338 Transactions of the American Institute. 



roots ; stirring with a light harrow is better. Keep the trees mulched 

 with cane-tops or grass. Many place a bushel of oyster-shells around 

 the foot of each tree, every two or three years. The tree is an ever- 

 green, and may be transplanted at any time, regardless of the moon's 

 phases. Experienced nurserymen will secure a show of fruit in 

 eighteen months or two years. A safe rule is never to touch a sweet 

 tree with the pruning-knife. Plant a seed, feed it, and let it alone, 

 says Mr. McDonald, and the tree will assume a more perfect and 

 well-balanced shape than any meddler can give it. The sweet seedling- 

 will bear in six or seven years, and live many centuries, bearing 

 thousands of oranges every year. The orange grove has three 

 enemies — lazy owners, the " scale insect," or coccus hisperidum, and 

 frost. The first ought to die, the second may be routed by nourishing 

 and cultivating the grove, and the third can be avoided by going far 

 enough south. 



There is much wild speculation upon the profits of orange cul- 

 ture. Under favorable circumstances, the yield is very great. 

 I have seen trees laden with from 2,000 to 5,000 oranges ; while 

 at Mellonville stands an old tree which has borne its 10,000 

 oranges. It is safe to assume 2,000 oranges as a fair average for a 

 grove fifteen years old. These are worth, upon the tree, the buyer 

 to pick them, two cents each, or forty dollars per tree. This is equal 

 to $4,000 per acre. But assuming that, for some cause, the product 

 is but half that, what other crop affords so great and so reliable a 

 profit ? Opposite Pilatka, stands Mr. Hart's grove of 500 trees, of, 

 as yet, only medium size. I have seen the statement in print, that 

 his branges, in 1870, brought him $17,000, having sold over 400,000 

 oranges at prices ranging from three to six cents. I saw the grove 

 one month since, and it was in most admirable condition. Orange 

 culture in Florida is yet in its infancy, and not enough are grown to 

 supply the home demand so suddenly created by the influx of northern 

 people, and the demand in our more southern cities. Hence, none 

 find their way to New York.' Where the Indian river, or Smyrna 

 oranges, as those on the eastern coast are called, are known, they 

 always command double the price of the Sicily orange, and I have 

 seen them sold in Atlanta, Ga., side by side, the former at one dollar, 

 and the latter at only forty cents per dozen. For any one, especially 

 an invalid, desiring a pleasant, profitable and healthful employment, 

 in the most salubrious of all climates, where he can, 'with impunity, 

 labor in the open air every day in the year, there is nothing more 

 satisfactory than orange growing on the eastern coast of Florida, and 



