THE TKOPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May t, 1884. 



of the river. The proprietor of the grove pointed out to me 

 one tree, ten years old, which he said had yielded this year 

 3,000 oranges. There seems scarcely a limit to the produc- 

 tion of the orange when properly cultivated and fertilized. 

 Trees are found in Florida which have yielded 10,000 oranges, 

 but this is very rare. A gentleman who has travelled in 

 Mexico recently, told me be had seen there a tree which 

 was said to have yielded 30.000 oranges one year. It was 

 four times as large as any tree he had seen here. 



After leaving Volusia by hired conveyance, we soon came 

 on the pine lands of Florida, which constitute much the 

 largest portion of the State. I was soon struck with mounds 

 of white and yellow sand {which underlays the white), 

 thrown up in quantity varying from a peck to more than 

 abushel. I soon enquired what this meant, and was told 

 it was the work of the "gopher." resembling a terrajiiin, 

 and of the " salamander," resembling a rat. 1 enquired why 

 this dirt was thus thrown up. No one knew; but it is 

 doubtless done to get the dirt out of the way of theur sub- 

 terranean passages, which are formed to procure roots and 

 to fmnish them homes. Our moles get rid of the dirt in 

 their pass-ways by raising it above the surface. These 

 mounds are very numerous, and form a novel sight. The 

 gopher issues from his home in the Spring, and regales 

 himself on the cultivated vegetables, particularly the peas, 

 which are liberally sown (drilled) in the orange groves for 

 fertilization. The salamander is very fierce, and bites severe- 

 ly, and among his other deviltries, amuses himself by chewing 

 up the roots of the young orange and killing the trees. 



My opportunities for observation in Florida have of course 

 thus far been limited, but I have conversed with intelligent 

 settlers, and consulted reliable publications, such as the Re- 

 port of the Bureau of Immigration of Florida, and two pub- 

 lications, issued from the Department of Agriculture, 'Wash- 

 ington, the last by that intelligent and reliable gentleman, 

 Mr. Wm. Sanders, .Superintendent of the Public Grounds 

 and Gardens of the Department, who was sent to Florida 

 by Dr. Loring to examine the State and make report on 

 it. With such opportimities I have come to the following 

 conclusions: — That there is more ojiportunity to make the 

 cultivation of land in Florida profitaljle than in any of the 

 other of the United States; that the pine regions of Florida 

 comstitute the healthiest portion of the United States; and 

 that the climate is unsurpassed in this country or in Europe, 

 As regards the health, I am not certain that the river 

 regions of the State might not be included in the above 

 conclusion. I have not space to elaborate these points. The 

 profits of orange growing in Florida are well established. 

 The cost of making an orange grove in the pine region, in- 

 dependent of cost of land, is about i-ilO per acre. I mean 

 by this clearing laud, grubbing it enclosing with stake 

 and rider fence, plowing, cost of trees and setting out. I 

 speak from experience. The cost will be modified by cost of 

 trees, which range from 30 cents to $1, according to age. 

 Muie cost 75 cents. The fertihzing will depend on price 

 paid for fertilizer. I think the "Ash Element," 400 pounds 

 per acre, should be used along with peas, which furnish the 

 ammonia, one year, and one-half peck cotton seed around 

 the tree next year, and .so on. The cost of the former in 

 Richmond is Sl8 per ton ; of cotton seed in this section 25 

 cents per bushel. The annual cost of plowing trees, hoeing 

 sowing peas and mulching, will be about .VlS per year. If 

 the trees are well attended, budded trees, two years 

 budded, and the trees budded on are four or five years 

 old, they will begin to bear in three years from 

 planting. SeeiUing trees (which are just as' good, and 

 some think more hardy and productive, but do not 

 bear so soon), will begin to bear in eight years from 

 the time of planting in the grove. There- are at least two 

 years in favor of budded trees from the time of tran.splant- 

 iug to grove. It is calculated that trees ten or twelve years 

 old, from time of planting in grove, will bear 1.000 oranges 

 per year, selling on the tree in this section at one cent a 

 piece. Near the landings and railroads, when boxed and 

 delivered, they sell at three cents, ^\■hen fifteen years old 

 an orange tree well attended will bear 2,000 oranges. Seventy 

 trees stand on a acre at 25 k 25 feet. The trees get at 

 their prime at twenty-five years, and there is no telling how 

 long they will continue to bear profitably if well cared for 

 — we suppose until they are a hundred years old ; this point 

 is not yet settled in this country. In Italy there is said to 

 be a tree 650 years old. No other oranges can compete with 



those of Florida, uidess it be those of Cuba, and they hav^ 

 to bear a longer transportation. Oranges from Jacksonville 

 reach New York by water in eighty hours, and rail in much 

 less time. From Italy and Sicily it takes ten or twelve days 

 by steamer, in which time many of them deca v. 



