Orange grove

“ In the place where the orange-peel falleth, there shall it lie.
The mill, as I said, is now the centre of an orange grove. There must be hundreds of trees. All of them are small, but the greater part are already dead, and the rest are dying. Those nearest the walls are fullest of leaves, as if the walls somehow gave them protection. The forest is creeping into the inclosure. Here and there the graceful palm-like tassel of a young long-leaved pine rises above the tall winter-killed grass. It is not the worst thing about the world that it tends to run wild. ”

“ The orange-tree, even at a great age, is not as large as one may have expected. Even those of a hundred years in the mission garden are not above two feet in diameter. It is gratifying to be at full liberty to examine this attractive vegetation, known heretofore only in its tub in the conservatory, or on the staircase at a ball. There seems but one drawback to an orange-grove, and that is that it cannot have greensward below to lie upon. ”

“ The orange, for instance, is one of the tenderest fruits and yet, on the western coast, orange groves are flourishing at the same latitude as Philadelphia, which is nearly on the 40th parallel, although it is unnecessary to say that an orange grove would not survive within four or five hundred miles of the 40th parallel any place else except on the favored western coast. ”

“ The captain and two of his men went on before with axes to cut a pathway from the shore. The wood itself was one wild tangle of thorny vegetation, fallen trees, and all kinds of bushes and plants. Within the orange-grove thousands of oranges lay on the ground, and on the slightest shaking of the trees, showers of others came down upon us. Many of the oranges which grew here were as large as small infants' heads. These oranges are sour, but very juicy, and of an agreeable acid, and these golden chalices of the wilderness afforded us a real refreshment. ”

“ It is the fruit par excellence—fit food for the gods. I have, in the course of my somewhat eventful life, eaten oranges in the groves of the Mediterranean, South America, Mexico and the West Indies, but none can compare with the orange grown in this State. Our soil is peculiarly adapted to the growth and maturity of the perfect orange. No other soil can produce it. The West India and Louisiana seedling orange tree is wonderfully improved by being transplanted in Florida soil. South Florida will, ere long, be one vast orange grove, and will supply the world with her incomparable fruit. ”

“ On turning to the house on the right hand, an open grove of forest trees affords a view of the orangery, which is seen as perfectly as if the trees were planted on the lawn; and when the orange trees are in flower, their fragrance is diffused over the whole lawn to the house. ”

“ Every ramification has its feeder, and sucks up food for the tree with avidity. The consequence is, that people who have an orange-grove must be contented with that, and not try to raise flowers; but, nevertheless, 144 we do try, because we can't help it. But every fertilizer that we put upon our roses and flower-beds is immediately rushed after by these hungry yellow orange-roots. At the root of our great live-oak we wanted a little pet colony of flowers, and had muck and manure placed there to prepare for them. ”

“ How much this dulls their effect one realizes on finding now and then a neglected grove where grass has been allowed to grow under the trees, to their ruin as fruit-bearers, but incomparably heightening their beauty. Another fatal defect in the orange-tree is its contour. ”

“ Often as she had trodden those paths by her father's side and watched the day's soft decline through the wild lattice work of dense foliage which no human hand ever imitated, when the last rays of the setting sun sent his golden beams across the silvery waters to this chosen site of the honored dead, discoursing of the beauty which tree and shrub and tiny floweret lent to the impressiveness of the service to which it was consecrated, he had never seemed so near, nor the sky overhead appeared so glorious, nor such celestial voices floated round her as now. ”

“ There are in its orchards 209,000 orange-trees, of which 28,000 are in bearing, 20,000 lemon trees, and 8,000 limes.
The profits of orange culture are slow to begin, but, having once begun, mount up fast. Orange orchards at San Gabriel have in many instances netted $500 an acre annually. The following estimate, the result of sixteen years' experience, is probably a fair one of the outlay and income of a small orange grove:—
This estimate of cost of land is based on the price of the best lands in the San Gabriel valley. ”

