FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
start up easily if left whole when the char¬ 
red ends are put together. Donh leave the 
groves alone, if there be any combustible 
material in or about it, until every fire 
has been extinguished. Then you may go 
to rest with a satisfied mind, so far as 
your own interests are concerned; but 
with a deq) feeling of sympathy for those 
who have trusted to luck and hoping 
against hope have lost wholly or in part, 
for, I know of no more vexing experience 
than that of rebuilding a grove that has 
been killed to the ground or even the ef¬ 
fort to realize some return from a partly 
frozen crop of fruit. 
Though wood is comparatively plentiful 
in this state at present it will not always 
be available in sufficient quantities to allow 
of its use to the extent of our needs and 
considering the amount of work to pre¬ 
pare it, place it, keep up the fires, replace it 
with more when that in the groves is used 
up, the difficulty of hauling it among 
closely planted, large trees and the neces¬ 
sity of getting it out and covering it when 
danger of- cold is past, the difficulty of 
getting the needed help to do all this just 
when it is needed, it is well for us to care¬ 
fully consider the matter of the use 
of other fuels that will soon be, if they are 
not now, more economical for our pur¬ 
pose. 
It may be that the use of some kind of 
stove would give us more economical pro¬ 
tection, even with the use of wood, after 
their first cost was met, as they give out 
more lateral heat with less upward waste. 
The use of coal or coke in stoves or 
baskets should be tried until we learn more 
fully their protective worth. 
The Griffiths, Munson Briquettes are 
giving good results in California but there 
they do not have as low extremes of tem¬ 
perature as we experience. 
113 
While in that state last year I talked 
with Mr. James Mills of Riverside who 
has had 200 tons of them, and other users. 
I met Mr. M. L. Wicks of Los Angeles 
president of the company, was shown 
through the works where they are made 
and I am encouraged to believe that they 
will answer our needs better than any¬ 
thing else on the market if they can be 
made in this state as cheaply as there and 
I see no reason why this may not be done. 
The plant need not be an expensive one, 
the materials are not costly, the briquettes 
can be moved on a low freight rate, they 
are exceedingly convenient to handle, take 
little room in the grove, can be stored 
there under the trees where most handy 
for years with but little, if any, loss of 
value, need no stove or basket when in use 
and each replenishing will last from five to 
six hours, so I am told by those who have 
used them. 
In size they are there made 12x6x5 
ches for grove use but much smaller for 
household purposes. In France where 
wood is scarce, briquettes are in common 
use for all heating purposes and may be 
seen in great piles about the railroad sta¬ 
tions almost as plentiful as coal in this 
country. 
There are yet, and always will be, 
problems to work out in successful citrus 
culture and the most effective and 
economical protection from injury by cold 
is one of them*. I am inclined to Mieve 
it to be best, in the future setting of or- 
ange groves, to plant the rows running 
north and south far enough apart to allow 
of the easy hauling of fuel and fruit and 
the building of fires after the trees, get 
large without danger of injury to them 
or their crop. All this means work but 
nature demands that man shall work, hap¬ 
pily and in affluence if he will, unhappy 
