Appendix. 275 



tion," and " as horticulture is the only business that can be 

 carried on in Florida, and as insects are vastly destructive to 

 fruits and vegetables, it is the height of folly to annihilate 

 the small birds. The orange tree is the prey of many insect 

 parasites, and sometimes a whole grove is blighted by them. 

 I have seen scores of trees ghastly with ' scale/ and owners 

 almost driven to desperation. Indeed, the difficulty is to 

 keep the trees clean. Nothing struck me more than the con- 

 trast between the fruit of the groves, often black and wrinkled, 

 and the brilliant plumpness of the wild oranges in the hum- 

 macks. I believe the health and beauty of the latter were 

 owing to the birds, which preyed upon insects, their natural 

 food, whereas from the groves birds were banished, as every 

 boy found his pastime in blazing away at them." Finally he 

 says, " The outcome of my personal experience is, for the 

 settler to begin upon a small scale, taking care of his capital, 

 and his health. The cleverest man must go upon facts ; and 

 though hints and book instructions can help, they cannot 

 make an orange-grower," 



NOTE. Then to sum up, all the advertising of this new 

 Eldorado in Florida, appears to come to this that by 

 capital, hard labour, skill and patience, you can grow in 

 Florida a good kind of orange, that will fetch a good price, 

 in winter, in New York. That is, provided you keep your 

 health, and do not mind the "huge and permanent affliction" 

 of cockroaches, mosquitos, &c. ; but whoever wishes to learn 

 more about it may do so, by turning to p. 185, of the Satur- 

 day Review of 6th February, 1886. 



No. 31. 



In the St. James's Budget of 6th March, 1886, the following 

 occurs on p. 1 1, under the head of " Florida frosts " : 



" The winter of 1885-6 will for long be remembered by the 



people of Florida Every day during the ' blizzard ' 



the faces of the orange and ' truck ' growers were getting 

 longer and more gloomy, till, it is no exaggeration to say, a 

 panic prevailed. The crop of fruit upon the trees was of 

 course irremediably destroyed ; every orange had become a 



T 2 



