163 
S 0 riT H E R N 0 TT L T r V A T o R 
al und -'.it-iiUi wiihld tlimiiiih llie leudesb 
Lr.niciit^s. Nt-ve.r was a placr. more desolaie.’ 
Years passed nn. A new i^rowth Isad, in a measure, 
redeemed iliis desolation, when a new cala-airy was ex 
perienced, not as suiden, hut eveniii illy as desiiaiciive tts 
the !Vo>t. Tliis was tlie visitation of the insect, agaiii>t 
wliose ravciyes nnthini^ w’as tonnd to avail, (tiovc after 
grove became itliglued, yet. as some localities were sp;ired 
for sever,.! years, it was lioped the destruction wouhi not 
be universal. 'I’he in.'Cct first made its appearance at 
Mandarine, a flourishing village on the banks of the St 
Joints. It was thought by some to have been imported 
on u couple of trees brought from China and planted here 
Its true origin is, hovveve.r, as little k nown, as its remedy 
Like the weevil in the Northern and Western whe .l fields, 
nothing can stop its progress until it htis run its appoint- 
ed cycle, and it will probably disappear as mysteriously as 
it cttme. Twice, during the last hundred \ ears, has the 
orange in the Mediterranean and South Europe been 
similarly attacked. And the Hope that here, as in Eurojie, 
the insect will pass away, still continues to cheer the 
Florida orange grower, and he awaits the happy mo- 
ment to renew his operations with renewed vigor. 
Had it not been tor this calamity, the beautiful banks of 
the St. Johns, now mostly a wilderness, would probaldy, 
by this time, have been studded wtlli villas, and fringed 
•with orange groves, and thus they will be when the 
orange can again be successfully cultivated. With the 
extraordinary facilities for a market which Florida will 
soon possess, there can be little danger of the supply ex 
ceeding the dematid. 
An orange grove of common sized trees will produce 
from 500 to 2.500 oranges per tree, worth $■'), and 
$25, per tree. One humired trees or more can be plant- 
ed upon an acre. Very little labor is required to keep a 
grove in good condition. The sour orange, which grows 
spontaneously all over the peninsula, may be budded with 
the sweet orange, and will bear in three years In many 
places the banks of lakes and streams are lined with wild 
groves of orange, some of them great in extent. These du 
not seem to regard the insect to any great extent, and 
continue to hang their golden clusters amid the green. On 
the upper waters of the St. Johns, and also on the At- 
lantic coast near New Smyrna, fine oranges are now pro- 
duced ; these from the groves of Mr. Shelden and Dr. 
Speer being of peculiarly large size and delicious flavor. 
Lemons and Limes gn)w very thickly in Florida, and 
are abundant in a wild slate. The Sicily lemon, trans- 
planted in Florida, is much improved from the original ; 
the writer of this has seen a specimen which measured 
eleven inches in circumference. 
The pine-apple, guava, banana, plaintain, sappadillo, 
tamarind, cocoa, sour sop, shad-dock, grape-fruit, f)r- 
bidden fruit, inamce-apple, mango, sugar apple, citron, 
cassav.i, arrow root, &c. &c , are also productions *jf 
Florida, and will be mentioned at greater length hereafter. 
The Fig attains perfection in Florida. There are several 
varieties of this fruit, those of a dark purple color and 
about the size of a hen’s egg, being preferred for the de- 
sert. A branch cut from a bearing tree, and merely stuck 
in the ground, will produce fruit in two years. No at- 
tempt has been made to preserve dried figs in Florida, 
but it is evident that some method to do this could be de- 
vised; in which case New Smyrna of Florida might rival 
the Asifuic Smyrna in her export of the delicious li uir. 
Tiie Hiwey is a miniature Fig, growing upon a large 
beautiful tree in Southern Florida. The fruit is about ilie 
the size of a hazel nut, and grows from the limb of the tree 
wiihout any apparent blossom. It is of a dark brown 
color, an 1 resembling the fig in taste. 
