CHAPTER VIIL 



HOW TO CULTIVATE. 



Under this heading we come to the most vexed question 

 among the many that perplex the orange grower. Doubtless 

 twenty years ago, before orange culture became an estab- 

 lished industry, the few men who counted a small number 

 of thick trees among their possessions, deemed that they knew 

 all about their culture. 



But now-a-days the orange grower is fain to confess that 

 there is much yet to learn in his business, and that time and' 

 experience are still required before the best results can be cer- 

 tainly obtained. 



One lesson, at least, has been brought home to every orange 

 grower, and it is one that all new-comers should heed, since 

 second-hand experience is cheaper than that paid for out of one's 

 own pocket, and this is, that when an orange grove is the Alpha 

 and Omega, the sinew and back-bone, of a Florida home, it must 

 be treated as such. 



Who would think of embarking in any commercial business, 

 stocking one's store, for instance, and then going off here and 

 there, leaving the business to take care of itself and the stock at 

 the mercy of thieves ? 



Yet such a course would be quite as sensible as that pur- 

 sued by those who set out an orange grove, and then leave it 

 uncared for, save, perhaps, by a semi-occasional plowing ; which 

 is given more in the interest of corn, cow-peas, or some such 

 crop planted among the trees, than in that of the latter them- 

 selves. 



Those who have bought their experience personally have 

 waked up by-and-by to the fact that all the time spent in wait- 

 ing for the trees to take a start while being treated in this shabby 

 manner, is just so much time lost. 

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