THE IRRIGA TlON A GE 15 



glass. With what result? The protecting farmer will get a larger 

 profit from an acre under glass than his grandfather did from a hun- 

 dred acres. 



Let us turn from the North to frost- smitten Florida. The pro- 

 tected orange groves are filling the state. Some of this protection is 

 done by sheds with movable roofs, some by glass, and much by cloth 

 tents, after the manner of protecting hay- cocks in a New England hay 

 field. In Marion County, Florida, lives a man by the name of Dolittle, 

 whose name belies his occupation and enterprise. He saw the frost 

 cut down hundreds of beautiful orange groves, and out of his northern 

 blood he resolved that his delightful trees should not be destroyed. 

 He made frames for his trees, and in the winter filled uhem with dried 

 pine needles. This did not prove wholly satisfactory. He then tried 

 cloth tent covers. His orange trees now are the pride of the town. 



The returns from choice orange groves will pay for protection. 

 I have seen a grape fruit tree near Belleview, Fla., that has borne 

 fifteen hundred grape fruits in a single year. These grape fruits at 

 ten cents apiece would have brought the owner one hundred and fifty 

 dollars. A hundred protected grape fruit trees would yield an in- 

 come of a thousand dollars or more, and support a man and his family 

 in Florida, a place where one may live more cheaply than anywhere 

 else in the world, as the sun fnrnishes him largely fuel and clothingj 

 and one's gardens may be made to produce sweet potatoes, cabbages, 

 strawberries, cumquats and figs and grapes nearly all the year. Like 

 Holland from the dikes, so Florida is to rise again and in golden glory 

 by protected trees. The rich are protecting . acres of orange and 

 grape fruit trees in this way. A poor man .may protect enough to 

 support his family. 



There is a quality of the Florida orange that will always give it a. 

 distinct place in the markets of the world. The Florida orange can 

 never .be driven from the market. 



The great use of grape fruit in the Northern cities would alone 

 secure Florida fruit growers from failure. The fruit is reported to 

 contain quinine, and to be a very good tonic and vitalizing. However 

 this may be, banquets that used to begin with soups now start with 

 halved grape fruit which have stood soaked with sugar for half a day 

 or more, awaiting the festal hour. In some places the grape fruit 

 pulp is frozen, and served like sherbet. 



The hardy bush orange of China, or cumquat orange, is likely to 

 be grown extensively in Florida. It finds an immediate market. The 

 Citrus Deliciosa, or China Mandarin orange, is also likely to come into 

 use more largely than before, as it can be easily protected. 



A few years ago I was in Costa Rica. I went from Port Lemon 

 to Costa Rica's beautiful city, San Jose. Passing through loft y 



