THK CANADIAN HORXrOULTURTST. 



123 



FLORIDA IN WINTEIi. 



(Continued from pige 102.) 



A. further sail of some seventy-five 

 miles up the St. John's Kiver brin^js 

 us to Palatka. Here we spend the day 

 in looking about and visiting the orange 

 grove of Mr. H. L. Hart, on the oppo- 

 site side of the river. Tlirnugh the 

 politeness of one of the principal mer- 

 chants, we were permitted to visit his 

 country seat just out of the town. Here 

 we found the first pear trees we had 

 seen in Florida. They did not seem 

 at home in this sand-bank, and wen; 

 barely able to live. The Drummond 

 Phlox had evidently escaped from cul- 

 tivation and was in blossom almo.st 

 everywhere. But such plants as they 

 were, one short, straight wiry stalk, 

 with a little umbel of flowers on the 

 top, so starved looking, one could not 

 help pitying the poor things. But the 

 young orange trees looked vigorous and 

 healthy, so that one must conclude that 

 pure white sand suits their constitu- 

 tion. The vegetable garden was located 

 very near to the bank of the river, 

 where the ground was damp and the 

 soil full of leaf mould. The vege- 

 tables did not seem to know what to do 

 with themselves, but were apparently 

 debating the question whether to grow 

 or not to grow. The rose garden was 

 filled with many choice varieties, chiefly 

 the ever-blooming sorts, and had the 

 same lack of fine foliage and vigorous 

 healthy look which we had noticed at 

 Jacksonville and St. Augustine ; never- 

 Uxeless they were well filled with bloom. 



A little, {)utfing steam tug took us 

 across the river to Mr. Hart's orange 

 grove. It contains about three thou- 

 sand trees, not all of them yet in bearing. 

 We found Mr. Sperry, the manager, 

 and introducing ounselves, received 

 from him a very cordial welcome. He 

 accompanied us through the grounds 

 and patiently answered our numerous 

 questioos. Here we found three varie- 



ties of oranges were being cultivated, 

 but chiefly the variety known in our 

 northern markets as the Florida orange. 

 The other kinds are known as the 

 Mandarin and Tangerine. These sell 

 at high prices in New York city during 

 the holidays, being in demand for their 

 social entertainments, because when 

 peeled the quarters fall readily apart 

 and ladies can eat them without soiling 

 their gloves. The Mandarin is a small 

 growing tree, having much finer foliage 

 than the common variety, but the Tan- 

 gerine seems to grow as large as the 

 common kind. The trees are neai-ly all 

 out of flower and the young fruit set 

 for the new crop, and yet most of the 

 trees are laden still with ripe fruit. 

 Tiie oranges ripen in November and 

 are gathered as wanted from that time 

 until April. If any remain as late as 

 April they are then gathered and sent 

 to mai-ket. It is very convenient to 

 be able to store the fruit on the trees 

 through the winter and gather it as 

 required either for personal use or for 

 sale. One orange tree was shewn us 

 by Mr. Sperry of larger size than any 

 of the other trees whose crop in one 

 year he stated to have been six thou- 

 san I oranges. 



Here we made the acquaintance of a 

 fruit of the citrus family known as 

 grape fruit. The name seemed very 

 inappropriate, for we could see no man- 

 ner of resemblance to a grape, neither 

 in the fruit nor the tree that bore the 

 fruit. To our inquiry why the name 

 was given to a fruit usually larger than 

 an orange and nearly of the color of a 

 lemon, Mr. Sperry replied that he sup- 

 posed that it was because the fruit was 

 borne in such clusters,reminding one by 

 their number and proximity of grapes 

 on a bunch. Well, perhaps this is the 

 rea.son ; it will do in absence of a better, 

 but he was certainly a most imaginative 

 genius that perceived the similarity. 

 This grape fruit is very juicy, with a 



