180 FLORIDA FRUITS GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 



Another method of cheating "Jack Frost "of his prey 

 is to have ready piles of wood, the bulk of it trash, that 

 will make plenty of smoke to the north and west, since 

 the hurtful winds always come from these directions. 

 Then, when a frosty night is expected, the fires should be 

 kindled and kept " smudged," so that they will burn slowly, 

 yet sufficiently, until dawn. 



If neither of these precautions can be taken, the next 

 best way is to throw earth around their trunks, as high as 

 possible, and let it remain thus until the end of January, 

 and in unusually severe winters even later; then, if the 

 upper branches are " nipped," enough is saved for another 

 vigorous starting point. But the guava is well worth a 

 great deal more trouble and expense in affording it winter 

 protection than is required by any of the methods we have 

 named. 



There are more guavas being set out this year than ever 

 before. Those who do not care to make their fruit into 

 jelly can either dry it for shipping, as we have seen, or 

 else sell it in neighboring towns, where there is always a 

 demand for it at from one dollar to two dollars a bushel ; 

 and even at the latter rate it is very easy to see how prof- 

 itable a fruit the guava is when an acre contains over two 

 hundred plants, yielding each, at three years old (if not 

 killed by frosts), nearly a bushel of fruit. 



Popularly there are supposed to be three distinct varie- 

 ties of the common guava cultivated in Florida, all of 

 them large, averaging five to six ounces, but some speci- 

 mens reaching eight and nine, or more rarely even ten 

 ounces. 



One of these varieties has a bright pink flesh, another 

 yellow, and the third and favorite, white. The skin of 

 all is green when unripe, yellow when matured, and all 

 resemble pears in shape. 



