1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



075 



A VISIT TO DUDLEY ADAirS, PRESIDENT OF THE 



HORTICUl.TURAI, SOCIETY OF THE 



STATE OF FLORIDA. 



While at Lake Dora I visited the beautiful 

 grounds and resident' of President Adams. 

 Irving Keck told iiiC 1 must see that place, 

 sure. P^'riend Adams is an original enthusiast 

 and experimenter in Florida fruits, and Florida 

 agriculture in general. At present he is taking 

 consideraljle pains to develop the idea of mulch- 

 ing not only plants but orange and lemon trees, 

 and for some years has been scraping up brush, 

 leaves, weeds, and eveiy thing he can get hold 

 of, to pile 'it up around his orange-trees, not 

 only that he may cover the ground so as to 

 keep down the weeds, but to keep the soil 



come, and also to preserve dampness, the rich 

 soft mold was raked or hoed up so as to cover 

 the stump. Friend Longstreet. who accom- 

 panied me on my visit, took the liberty of pull- 

 ing the dirt away from some of these little 

 mounds, and, sure enough, there were the buds 

 already startt^d. When almost everybody else 

 in Florida was lamenting that there was no 

 budding-wood left in the whole State, friend 

 Adams had a good stock on hand ready to use, 

 and had many of his buds already started. He 

 said 10 us something like this: 



•' I^ike everybody else. I have for years been 

 trying new varietii'S of oranges; and I had just 

 got to the point where 1 decided it would be 

 worth a great deal of money to me if my or- 

 chard were reduced to four or five kinds, and 

 those just the kinds I wanted, and no other. 

 Providence has helped me to get the thing just 

 where I wanted, and it has also obliged me to 

 make a more thorough job of it than lever 

 should have thought of doing had not the frost 

 made that tremendous 'move 'on us; so you 



RESIDENCE OF DUDLEY AD.\.MS, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF 



FLORIDA, JIT. DORA. 



damp, and encourage the formation of nitrogen. 

 Friend Keck informed me that Mr. Adams 

 uses fertilizers as well as the rest, but that fer- 

 tilizers were scattered all through the leaves, 

 brush, and rubbish of all sorts. I believe this 

 is not quite true, for the grounds are remark- 

 ably clean, and free fiom weeds, in the spaces 

 between the trees wht^re it was possible to 

 cultivate. In fact, notwithstanding the enor- 

 mous quantity of rubbish in the shape of 

 mulching -material on his premises, every 

 thing looked very neat and tidy. Of course, his 

 oranges had suffered with all the rest; and 

 hundreds of great trees, nearly a foot through, 

 had been cut off close to the ground. The day 

 after the freeze, if I remember correctly, he sent 

 a telegram to California, for orange- buds of the 

 varieties he wanted; then as soon as it was 

 certain that a tree was dead or greatly injured, 

 down it went, and buds were put all around on 

 the stump, between the bark and the wood. 

 For protection from another frost that might 



see that, instead of lamenting.- and counting up 

 my losses, I can really afford to look bright 

 and cheerful in anticipation of the nice new 

 orchard and new fruit that I shall have in a 

 very short time; for nobody knows how quickly 

 a bearing grove of orange-trees may be pro- 

 duced with the great roots to the trees, that are 

 comparatively uninjured." 



I have before spoken of the light, airy, well- 

 ventilated Florida homes. The one belonging 

 to President Adams pleased me so much that I 

 begged a photo of it, and I invite your attention 

 to the half-tone copy shown above. I should 

 have stated that his place was situated on one 

 of the beautiful declining slopes toward Lake 

 Tavares. The opposite side of the house is 

 done off with verandas exactly like the one that 

 faces us; and right through the center Is a 

 large open hallway where there .are rocking- 

 chairs, lounges, and every thing needed for 

 rest (what a nice place for a noonday nap I), 

 with no interruption to the cool breezes. If 



