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FLORIDA FRUITS 
 
 AND 
 
 HOW TO RAISE THEM 
 
 BY 
 
 HELEN HARCOURT. ^x.<u^^2 
 
 37" 
 
 REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION, WITH ELABORATE INDEX 
 OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 * Lr' 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 
 JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY. 
 
 1886' 
 
\ 
 
 * \1 
 
 V 
 
 COPYRIGHTED BY 
 JOHN P. MORTON AND COMrANY 
 
 1886 
 
 ROBERT ROWELL, 
 
 Electrotype and Stereotype Foundry, 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 In laying the pl-esent revised and enlarged edition of 
 "Florida Fruits and How to Raise Them" before the 
 public, the writer gives tangible expression to the growing 
 belief that not in the citrus fruits alone will Florida find 
 the Alpha and Omega of her horticultural wealth. 
 
 While oranges are now, and will probably continue to 
 be, the chief staple in such sections of our great State as 
 are best suited to their culture, there are numerous other 
 fruits making, year by year, rapid strides to the front. 
 
 A few years ago the question was, " What can be grown 
 in Florida?" 
 
 To-day the question is, "What can not be grown in 
 Florida?" 
 
 For instance, it was said that strawberries could not be 
 raised in quantity ; already, in the last three years, they 
 have won recognition as one of the most profitable "quick 
 crops " that can be raised any where. 
 
 "Peaches could not be grown in Florida" was the 
 assertion only four or five years ago, and now it has been 
 proven that peaches can not only be grown over nearly the 
 whole State, but grown in abundance and in perfectiou. 
 The peach crop is already a very important item in the 
 western and central sections, and yearly becoming more 
 extended both in quantity and area. 
 
 (5) 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 And so we might go over a long list of fruits already 
 proven to be adapted to Florida's soil and climate, but 
 these examples will suffice to show that in the horticultural 
 possibilities of our beautiful sunny State we stand yet 
 upon the threshold. 
 
 And as it is with the list of fruits, so it is, in a great 
 degree, with the manner of their culture ; to a certain ex- 
 tent we yet grope in the twilight, and must be content to 
 observe, to inquire, to compare, to study, to experiment, 
 seeking to avoid the errors of some and to imitate the 
 successes of others. 
 
 To place at the service of the Florida fruit grower the 
 result of years of patient observation and experience, both 
 personal and collected from trustworthy sources, in a plain, 
 concise, and practical form, so that the veriest novice may 
 make a success of his new pursuit in his Florida home, has 
 been the earnest purpose of the author. How far and in 
 what degree this purpose may have been attained, it is 
 left to the reader to decide. 
 
TABLE OF COI^TENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PAGE. 
 
 Rise and Progress of Orange Culture 9-17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Value of Orange Groves 18-26 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 From Seed to Grove 27-36 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 How to Bud and Graft 37-51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Where to Plant 52-61 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Budded Trees or Seedlings ? 62-69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 How to Plant 70-75 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 How TO Cultivate 76-80 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Mulching and Pruning 81-87 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 How TO Fertilize 88-97 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Enemies and How to Fight Them 98-109 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Rust Mite 110-127 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Gathering and Packing 128-134 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 About Varieties 135-141 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Miscellaneous 142-151 
 
 (7) 
 
8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK XVI. 
 Lemon Culture 152-160 
 
 CHAPTEK XYII. 
 Other Citrus Fruits 161-166 
 
 CHAPTEK XYIII. 
 Pine-apples 1 67-1 76 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 GuAVAs AND Bananas 177-186 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 The Small Fruits 187-200 
 
 CHAPTEK XXL 
 Olives and Pecans 201-214 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 Cocoa-nuts 215-237 
 
 CHAPTER XXIIL 
 Other Tropical Fruits 238-240 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Grapes 241-249 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Chinese Sand Pears 250-257 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 Figs 258-265 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Peaches and Plums 266-283 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIIL 
 Japanese Persimmon, or Date Plum 284-287 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Evaporating Fruits 288-293 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Odds and Ends 294-311 
 
 CHAPTER XXXL 
 How TO Use Florida Fruits 312-332 
 
FLORIDA FRUITS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 RISE AND PROGRESS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 
 
 Throughout the length and breadth of the horticultural 
 world there is at this moment, and will be for years to 
 come, no one tree or fruit possessing so all-absorbing an 
 interest as the far-famed, luscious orange. And good rea- 
 son there is for this pre-eminence of the "golden apple," 
 as we shall presently see — its fame is not built upon a 
 sandy foundation, but upon a gold-bearing rock, and as 
 such it shall stand forevermore. 
 
 An orange grove is at all times intrinsically beautiful, 
 whether laden down with its yellow fruit glistening amid 
 the dark green foliage, or standing clothed in the glossy 
 glory of the latter alone, or dotted all over with its starry 
 white blossoms, and filling the balmy air with their sweet 
 breath. 
 
 Most truly "a thing of beauty and a joy forever" is an 
 orange grove to its happy possessor, and in using the word 
 " forever," we do so advisably, for no one who owns a grove 
 at the present day will live to see its decay, or the failure 
 of one jot or tittle of its usefulness, rather the contrary. 
 
 We remember reading a rather sarcastic story of some 
 young girls, who, to settle a disputed point, applied to a 
 maiden lady of eighty years with the question : 
 
 (9) 
 
10 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 " How old must a woman be before she gives up all hope 
 of getting married?" 
 
 The old lady (so the story runs) shook her head, and 
 made reply : 
 
 "Girls, you must ask some one older than I am." So 
 with the orange tree. 
 
 At Cordova, that far-famed seat of ancient Moorish 
 splendor and luxury, there are still remaining a number 
 of monster orange trees, known to be seven hundred years 
 old; their trunks are partly hollow, their bark cracked 
 and rugged, and yet each year these doughty old giants 
 yield up their seven and ten thousands of large, luscious 
 golden balls, as though yet in the hey-day of their youth ; 
 and who knows? perhaps they are! Certainly, as yet, 
 they show no intention of dying of old age, nor of retmng 
 on half pay, nor of shirking the active business of their 
 lives, and doubtless if one versed in their native tongue 
 were to say to them : 
 
 ' ' How old must an orange tree be before it ceases to 
 bear?" they would shake their great, bushy heads and 
 reply : 
 
 " You must ask older trees than we are." 
 
