FLORIDA ORANGE CROPS. 



1884-85 . 

 1885-86 . 

 1886-87 . 



1890-91 ... 

 1891-Q2 ... 

 1892-93... 

 1893-94 . . . 

 1894-95... 

 1895-96... 

 1896-97 . . . 

 1897-98... 

 1898-99 ... 

 1899-1900 . 

 1900-1901 . 



Boxes 



600.000 

 900,000 



.3,761.843 

 .3,400,000 

 .5,055,367 

 .6,000,000 

 . 100,000 

 . 250,000 

 . 216,579 

 . 225,000 



1,000,000 (Est.) 



Many trrnx-,-, m lir;ili-- .,,iriiN ;iimI li-iiliM'.'inT have 



been liriMiL^ni m ' . : ' ! i ' , U<- trunks 



witli farth il II i:i.jury by 



frost, iin.l il liL.i.M r ■' -I. - .'I h - ..,;ci.-rs like 



those butwui-u loiuaud l.-.,-.u rt.n- tu ...icui. 111. -u groves. 



with others uewly planted, would guiu sutliciunt ageand 



size to defy the ordinary frosts and make this region 



again productive. Many acre.s have recently been 



shedded over with slats or canvas — usually removed in 



summer — and, thus pro- 



.^^gStH^mStt^ tected from the cold, are 



(jii I -«i« promising large returns on 



i .«.i\ I the heavy investment re- 



I I'i'.t' quired to build the sheds 



I y, ! -fromJGOO to__$l,OOCI_per 



jj, PiMMk 



^ ^ the coldest nights, either 



with open wood fires or 



stoves burning coke or 



The most < 



- shedding operations are 



1555. Movable shed to protect t^ose of John B. Stetson, 



an Orange tree from cold. <,f jj^,^^^^ ,„,^„ ^^^ 3, 



t has a board top and cloth ^^^es covered, various sys- 



^no^ed, Il!ow?;t"thrtree''' fuU ten.s of protection bei^g 



light. employed on different 



plots. 



The Orange has been grown on the most varied soils 



in Florida, but successful groves have been mainly on 



"high hammock" and "high pine," and the greatest 



profit, as a rule, has been from the hammock groves, 



where seedling trees came into bearing much earlier 



than on pine-land, and both seedling and budded trees 



produce more abuiuhait crops. 



jected to grcMi. ■ ■ 1 I ihun those of Florida, b-jt 



suffer comparv ; inuage from it, since the 



winters are iihui i.iti i-riih .-ool and dry and the trees 

 are consequently dormant, while the usual warmth of a 

 Florida winter keeps vegetation constantly in more or 

 less active growth, and hence more sensitive to sudden 



frosts, 

 and mulberry 

 far north as ( ' 

 ground. Tli. 

 at all, durin.- 



ISOt-.'ii 



observation 



nly Orange trees but peach 

 Vistaria vines— all hardy as 

 Tinant- were frozen to the 

 lure has changed little, if 

 I of mild and frosty cycles 

 •f maximum and minimum 

 Mount Dora, Fla., for six 



comparatively frostless years prior to 1886 was half a 

 degree F. colder than the mean of six years of injurious 

 frosts subsequent to ISSIj. 



The OranRO tree is w lt..^- i. i -i. r, :ni.| in tlir -in,]'. 

 soils best adapted to ii - ,■ : ; ! , i , - , ■: 



vided the amni. 



>uch as cottonseed-meal 



jiinock land, such, for ex- 

 groves near the Manatee 

 r to give more than 10 

 ■ a year, even to the oldest 

 i liability to produce dis- 

 )f potash is used, even 



the high pine-land at Deland, profit has been found in 

 applications of 80 pounds to the tree, or 2 tons to the 

 acre, but the average amount used by successful grow- 

 ers is 'JO to ."^n pounds to the tree of special brands, 



costiiiL; fi-iii -:■" I" :-::7 (.or ton. 



So loll ' - I I not unduly depleted of humus, 



fnijin III in important factor in producing 



was phini-! iiii'i l,"l iMTv diiv .-y.-.-i.t Sundays for 



)' rated for its 

 n.l bore four 

 \pected from 



r Florida are 

 are composed 

 ;a and carried 

 The proces 



5oi7s. — The surface soils of peninsuli 

 almost wholly of subaerial origin- that is, 

 of particles cast up by the waves of the si 

 to their prosoiit posiiions by the wind. 



may be oli-orviil 

 the coast, loroxa 

 the bea.li . ii.U 

 trees. At such 

 angle of 45 doicro 

 the sea on a dry 

 be seen blowin:,' 

 steep aiiLtlo, i;r: 



thicket in :, III I 



The tni . ■ 1 i 

 the blouii 



l>resent day in some places on 

 lore a gentle slope inland from 

 •kft of underbrush and small 

 i)o- ■<^i>Y,^ abruj^ly ends at an 



\'i do 



the 



■ r ■'. iini sometimes Ifj feet in depth. 

 I ni a wind-break and thus check 

 I towards the sea when a land 

 . A^ nimht be expected, the elevations 

 in peninsular Florida .in- small, the highest point of the 

 peninsula being but 3U0 feet above the sea-level. 



The result of long ages of wind action on a soil com- 

 posed wholly of fine particles has been to assort these 

 articles according to weight and size and other physi- 

 cal characteristics into innumerable patches, small and 

 great, each of which has its own peculiarities in its re- 

 action upon the vegetation which it bears. This makes 

 the soil capabilities of any tract of land a bewildering 

 puzzle to tlio iio\v<'oinor, ami tin- only certain clue to its 

 solution i^ found in tlm .■Inirartor of tlio vegetation al- 



with this 

 igh ham- 

 ' pine, or 

 rids. Any 



natural ijrowtli. tin- >oi|s am .•l:,~-ii 



mock and low hai 1 , lii li ; 



flatwoods, prairii -, ,1 



land hearing an n I Iwood trees- 

 live-oaks, hickorn - , II. I . , I iiiiiiiofk land, 



and if not less than .; ..I 4 li. ; a!- . r i^ -niiable 



for Orange culture. The larger a: . . ii.. iiard- 



wood growth the better the Oran-. . n it. 



An elevation of 8-10 feet above h n r . I. In to 



lower hammock. The word hamnioik 1 ili. ali.inginal 

 Indian name for hardwood forest. 



"High pine" land is characterized by the predominant 

 growth of the long-leaved or yellow pine. This is also 



suitable for Orange culture; the larger the pines the 

 better the land. If the pines are intermixed with willow- 

 oaks and an occasional hickory and cabbage palmetto, 

 the land is sometimes called half-hammock, and such 

 land is more fertile than ordinary pine land. Blackjack 

 oaks, on the contrary, are an Indication of jjoverty of 



