390 



FLOKHJLILTURE 



FLORIDA 



proportionally greater. As a result of the increasing <le- 

 sire for tiowers, there have been developeil methods of 

 handling them which prior to 1870 were unknown. Tlie 

 best growers have found it necessar}'" to specialize in 

 order to keep pace with the demands of the trade tor tlie 

 highest grade of flowers, hence we have specialists in 

 rose-growing, carnation-growing, violet-growing, et(;. 

 The immense number of tiowers produced required 

 special methods for handling, and therefore there have 

 been developed wholesale commission liouses, retail 

 stores, exchanges, auction sales, and other arrangements 

 for quickly disposing of stock. See Cnt-Flowers. 



As already pointed out, the industry has assumed the 

 most importance near large cities, owing to the great 

 demand in such places for both plants and flowers. The 

 cities which now lead in the handling of stock of this 

 kind are New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. 

 The greatest amount of glass devoted to Floriculture is 

 found in New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey, in the order named. There are now probably 

 not less than nine or ten thousand floral establishments 

 in the United States, representing a money value of 

 from twenty-two to twenty-three million dollars, and 

 giving employment to not less than fifteen thousand 

 people. The annual output from these establishments, 

 considered from the retailer's standpoint, is in the 

 neighborhood of twenty-five million dollars. Of this 

 amount from twelve to fourteen millions are annually 

 spent for flowers and the remaining ten or twelve mil- 

 lions for plants. 



The rose is the most important cxit-flower grown, and 

 there are not less than six million dollars' wortii sold 

 every year in this country. This means an annual pr<t- 

 duction of fully one hundred million flowers. The car- 

 nation is the second flower in importance. It is esti- 

 mated that there is sold annually fully four million 

 dollars' worth of this flower, representing a j)roductiou 

 of not less than one hundred million flowers. The viu- 

 let is third, with a production of seventy-flve million 

 flowers, valued at seven hundred and fifty thousand dol- 

 lars. Chrysanthemums are only a part-year crop, but 

 they represent a value of half a million dollars. Of mis- 

 cellaneous flowers, such as lilies, hyacinths, tulips, or- 

 chids, etc., there are proliably between two and three 

 million dollars' worth sold annually. The varieties of 

 roses, carnations and chrysanthemums grown for flow- 

 ers are constantly changing, but the varieties of violets 

 have changed but little in twenty 3'ears. 



The number of plants sold, includingpalms, ferns and 

 bedding stock of all kinds, will probably exceed one hun- 

 dred millions, estimating that the average sized pot for 

 the country as a whole is 3 inches, and the average 

 price 10 cents per pot. 



To properly conduct the fine retail establishments iu 

 our cities, a large force of employes is required. These 

 establishments are carried on with every attention to 

 methods for attracting and holding trade. The stores 

 are models of elegance, and their methods of handling 

 the crops, such as having special decorators, show win- 

 dows, fine delivery wagons, messenger boys, etc., makes 

 the business expensive. 



As a rule, florists are such >)usy people that few of 

 them have time to write books on their specialties, 

 consequently the works on this indifstry can be coiuited 

 on the fingers of one hand. The first work of inipor- 

 tance was Peter Henderson's "Practical Floriculture." 

 which was issued in 1807. New editions of this were 

 issued from time to time, but nothing further was pub- 

 lished until 189.'{, when M. A. Hunt's "How to Grow *.'ut- 

 Plowers" appeared. More recently we have Taft's "(Treeii- 

 house Management," which covers the wljole field nf 

 plant-growing under glass, and also the " Florists' Man- 

 ual," by William Scott. j.^ /p q ^^^^ ^.^^^^ ^^, 



FLORIDA HORTICULTTTEE. Fig. Si>4. The history 

 of Horticulture in Florida drites from the earliest settle- 

 ments, and even prior to that period tlie aborigines carried 

 on a desultory plant growdng. The peculiarity of tlie sdil, 

 however, prohibited the extension of this work exci'|.t 

 in a few isolated places. It was necessary to introduce 

 commercial fertilizers before Horticulture could make 

 rapid progress in this stutc Up to the time of commer- 

 cial fertilizers, it was thought that the hammocks were 



the only places capable of raising fruit, the rest of tho 

 arable land being so sandy and wanting in plant-food 

 that remunerative crops could not be grown on it ex- 

 cepting after it had been "cow-penned." 