 Even in England, at Hampton Court, where the tree is 
 raised only as a curiosity, and is carefully sheltered under 
 glass, there are several, the register of whose birth bears 
 date of over three hundred years ago. 
 
 So you see it is no rash assertion, this of ours, that no 
 orange grove owner will live to see his trees cease to yield 
 him an income, and a good one too, if he but treats them 
 with moderate kindness, unless, indeed, some extraordinary 
 extraneous cause supervenes to destroy them, such as fire 
 or flood, which may be reckoned as among the impossibil- 
 ities. 
 
 Before referring in detail to the mode of culture pur- 
 
RISE AND PROGRESS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 11 
 
 sued in Florida, in raising this justly celebrated fruit, a 
 brief glance at its origin may not be amiss. 
 
 An earnest naturalist, Galessio, was the first to trace its 
 history with any degree of authenticity, and the result of 
 his careful researches he published to the world in his 
 "Traite du Citrus ^^ issued in Paris in the year 1811. 
 
 According to this author the Arabs, penetrating further 
 into the interior of India than any foreign nation had done 
 before, discovered the orange family flourishing there, and 
 held in high esteem by the natives. 
 
 From this point the Arabs conveyed the sweet, now 
 called China oranges, into Persia and Syria ; and the bitter 
 orange, now called the Seville, found its way into Arabia, 
 Egypt, the North of Africa, and Spain. From these points 
 the orange traveled into other countries, notably China, 
 and in this latter empire it so flourished and spread far 
 and wide, that by and by it came to be a fiction believed 
 in by Europeans that the orange was indigenous to China. 
 
 Galessio shows, however, that the so - called ' ' China 
 orange " is by no means a spontaneous production of that 
 country, and his statement is further corroborated by the 
 absence of all mention of this fruit in the exceedingly 
 minute and circumstantial account given by the father 
 of modern travelers, Marco Polo, of the productions of 
 China. 
 
 The orange was not known to the ancients, either in 
 Europe or Syria, and the palm of its introduction to the 
 world must be accorded to the Arabians, whose anxiety for 
 the extension of medical and agricultural knowledge was 
 almost equal to their zeal for the propagation of the Koran. 
 
 The sweet orange which they carried to Spain spread 
 thence into Portugal, Sicily, St. Michael, and the Mediter- 
 ranean islands, and the West Indies. 
 
 In each and all of these various places has the difiference 
 
12 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 in climate and soil produced varieties and changes in the 
 characteristics of the original common stock, so that in these 
 days the Sicily, St. Michael, Maltese, Havana, and a great 
 number of others are well-known and established varieties 
 of this noble fruit. To suppose, as many do, that the 
 orange is a spontaneous production of the soil of the New 
 World is to make a great mistake ; only where the early 
 Spanish or Portuguese landed and penetrated into the 
 country is the wild orange of America to be found. 
 
 On the banks of the Kio Cedeno, in the midst of a great 
 forest, Humboldt, to his amazement, came upon a broad belt 
 of wild orange trees, laden with large, sweet, and most de- 
 licious fruit. ' ' Surely these must then be indigenous to the 
 soil," he thought ; but subsequent inquiry led to the discov- 
 ery that those grand old trees had once formed a portion of 
 extensive groves planted by the Indians from seeds obtained 
 from their early Spanish visitors and conquerors. And to 
 this same source does Florida owe her beautiful wild groves ; 
 only here, whether by the accident of soil or seed, the w^ild 
 fruit is sour not sweet. 
 
 Ponce de Leon and his successors, but most of all the 
 unfortunate French colony, barbarously massacred by cruel 
 Menendez, ''not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans," were 
 directly instrumental in introducing into the ''Land of 
 Flowers" the noble fruit that is rapidly becoming the 
 chief source of wealth and happiness to its adopted home. 
 Briefly, the orange is not a native but a naturalized citizen 
 of the United States. 
 
 Looking back only a few years from our present point 
 of enlightenment as to the inestimable value of this once 
 neglected tree, it is very hard to understand how it is that 
 the native Floridian did not long ago wake up to the real- 
 ization of the wealth within his grasp, of the golden apple 
 lying neglected at his feet. And yet there were, it is true, 
 
PJSE AND PSOGRESS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 13 
 
 several causes conducing to perpetuate this strange blind- 
 ness. For one thing, Florida, though it contains within its 
 borders the oldest city by forty years in the United States, 
 has ever been, owing to a conjunction of circumstances, 
 one of the least known and most sparsely settled of them 
 all ; owned first by one European power, then by another, 
 before finally passing into the Federal States; torn and 
 distracted by Indian wars and raids, and lying in a remote 
 corner of the Union, completely out of the general line of 
 travel, it is not to be wondered at that Florida was, except 
 to a very few, a sealed book. It is true that there were a 
 a few intelligent, wide-awake Southerners who held the 
 orange at an approximate to its true value, but these men 
 were content to set out and cultivate their trees on a com- 
 paratively small scale, and they never penetrated further 
 into the country than the St. John's River and St. Augus- 
 tine, where, too often, a severe frost would injure the ten- 
 der trees and discourage their owners. 
 
 Beyond the points just mentioned few settlers were to be 
 found, and those few were, almost to a man, of a low and 
 ignorant class; men who were satisfied to saunter lazily 
 through their days, existing on "pork and hominy," or 
 whatever else was "easy to grow, and could take care of 
 itself," in which category were included vast herds of cat- 
 tle, w^hich ever and anon they drove to the nearest sea-port 
 for shipment to the West Indies. To such as these the 
 luscious sweet orange of Europe, so well known in the 
 Northern States, was a boon unknown and undreamed of; 
 they knew, it is true, that, scattered over the central and 
 southern portions of Florida, were wild groves of beau- 
 tiful trees, bearing a large, yellow fruit, but that fruit 
 was exceedingly bitter and sour, and held by them in no 
 esteem. 
 
