FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
-5 
Mr. C. A. Baker at Ormond before one 
of the meetings, thought it would be a 
pretty good idea to make a record of our 
experiences in handling our groves and 
have them recorded in the reports, that 
it might be of use to thousands in later 
years who might have the same expe¬ 
rience. 
The experience of this last winter was 
nothing so severe as that we had then. 
Through the larger part of the state last 
February’s freeze was such that in a 
couple of years you will hardly know any¬ 
thing of the kind ever happened. 
The question that has come to me—in 
fact, I was asked the morning after the 
freeze, “How shall I cut my trees back; 
how much shall I cut them back?” 
I agree with Mr. Hume and say, “Don’t 
hurry.” You do not know how badly you 
are hurt until after the June growth starts. 
That is a strong, vigorous growth and 
will open up the scars that have not shown 
before and you may find that some trees 
may be dead at the bud and still have a 
fine growth at the top. 
I remember in DeLand one time, Judge 
Stewart took me out to a grove and said 
“Look at those. Aren’t they fine trees?” 
I said, “I don’t know yet; let me look at 
them.” I examined the trees and found 
every one girdled at the bottom and they 
had to cut the whole bunch back to the 
ground. The cold gets into old wounds 
just as it gets into the wounds of a 
soldier, and while it may appear alive and 
vigorous outside, it may be dead inside. 
Insects may appear to be burrowing into 
the live wood, while they are in reality 
working into the dead wood. 
I reiterate the advice not to cut too 
soon. 
I also agree with Mr. Hume in regard 
to the fertilization of the grove. He has 
said exactly what I would say in regard 
to it. 
I would recommend you go back to that 
annual report that gives the result of the 
experiments tried at that trying time— 
possibly it was 1897, or it may have been 
even later than that. 
Where the limbs are cut back to the 
trunk, I think it would be well, where the 
sprouts put out two or three or four feet 
long, and tender, to fasten them together 
in some way for a time, because they will 
bear fruit and they will all be on the out¬ 
side so that the strain will be on the trunk 
and it is a heavy strain. But if you 
guard against that, the sprouts will event¬ 
ually strengthen and make you a good, 
symmetrical tree. 
In budding, if you cut away the bud, 
do not cut away the sound wood; cut it 
partly off and lop it down. It will be in 
the way for a year or two but it pays to 
keep it. Let the root system have the 
benefit of those leaves, which are the lungs 
of the tree; then later, after the sweet bud 
is well started, cut away the other growth. 
The sap naturally flows to the highest 
bud, and if you keep your sour wood 
down and keep the sweet buds at the top, 
the growth will go there. 
I think more groves were killed by 
pruning and wrong handling after that 
big freeze than by any other cause. Hard¬ 
ly an old grove was killed by the cold, 
that is, the root system, but by pruning 
they ruined many groves throughout the 
state. Those who followed the policy of 
keeping everything they could keep, were 
those who got into the market first and 
got almost any price they wanted. It was 
