18 



THE ORANGE; 



the trees were planted, thus making the 

 trees now actually fifteen years old. They 

 have been bearing about six or seven 

 years. It is from this six acres that Mr. 

 Twogood expects to harvest 2000 boxes of 

 oranges. He judges his crop this year 

 from actual yields in previous years. He 

 lias, however, about sixty budded trees, 

 now bearing lightly, in addition to the 450 

 seedlings, and possibly it may require a 

 portion of this fruit to make up his esti- 

 mate. He also lias ten acres of budded 

 orange trees that are just beginning to 

 show fruit. 



"Ho has obtained $3 per box, with the ex- 

 ception of one year two years ago when 

 on account of the freeze he got only $2.25 

 per box. If he gets $l per box this year, 

 that will be $1000 per acre, which will pay 

 ten per cent on an investment of $10,000 

 per acre, or something less afier deduct- 

 ing running expenses. 



"Regarding the cost of caring for a 

 place, that depends upon circumstances. 

 If a man lias a five-acre tr.u-t, it costs him 

 more to take care of it than it does if he 

 has twenty or forty acres. A man can 

 hire all the work done in an orange or- 

 chard for 30 per acre a j-ear, but in addi- 

 tion to this work he must give a certain 

 amount of personal care and attention not 

 called for in the $30 per acre contract. If 

 he expects to hire all the work done, but 

 to supervise it in person, and do a little 

 himself occasionally, $30 per acre ought to 

 keep an orchard in good shape for one 

 year. 



" With this year's crop Mr. Twogood 



will have taken about $12,000 worth of 

 fruit from his six acres in twelve years 

 since planting all of which, of course, 

 has been within the last six years. Tho 

 orchard has cost him something like the 

 following figures: 



*Six acres of land at $2"i per acre $ 150 



Four hundred and fifty trees at $1 each 450 



Twelve years of care at $30 per acre a year. . 2,160 

 luterest oil amount at 10 per cent for six yrs. 1 656 



Total investment .$ 4,416 



Total receipts 12,000 



$ 7,iB4 



"The present value of property each 

 one can estimate for himself. Can Mr. 

 Twngood afford to sell that orchard for 

 *f>,000 per acre ?" 



As the market goes, Mr. Twogood does 

 not realize $3 per box for his fruit; but, at 

 half that price, provided the crop holds up 

 to estimate, his returns will be $500 an 

 acre. 



If, in the evolution of the orange indus- 

 try, the time shall come when a grove in 

 full bearing yields only $100 an acre net, 

 the profit ought still to satisfy a man of 

 moderate ambition. With ten acres in 

 trees, yielding a revenue of $1,000 a year, 

 and the hundred and one accessories and 

 economies of country life, a man ought to 

 be able to live and support a family. Ho 

 may enjoy not only the substantial com- 

 forts, but many of the elegancies of life. 

 This is an independence. 



*Iu order to avoid a false impression, I should 

 say that such land is no longer to be had in River- 

 side at $25 an acre, but is worth, unimproved, teu 

 times that figure. 



CHAPTER XI. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THK ORANGE. 



Scientists tell us that the orange is a 

 berry. The pulp, tho separating mem- 

 branes and the skin are but a thickening 

 of the pericarp or seed vessel . 



In this respect the orange resembldfe the 

 grape (also a berry) and is totally different 

 from the apple, in which all of the parts 

 of the flower calyx, corolla, stamens and 



pistil are wrought into the fruit. The 

 natural office of the orange, then, is to 

 bear seed. 



Before a thousand years of evolution 

 made the orange what we know it today, 

 the tree bore beans or at least produced 

 its seed in pods clustered together at the 

 end of a stem. If you will peel an orange 