 It was not until our unhappy civil war had come to a 
 
14 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 close, and the ancien regime was broken up, that a new 
 people began to press beyond the borders of Florida, bring- 
 ing in their midst the commencement of a new era in its 
 hitherto stagnant civilization. 
 
 Even then it was some time before the attention of these 
 new-comers was drawn to the capabilities of the wild sour 
 orange groves scattered all around them in the rich ham- 
 mock lands, and the first bold pioneer who ventured to ex- 
 periment upon their true value, met, as is usual in such 
 cases, with no encouragement from his neighbors, but 
 rather determined opposition and ridicule. 
 
 A case, in illustration, was related to the writer recently 
 by a neighbor, a lady who is now the proud owner of sev- 
 eral fine bearing groves : Fourteen years ago she removed 
 with her family from the northern part of the State down 
 into the "Great Lake Kegion," and "Orange Center," 
 building a home in the piny woods for the sake of health. 
 The want of shade was at once apparent ; to supply this 
 desideratum several large sour orange trees were trans- 
 planted from a wild grove near by. They flourished ex- 
 ceedingly well, but their fruit was allowed to rot upon the 
 ground uncared for. One day there came a stranger, who 
 argued so eloquently upon the great gain to be obtained by 
 cutting their tops off*, and inserting buds from a sweet 
 orange in their trunks, that, sorely against the will of our 
 informant, her husband proceeded to follow the stranger's 
 advice. " I scolded and cried, and cried and scolded," she 
 said, "but it was of no use; the tops of those splendid 
 trees were sawed off*, and the little green sticks the stranger 
 gave us were put into the bark of the poor bare trunk. 
 In a few months, seeing hoAV fast the buds were growing, 
 I began to think perhaps there was some truth in the 
 stranger's words, and in three years, when I saw a fine 
 crop of splendid oranges, the sweetest I had ever tasted, I 
 
RISE AND PROGRESS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 15 
 
 blessed the stranger, and thanked my husband for cutting 
 off the tops. We succeeded, some time after, in getting a 
 few sweet oranges from New Orleans, and planted the seed, 
 and some of our neighbors did the same ; we also budded 
 a few more sour stumps. But even then none of us ever 
 dreamed of making a business of raising oranges to sell. 
 We knew so little of the North, and were so shut out from 
 the busy world, that it has only been within the last eight 
 or ten years that our people have really waked up and 
 begun to plant out groves in earnest." 
 
 Having thus endeavored to show why this great industry 
 of the future has lain so long in abeyance in a land where 
 all the essentials of its pursuit, even to the wild fruit itself, 
 have existed ever since its earliest settlement, we will pass 
 at once to the practical details of orange culture. 
 
 At the very outset the Florida orange grower labors 
 under a disadvantage ; his business is a new one, and con- 
 sequently he is, to a considerable extent, dependent on a 
 series of experiments. The new-comer finds but a limited 
 store-house from which to draw his practical information ; 
 his neighbors have bought and are still buying their own 
 experience, and he must do the same in a great measure, 
 for the points in orange culture on which all growers agree 
 are very few. How can it be otherwise with an industry 
 which is only in its infancy ? 
 
 The oldest orange trees in Florida are but babies, as 
 it were, and comparatively few, out of the thousands of 
 groves set out, have even as yet reached the age of matu- 
 rity ; it will be many years still before orange culture will 
 have reached the perfection of a science, as has the culture 
 of the older orchard fruits of the North. 
 
 We are apt, at a distance, to associate poetry and ro- 
 mance with the very name of an orange grove, but when 
 one sets to work in earnest to ''make" one for himself, the 
 
16 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 cold, stern facts that ever beset the business life of man 
 come to the surface, and he learns that some money, more 
 time and labor, muscle, patience, and perseverance are 
 necessary before his embryo grove becomes self-sustaining. 
 
 It is not play to plant and conduct an orange grove from 
 infancy to bearing and paying maturity, and it is because 
 the idea that it is all play, all "fun," to "make a grove" 
 has been so prevalent, that there have been so many disap- 
 pointments, so many discontents returning to the North 
 with the report that " orange groves are humbugs." 
 
 The more thoroughly the incoming settler realizes that 
 orange and other fruit growing is a regular business, re- 
 quiring, like other business pursuits, the investment of 
 more or less capital, and a good deal of care, time, judg- 
 ment, and perseverance — the more thoroughly he realizes 
 this, we say, the better prepared he will be to meet and 
 conquer the various vicissitudes and drawbacks that are 
 sure to occur during the long years of work and waiting 
 that must be encountered before he can sit down at last 
 for the rest of his life in the enjoyment of a good and 
 steadily increasing income. 
 
 Far be it from our wish to discourage the would-be 
 orange grower, rather would we urge him who seeks health 
 and competence, aye, more, wealth, to come to Florida 
 and make unto himself a " Fortunatus' purse" of the 
 golden orange, but we would have him come realizing that 
 here, as elsewhere, the great law of nature, which decrees 
 that nothing that is worth the having can be obtained with- 
 out toil and patience, is in full operation. 
 
 So many have come to Florida full of enthusiasm, full 
 of the idea that it was only necessary to stick the trees in 
 the ground, any where and anyhow, and then sit with 
 their hands in their pockets, as it were, for a year or two, 
 in order to reap a full grown fortune, that we feel it our 
 
RISE AND PROGRESS OF ORANGE CULTURE. 17 
 
 bounden duty to give full warning that though an orange 
 grove is a glorious thing to own, and will give its possessor 
 competence and wealth, it is not to be obtained without 
 time, labor, and patience, or their equivalent in money. 
 The latter, when the settler is fortunate enough to be able 
 to purchase a grove ready made. 
 
 And right here is another point to which w^e Avould call 
 attention : 
 
 We often hear complaints of the ' ' high prices " asked 
 for bearing groves; now, these so-called high prices are, 
 as a rule, very low prices in reality, when one stops to 
 consider the years of toil and care and perseverance that 
 have gone to " make" each grove, through all the time of 
 their slow growth; not only so, but what of the actual 
 money value of said grove? 
 