“ Again: nothing is more common, when we visit at the North, than to have the complaint made that fruit is stolen out of gardens. We have had people tell us that the vexation of having fruit carried off was so great, that it took away all the pleasure of a garden.
Now, no fruit is more beautiful, more tempting, than the orange. We live in an orange-grove surrounded by negroes, and yet never have any trouble of this kind. We have often seen bags of fine oranges lying all night under the trees ”

“ It is particularly interesting and instructive to travel over districts now, and observe bearing orange groves, the owners of which are securing handsome incomes, where ten years ago not a tree was planted. In Orange County, many emigrants who first went to Florida for their health, have improved sufficiently to earn their living and raise an orange grove in addition. Many of them took up one hundred and sixty acres of land under the Homestead Law, and selling off portions of it to later comers, have realised enough money to cultivate the balance retained. ”

“ It must be understood that the profit of an orange grove depends upon care, skill, and business ability. The kind of orange grown with reference to the demand, the judgment about more or less irrigation as affecting the quality, the cultivation of the soil, and the arrangements for marketing, are all elements in the problem. There are young groves at Riverside, five years old, that are paying ten per cent. ”

“ It is a plain, yet no monotony of level, for a spine of the encircling hills tilts the gardens to the evening sun, while the shadow of the mountains wards off the fierce glare of the heat till long past noon. And what fertility! Is there on the surface of the earth such a lush wild glade of orange groves, three generations, "father, son, and grandson," as the Sorrentines say, hanging on a single tree; while as they hang and ripen, the scented flowers are continually budding in the shadow of the dark green leaves, and every waft of air is sweetened by the fragrance of the blossom. ”

“ The wonderful vital and productive power of the orange-tree would not be marvelled at could one examine its roots. The ground all through our grove is a dense mat or sponge of fine yellow roots, which appear like a network on the least displacing of the sand. ”

“ The trees in our grove have been set out about six years, and they are bearing nicely now. Orange trees begin to bear when they are four years old; so, you see, we have to wait a little longer for a crop than you do for a crop of cranberries. It costs a good deal to start an orange grove. Trees cost from one dollar to one and one-half dollars each at the nurseries. A few years ago they sold for twenty cents each. ”

“ Cultivation is not wholly wanting, for here are the choices of all the Los Angeles orange groves, but its glorious abundance of ripe sun and soil is only beginning to be coined into fruit. The drowsy bits of cultivation accomplished by the old missionaries and the more recent efforts of restless Americans are scarce as yet visible, and when comprehended in general views form nothing more than mere freckles on the smooth brown bosom of the Valley. ”

“ Its vivid green, the deep gold-color of its clusters of fruit, and the exuberance with which it blossoms, all go to recommend it. Formerly there were extensive orange-groves, with thousands of bearing trees, on this side of the river. The frost of 1835 killed the trees, and they have never been reset. Oranges are not, therefore, either cheap or plenty at Magnolia or Green Cove. Nothing shows more strikingly the want of enterprise that has characterized this country than this. ”

“ It is too round, too stout for its height; almost as bad a thing in a tree as in a human being. The uniformity of this contour of the trees, combined with the regularity of their setting in evenly spaced rows, gives large orange groves a certain tiresome quality, which one recognizes with a guilty sense of being shamefully ungrateful for so much splendor of sheen and color. The exact spherical shape of the fruit possibly helps on this tiresomeness. One wonders if oblong bunches of long-pointed and curving fruit, banana-like, set irregularly among the glossy green leaves, would not look better ”

“ Finally, the soil must not be too favorable for other plants, lest the tree, left to itself, might be stifled by the competition and infringement of a more vigorous vegetation. When all these conditions concur, the little orange will grow, become mature, and produce others again to reproduce themselves. Storms will undoubtedly occur, stones fall, and browsing goats will destroy certain plants; but on the whole, in spite of accidents which kill individuals, the species will be propagated, cover the ground, and in a few years display a nourishing grove of orange trees. ”

