. 



The orange will grow in a variety of soils in 

 clayey, sandy, shelly, or loamy soils ; in ham- 

 mocks black or gray ; on pine lands or black-jack 

 ridges. It does well on soil underlaid with clay or 

 sand. It will even do well on a light soil underlaid 

 with white sand if fertilizers are annually applied. 

 But whoever wishes to plant an orange grove should 

 be careful to select the best available soil. Perhaps 

 the poorest soil suitable for orange-growing is that 

 underlaid with a white sand, as such a soil leaches 

 very readily the soluble manure. Perhaps the best 

 soil is found in our dark gray hammock with deep 

 soil underlaid with a yellow clay or yellow sand 

 subsoil. The natural growth should be tall and 

 large, with an abundance of live oak and hickory, 

 as such a growth would indicate an abundance of 



