January i, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



4S1 



CEYLON PLANTERS IN FLORIDA : 



Oeange-gkowing in the Southern States. 

 From the letter of an ex Oeylon planter now settled on 

 an orauge-grove in Florida, we are ijermitted to make the 

 following extracts of interest to our readers. We hope to 

 learn more about the orange industry in Florida ere long. 



, Florida, 15 th Oct, 1883. 



Any news of the " old district" will be jolly to me. I 

 oan tell you, I think more of Ceylon than of Florida. I 

 would give something to see it again. 



You must bear in mind that the " L^nited States" is a 

 big place. I don't think one really realizes that until one 

 begins to go about over bore. Another thing is, it 's a new 

 country. As such, there is plenty of room for progress in 

 every way. Also that a dollar is worth about 4s 2d. Now 

 for what we are doing. VTa bought a small orange-grove 

 about IJ mile from the town of Ocala. Some of the trees 

 are between 3 and 4 y^ars old, some younger : a few are 

 bearing oranges now, alad they are almost ripe. Our grove 

 is planted 20 ft. « by 20 ft. Some plant the trees 20 ft. x 30 

 ft. or 40 ft. apart as the fit seizes them. Orange cultiv- 

 ation is a recent thing here, aud in this immediate neigh- 

 bourhood most of the groves are youug. As a rule, too, 

 they mostly belong to people who follow other callings. 

 For instance, a man is a lawyer; he has a share in a store 

 (or shop), has an orange-grove aud speculates in land. 

 It 's not a planting community I 'm amongst, although 

 there are a few who do simply go in for growing oranges ; 

 a great many men go in for growing early vegetables, too, 

 on their groves, !>ucli as strawberries, Irish potatoes, tom- 

 atoes, cucumbers, n.elons, etc. The winter here is so mild 

 that vegetables are grown here in the early part of the year, 

 and the.se are shipped north. A very great deal of money 

 is made in the .south in this way. It 's called truck farm- 

 mg. We had too much to do in getting our place into 

 decent order to go in for anything of that sort. AVe may 

 try next year. You know we only bought this place in 

 February, aud, as it had been rather neglected, there was 

 plenty to do. We have had a house built and live on the 

 grove. Our trees have put on a splendid growth. Trees 

 are very scarce and dear. A bearing tree is worth §5. 

 Then there is the cost of transplanting and keeping it 

 watered for some time. The tree has to be cut back 

 tremendously m moving, and of course it takes, I should 

 think, at least two years then before it bears fruit. A 

 sour tree has to be budded, that's to say you place a bud 

 from a sweet tree into the stem of the sour tree—when 

 the bud has taken properly, you cut oft' all above the 

 sweet bud and only cultivate the sweet growth. This 

 kind of tree bears fruit in about three years. Another 

 kind of tree is the sweet seedling. That is gi-own 

 from a pip of the sweet orange. This t.akes about eight 

 years to come into bearing, but, when it does bear, it bears 

 au awful lot : a tree bears up to some thousands of or- 

 anges. They seem hardy as far as I can make out. I 

 don't mean to say that every tree will bear thousands, but 

 they do seem to be.ir awfully. I know a fellow about 18 

 miles from here. He has under 100 acres. Last year he 

 netted at least forty thousand dollars. Fancy that. Men 

 who have groves in good districts in bearing are just 

 coming money now. The American does n't mind paying 

 if thearticleis good. The Florida orange is the best I 've 

 ever tasted. I don't think you could buy a good grove in 

 bearing, tor I really don't know what to say. A fellow 

 asked me /5 thousand dollars for a grove of 20 acres with 

 1,200 trees on it in bearhig. There is an immense spec- 

 ulation just now m groves. We did n't plunge, we thoiight 

 It was best to go slowly. As to your fiuestion about making 

 money, 1 hardly know what to say. A young fellow I knew 

 at home came out here and lived with us, and eventually 

 bought a quarter-share in our place. We made a little 

 profit on that. Jliud, he knew exactly what the place had 

 cost us up to date and also what profit we made I think 

 undoubtedly we should be able to sell at a much greater price 

 than we paid. We have had one or two offers, but they 

 were not good enough. Labor is dear, a dollar a day for 

 unskilled nigger labor. In the summer, the thermometer 

 gets pretty high, 98 and even 100 at twelve ; at two o'clock 

 It s even hotter. We do what work we can ourselves and 

 hire the rest. A dollar a day is rather high you know it 

 makes you think tJiat the more you do yourself the better. 

