FRUIT CULTURE IN AMERICA 321 



bogs furnished all that were needed ; but now there are thousands of acres of 

 cultivated cranberry marshes. It is the business of specialists to own, plant, and 

 care for them throughout. Dams are built about the marshes or fields, which 

 may be flooded at will to prevent frosts and kill insects. More than 1,000,000 

 bushels are marketed every year, and the business is extending. There are 

 many named varieties, called Bell, Bugle, &c., which were selected from the 

 wild stock. 



Currants have been successfully grown in gardens from the time of the 

 earliest settlements until the present time. Nearly all the varieties are from 

 European species, but many of the best are grown from seed in this 

 country. The cooler or more northern part of the country is by far the best 

 for the currant, for in hot and dry regions its culture has either been abandoned 

 or is attended with difficulties. Where it is successful there are plantations of 

 from ID to 50 acres each. The red varieties, such as Fay, Victoria, Cherry, 

 Red Dutch, and Wilder are mostly grown, but there are a few of the white 

 and black varieties cultivated in a small way. Americans do not like the black 

 currants. 



Other Berries. — There are several other berries of minor importance 

 grown, such as the Juneberry, Huckleberry, Blueberry, &c., but, as yet, their 

 wild fruits are sufficient to meet the demand. 



CITRUS FRUITS 



Since the introduction of the orange, lemon, and lime by the Spaniards in 

 Florida in their search for gold nearly four hundred years ago, and the advent 

 of the Catholic Fathers in California at a later period up to within the last 

 forty years, only a few scattered trees bore fruit. About i860 there was a 

 little interest shown in their culture in Florida, Louisiana, and California. The 

 immense production and trade in American-grown citrus fruits have developed 

 since that time. 



The Orange was first grown in extensive orchards on the Mississippi delta 

 below New Orleans, but the repeated frosts in that region have damaged, the 

 trees so seriously that the growers are badly discouraged. The fruit there is of 

 good quality, but most of the trees are seedlings. After the Civil War, about 

 1865, many of the soldiers from the northern States settled in Florida, and 

 began budding the wild groves of orange trees there, which had grown up' 

 and spread from the few trees planted by the Spaniards hundreds of years 

 before, with the best varieties to be found. Choice varieties were also 

 brought from the Mediterranean countries and from Japan, China, and the 

 East Indies. Extensive orchards were planted and cultivated in the best 

 possible way. Orange-growing became the chief industry of Florida, for before 

 the severe frost of 1895, 5,000,000 bushel boxes of fruit were shipped. Many 

 of the orchards were killed to the ground at that time, but most of them 

 have grown up since. In Southern Florida the trees were injured slightly or 

 not at all. Now the production is approaching its former proportions. In 



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