 Why does the would-be purchaser want to buy? 
 
 Because he expects a good income from his grove ? Ex- 
 actly so. And now we will ask one more question : 
 
 If he went to an office where annuities were sold, would 
 he expect to purchase an annuity, annually increasing in 
 amount, for a mere nothing ? Scarcely ! 
 
 Yet that is just what these men who are not willing to 
 pay a fair price for an orange grove are seeking to do. 
 
''18 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 .THE VALUE OF ORANGE GROVES. 
 
 Having pointed out the rock on which so many fair 
 barks have foundered, let us now look at the other side of 
 the picture and see what has been done and may be done 
 again by those who start aright, and regard orange growing 
 not as a pleasant pastime, but as a serious, earnest busi- 
 ness, to be carried out faithfully, carefully, and intelli- 
 gently, like any other business in which success is desired, 
 and to be learned and studied as such. 
 
 What reasonable man would expect to be successful in 
 a pursuit entirely new to him, without seeking such 
 sources of practical knowledge thereof as might lay open 
 before him? 
 
 And yet there are men who would bristle all over with 
 indignation were it to be hinted that they do not possess 
 common sense, who yet embark in a new life as orange 
 growers, and think they will succeed, while they scorn ad- 
 vice, refuse to seek counsel of those whose experience is of 
 many years' standing, and turn their backs scornfully upon 
 the books and periodicals written by practical men familiar 
 to the business so new to them. 
 
 Such self-sufficient egotists as these will fail as orange 
 growers, and either leave Florida, pronouncing her noble 
 groves humbugs, or else turn back to the beginning and 
 wisely seek the course they before despised. 
 
 The man who meets with as few drawbacks as possible, 
 and pushes forward his grove to its utmost capacity, is the 
 man who is not too proud to confess that he does not know 
 more about astronomy than the astronomer, more about 
 geology than the geologist, more about farming than the 
 
THE VALUE OF ORANGE GROVES. 19 
 
 farmer, more about orange culture than the life-long 
 orange grower. 
 
 Therefore, ask opinions and advice from older settlers ; 
 do not take all you hear for facts nor all for fiction ; take 
 notes and compare them ; weigh conflicting opinions and 
 strike a balance ; look about you with a view to learning 
 something useful for you to know ; do not trust entirely to 
 hearsay ; find out all you can by actual trial and experi- 
 ment ; study reliable books relating to your new business ; 
 take one or more weekly papers devoted to the same cause ; 
 be energetic, persevering, careful to do your best and 
 make the most of the advantages you possess ; never use 
 nor practice those three most reprehensible words in the 
 English language, '' too much trouble." 
 
 Do these things, and in eight or ten years from the day 
 you set foot in Florida a penniless man, perchance, you 
 will be in comfortable independence ; aye ! more than in- 
 dependent for all your life to come, and your children and 
 grandchildren after you. 
 
 Every man who has succeeded in raising a grove has 
 done so by pursuing just such a course as we have sug- 
 gested ; and no man will fail who is content to follow in 
 his footsteps. 
 
 One of our earliest pioneers in orange growing was an 
 Englishman, John Eaton by name. He served in our 
 army during the Seminole war, and when discharged at its 
 close, in 1837, accepted the offer of the Government to 
 give one hundred and sixty (160) acres of land to any sol- 
 dier who would settle on and cultivate a portion of it. 
 
 We, in these enlightened days, know how to envy this 
 man the grand opportunity for selecting choice lands that 
 lay before him, but he had not our knowledge. The won- 
 drous value of the wild orange tree was a sealed book to 
 him ; he was a plain working man, and at that time an 
 
20 FLORroA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 invalid ; all he sought was a quiet place in a mild climate, 
 that " his days might be prolonged in the land;" so he se- 
 lected his homestead on the St. John's Kiver, in Orange 
 County. He built him a little hut oh a small shell-mound, 
 where about fifty wild orange trees were growing, and 
 there, with fish and game at his door, and a small garden 
 patch by his side, he dwelt alone for twenty years. 
 
 Some one came along after he had been there a short 
 time, and initiated him into the mysteries of budding ; and 
 then, more from curiosity than with any thought of profit, 
 he budded his fifty wild trees. 
 
 He '' builded better than he knew ;" in a few years these 
 hitherto despised trees brought him all, and more than all 
 the cash he needed. 
 
 When the lonely recluse died no heir came forward to 
 claim his property, so after due time the State stepped in 
 and sold it to the highest bidder. And thus John Eaton's 
 grove became the property of the Hon. W. W. Woodruff, 
 for the sum of three thousand dollars. 
 
 The property would have brought much more if it had 
 not been that the soldier had made so very poor a selection 
 of land that only a few of the hundred and sixty acres 
 are good for any thing, and these are only a few feet above 
 the river, so that in unusually high tides the grove suffers ; 
 besides this, the only building site is so near the river that 
 it is not healthy to live there, and so much overflowed 
 land extends all around it that whoever dwells there must 
 be content without neighbors. 
 
 Yet in spite of these serious drawbacks the little place 
 sold, at Mr. Woodruff's death, for nine thousand dollars, 
 triple the price, you see, that he paid for it. 
 
 There are, we have said, only fifty trees in this grove, 
 but from those fifty trees crops often net from fifteen hun- 
 dred to eighteen hundred ^oUars in a season. 
 
THE VALUE OF ORANGE GROVES. 21 
 
 Who has not heard of the famous "Big Tree" of Flor- 
 ida, which oftentimes has ten thousand oranges at once; 
 oranges so fine that they have sold for two dollars and 
 forty cents per hundred, thus netting from this one tree 
 two hundred and forty dollars in one season? It seems 
 incredible, does it not? Yet it is strictly true; and 
 not only so, but this tree is only one fiftieth part of a 
 grove, where each individual tree seems to take a pride in 
 bringing to its fortunate owner an annual offering of from 
 two to five thousand oranges. This famous "Big Tree" 
 stands apart from the rest in solitary grandeur, and is a 
 glorious sight, whether clad in its every-day uniform of 
 green, or dotted all over with its fragrant white blossoms, 
 or laden with golden fruit. Note the fact that it is of the 
 same age as the rest of the grove, was budded with them, 
 and has received the same treatment, but it stands alone. 
 We shall have more to say in this connection by and by. 
 
