Orange Culture in J^lori.da. 261 



From actual observation and from inquiries, we would recommend the intending 

 emigrant to examine the gulf coast from Clear Water harbor to Punta Rosa. In 

 this region the orange and lemon are uninjured by frost. The range of the ther- 

 mometer during the summer months is lower than in the Northern States, seldom 

 exce*?ding 90°. When this point is attained persons do not suffer, for the land is 

 fanned by a refreshing sea breeze. During the months of June, July and August, 

 showers of short duration are of almost daily occurrence, the rainfall for these three 

 months exceeding thirty inches. In this region insects are not troublesome; the 

 people are intelligent and more than hospitable, and the health unequaled by any 

 portion of the United States. We have not visited Cape Romano, but from informa- 

 tion we have collected, we would willingly become one of the twenty to make a set- 

 tlement at this point. In this locality the orange, pine apple, banana, coffee, and 

 other tropical fruits would prove more than successful and profitable. 



Many Northern people ridicule the statements of travelers regarding the produc- 

 tiveness of orange groves, and in consequence we feel a delicacy in referring to 

 results. In the summer of 1868, in company with that intelligent horticulturist, 

 W. W. Williams, of St. Augustine, I carefully examined a grove at St. Augustine, 

 planted thirteen years. The soil was of superior quality, and the trees planted about 

 sixteen feet apart. We counted the fruit upon a given number of average trees, and 

 thereby estimated the yield, which, at $2 per hundred, amounted to over $2,000 per 

 acre. During the summer of 1872 rain was deficient, and the high winds injured the 

 crop, reducing the yield two-thirds below the average. Yet the diminished crop 

 proved remunerative. 



In February last we examined the Ginn grove, near Melonville, and found it to 

 consist of 600 trees about twenty years old. For many years this valuable property 

 has been neglected and the soil uncultivated. The ground was a network of grass 

 and weeds, and the trees were covered with moss and lichens. It surprised us that 

 trees could exist, much less produce fruit. Although there was but one-third of a 

 crop, the yield was 175,000 oranges, which were sold on the tree at $2 per hundred, 

 the purchaser to gather the fruit ; amount realized, $3,500. One tree budded in 

 1856, producing 3,290 orang'^s. One tree budded in 1848, growing on the Eden 

 grove five miles from Melonville, produced 6,000 marketable oranges, the crop yield- 

 ing $120.00. Col. Hart's grove at Palatka, numbering 600 trees, produced but one- 

 half of a crop, yet he shipped 300,000 oranges, which, at two cents, would amount 

 to $6,000. A portion of his crop sold at the grove at from five to ten cents per fruit. 

 At Manatee we inspected a lemon tree, growing uncared-for, by the side of the road, 

 and at the lowest estimate we believed the crop to be 1,200. We gathered several 

 of the fruit, and on our return home five weeks afterwards, we weighed one of the 

 lemons and found it to weigh over eighteen ounces, avoirdupois. 



Some of your readers will inqure : "How am I to keep the pot boiling until a 

 grove produces fruit?" If near steamboat or railroad communication, early tomatoes 

 and potatoes would prove remunerative ; rice, cotton, sugar cane, cassava, arrowroot 

 sweet potatoes, oats and tobacco would prove paying crops. The latter is a success- 

 ful crop, and for aroma and quality nearly equals that of Cuba. Along the Gulf 

 coast, south of Clear Water harbor, the pine apple, lemon and banana are a success 