Besides oranges, many other thmgs can be profitably 

 raised in Florida, sugar, tobacco. Sea Island cotton, bananas, 

 strawberries, pineapples, guavas, melons, cassava (tor starch), 

 and vegetables, particularly sweet-potatoes and tomatoes. 

 A farmer in this neighboiurhood told me he last year, from 

 an acre and a half, sold tyoo ol strawberries ami ^300 of 

 plants. Plants set out here m November bear a good crop in 

 February, and bear for four months. The first shipments to 

 New York bring Si '50 per quart, though from tm-ther south 

 fine berries commgiu early have brought >4 and ^5 per quart. 

 The range of production in Florida is much greater than in 

 any other State. A writer enumeiates more than sixty 

 products, and yet a considerable number are omitted. Many 

 of these, by proper cultivation, may be made veiy profitable. 

 The pineapple is planted as close as cabbages, anil 700 will 

 stand an acre. They sell for ten cents a piece, and in South 

 Florida are a certain crop. On the hammocks near St. 

 John's river, in this county, four hogsheads of sugar have 

 been made per acre, while the average yield in Louisiana 

 per acre is only one hogshead. The seasons aie long here, 

 and the cane fully matm-es, forming seed before frost, which 

 is not the case in Louisiana. Tobacco, cassava. Sea Island 

 cotton, and other crops can be made profitable in this 

 State. The beauty of agriculture here is that the Winter 

 months are the best time for working the soil. Scarcely a 

 day is lost at any season, and you may plow the land as 

 soon after a rain as you can get a horse hitched up. In 

 Jacksonville from 1S74 to lS7y, there was an average of 

 thirty-seven rainy days in five months, viz., November, Dec- 

 ember. January, February, Mar.h, and these were only part 

 rainy. (Signal office, U. S, A., Jacksonville). 



As to the health of Florida, I have many statistics to prove 

 it a very healthy country, but not space to quote them, 

 Dr, Brinton, U. S. A., says: "All know how arduous is the 

 campaigning in the Etenjludes of Florida, yet the yearly 

 mortality from disease of the regular army there was twenty- 

 six per 1,000 men ; the mortahty elsewhere was thirty-five 

 per 1,000 men, while in Texas it arose to forty, and on the 

 lower Missi.ssippi to forty-five per 1,000. * * From my 

 experience in hospitals and in private practice in and aiound 

 New York, 1 am convinced that malarious diseases are more 

 frequent there than in Florida," He then speaks of the 

 mildness of cases of ague and bilious fever m Florida as 

 compared with that prevailing in the Gulf States of the United 

 States, There is almost no sickness here in the winter. 

 A lady of Virginia, who has resided in this country tor three 

 years, tells me she has heard of but one case of pneumonia, 

 and one of ague and fever in that time, I have enquired of 

 different families in this neighbourhood and only one tells 

 me that he has had ague and fever, and that was' four years 

 since, and has not subsequently heard of it. Statistics 

 ("Florida: Its Climate, Productions, etc," from U. S. Agri- 

 cultural Department, i8s2) prove "that the mean relative 

 humidity of Cannes and Mentone durmg the cold months 

 exceeds that of Jacksonville by nearly four percent. * * 

 The mean relative humidity ot Duluth, Jlinnesota, for 

 five years was 70'3; that of Jacksonville, UO'O." It must 

 be rememl'ired, moreover, that the pine regions of Florida 

 have less Immidity than Jack.sonrille. The chmate of Florida 

 is exceediijgly viild ami nnifnrin. Dr. M'ilson, U. S, A,. 

 Inspectoi of Camps and Hospitals, says: "Neither upon the 

 south c(i:istof France, nor anywhere under the bright Ital- 

 ian skii », can a Winter chmate be found so equable, and 

 so genial^ to the delicate nerves of most invalids as can be 

 enjoyed in our sanitary stations in Florida," The mean 

 temperature for the entire State, taken at eighteen stations 

 diu-ing aterm of 3-eais, is for Spring 71, ° 02. Summer 60 = 51 

 A.utumn71. = (i2, Winter 70, ' 05 (Dr, Baldwin, of Jackson- 

 ville), It is well determined now that the thermometer 

 rises higher in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Mil- 

 waukie than it ever does in any part of Florida, The ther- 

 mometer in the latter rarely goes above 90 ° in Summer or 

 below 30 = in A\'iuttr, Mr, Spinner (of bank note fame) 

 who spent a year in Florida, says: "I was more comfortable 

 in regard to ixees,sive heat than in any Summer sjient in 

 Washington, D. C, or at my home in Mohawk, N, Y," i'here 

 are always cool breezes pervading all of Florida from the 