“ One of the early missionaries brought some orange-trees here, and they were found admirably adapted to the soil and climate of Tahiti. You see orange-groves or orange-trees everywhere, and we have never found finer oranges in any part of the world. It is a curious fact that the best trees are those which have grown from seed scattered carelessly about without any thought of planting; in nearly every case they are finer and more productive than those which have been carefully cultivated and transplanted. ”

“ Sorrow had no power over a love and faith like hers;—it was only the heavenly dew-drop to quicken their celestial growth. In witnessing her daughter's bridal, she lived over again her young days without a regret to dim their radiance. Her passion for orange-bloom was not abated, and as it had presided at her own marriage festival, she wished it also to grace Rosalind's. She had then three trees laden with blossoms whose perfume filled the rooms. ”

“ Claremont thrilled with joy upon hearing her name called as of old. "What day is it?" he enquired. On being informed that it was Thanksgiving morning, he drew his wife nearer to him, and with that peculiar smile which always lent a charm to his happiest moments, said, "Could a more lovely morning be desired to blend the last of earth with the first of heaven? Mourn not for me. In a few short years you will come to share with me the fulness of a love, beside which ours here on earth, pure and perfect as we thought it, is but the opening bud to the full blown rose." ”

“ But one bright summer morning, when the air resounded with the song of birds, and the hum of bright winged insects testified to the gladness of their short life; when the sun's penetrating rays quickened the earth's vegetation with the promise of golden harvests, the Heavenly Reaper came to gather in his more than golden treasure which needed neither summer rain nor autumn sun to perfect it for his hands. Lilly, the May-flower, sickened and died. No skill could save her, no rending cry of anguish could wrest her from death's grasp. ”

“ Even Spring, with its freshening gales and whispering zephyrs, when flower and bird, the springing grass and the murmuring brook, attest the birth of a new life from the icebound shroud of Winter, may suggest to the lonely mourner only the painful association of decay and death which hang like a sable pall over all familiar objects. ”

“ Others may come to share an equal love,—none to excite the same novelty of emotion. The numerous little arts and feats of wisdom common to all children then force themselves on the observation of the parents for the first time. And though those little hands may be motionless in death, and those little lips never more rejoice their ears with their sweet music, that inanimate form has bequeathed an immortal legacy from Heaven,—a new link in the golden chain of the affections. ”

“ Then comes no seraphic vision of future bliss when those joys that have died to us on earth shall rise again in immortal bloom in the perennial garden of heavenly verdure, but, like blasted copse or blighted heather no trace of life or sign of vegetation appears to revive the drooping spirit. ”

“ At length she hit on the idea of writing a novel which furnished amusement enough for Kate, who had no sympathy with abstract theories and metaphysical speculation, and yet liked to hear Milly's views, which gave her something to criticize and dissect. Enjoying new ideas which she chose to embellish in her own careless style, her impulses came out in a rough diamond way; sparkling, uncouth, yet vigorous and racy. Above all was that dominant love of fun which appropriated every thing to its service, no matter how serious, with which was mingled no small share of good sense. ”

“ Milly felt unusually languid that day, and scarcely noticed Kate's merriment. For the last few moments she had been watching Rosalind who went to a white rose-bush as if to pluck a rose, then suddenly changing her mind, returned to the house. She was now pondering why she did not go to ride with her mother and Walter. Half mentally she said in a low voice, which Kate's quick ear readily caught. "So true it is that the lips may be wreathed in smiles while the heart is torn with anguish. One would think Rosalind might be perfectly happy." ”

“ To his hopeful, trusting nature, sorrow was a stranger. Life was a perpetual joy, springing, not from boyish thoughtlessness or youthful indifference, but from a maturity of mind, which with the growth of years, accepted its vicissitudes of good and ill as alike blessings sent by a Father's hand. Even death was but the birth of a new life, the blessed Liberator bringing to thousands the first great joy of existence.
When Rosalind's emotion had subsided, nothing seemed real. ”