FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
*33 
lief that every man in America would be 
down here growing citrus fruits, the in¬ 
dustry is so profitable, the business is so 
easy, our people are so happy and con¬ 
tented. It is just these freezes that keep 
down the value of our lands. 
But for these freezes there would be 
citrus in Georgia, possibly farther north, 
but when these freezes come they push 
back the line where citrus fruits can be 
profitably grown and establish and in¬ 
crease the valuation of those lands where 
they should be grown. 
I can show you statements of profits of 
groves in this state, undamaged in any 
way from the freeze of February 2nd, 
that will run from $300 to $500 per acre 
per annum over a period of the last five 
or seven or eight years. 
In any industry, or commercial invest¬ 
ment any stock that will pay 6 per cent is 
considered worth par, usually, and 10 per 
cent stock is worth considerably above par. 
On that basis these properties are worth 
$2,000 and $3,000 and $4,000 per acre. 
I do not say that is a proper basis for 
general loans, because those are selected 
properties here and there, and cannot be 
considered in any way as an average. 
Let us assume for a moment that here 
is a grove, a ten-acre grove, in a high 
state of production, ten or twelve years 
old. It has a value of $10,000 by your 
appraiser, and you will loan the owner on 
that grove, say, 30 per cent of its value, 
about three thousand dollars. The re¬ 
payment of the principal and interest 
over a period of thirty-six years on that 
investment, would amount to about 
$112.00 per year from a ten acre grove 
or less than $15.00 per acre per year for 
thirty-six years. The average, as the gen¬ 
tleman who will follow me will tell you, 
is about six times that per annum cover¬ 
ing the entire industry, and in that is in¬ 
cluded “skeletons” and non-producing 
properties. 
Now, gentlemen, if you are going to be 
of any benefit to the citrus growers, if 
this law has been created for the 
encouragement and advance of the re¬ 
sources of this country, the citrus grower 
must not be considered in the class with 
those who pursue general farming. He 
has a cumulative value to his property 
that even a freeze cannot destroy. 
Value those groves at as near their real 
value as you possibly can. Let it be 
known that the Farm Loan Bank places 
an one hundred per cent valuation on the 
properties. And then, if you wish, cut 
the amount on which you will loan down 
below fifty per cent as much as in your 
opinion it should be. In establishing an 
one hundred per cent valuation on our cit¬ 
rus properties, it then places our groves 
in such condition with the money market 
that there is no question about how much 
they are worth. 
For instance, in some of our cities our 
taxes are on a 100 per cent valuation. 
If I owned a $50,000 property and of¬ 
fered it for sale to someone a hundred 
miles away from it at $10,000 below the 
assessed valuation, without any inspection 
or without any inquiry as to the sur¬ 
rounding values, that man would know 
that I am sacrificing $10,000 from a $50,- 
000 investment, because the tax receipt 
shows it. 
If you will assess our citrus properties 
at 100 per cent, our receipt or our mort- 
