Methods of Handling Groves on Terraceia Island 
T. Ralph Robinson 
In the absence of the chairman of the 
Committee on Methods of Handling Cit¬ 
rus Groves, I have set down not any 
rules, but merely a few observations on 
this subject. 
As a newcomer to Florida, my obser¬ 
vations will necessarily be limited to and 
perhaps apply to a rather small section of 
this large State. The grove practices on 
Terraceia Island, in Manatee county, 
have been alluded to and discussed at 
some length in the “Florida Grower,” es¬ 
pecially the methods followed by Mr. C. 
S. Blood—called by the editor of the 
Grower, “The Blood Method.” 
The groves of the Terraceia Estates, 
now under my care, were set out under 
Mr. Blood’s direction, and his methods 
used in most of the setting. 
First of allj the method or system con¬ 
sists in close planting, the spacing being 
14 feet 9 inches in squares, giving 200 
trees to the acre. The trees are set on 
mounds eight to ten inches above the lev¬ 
el. They are headed low and grown in 
bush form. 
For the first four or five years the trees 
are hoed around and the open ground cul¬ 
tivated with the cutaway and Acme har¬ 
rows, keeping the harrows from running 
close to the trees. After that the only im¬ 
plement used is the hoe. The stock gen¬ 
erally used is the rough lemon, budded to 
grapefruit. Few oranges are now grown 
on Terraceia. Fertilizer is used rather 
liberally—it is simply broadcasted, no es¬ 
pecial effort being made to work it into 
the soil other than the occasional hoeing 
the grove receives. Irrigation by means 
of flowing artesian wells is rendered very 
easy, and water is plentifully supplied 
when needed, so that the soil at all times 
readily takes up the soluble part of the 
fertilizer applied. 
After six to eight years of normal 
growth trees so planted should shade the 
whole area so that very little hoeing is re¬ 
quired. The feeding roots are very near 
the surface, and the aim now is to dis¬ 
turb them as little as possible. 
The dense shade in such a grove re¬ 
duces rust mite attack to a minimum— 
it might on the other hand favor such 
fungous troubles as melanose. The shade 
also protects the ground in summer, like 
a mulch, from the fierce heat of the sun, 
so that the surface feeding roots are un¬ 
injured. The thickly planted grove also 
furnishes its own protection, in a large 
measure, against wind and cold. 
As to results—the production of fruit 
and profit—as soon as the roots of the 
trees meet across the middles, and they 
are thus competing for ground, the 
growth of new wood becomes somewhat 
restricted, but they take up the business 
