Tuesday, October 9, 2012

FL Citrus Exchange

prepaid credit card for kid
At the time this ad was published, 1912, Florida was still trying to recover from the devastating freezes of 1894-95 and 1899.  The 94 freeze was bad enough but growers were just starting to recover when the devastating freeze of 1899 came.  It led to a precipitous decline in fruits from Florida and paved the way for California to lead the way on fruit production. Naturally when Florida got back on it's feet, it needed a marketing angle to recapture market share.  Hence this ad from the Florida Citrus Exchange.  It purports that Florida fruits are never touched by human hands, all workers wearing white gloves.  Just what I wanted, my fruit being given the white glove treatment.  I'm fairly sure bulging crates weren't the norm either, we wanted oranges not orange juice.

Florida has had a litany of freezes since 1899, one of the worst occurring just 5 years after this ad was printed, in 1917.  After that the weather patterns warmed enough that they did not get hit with a serious freeze again until 1934, after which the freeze warning service was started to give growers time to secure their crops in the event of a long duration freeze.  Today Florida has recovered from the devastating freezes of the 1980's and has enjoyed a rather long spell of good weather.  One never knows when the next freeze is lurking around the corner though... Global Warming notwithstanding.

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