SOIL SURVEY OF THE OCALA AREA, FLORIDA. 
2°3 
cations, especially where the groves are isolated from other groves. 
However, insect pests and diseases have to be fought and controlled 
by spraying. The Pineapple orange is one of the favorite varieties. 
The King and Harts Tardiff are also important varieties. Some 
grapefruit and tangerines and a few Satsuma oranges are grown. 
Nut culture would probably prove profitable in this area. The 
pecan will thrive in the climate and soil, and some pecan groves have 
been started, but have not reached the bearing stage. As far as 
observed, they are given very little attention. 
Crop rotation is not thought of as such, because of the fact that 
two or three different crops are taken in a season from the same land. 
The cabbage, for instance, is often grown year after year on the 
same land, but it is always followed by corn, and after this a crop 
of crabgrass or beggarweed hay is obtained. Corn follows practi¬ 
cally all the trucking crops, receiving benefit from the fertilizers 
applied to the preceding crop. When a crop is late it is often fol¬ 
lowed by cowpeas, which are cut for hay. The light, sandy soils, 
where no trucking is being done, bring only two crops, corn and then 
crab-grass hay or peanuts and velvet beans, either with or without 
the corn. A common practice is to let the land lie fallow each alter¬ 
nate year, or rather to let the weeds grow and then plow them under. 
This benefits the soil, but a better way would be to grow a legume 
and turn it under. 
All engaged in truck growing necessarily follow modern methods 
and use improved farm implements. There are still in use by some 
the little 1-horse turning plow and the old type of small, straight 
plow and sweep rather than the several-toothed cultivators that do 
so much better work. On newly cleared land, however, these old 
implements are often all that can be used. With the exception of the 
heavy hammocks, the soils are all easily cultivated and kept in good 
tilth. 
Fertilizers are applied generally, though where general farming 
• is practiced alone little or none is used. The yields of corn and 
oats are small. On the truck crops large quantities of high-grade 
fertilizers are used. Special brands carrying varying proportions of 
the different ingredients required for particular crops are made by 
the fertilizer companies represented in this section. These are the 
cottonseed meal mixtures, and contain some dried blood and tank¬ 
age as a part of the nitrogen supply. Very few growers mix their 
own fertilizers. Most of the soils are of a light, sandy character and 
