18 
BULLETIN 14385, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Table 13 shows that the caretaker farms, as a general rule, were 
smaller both in total farm acreage and acreage in grove than were the 
owner-operated farms. 
Another difference in the organization of the 
two types was the absence of crops other than fruit on the caretaker 
farms. 
Among the 13 largest farms of the owner-operated type, only 
3 had more than 25 acres of bearing fruit, and of these 3, 1 had 65.8 
acres, | had 78 acres, and 1 had 210 acres. 
farms had more than 30 acres of bearing fruit. 
acres and the other had 51.4 acres. 
Only 2 of the caretaker 
One of the 2 had 40.7 
TABLE 13.—Distribution of land on 100 citrus fruit farms in Polk County, Fla., 
classified by type of management and size of groves, average 1917-1922 
Average distribution of acreage on— 
Owner-operator farms 
Caretaker farms 
Item 
j All 
1 to 12 13 to 24 | 25 acres 1to6 7 to 12 13 acres farm 
acres acres and over acres acres and over 
Number | Number | Number | Number | Number | Number.| Number 
Groves reporting phe sya. ee: 13 12 13 12 36 14 100 
Farm area: 
Tillable land: 
Bearing fruit— Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres Acres 
Grapefruit________-- 25 9.2 18.1 2.0 4.7 12.5 7.6 
Oranges! a aes 4.6 10. 2 35. 0 2. 6 4.7 9.3 9.7 
Tangerines._________ Fa) eal 2.4 5h .4 15, .9 
CO jrrj OS) eh aU 01 ile itm CT elu fii ik | lc ala 4 ee Beye Nl So, Nope See Sale toe ee 12 
Totals tess ae 8.6 20.5 5d: 5 4.7 9.8 23:3 18. 4 
Nonbearing fruit— 
Grapefriit=== 22s. .8 Lei, 5.3 a?) 6 1h U4) 
Orang eS asset ee 27 8.6 10. 2 Tl 1.6 4.3 4.0 
angeriness—- 2222s all .6 Lele oe oe eel ad .9 ge 
Motel: else es 4,2 10.9 15.8 13s 2.6 6.9 5.9 
Corn— 
BArstcchop eee = 3.4 .8 Se 4 soe ee A ea Se Eb 1.0 
Second-crop_—— == =~ wt .9 DESDE ar ae A Nie ele a .3 
Interplanted _--___-- wl 0 Tig) ape eee ar NIN erhsoeee to See 3 «2 
Hay— 
Mirsticropis_222)_ 22 eo .4 4G) | See ed ea Ve vie le oie 1,2 
Second (crops = 2.8 6.9 1 SS Se a ae Le so hee at 2.6 
Interplanted_______- : 1.0 250 OD eee es be ee ew ee at ele a aes 1.0 
PaStUre bse Ba lsu ree By il 17, 3.3 ial Ne I ik 3} 1.6 
Other crops— 
Birsticropsseesseeae 1.4 55) 2.0 oe) (ee eeean se Spee 2 25 
Second:crop-__-.—-- 9 .9 0 (at Peeper Sate ee ker Ca na «6 
Interplanted_______- 2.8 .8 1s aa eM Rad te ee [adie .4 
Total tillable___- 21.0 34. 8 80. 6 6.3 13.6 Biers 27.6 
Woo dlan Gia aie oe gh 7 6.3 26. 5 11s) IEG 18. 4 9.7 
IWiaSb@ seta pera ee 4.6 | 253 15.1 8 i Il 2.9 3.7 
Total farm area_.________- 39.3 43. 4 | 122. 2 8.1 Wi? 53. 0 41.0 
1 Average for 4 years. 
NUMBER OF TREES TO TEE ACRE 
One of the very important considerations in the organization of a 
grove lies in the number of trees to be planted per acre. 
A classifica- 
tion of groves by blocks according to the number of trees per acre is 
shown in Table 14. The space which the trees will occupy at maturity 
is often the gauge for the distances to be left between trees at the time 
of setting. Probably a majority of the groves planted in recent years 
have less than 70 trees per acre. Many of the older and thickly 
