BULLETIjSr 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



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either went north to engage in other enterprises or sought locations for their new groves 

 farther south, where conditions were considered safer. Since many of the older groves 

 haA'e been reestablished, the industry has become widely scattered over the State. 

 Plantings now extend in a narrow fi-inge along the east coast, from St. Jolin County on 

 the north to below ]\Iiami, in Dade County, and along the west or Gulf coast they reach 

 from Citrus County almost to the southern boimdary of Lee County. Extensive plant- 

 ings extend diagonally across the State from Volusia County on the east to Hillsboro, 

 Manatee, De Soto, and Lee Coimties on the west, including large sections of'Brevard, 

 Orange, Lake, Sumter, Hernando, Pasco, and Polk Counties, in addition to those 

 already mentioned. Sections in Marion, Alachua, Citrus, and Osceola Counties also 

 are devoted to citrus fruits. Figure 1 shows a map of the State with the location of the 



citrus plantings indicated 

 by shading. 



The difficulties of han- 

 dling and marketing crops 

 of fruit produced in groves 

 scattered over so wide a ter- 

 ritory are manifestly greater 

 than where the plantations 

 are confined to a more re- 

 stricted territory. Where 

 groves are located compara- 

 tively close together, as was 

 the case in many of the 

 older citrus districts of 

 Florida, a neighborhood 

 competition is stimulated, 

 especially in the produc- 

 tion of clean, bright fruit of 

 fine texture. There has 

 probably never been a re- 

 gion where so many varie- 

 ties of oranges have been 

 developed and tested as in 

 what, before the freeze, 

 were the old neighborhood 

 centers of production, or 

 where more strenuous ef- 

 forts have been made to pro- 

 duce fruit of fine texture 

 and flavor. Moreover, a 

 special effort was made to pack the fruit in an attractive manner and to have it reach 

 the market without decay. At present, with the groves so widely scattered through- 

 out the State, there is much less personal contact between growers, and the old neigh- 

 borhood competition in the production of fancy fruit has largely disappeared. 

 Although the industry has become better organized during the last few years, it is 

 extremely difficult to make effective any association which represents so many 

 diverse interests and whose members are so widely scattered. This situation has 

 proved a great barrier to the introduction of better handling and marketing methods. 



HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CITRUS INDUSTRY. 



It is believed that the orange was originally introduced into Florida by the Span- 

 iards, who imported a few sour oranges and gave some of the fruits to the Indians. The 

 seeds of these fruits, being distributed from village to village and finding congenial 



Fig. 1. — Map of Florida, witli the location of tlie principal citrus 

 plantings indicated by shading. 