 So now we have seen Avhat one poor ignorant soldier did, 
 in a careless, hap-hazard way ; he might have done much 
 more had he known all that we know nowadays. 
 
 John Eaton died, but his trees lived on and prospered, 
 and their fame at last reached the ears of a relative of his, 
 then living in Canada, and he came to Florida to try to 
 claim the estate, but we believe he failed. The story he 
 told of the events that led him here may well seem to 
 " point a moral and adorn a tale" in the wonderful con- 
 trast between the work of the pioneer of the North and 
 him of Florida. 
 
 Ten years before Eaton settled in Florida the father of 
 the gentleman alluded to settled in the wilds of Canada, 
 For thirty years he toiled and endured hardships and priva- 
 tions, and by that time he had cleared and brought under 
 cultivation one hundred acres of land. But all the time 
 he was working, the climate was working too; it killed 
 
22 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 three of his children with consumption, killed his wife by 
 a combination of diseases brought on by working in the 
 snow and mud, and finally killed him also with inflamma- 
 tory rheumatism. 
 
 The one son who was left rented the farm, won by thirty 
 years of toil, for the paltry sum of one hundred and fifty 
 dollars a year, and fled to our genial State to save his life 
 and reflect at leisure over the vast contrast between the 
 results of the thirty years of toil on his father's part and 
 the twenty years of ease of his cousin, John Eaton. It was 
 all in the diflerence of location ; one settled in a cold, in- 
 clement country, the other in a mild, genial clime, one of 
 Nature's garden spots. 
 
 Of course it is easy to go north, to any of our old set- 
 tled States, and point out fine fertile farms worth many 
 thousand dollars, places that have been carved out of the 
 wilderness by the work of one generation. But then, 
 what if the same amount of time, money, and intelligence 
 had been spent in Florida? Why, the diflerence would 
 have been as startling as that between the work of John 
 Eaton and of his cousin in Canada. 
 
 And now let us come down to later times, and to men 
 who were not pioneer hermits but pioneer settlers. 
 
 We know of an island in Lake Griflin, containing three 
 hundred acres of rich land, studded over with orange trees, 
 once wild, but now budded, and yielding luxuriant crops. 
 Fourteen years ago the first small improvements were made 
 here, the land and work together costing fourteen hundred 
 dollars ; ten years later the proprietors received six thou- 
 sand dollars for their crop, and refused an ofler of forty 
 thousand dollars ($40,000) for the property. 
 
 Thirteen years ago a father and two sons, ruined by the 
 war, purchased eighty acres with a wild grove on it for 
 five hundred and fifty dollars. The trees they budded 
 
THE VALUE OF ORANGE GROVES. 23 
 
 with the sweet orange, and they took care of them as best 
 they could ; they were so poor that, they were compelled 
 to use their own strong arms to cut down trees, with which 
 they built a rude house to shelter them, and the little fur- 
 niture needed was fashioned with their own hands. They 
 managed to live somehow — it is easier to rub on over a 
 hard road in a mild climate than in an inclement one — and 
 took good care of their trees ; though they themselves 
 might suffer for food, they were determined their trees 
 should have " full and plenty," for they knew them to be 
 the "geese that would lay golden eggs." And they were 
 right. Last year that hard-won grove brought them in 
 nine thousand dollars, and it has really just begun to bear. 
 
 The hard working days of this trio are over, they may 
 take their ease, while a skillful man, at a good salary, looks 
 after their "golden geese," and they have merely to sort 
 and pack the "eggs;" and this, by preference, as wise 
 men who would make sure that the fruit is properly cured, 
 graded, and packed, for, on these important points, de- 
 pends the good or bad fortune of the croji ; what matters 
 it if a grove yields its thousands of luscious fruits if those 
 fruits are rotted and valueless by the time they reach the 
 market ? As we have said, thirteen years ago these three 
 men were penniless, now seventy-five thousand dollars 
 would not tempt them to sell their grove. 
 
 In 1870 a gentleman whom we know purchased a wild 
 grove on Lake Harris for five hundred dollars; now he 
 has twenty acres of bearing trees, and refused to sell for 
 fifty thousand dollars. 
 
 Two years later, another settler bought forty acres of 
 land for less than four hundred dollars, budded the few 
 trees growing wild, set out more, and now has sold land 
 to the amount of two thousand dollars, and holds the bal- 
 ance at twenty-five thousand. 
 
24 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 Now, look at these figures for a moment, and ask your- 
 self what safe, reliable, legitimate business could you en- 
 gage in at the North with a capital of five hundred dol- 
 lars, and in ten or eleven years have augmented that 
 capital to such an extent. Yet one more example, and we 
 are done. 
 
 In 1874 a gentleman bought, for six thousand dollars, a 
 rich hammock tract of five hundred and sixty acres. On 
 this tract were four acres in a wild grove, six hundred 
 large, bearing trees besides many young seedlings. The 
 bearing trees he budded, leaving some as they stood, but 
 moving others where they were too crowded. The trees 
 thus moved were of course set back several years in growth, 
 but from the four hundred that were left in their original 
 position, when three years only from the bud, the neat 
 little sum of twelve hundred dollars was obtained ; at four 
 years from the bud these same four hundred presented 
 their fortunate owner with sixteen hundred dollars ; and 
 at five years, one hundred of the transplanted trees having 
 advanced into the ranks of the bearing ones, the crop 
 netted seventeen hundred dollars, and would have brought 
 one thousand more but for a severe gale that blew off" a 
 large proportion of the fruit. 
 
