30 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
though light colored and usually insipid 
in midwinter. We may look for increas¬ 
ing imports from that island. Porto Rico 
is also spoken of as a competitor. I am 
informed, however, that the territory on 
the north side of the island that has suf¬ 
ficient rainfall and lies flat enough for 
cultivation and convenient to transporta¬ 
tion is limited; and although they would 
have an advantage over Jamaica in the 
tariff, it is unlikely they will compete in 
any quantity for some time to come. And 
lastly, Cuba is an unknown future quan¬ 
tity. The reports as to near competition 
from this quarter are conflicting. It is 
true oranges are found growing all over 
the island, but as yet there are no regu¬ 
larly set bearing orange groves, and ow¬ 
ing to the general clayey nature of the 
soil, which is mud if worked in the rainy 
season and bakes during the dry season, 
it is doubtful if oranges can be grown 
successfully convenient to transportation 
except in limited areas that are suscepti¬ 
ble to irrigation. 
The banana is the great competitor 
of the apple and also of the orange, and 
as reciprocity treaties with low tariffs are 
likely to be the programme, we will 
probably suffer as much from competi¬ 
tion with cheap bananas from Cuba as 
from oranges. And then there are the 
West Indian limes. 
FLORIDA ORANGES GO WRONG. 
But with all this present and future 
competition to contend with, Florida the 
past season proved to be her own worst 
enemy. The bulk of the crop this year 
was in South Florida, and some people 
say South Florida fruit never did carry 
well; but probably this season’s losses 
were largely due to the unusually wet 
weather, which often produces soft, 
creased fruit, and to the rough handling 
in packing. Something at least is wrong 
when regularly packed fruit, not culls, 
is repacked in Jacksonville with loss, and 
then shrinks ten to twenty per cent, in 
three or four days while the retailer is 
disposing of it; or when a neighbor who 
bought a box for his own use complained 
that they specked so fast he and his wife 
were kept busy eating rotten oranges till 
the box was finished. 
Not all Floridas were like this, how¬ 
ever. An east coast packer who is noted 
for using chemical fertilizers in growing 
and extreme care in handling his fruit 
had a half box of a consignment that 
reached Jacksonville the 3rd of Decem¬ 
ber overlooked in the salesroom, and the 
gentleman who bought it the 1st of 
March found only two spoiled oranges. 
Orange growers must be careful not 
to get conceited. Many of us live among 
our trees all the year round, and we cul¬ 
tivate and fertilize, pet and nourish them 
till we almost worship them; and when 
the fruit matures we sample it with 
gusto and declare it cannot be equalled 
in the State of Florida. Then we may 
gather it carefully, cutting all the stems 
tight to the calyx, handle it like eggs, 
grade it according to our own ideas of 
appearance, put it up in neat boxes with 
fancy wraps, and though it may go in 
good order the buyer at the other end 
of the line may think some other fellow’s 
fruit looks better and tastes finer and 
give him a higher price for it. 
I am sure we all feel thankful for the 
comparative immunity from cold the 
past winter. Trees in my neighborhood 
that were boxed or tented came through 
all right and now look almost as well 
