THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 391 



highest degree, and appeals to the eye as powerfully as to the palate, 

 unquestionably wears the crown." 



It may be interesting to hear the high estimate in which the Florida 

 orange was held by travelers visiting that state years ago. The 

 statements quoted may seem extravagant. I have speculated a little as 

 to the language the writer would have employed to have expressed his 

 thrill of delight could he have gotten one of our splendid Washington 

 Navels, or our incomparable Valencias. Here is what he said, which 

 is taken from Blackwood's Magazine, 1885: 



''The Florida orange is a delicacy by itself, hitherto unknown 

 to the world, and which Spain need never attempt to rival. 

 Between an Indian River orange and the coarse-grained, spongy, 

 bitter-sweet product of the Mediterranean there is nothing whatever 

 in common. The one is a thing to be eaten in the usual routine of 

 life, the other is a delicacy which we can only hope to stumble on 

 at rare moments. A ripe Floridian, well grown and in good con- 

 dition, melts in the mouth like a juicy peach. It is nectar in poetic 

 form, and the fashionable mode of eating it in Jacksonville is to 

 cut it in two and empty it with a teaspoon. So delicate is the pulp, 

 and so tender is the skin that the one difficulty in enjoying it is in 

 handling it. " 



Another picture given in Chamher's Journal, 1885: "The orange 

 groves of Florida are already the largest in the world, and the quality 

 of their product is unequalled by the choicest fruits of Europe, Syria 

 and Brazil." The writer informs us, however, that the cockroaches, 

 mosquitoes and all insect life in Florida are ''a huge and permanent 

 affliction," and that ''as horticulture is the only business that can be 

 carried on in Florida and as insects are vastly destructive, to fruits and 

 vegetables, it is the height of folly to annihilate the small birds. The 

 orange tree is the prey of many insect parasites, and sometimes a whole 

 grove is blighted by them. I have seen scores of trees ghastly with scale, 

 and o^vners almost driven to desperation." 



A warning to growers as well as some information as to the life of 

 the orange tree may be noted in the following quotation from the 

 Tropical Agriculturist, an English paper, of 1882 : 



"In the Azores, up to 1836, the oranges were in perfect condi- 

 tion — no care, no attention, no labor was given them, save the 

 picking and packing. They were left without manure, without 

 draining and maybe without pruning. Suddenly, however, a dis- 

 ease appeared— trees two hundred and three hundred years old, 

 and producing each six thousand and twenty thousand oranges 

 were- disappearing. It was observed that all the trees affected 

 produced a very heavy crop the very year that the disease mani- 

 fested itself, that the leaves became yellow and fell off in great 

 quantities, and on the trunks, or stems near and sometimes beneath 

 the ground, the bark opened and drops or tears of yellow gum 



