140 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



were surprisingly beautiful, and with the gray ground and green 

 foliage and golden fruit, made a charming sight. Tramways are 

 laid through the groves, on which mules draw the fruit to the pack- 

 ing houses. Adjoining this grove was another, making the whole 

 extent on the river five miles. Most groves are not yet in full 

 beai'ing. There is a "boom " in fruit culture, and much Northern 

 capital will rush in and the business will be overdone and some 

 will lose. Transportation to market is the only problem ; the 

 oranges can be raised for fift}' cents a box gathered from the tree,, 

 but not including pricking. One grower said that if he could be 

 insured fifty cents per box for the fruit he would retire from all 

 labor. 



The Deland grove was established by a gentleman of that name 

 who heard a paper on orange culture read at the meeting of the 

 American Fomological Society at Chicago in 1875, and was thereby 

 induced to go to Florida and purchase and prepare land and plant 

 a grove. This grove of one hundred and fifty acres was afterwards 

 sold to Mr. Stetson of Philadelphia. The older portions are more 

 regular than an}' apple orchard in New England. The trees are as 

 round and symmetrical as if made by machinery, and form as 

 beautiful a sight as can be conceived. Trees whose form has been 

 marred afterwards regain their S3'mmetry. They will not bear 

 neglect but if necessar}- must be fertilized, especially on pine 

 land. Low hummock land is never fertilized. 



The speaker was surprised to find how rapidly the trees grow ; 

 he saw shoots six feet long and rank ; the}' make three separate 

 growths annually, — an early, middle, and late. They would come 

 into bearing in less time than the earliest bearing pear trees ; in 

 fifteen years they would be in fuller bearing than even Bartlett pear 

 trees. The anxiety about freezing is unnecessar}' except in the 

 northern regions ; the frost six years ago has not been repeated^ 

 and as the trees get older they afford mutual protection. 



The groves are cultivated b}' running a light cultivator or Acme 

 harrow through, though this could not be done in an irregular 

 natural grove like the Harris Grove. Many seedlings spring up in 

 the groves, which are carefull}' dug up and planted in nurseries to 

 be grafted. 



The orange is not indigenous in Florida, and was not largely 

 planted until within a few years ; it was planted to some extent by 

 the Indians. The Harris grove indicates that it is entirely at 

 home there. In this grove are live oak trees, some of which are 



