FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
77 
from day to day and getting service out 
of them if you don’t feed them. You 
will get just as much out of the orange 
tree without feeding it. I don’t think 
you would experiment on feeding your 
mule and give him every mule food that 
comes along. You know just the food to 
give him that can be eaten with relish 
and profit to the animal; the food that 
can be assimilated and that will benefit 
the mule. But the poor, helpless orange 
tree has to wait for its proper feed and 
has to take what you give it, regardless 
whether it is the right food or not. 
But you can’t fool an orange tree. It 
has to take what you give it, that is true, 
but it can and will retaliate in the amount 
of a crop it gives you in return. The only 
thing that is being deceived is yourself, 
when you don’t feed your tree properly 
and regularly. 
Now, about this question of regularity. 
I think that we all know that work ani¬ 
mals do much better on the same amount 
of feed, if they get it at exactly the same 
time. Their systems become adjusted to 
the reception of food at certain times, 
with a certain period in between for as¬ 
similating. Their digestive organs adapt 
themselves to that routine, and there is 
an uneasiness, to say the least, when that 
routine is not followed. 
In my opinion, you should feed your 
orange trees as regularly as you feed 
your mules, and when the set time comes 
for applying fertilizer, put it on. 
Summing up the matter, in Florida the 
profit of an orange grove is the money 
you pay for fertilizer. 
I suppose in some of this rich land 
down here towards West Palm Beach, 
you have different conditions from those 
which obtain on the high, light, pine soil 
over in Polk County which my friend 
Skinner so delights to deride. But over 
with us, we preach the gospel of feeding 
regularly and generously. 
But this does not mean over-feeding. 
You know they say a man will do better 
with a little less food than he really 
wants. He will do better with a little 
less food than with more than is good 
for him. The thing that attracted my 
attention and gave me the most work 
many years ago while practicing medi¬ 
cine, was to keep the people who ate too 
much, going. 
I apprehend that now, with the present 
prices and difficulty of getting materials 
and fertilizer, I apprehend it will be 
rather under-feeding than over-feeding. 
A great many people of this state have 
had a very severe freeze. It was very 
expensive. Now, these trees are debili¬ 
tated. They must be nourished, if you 
expect them to recover within a reason¬ 
able time. They have had a shock,, and 
they need help to recover promptly and 
properly from that shock. It will be a 
hardship to pay a high price to fertilize 
trees which have temporarily ceased to 
produce. But the last word I will say, is 
that you strain a point, borrow the 
money, if you must, but feed those trees. 
Don’t let them go hungry while they are 
trying their best to recover from the 
freeze. 
Fertilizer is an important thing, but 
the average grower does not know much 
about it only that he has to buy it. I 
think he should not try many experi¬ 
ments, especially just now, but should 