 62 



We have been away for 7 weeks this summer. It was so 

 hot and we had n't a cook. Fancy doing your owu cooking 

 with the thermometer at 98 iu the shade. Wu do any- 

 thing we can do on the grove. Still, 'labor forms a pretty 

 good Item in expences. Living is n't very ilear. Eatables 

 and whiskey. No beer ! As to health, Tongo has had a 

 little fever and chills. I have been well, although more iu 

 the sun than he of course. I 've lost flesh. Our supplies we 

 get in Ocala. We have a muJe and cart. The mule ploughs, 

 etc. It 's not a bad life in a way. One ought to have money 

 to start a place and then something to keep you going until 

 you get returns either in the way of vegetables or oranges. 

 No society, and veiy few nice neighbours. In time it may 

 alter: Florida is getting such a great winter resort. We 

 lived for the first nearly 5 months iu a hotel in Ocala— 

 that was before we built. Living, as I say, is cheap on the 

 grove, but directly you go aw.ay it 's dear. We are 

 something over 1,200 miles from New York. Ten hours 

 from here to Jacksonville and 48 hours from Jacksonville 

 to New York: of course this is all by train. It doesn't 

 matter travelling much here, you can generally get a Pull- 

 man sleeping car. I have been about a little to different 

 places, as, for instance, Boston, Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, 

 Baltimore, St. Louis, Washiugton, New Orleans, Galves- 

 ton and Austin in Texas, Norfolk, Charleston, Port Royal, 

 Savannah, Fernandiua, St. Augustine, and other places. 

 Look those places np on the map and that will give you 

 some idea. Just lately we have been to the White Mount- 

 ains iu New Hampshire. A charming spot, scenery 

 something hke the hills in Ceylon. We had a jolly 

 time there, free from household and grove cares. A 

 fair journey from here to there too. Travelling has cost 

 a lot this year. However, one learns and sees. In carriage- 

 liire (or what answers to the English cabj a dollar does 

 not go quite as far as a shilling. The actual carriage is 

 better, but the driver is an ass. The Irish element up 

 North is pretty rough. The Irishman is the carriage 

 driver, porter, etc., and a nuisance he is. The Americans 

 are getting a little sick of the Irish. Down South, it's before 

 the war or after the war. Apparently all the men in the 

 South were ofiieers. That 's rather a bull ; what I mean 

 is, I have n't come across a private yet, but I have any 

 amount of Captains, Colonels and Gtenerals. One day in the 

 train a passenger wanted to ask the colored porter a question. 

 He commenced calling the nigger Captain. No response, 

 so he worked up the grades until he got to General, then 

 the nigger coudescended to answer. These niggers earn 

 enough in one day to loaf for the rest of the week If 

 you hear a colored man talking about a lady and gentle- 

 man, you know at once they were black. In speaking 

 of white people they would say a white lady, etc. 

 In working these niggers you have to stand over them— 

 it 's not like giving a coolie a task and giving him a name 

 or not as the case may be. You cannot trust these fellows 

 a bit. For a great many things I would much prefer living 

 in Ceylon: for instance, the Ceylon planter is incompar- 

 ably better than the Floridan. Living is much more con<- 

 fort able there than here. Your labor is better. Of course, 

 this is a much longer country to knock about in, but then 

 one wants the coin to do that. I uei d hardly tell you 

 its not all honey here any more thau it is in Ceylon. 

 One can hardly expect to make money when one has n't 

 been in the country a year. Of course it would be 

 much cheaper to get some one to look ;,fter one's grove 

 until it come into bearing, but caudidh I should n't like 

 to trust anyone down hereto do that. In this country, 

 if you want anything done, do it yours.lf. We are the 

 only Englishmen just here. I ought to tell you we have 

 a niu-sery of youug trees, about 800, \vhich some day 

 when they are a little larger we shjill sell or perhaps 

 buy some land and open another gro\e. N'ext 

 year we shall get a little crop I hope, 'the trees blossom 

 about February. About the price tl a fruit fetches. 

 From 100 to 130 oranges go to a box. Prices according 

 to quality, say roughly on an average aboii.' § 3-jO-lOOths a 

 box. Transport from here to New York about 80 cents 

 a box. Then the box itself costs about 15 cents. Mind 

 I 'm only speaking roughly from memi ry. Picking of 

 course is not expensive. The older and larger youi- trees 

 grow the more they shade the ground, therefore there is 

 less weeding to do. I think 20 x 20 is close for trees, hut 

 you see it does n't cost any more to cultivate them close 



