Citrus Fruits from a Commercial Standpoint, 
REPORT OF STANDING COMMITTEE BY E. S. HUBBARD, 
CHAIRMAN. 
Mr. President and Members of the Flor¬ 
ida State Horticultural Society—La¬ 
dies and Gentlemen: 
As the Society’s committees on Dis¬ 
eases and Insects, Cold Prevention, Fer¬ 
tilizers, Marketing, etc., cover special 
fields affecting citrus fruits, and it has 
been impracticable for this committee to 
submit a combined report, it has proved 
necessary for the members, so far as pos¬ 
sible, to report separately. Therefore, 
under the changing fruit market condi¬ 
tions, I have thought it well to take a 
general view of the field and to consider 
as far as possible the future prospects of 
citrus growing in Florida. 
Our country is in a prosperous condi¬ 
tion, and the demand for fruits, both as 
necessary, healthful components of diet, 
and as luxuries, is increasing faster than 
the population, but the supply is also 
making colossal strides, and careful con¬ 
sideration should be given by every in¬ 
telligent fruit grower to the general con¬ 
ditions in determining the special vari¬ 
eties it will pay him best to cultivate. 
First in present production of citrus 
fruits stands California, with a crop of 
oranges that was estimated for this year 
at approximately eight millions of boxes. 
But unusual wet weather and frosts that 
damaged the keeping and carrying qual¬ 
ities of the fruit, lack of transportation, 
and the low prices resulting from these 
conditions, have produced a state of af¬ 
fairs resembling what prevailed in Flor¬ 
ida just before the ’95 freeze, and there 
is no doubt California is suffering from 
overproduction of comparatively inferior 
fruit. The tariff has practically shut out 
Mediterranean oranges under these cir¬ 
cumstances, but foreign lemons still ar¬ 
rive in quantity, and with climatic condi¬ 
tions similar to those countries it would 
seem California should give more atten¬ 
tion to lemon culture, and I think she is 
doing so. The California oranges are 
marketed mainly in winter and spring, 
but there are others that are in market 
earlier. There is a small section suited 
for orange culture in Arizona that pro¬ 
duces early fruit of good quality resem¬ 
bling Florida’s; and this fruit will always 
find a ready market in the mountain 
cities. 
The Mexican fruit is also early and its 
culture in that country is increasing, al¬ 
though the orange worm is also spread¬ 
ing and may require prohibitory legisla¬ 
tion to keep it out of this country. 
Then we have the West Indian fruit 
for early competition. Jamaica has a 
varied climate and produces fruit that 
averages well with Florida seedlings, 
