THE VALUE OF ORANGE GROVES. 19 



farmer, more about orange culture than the life-long 

 orange grower. 



Therefore, ask opinions and advice from older settlers ; 

 do not take all you hear for facts nor all for fiction ; take 

 notes and compare them ; weigh conflicting opinions and 

 strike a balance ; look about you with a view to learning 

 something useful for you to know ; do not trust entirely to 

 hearsay ; find out all you can by actual trial and experi- 

 ment ; study reliable books relating to your new business ; 

 take one or more weekly papers devoted to the same cause ; 

 be energetic, persevering, careful to do your best and 

 make the most of the advantages you possess ; never use 

 nor practice those three most reprehensible words in the 

 English language, "too much trouble." 



Do these things, and in eight or ten years from the day 

 you set foot in Florida a penniless man, perchance, you 

 will be in comfortable independence ; aye ! more than in- 

 dependent for all your life to come, and your children and 

 grandchildren after you. 



Every man who has succeeded in raising a grove has 

 done so by pursuing just such a course as we have sug- 

 gested ; and no man will fail who is content to follow in 

 his footsteps. 



One of our earliest pioneers in orange growing was an 

 Englishman, John Eaton by name. He served in our 

 army during the Seminole war, and when discharged at its 

 close, in 1837, accepted the offer of the Government to 

 give one hundred and sixty (160) acres of land to any sol- 

 dier who would settle on and cultivate a portion of it. 



We, in these enlightened days, know how to envy this 

 man the grand opportunity for selecting choice lands that 

 lay before him, but he had not our knowledge. The won- 

 drous value of the wild orange tree was a sealed book to 

 him ; he was a plain working man, and at that time an 