Such a soil, containing often over 90 per cent sand 

 and insoluble matter, at first sight would seem to be 

 absolutely worthless for Horticultural purposes, but 

 with the advent of the new Horticulture it becomes the 

 ideal soil. We have here a lodgment for plants iu 

 which occurs no material that will prove deleterious to 

 the crop, and all we have to do is to add to it the ma- 

 terial that will cause the plant to grow to the necessary 

 size and produce fruit of the desired quality. Beautiful 

 thin-skinned oranges grow only on land properly ferti- 

 lized and not on soil impregnated with great quantities 

 of organic nitrogen, i.e., fertile lands. 



Circumscribed Areas. — In building up of the lanii 

 from the ocean bed, referring especially to peninsular 

 Florida, the wind and waves have sorted the particles 

 to some extent and have elevated various portions more 

 than others. The separation of the larger particles of 

 sand from the finer, with a porous substratum, has 

 produced what is called a"scrub." The railroad surveys 

 indicate that the maxim elevation in peninsular Florida 

 is about 150 feet. Thus it happens that, although this 

 land is thirsty, it is rarely or never spent of its capillary 

 moisture. The areas of scrubs may vary in size from ;i- 

 few acres or even less to many thousands, but they an- 

 always sharply defined, having a specialized flora. The 

 soil in a hammock is of a finer texture and is not infrc- 

 ([uently underlaid by clay. It often occurs that land of 

 this texture is only a few feet above sea level, or it may 

 be elevated and rolling, but is always covered with a good 

 growth of hard wood or of cabbage palmetto, or botb. 

 This class of land has long been desirable for Horticultu- 

 ral purposes, and is still regarded as valuable; these re- 

 gions are more or less isolated, and vary in extent. Such 

 land usually contains sufficient fertility to raise several 

 crops of vegetables. Plat-woods land is usually level, 

 varying in fertility from 90 per cent of sand and insoluble 

 matter to that which will produce a crop of tomatoes. 

 This class of land comprises about nine-tenths of the 

 land of the Peninsula. With proper treatment it raises 

 good crops and is capaljle of remarkable improvement. 

 The characteristic plant of this land is the long-leaved 

 pine (PiiiKS palnstfis) . 



Horticultural Regions. — The foregoing discussion 

 relates to the state independent of latitude and climate. 

 The state is also divided into four regions, according fo 

 climate and latitutle: (1) western Florida, that portion 

 of the state lying west of the Aucilla river; (2) east- 

 ern Florida, that portion of the state lying between 

 the Aucilla river and a line drawn from the moTith of 

 the St. -Tohn's river to Cedar Keys; (3) central Florida, 

 that portion of the state lying between easteim Florida 

 and southern Florida; (-4) southern Florida, — includinLr 

 the counties of Brevard, Dade, Monroe, Lee, DeSoto 

 and Manatee. 



Citrous Fruits develop best on hammock and flat- 

 woods land, preferring the cabbage palmetto hammocks 

 or a hammock containing a mixture of palmetto and 

 hard wood. The lime {Gilrii,^ M'^iUeus var. ) alone dofs 

 well on the shell and coquina lauds of southern Florida. 

 The lemon Is the best stock for high flat-woods land. 

 For western Florida the Satsnma orange is the best va- 

 riety. For eastern Florida varieties that mature their 

 fruit before Christmas maybe planted. In central Flor- 

 ida all the varieties of Citrus do well, especially toward 

 the south and in jirotecte*! hM-;dities. The followini; 

 sweet oranges do especially well iu southern Florida: 

 Centennial, DuRoi, Exquisite, Hart'^^ Late, Higley's 

 Late, Homosassa, Jafi'a, Madam Viuos, I\Iajorca, Mal- 

 tese Oval, Nonpareil, Pars(ni P>rown, Pineapple and 

 Thorpe. Of the Mandarin .i;-ronp, — China, Cleopatra, 

 Dancy's Tangerine, -la]iau 'Pjingerine a.nd King. Of the 

 Bitter Orange group,- Phillii.s Bitter Sweet. Of the 

 Pomelos, — Aurantium, Hart, Josselyn, Seedless and 

 Walter. Of the Kin-Kans, — Marunii and Nagami. Of 

 the Citron group, — Lyman, Lemon and Orange. Of 

 Shaddocks,- Blood, "Forbidden Fruit" and Mammoth. 



Peaches grow iu all sections, preferring hammock or 

 rolling flat-woods huid i>r even level tlat-woods land if 

 perfectly drained, but the varieties best adapted to 



