Tropical Fruits. 
By E. N. Reasoner. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
From the latitude of Florida one would 
judge that sub-tropical plants would be 
the limit in tenderness that the inhabi¬ 
tants would try to grow; but its penin¬ 
sular position with large bodies of water 
surrounding the southern half of the 
State tempt us into growing entirely 
tropical plants, which from time to time 
are frozen back by the Northers sweeping 
down on us from “up country.” 
If Uncle Sam in his reconstruction of 
the map instead of considering a ship 
canal across the State would kindly look 
into the matter of building us a mountain 
range across the northern part of the 
peninsula we of South Florida would 
consider it much more to the point. With 
that protection we could grow nearly any¬ 
thing, even as it is we are able to raise 
a great many things of value; fruit trees, 
economic and ornamental plants, trees, 
vines, etc., of the more vigorous and 
hardy members of the Tropics. 
The most valuable have come to us 
from India, Mexico and the West Indies, 
and in fruit trees and plants the follow¬ 
ing find a congenial home along the coast 
and in the protected Lake regions of 
South Florida, where they are seldom in¬ 
jured by cold; the pineapple, the mango, 
the banana, the guava, the avocado, the 
sapodilla, the sugar apple, the custard ap¬ 
ple and a few less valuable, all being well 
known and grown on a commercial scale. 
The cultivation of each of these is 
being extended and the best varieties for 
Florida conditions are being tried and 
tested thoroughly. Much assistance has 
been given along this line by the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, especially through 
the efforts of the subtropical laboratory 
at Miami, where hybridizing pineapples 
and other work is progressing favorably. 
However the greater knowledge as to 
culture and shipment of these fruits has 
been worked out by individual growers 
so that now there is a substantial base to 
work from in selection of suitable loca¬ 
tion, soil, fertilizing, cultivation, frost 
protection, packing and shipping the 
fruit. 
The pineapple so far stands out pre¬ 
eminently as our most valuable tropical 
fruit and the plan of selling fruit through 
the association of growers is admirable. 
Pineapples are mostly grown in open air 
and the principal variety is the Red Span¬ 
ish. In localities where frost is more like¬ 
ly to occur, sheds have been erected over 
small areas and the more delicate va¬ 
rieties, notably the Smooth Cayenne, 
grown successfully. By cheapening the 
existing express and freight rates a great 
impetus would surely be given this in¬ 
dustry and the finer varieties could then 
