CHAPTER


 ORANGE-CULTURE.

 THE orange is by far the most important of the semi-
tropical fruits grown in Florida, and its culture is rapidly


becoming the leading industry of
sections it is found growing eith
dens, as common and as natural to
as the apple in the colder States.


digenous is as yet an u
evidence seems to be in
introduced by the Spani
of sour" oranges that
are simply the result of
tivated fruits undergo
riot in a state of nature
left to itself for a suffici
the "crab"; and the d
the choice varieties of ti


a


settled qu
favor of


the State.
er in fields
the climate
Whether o
estion, but 1
the idea tha


In nearly all
or house-gar-
and locality
or not it is in-
fhe weight of
it it was first


.rds, and that the many wild groves


are now found in varion
that deterioration which
when left for long peri
. It is well known that
ent period, will ultimately
differencee between the "
he eating apple is about t


is localities
all the cul-
ods to run
the apple,
y revert to
crab" and
he same as


the difference between the wild "sour orange and the cul-
tivated "sweet."
 Since the earliest settlement, apparently, oranges have
been grown in Florida, but in a very careless and desultory
way. It is only since the war that any special attention
has been given to their production, or any effort made to
cultivate them for profit ; and what is sometimes called the
"orange craze" has developed within the past six or eight
years. The financial panic of 1873 caused many people
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