66 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
I have eaten came off a tree planted in a 
Bermuda sod, and that sod had not been 
disturbed for a number of years. 
It is also my observation that fruit 
from trees not continually cultivated, 
keeps better and hangs longer on the 
trees than where they are irritated so 
much. 
I cannot understand why a man thinks 
he is helping Nature along, after a tree 
has been growing and putting out a net¬ 
work of roots^ when he comes along with 
a plow and cuts those roots all off. I 
never have been able to see the philoso¬ 
phy of it. 
Some time ago, I went into a green¬ 
house and saw them growing orange 
trees in pots, the size of that tub yonder, 
with fine crops of fruit on them. I ask¬ 
ed how it was done, and was told that 
nothing special was done, only the tree 
was kept in the pot until it gets root- 
bound and until it commenced to fruit. 
That gave me the first idea that here we 
are cultivating our orange trees too much 
after they get to bearing size. At that 
time I was editor of The Agriculturist, 
and my theory called down storms upon 
my head, and the most successful grow¬ 
ers scoffed at the idea of doing away with 
the cultivators, and said they would have 
nothing to do with it. I maintained that 
it was a question whether the owner was 
going to get anything out of the grove 
where he had to spend all he made on 
cultivation. My idea was if they could 
take care of the grove so that the owner 
could get something out of it, they would 
have a fair chance of continuing in the 
business. 
I make it a point to observe all groves 
that are not cultivated and taken care 
of otherwise,, and I have found that the 
trees invariably are doing best. Over at 
Winter Haven a short time ago, I went 
out and found in a gentleman’s yard five 
or six trees that were much better than 
those back of his house, where he was 
out with a plow. And yet he wanted to 
go out and plow up more! 
I think if you give your orange trees 
a chance to do a little of their own fora¬ 
ging, they will repay you for letting 
them alone. 
Mr. Orchard: Mr. Painter, suppose 
you had a case of a rather light, sandy 
soil with a moderate crop of herbage on 
it. Following a rainy season in which 
the soil was submerged, or partially sub¬ 
merged, with water, would you break up 
the compactness of that soil and tendency 
to non-aeration? How are we to get air 
into the soil again without some cultiva¬ 
tion? 
Mr. Painter: I would like to ask the 
gentleman how the hammocks were ae- 
reated where we found the orange grow¬ 
ing naturally? It was simply by the 
plant root going down into the soil and 
decaying. 
If you go into a grove where culti¬ 
vation has not been applied, you will find 
it more moist and friable than one that 
is cultivated. Of course, in some of the 
groves where a harrow is used, the top 
soil is like a powder, but under that it is 
hard and compact. 
In regard to the question as to how 
that particular grove should be taken 
care of to get the moisture out of it, I 
