158 



FLOEIDA FRUITS. 



dom as to plant inferior sorts of figs, because they are larger 

 than the more delicate kinds, just so long will the people care 

 little for them in their fresh state, not knowing how excellent a 

 fruit they might hai^e. 



Let the fruit growers of Florida and California set out the 

 small, finely flavored varieties of figs, and there will soon be a 

 demand throughout the country for all that they can raise. 



It is true, as urged by the former, that the coarser kinds, 

 such as the Brown Turkey, Mission, and Brunswick, are hardier 

 and easier to raise than the others ; but there are many localities 

 in both the great fig-growing States, Florida and California — in 

 fact, through all the length and breadth of the former — where 

 tbe finer and more delicate sorts could be raised, without the 

 least danger of loss by frost. 



Let our growers try it, and they will soon find that the fig 

 is one of the most profitable fruits that can be placed on the 

 general markets, either fresh, preserved, or dried. 



Already, here and there, in Florida, a few wide-awake, en- 

 terprising men are establishing factories, where limes, figs, or- 

 anges, citron, guavas, and any other fruits that can be obtained, 

 are being prepared for market in the shape of pickles, preserves, 

 dried fruits, jellies, marmalades, and wines. The only trouble is 

 that they cannot procure enough material to keep them busy^ 

 except in the one item of oranges, the others not yet being raised 

 in sufficiently large quantities. 



For instance, this past year, at St. Augustine, Mr. S. B. 

 Vails, during the height of the fig season, preserved about sixty 

 bushels of that fruit daily, but the supply was soon exhausted, 

 and in the quaint old city the people complained, because there 

 were no fresh figs left for them to purchase for home use ; thou- 

 sands of bushels more could have been sold in this one place 

 alone, with great profit to the growers. It was the same with 

 limes and with guavas — the factories were compelled to close 

 for want of material to operate on — and yet there are thousands 

 of acres of land suitable for the culture of these valuable fruits 

 still unoccupied. 



The fig-tree grows very readily from cuttings, and this is 



