228 Orange Culture in J^torida. 



have set out branches on all sides, while their trunks have gradually lost the walking 

 stick, or hop pole, aspect which they were forced to assume before ; and the beeches 

 and oaks and other recent trees are standing up vigorously under the genial influence 

 of the owner's care. 



" Meanwhile the obstinate, indolent or ignorant possessor of the other half of the 

 belt has done nothing to his woods for many years, and the growth is apparently at 

 a stand in its original ugliness and uselessness. The trees are none of them above 

 half the height of Sir Walter's, and a few, if any, half their diameter. 



" So very remarkable is the difference, that without the most positive assurances, 

 I could not believe it possible that it could have been brought about by mere care in 

 so short a period as five years. 



" The trees on the one side are quite without value, either to make fences or to 

 sell as supports to the coal pits near Berwick, while Sir Walter's reap a great profit 

 from the mere thinning out of his plantations. To obtain such results it will be 

 easily understood that much personal attention is necessary, much method, and 

 knowledge of the subject. It happens, however, that in this very attention he finds 

 his chief pleasure. He is a most exact and punctual man of business, and has made 

 it his favorite study to acquire a thorough knowledge of the art. 



" His excellent taste in planting has produced a very important effect. In laying 

 out his plantations he was guided partly by a feeling that it was natural and beau- 

 tiful, to follow the 'lie of the ground,' as it is called, and partly by an idea that, by 

 leading his young wood along pastures and gentle slopes, he would be taking the 

 surest course to give it shelter. But though he had only the prosperity and pictur- 

 esqueness of the wood in view, he has also, he finds, added to the value of the adjoin- 

 ing fields that remain unplanted. The person who formerly rented one farm, came 

 to him, and offered to take the unplanted part again, and to pay the same rent for it 

 as he had originally paid for the whole, although one-half of it is now a young forest, 

 and effectually enclosed. On Sir Walter's expressing his surprise at this, the man 

 said that both for growing corn and for the pasture of the sheep, the land was infi- 

 nitely improved in value by the protection which his rising woods and numerous 

 enclosures afforded." 



Orange Culture in Florida. 



BY AL FRESCO. 



UCH has been written and published regarding Orange culture ; and it is a matter 

 of conviction that many persons have regretted engaging in the pursuit. Since 

 the close of the civil war there has been a sort of mania on the part of some to 

 en^ao-e in Orange culture, and the majority have failed. Strangers visited the groves 

 at Mandarin Orange Mills, Palatka and Enterprise, ascertained the pecuniary results, 

 contracted the orange fever, planted groves, and as an evidence of the results I shall 

 merely cite one case. In the summer of '69 I visited St. Augustine, and on my 

 return was detained for several hours at Picolata. This point had been an old 

 settlement ; the land worse than exhausted by repeated cropping. To occupy time I 

 examined the locality, and found that an enterprising Northern man had started a 