 Now this is the showing of just four acres out of five 
 hundred and sixty purchased for six thousand dollars. 
 How about the rest ? Two hundred and sixty acres have 
 been sold for twenty-one thousand dollars. Three hundred 
 acres and the grove referred to remain in the purchaser's 
 hands ; and on these three hundred acres, laid out in young 
 groves for sale, are six thousand flourishing trees, budded 
 on sour stocks, raised on the place, besides two thousand 
 more in the nursery. Sixty thousand dollars would not 
 purchase these three hundred acres with the bearing trees 
 and young groves they contain. Think for a moment! 
 
THE VALUE OF ORANGE GROVES. 25 
 
 Eight years ago the investment of six thousand dollars was 
 made, and to-day eighty thousand dollars is a low esti- 
 mate of its value. 
 
 We could go on multiplying instances indefinitely, but 
 these will suffice to show that the culture of the orange, 
 when properly conducted, is a good money-making invest- 
 ment. Even for the man who does not need the income 
 from his grove for the support of his family, there is no 
 better investment for his surplus money, and it would be 
 difficult to find a safer one. 
 
 When an orange tree is in full bearing it is valued at 
 one hundred dollars, all over the State ; and this is no fic- 
 titious value either, for certainly a tree is worth the money 
 which it represents. Now, a tree bearing one thousand 
 oranges, at one cent each, represents an income of ten dol- 
 lars, the principal of which, in Florida at eight per cent, 
 is one hundred and twenty-five dollars. As the trees be- 
 come older the orange-bearing also increases. 
 
 There is no probability of the supply of oranges from 
 Florida ever exceeding the demand, as the orange belt is 
 confined within narrow limits, while the population of the 
 country is rapidly increasing and is capable of almost in- 
 definite expansion. 
 
 But while an orange grove is a splendid investment for 
 a rich man, it has also its bright side for the poor man. 
 Nine tenths of the prosperous orange growers in Florida 
 came here less than a dozen years ago, some with a few 
 hundred dollars in their pockets, but more with only a few 
 hundred cents. One gentleman arrived here with less 
 than a cart-load of household goods and ten dollars of 
 borrowed money. He patiently bore privation, and worked 
 for his neighbors, using his surplus money in improving 
 his homestead little by little ; now he is in the enjoyment 
 of many thousands of dollars. 
 
 3 
 
26 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 There are thousands of young men in the inclement 
 North toiling wearily along through the years in the hope 
 of ultimately winning a home for some dear one who is 
 patiently waiting for the happy day to come. Let these, 
 and such as these, turn their faces southward, and in less 
 than "seven years," amid Florida fruits, they will have 
 won independence and their Rachel. 
 
FROM SEED TO GROVE. 27 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM SEED TO GROVE. 
 
 Few amateur orange growers realize the importance of 
 good, thrifty stock at the very outset, but it is a point 
 that can not be too strongly insisted on, for herein lies the 
 corner-stone of a successful grove. Given poor, diseased, 
 stunted stock, and you may lavish time, money, care upon 
 it, and be worse off in five years' time than when you began ; 
 given good, thrifty stock, and half the time, money, and 
 care will find you, in the same space, the owner of as fine 
 a young grove as one would need to possess. 
 
 How to secure such reliable stock? 
 
 Well, there are three ways: one, to go to a neighbor 
 who has preceded you by several years and has seedlings 
 for sale, purchase them and bud them yourself; another, 
 to purchase trees ready budded from a reliable nursery- 
 man; and still another, which will best suit a shallow 
 pocket, is to plant the seed, and when the trees are a suit- 
 able size bud them yourself. 
 
 There is a right and wrong way of doing every thing in 
 this world, and it is sometimes curious to see how fre- 
 quently the wrong way is chosen when the right way 
 seems just as easy, and is certainly productive of more 
 satisfactory results. Now, in this apparently simple matter 
 of planting seeds, most persons will take the seeds hap- 
 hazard from any orange they may happen upon, and 
 going out, will punch a hole in the ground with a finger, 
 drop in a seed, give it a pat downward, and go away ex- 
 ultant, and return in a week or two expecting to dig up a 
 fine, healthy plant. Others will push the seed down into 
 boxes and water them carefully every day and rot them ; 
 
28 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 while others will not water them at all, but leave the sun 
 to shine upon their covering of soil and dry it to a powder. 
 And then they wonder and scold — these three types of 
 amusing people — because " these seeds won't come up, bad 
 luck to them!" And so it was truly "bad luck" for the 
 seeds when they fell into such hands. 
 
 But there is a right way of doing this simple thing, and 
 let us now see what it is : 
 
 In the first place there are seeds, and seeds, and by no 
 means are all fit to plant because they are called "seeds." 
 A seed should never be planted except from large, ripe, 
 well-shaped and fine -flavored fruit, no matter whether 
 your ultimate object be a seedling grove or only stock to 
 bud on. And not every seed from these should be planted 
 either, but only the plump, sleek, and well-to-do looking 
 seeds; these alone will make thrifty growers, either for 
 seedling or budded stock. Never allow your seeds to dry 
 off before planting, if you do, throw them away, as they 
 will either never germinate, or else make sickly plants. 
 
 If it is not convenient to plant a few at a time, as you 
 collect them, either allow your choice oranges desired for 
 seed to rot, the seeds remaining inside, or better still, get 
 a small box, half fill it with sand, saturate the latter with 
 water, put it in a shady place, and mix in your seeds with 
 your sand, being sure they are well covered ; if you have 
 no shade convenient, it will do to mulch with moss heavily 
 or with trash. But mark this, do not water your box 
 again or the seeds will rot. Thus treated, seeds may be 
 kept in good condition for planting for several weeks. 
 Examine them every two or three days, and if they show 
 signs of sprouting, hurry them into their permanent bury- 
 ing ground. 
 
 AVe would advise every settler to have a nursery of 
 young trees, even if he is able to purchase all the trees he 
 
FROM SEED TO GEOVE. 29 
 
 needs for his grove ; the trees will never come amiss, and 
 they require but little care once fairly started on their 
 life's journey. 
 