The Persimmon is a delicious fruit, when fully ripe 
In fact, when it is in perfection, there are few tropical 
% 
iVmis that can rival it in li. inifs-,; wln-n gio-.n it li is a 
I’ra^rani asiriiiitenc y only eipiale.il !'v die prick lev-a.-li or 
die wild Inriiip. 'The ii.uives nt Flori.la used die. dried 
rier-^iaimnn exien^ivelv as an ariide *.f fund _ and we read 
in die lists ofslnres and prnvi-sinns. liirnislied liy lln-ni to 
iheold Spanish expeditinns, of cakes of dried persinminii. 
[ F'londa News. 
SflORTrNING-IN LiMA BkaN.S aNU SQ,U A STI US.— Cl! p piOg 
the shoots of Lima beans, when about six f. et high, pro- 
duces an abundant crop, the beans ripening sooner. 
Squashes, the vines of which are iii|iped nfier two nr three 
squashes had formed, are larger and ripened lieiier By 
cutting out the early bearing Itrancht s a succession of 
squashes are obtained through the summer. Tomatoes 
which grow on an excessively rich piece of ground are 
benefiued by shortening, new and more vij/ornns shoots 
successfully pushing out in place of those which are 
clipped. 
Dkpth of Pla.nti.ng t>KKDs. — We find the following 
from a foreign author, among the papers read before the 
Farmer's Club of the American Institute: 
Seed buried 1 2 inch deep, iq) in 1 1 days, 7-8ths of them; 
1 inch deep, in 12 days, all ; 2 inches tleep, iti 18 days, 
7 8lhs; 3 inches deep, in 20 days, 3 4ih ; 4 inches deep, 
in 21 days, 1-2; 5 inches deep, in 22 days, 3-8ihs ; G 
inche.s deep. 23 days, only one came np. 
I'lie rays of the sun furnish light — tho.-e nearest the yel- 
low are remarkable for impeding the heat-giving rays are 
favorable to it, if plenty of water ispnsctit; while the 
blue rays, or these concerned in chemical action or actim- 
sin. (from the Greek aclim,a ray,) accelerate tlie process 
and cause a rapid growth His experiments were., making 
the light pass through colored glasses upon the vegetable. 
He thinks that a blue glass will prevent scorching of 
leaves, and that red glass will increase the heat. He says 
that a pale green glass made with oxide of copper, is best^ 
fitted for conservatories — green being a compound of the 
yellow or luminous rays with the blue or cfiemical rays. 
A delicate emerald green glass has, at his suggestion, been 
used in glazing the large Pall flotme at Kew. 
Tastr op Tornips in Buttkr. — A correspondent at 
Philadelphia writes us that he had abandoned the use of 
turnips as feed for milch cows on account of the tli.sagree- 
alile taste imparted to the milk and butter. He met with 
the following easy method of removing this objection, 
and has practiced it for five years with perfect success, 
botli with common flat turnips and with ruia bagas : Sli<-e 
the. turnips 12 hours' before they are wanted, pnt them in 
a heap or basket and sprinkle over them a slight coating 
of fine salt. After they have lain in the heap 12 hours, 
mix them well together and give to the cows — Counli-y 
Gentleman. 
An Editor’s Ranchk — A letter trtjm New Braunfels, 
Texas, to the Galveston News, dated February 2id, says: 
I paid a visit yesterday to the. ranche of G W Kendall, . 
E.sq , of the New '^’rleans Picayune, and found him luisily 
making improvements on the beautiful site iie has selected 
for his future home. He has already built a good sub- 
stantial stone house, commanding a fine view r.f the. 
surrounding cout;iry. which extends for miles through a 
romantic region, interspersed with wild seen* ry of the 
finest character. His cliief Htteniinn has been directed to 
the rai.siug of sheep, in which he haa su ■ceeeded well 
sine,'* his remuval to the valley of the Com il His stork 
is tlie finest I have seen in Tex i.s, being composed mostly 
of [inre iilooded .Merinoes, which produce tiie finest and. 
most cosily wool. 
