40 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
about an abnormal condition will cause 
bloom. I think our present difficulty 
can be traced back to the cold of last 
December. I am of the opinion that it 
was this that produced the abnormal 
bloom, and is more to blame than the 
drought from which we are all suffer¬ 
ing. I think that this cold left the trees 
in an improvident condition, but that 
when they recover from the shock they 
received last winter, they will again at¬ 
tend to business. I don’t think there is 
anything to worry about. 
Mr. Neil—I presume this will not 
end the discussion or get off the sub¬ 
ject of irrigation. I am afraid that if. 
it took as much as three barrels of 
water to a tree once a week and we had 
to apply that three months before the 
bloom and four months after, it would 
not be a practical proposition. I have • 
always been opposed to irrigation be¬ 
cause I 'do not believe that orange 
trees throw off any more fruit than 
they ought to throw off. I think an 
orange tree knows how much fruit it 
can bear and bring to maturity, and if 
you force it to maintain and ripen more 
fruit than it is able to, it is an irrepara¬ 
ble injury to the tree. We are 
supposed to have two of the best 
groves in. the eastern part of the coun¬ 
ty and I do not apply exceeding over 
one barrel of water, and that only once 
a week or ten days. Rain water is the 
best to use, lake water is the next and 
artesian water is the last. I have some 
trees pretty well loaded with fruit, but 
our watering them did not save their 
fruit, but kept the trees in fine condi¬ 
tion. I did not begin to water until 
the bloom had appeared. We are in 
hopes of having the second bloom, and 
I think we will have two-thirds of a 
crop in the State this year. 
Mr. Skinner—I would like to know 
how much of a crop we have, from 
the orange growers’ standpoint and 
the sellers’ standpoint. We ought to 
be able to get at a pretty accurate idea 
of how much of a crop we will have. 
I would like to have the men from 
the different sections get up and say 
what percentage of a crop they think 
they will get. 
I have tried the kerosene barrel 
method—not the whiskey barrel—and 
have abandoned it. If. Mr. Neil will 
go back to the season of 1897-98, he 
will remember that the drought at that 
time, was fully as bad as the one 
we have just had. Around Sutherland 
and Dunedin whole regions of pine 
woods and oak woods died. I tried to 
save my crop with barrels, and worked 
hard. I poured water under my trees, 
and my neighbor across the fence did 
not do anything, and when the time 
came to bear, his bloomed and mine 
didn’t. If you don’t water at the right 
time, don’t do it at all. My experience 
is that an irrigating plant nearly pays 
for itself every year you put it in. 
Mr. Stevens—I have tried a little 
watering, and I find that it keeps the 
wilt off the leaves and keeps the trees 
in growing condition, but some of the 
fruit is on the trees, and some on the 
ground. I don’t think they have drop¬ 
ped more than is necessary for them to 
drop. 
Mr. Sampson—I want to speak 
about a particular kind of dropping. 
Even where the growth appears per¬ 
fectly vigorous and healthy, the fruit 
will drop off, but the stem and calyx 
will remain green and will draw nour- 
