2 74 Appendix. 



ago not a tree was planted. In Orange county many 

 emigrants, who first went to Florida for their health, have 

 improved sufficiently to earn their living, and raise an orange 

 grove in addition. Many of them took up 160 acres of land, 

 under the Homestead Law, and selling off portions of it to 

 later comers, have realised enough money to cultivate the 

 balance retained. Others, who knew a trade, worked part 

 of their time for their neighbours, and spent their unem- 

 ployed hours in planting an orange tree here or there for 

 themselves, until they finally had a five or ten-acre grove, of 

 sixty trees to the acre, which, when bearing, would give them 

 an annual income of from 300 to ;i,ooo." 



No. 30. 



In Chambers 's Journal of iQth September, 1885, p. 604, 

 are given the experiences of a sojourner " In the Orange 

 Groves of Florida," which show the other side of the picture. 



He says that one must be prepared for a hard lonely life, 

 and plenty of hard work. Soil there was none ; only sand, 

 white as flour, and as fine, and tenacious weeds without 

 number. But from what he saw, during a residence of some 

 time, he thought that " given the right sittiation> abundant, 

 and appropriate food, and that devoted attention, which it 

 claims,* and the orange tree seems to offer as certain a return 

 for money, time, and skill as any investment in the old, or 

 new world." 



He goes on to say, " From what I saw, I consider the orange 

 to be the most responsive of all arboreal things to human 

 touch." And he adds, " The oranges of Florida are already 

 the largest in the world, and their quality is unequalled by 

 the choicest fruit of Europe, of Syria, and Brazils." 



He informs us, however, that cockroaches, mosquitos, and 

 all insect life in Florida are "a huge and permanent affiic- 



* There's the rub ! Most fruit trees would do the same, under similar 

 conditions, not only in Florida, but in many other places. ( Vide Ap- 

 pendix 31.) 



