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_/-• T^ADSEEN/ JT T? J" — ■NAS.^uk. 
2 BULLETIX 63, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
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 
have been reestablished, the industry has become widely scattered over the State. 
Plantings now extend in a narrow fringe along the east coast, from St. John County on 
the north to below Miami, in Dade County, and along the west or Gulf coast they reach 
from Citrus County almost to the southern boundary of Lee County. Extensive plant- 
ings extend diagonally across the State from Volusia County on the east to Hillsboro, 
Manatee, De Soto, and Lee Counties 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 
Fig. 1. — Map of Florida, with the location of the principal citrus 
plantings indicated by shading. 
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 
