STEEP TRAILS 



The lemon and lime are also cultivated here 

 to some extent, and considerable attention is 

 now being given to the Florida banana, and 

 the olive, almond, and English walnut. But 

 the orange interest heavily overshadows every 

 other, while vines have of late years been so 

 unremunerative they are seldom mentioned. 



This is preeminently a fruit land, but the 

 fame of its productions has in some way far 

 outrun the results that have as yet been 

 attained. Experiments have been tried, and 

 good beginnings made, but the number of 

 really valuable, well-established groves is 

 scarce as one to fifty, compared with the newly 

 planted. Many causes, however, have com 

 bined of late to give the business a wonderful 

 impetus, and new orchards are being made 

 every day, while the few old groves, aglow 

 with golden fruit, are the burning and shining 

 lights that direct and energize the sanguine 

 newcomers. 



After witnessing the bad effect of homeless- 

 ness, developed to so destructive an extent in 

 California, it would reassure every lover of his 

 race to see the hearty home-building going on 

 here and the blessed contentment that natu 

 rally follows it. Travel- worn pioneers, who 

 have been tossed about like boulders in flood- 

 time, are thronging hither as to a kind of ter- 



140 