 For raising a limited number of seedlings, say two or 
 three hundred, cast off boxes, such as may be had at any 
 country store, are to be preferred to the open ground. 
 Even better than several small boxes is one large one, such 
 as can be made at home in a short time. Make a box ten 
 inches deep, two feet wide, and as long as your boards 
 will allow, twelve, sixteen, or tAventy feet — a bottom is 
 unnecessary; nail on braces to keep the boards from 
 spreading ; fill the box with sand mixed with well-rotted 
 stable manure, or with a small portion of commercial fertil- 
 izer mixed through it ; pack it down firmly ; pour on water 
 until the ground is thoroughly saturated; then with a 
 pointed stick make a number of parallel grooves about one 
 inch deep and about six inches apart; drop your seeds 
 three inches apart in the little trenches thus made, draw- 
 ing the soil on top, and with a small piece of board press 
 it down as firmly as possible. Now mulch your box with 
 grass or moss (and when we speak of moss, now and here- 
 after, we mean the gray " Florida Moss"); the moss is the 
 best, as it does not pack, and while it retains moisture 
 allows a ray of sunshine to penetrate now and then to 
 the soil to coax into being the little embryo which is 
 buried that it may live ; let the sun reach the seed-box 
 during a greater part of the day — all day, even, Avould do 
 no harm — if the mulch is heavy ; do not w^ater the seeds 
 more than once a week, and not then unless the soil is 
 dry. More seeds are lost by being rotted by a superabun- 
 dance of water than from any other cause ; the soil in 
 which they lie perdu should be moist but not wet. This is 
 true not only of seeds of the citrus family, but of all 
 seeds. 
 
30 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 This mulching of seeds is not, we believe, the usual 
 practice, but our own experience has proved again and 
 again that seeds thus kept uniformly moist will germinate 
 in one half the time required by the same seeds when sub- 
 jected to the usual alternations of dry and wet, which is 
 the inevitable fate of those that are not thus protected. 
 But if young plants are desired by the thousands and tens 
 of thousands, then the seeds must be sown in the open 
 ground. 
 
 Here, too, there is a right and a wrong way, a careless 
 or a systematic method of doing the work, and the latter 
 always comes out ahead. 
 
 In laying out the seed-beds it must be borne in mind 
 that you will hereafter want to hoe and weed your young 
 plants; therefore leave a space two feet wide between 
 them, the beds themselves being three feet in width. This 
 will allow you to reach the center from each side. See 
 that the seed-beds are well cleared of trash, grass, sticks, 
 etc. , and make them level and smooth ; then make your 
 trenches six inches apart, and drop your seed as in the 
 boxes, or sow broadcast if you prefer it, being careful not 
 to sow too thickly ; press the soil down firmly, then cover 
 your beds with a mulch of pine straw, grass, well-rotted 
 sawdust, or moss ; it matters little what is used so that it 
 keeps in the moisture and shields from the hot sun. 
 
 A barrel of oranges will furnish from four to eight 
 thousand plants. To separate the seed from the pulp, when 
 such large quantities are to be sorted, one needs a sieve 
 with a quarter-inch mesh, a good, stiff brush, and an 
 abundance of water. The ground should be moist when 
 the seeds are planted, either by rain or profuse artificial 
 watering, and should be kept so until the seed are up, 
 which will be in from ten days to two weeks; without 
 mulching they are often four or five weeks in making an 
 
FROM SEED TO GROVE. 31 
 
 appearance. As soon as the first plants are fairly up, re- 
 move a part of the mulch so that they will meet with no 
 resistance in pushing their way upward, and after a few 
 days remove it entirely. Keep the seed-bed watered until 
 the plants are about three or four inches high, and then, 
 after a drenching rain, replace the mulch around the slender 
 stems. It is an excellent plan to soak the mulching mate- 
 rial in liquid stable manure (twenty pounds to a barrel of 
 water) for a few hours before applying it to the nursery 
 bed. Orange, or any other plants, in fact, thus raised and 
 cared for will make such a thrifty growth as will astonish 
 their owner and amply repay all the time and trouble lav- 
 ished upon them. 
 
 There is another way of protecting the young trees from 
 the direct rays of the sun, a method that is extensively 
 practiced in many large nurseries ; it is more troublesome 
 and expensive than the process just described, but as it 
 has the indorsement of practical horticulturists, we give it 
 for the benefit of those who may prefer it to mulching. 
 
 Drive stakes four feet long into the ground to the depth 
 of one foot, along the borders of the bed, six feet apart ; 
 nail narrow strips to the top of the stakes, or rope or 
 wire may be used if more convenient ; then stretch over 
 the frame-work thus prepared some thin, gauze-like mate- 
 rial, coarse bagging or the sleazy muslin called cheese- 
 cloth, for instance. If the beds are more than three feet 
 wide, it will be well to place stakes four and a half feet 
 long at each end of the bed in the center, with a strip 
 running from one to the other ; this will raise the awning 
 in the center like a double pitched roof. Sheltered from 
 the fierce heat of the sun, yet receiving plenty of light, 
 air, and moisture, the young plants will grow very rapidly, 
 but more weeding will be required than when the mulch- 
 ing is used. By the time the plants have attained the 
 
32 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 height of twelve or eighteen inches they are ready to be 
 removed from the seed-bed to the nursery, and further 
 shelter may be dispensed with. The same canopy protec- 
 tion may be used over the seed-beds as well as over the 
 plants already up. 
 
 In raising plants of the citrus family,, especially in the 
 open ground, there is an active little enemy to combat 
 against, an enemy whose name is legion, and who, if al- 
 lowed to follow out its own plans, will nip off the embryo 
 leaves of the plants the moment they appear above the 
 ground. We refer to those very industrious creatures 
 whom the primers hold up to us as an example to emulate, 
 but it could be wished that their proverbial industry was 
 more tempered with judgment in consideration for strug- 
 gling humanity. We mean ants of course ; they evidently 
 regard young citrus leaves as especial dainties, and must 
 be taught to keep their distance. An application of air- 
 slacked lime or hard-wood ashes will dampen their ardor. 
 
 And now, having got our trees ready for the nursery, 
 let us see what is the proper location for the latter, and 
 how best to remove the embryo "gold mine" to its nour- 
 ishing care. 
 
