54 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



put out a few Eucalyptus globulus trees here and there, 

 and have no fears of the result." 



The orange tree is a good deal of a cosmopolitan, and 

 will flourish in a variety of soils ; in clay, sand, shell, or 

 loam ; in low or high hammocks ; in pine land or black- 

 jack lands. Very much depends on the treatment it re- 

 ceives, but when it is as easy to obtain pine land or high 

 hammock, they are to be preferred, as giving equal or even 

 better results than the others with less labor. 



Given two tracts of land, one hammock, the other good 

 pine, at equal cost, and equal advantages in all other re- 

 spects, many would doubtless select the former. But we, 

 with the experience gained by eight years' residence in 

 Florida, would select the pine land for a permanently satis- 

 factory grove. 



Undoubtedly the hammocks are the richest lands at the 

 start, but their fertility is deceptive, that is, it is not last- 

 ing ; trees and vegetables grow finely for several years, but 

 the fertility given to the soil by the once falling leaves of 

 the deciduous undergrowth (cut away to make room for 

 cultivation) is soon exhausted, and after that every year 

 increases the need of fertilizers in the hammock groves. 

 But with pine lands it is just the reverse, they are poorer 

 at the outset, but improve steadily with each year's culti- 

 vation. 



Pine land, with clay subsoil, is rapidly coming more and 

 more into favor as the best possible basis to work upon ; it 

 has * ' bottom " on which one can depend to retain all sur- 

 plus fertilizers until the trees can utilize them. When 

 you can find clay subsoil any where from two to six feet 

 from the surface, there be not afraid to locate your grove. 



It is not always safe to depend on surface indications, 

 or the reports of others ; the most trustworthy plan is to 

 take a spade yourself and dig here and there on the land 