 It is an important thing to make a good selection for a 
 nursery; because the plants are small is no reason why 
 they should not have the best possible care, unless you 
 want them to remain small indefinitely. Hammock land, 
 dry, with the roots thoroughly cleared out, and mellowed 
 by frequent workings, is good, but pine land is better ; trees 
 reared from their earliest infancy in rich hammock soil, 
 and then transplanted at three or more years of age to 
 pine land, will be apt to droop and pine, and either die 
 outright or else linger along for years only half alive, just 
 as a child, tenderly reared and cared for, will droop if 
 suddenly transplanted to a life of exposure, with coarse 
 
FROM SEED TO GROVE. 33 
 
 and insufficient food; for every nursery tree that is set 
 out in a hammock grove, one hundred at least are set out 
 on pine land ; therefore, let them start out in life on the 
 kind of food they are to have in after years, then, when 
 they set forth on their life work in our great groves, there 
 is no violent change in their nurture, and thrift and vigor 
 are assured. 
 
 The site for a nursery should be on a slight rise to insure 
 proper drainage without ditching ; hard pan or clay should 
 be not nearer the surface than three feet; the exposure 
 should be southerly, and the site protected as far as pos- 
 sible from high winds. If water can not be easily pro- 
 cured from a neighboring lake or pond, dig a well in the 
 center of the nursery ; it will repay its cost by the number 
 of young trees it will save, for water they must have, and 
 plenty of it, during their first summer in the nursery; 
 after that they are old enough to take care of their own 
 water-supply. 
 
 Here again mulching is of great advantage in preserv- 
 ing the requisite moisture, and although it may, as some 
 demur, bring the roots to the surface, that is just what you 
 want in a nursery, as it facilitates the final digging up of 
 the trees, and fewer roots are broken in the process than 
 would be t\ie case if they were more deej)ly rooted. 
 
 Lay out the ground for the nursery carefully ; a little 
 extra care now will save a great deal of work and annoy- 
 ance in the future. Run the rows north and south four 
 feet apart, so that the sun may reach the whole surface of 
 the ground ; let the latter be as level as possible and free 
 from trash ; and if you work in a light dressing of Avell- 
 rotted manure, or muck, or commercial fertilizer, so much 
 the better. The length of the nursery rows should never 
 exceed three hundred feet, as at this distance apart, run- 
 ning at right angles with the rows, there should be road- 
 
34 FLORIDA FEUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 ways for horse and cart not less than eighteen feet ; this 
 allows for turning without trampling on the beds. 
 
 With regard to laying out the nursery in the manner 
 described, we can not do better than to transcribe here a 
 method taken from a valuable work by Thomas M. Garey, 
 termed, "Orange Culture in Califoruia": 
 
 ^' Provide a strong rope, cord, or wire, a few feet longer 
 than you wish the rows to be, a four-foot measure at each 
 end of the section with which to mark off the distances 
 between the rows, two good hard- wood stakes, or iron pins, 
 which are better, and tools with which to drive them 
 firmly into the ground. Fasten one end of the rope, 
 cord, or wire to a stake driven at one end of the proposed 
 row ; straighten it if necessary. For marking the spaces 
 in the row use a tool made similar to a hand roller with 
 triangular pieces a few inches long fastened lengthwise to 
 the roller a foot apart. Four feet in circumference, or a 
 small fraction more than fifteen and one fourth inches in 
 diameter, is a convenient size for the roller. To use this 
 tool, take hold of the handle, place the roller on the tightly 
 stretched line, and push it forward or draw it after you 
 along the line ; the j^ieces on the roller will mark crosswise 
 of the line at regular distances of a foot. If any other 
 distance be desired, it can be regulated by the diameter of 
 the roller and the distance between the strips. Remove 
 the line to the next proposed row. This leaves a mark 
 lengthwise crossed at regular distances ready to receive the 
 plants. A roller of greater diameter would require less 
 power to use it." 
 
 Now these directions may seem uselessly complicated 
 and troublesome, but try it once and you will try it again. 
 It saves a great deal of time and trouble, and lays out the 
 rows more accurately than is possible in any other way, 
 and the after-ease with which the trees can be cultivated 
 
FROM SEED TO GROVE. 35 
 
 will amply repay for the extra care at the start ; it is much 
 easier to plow a straight row than a crooked one. 
 
 The four feet space between the rows permits the culti- 
 vator, harrow, or plow to be used, and the one foot space 
 between the young trees allows of thorough hoeing. The 
 ground should be thoroughly moist, both in the seed-bed 
 and in the nursery, when the plants are to be moved; 
 never under any circumstances attempt to transplant when 
 the soil is dry, either wait for a soaking rain or water the 
 ground artificially. Loosen the plants carefully, thrusting 
 the spade down perpendicularly, and work it back and 
 forth until the soil is detached from the roots. The mo- 
 ment the plants are out of the ground put them in the 
 shade, and in a tub of water; if they are left in the 
 latter for ten or twelve hours, so much the better — this 
 is true of all trees, large or small. Be careful to exclude 
 the sunshine : more harm is done to trees, old and young, 
 by allowing the sun to touch their tender roots even for a 
 few minutes than many people realize. Never take up more 
 than a thousand at a time unless there be a large working 
 force, for it is of the utmost importance to keep them out 
 of the ground as short a time as possible. Sort the plants 
 and throw away all the stunted, inferior ones, for they 
 will make only stunted trees ; the Spartan plan of putting 
 to death all the weakly, sickly infants is a good one to 
 practice here. Prune back the tops and make them as 
 uniform in size in each row as possible. It is a good plan 
 to place the trees in small boxes and throw wet soil on the 
 roots, withdrawing them one by one as they are set in the 
 rows, or else keep the roots in pails of water while planting. 
 
 In planting press down and back and forth a nursery- 
 man's dibble at the intersection of the rows and cross-lines ; 
 spread out the roots in the hole thus made, pack the soil 
 down firmly around them, being sure to leave no vacant 
 
36 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 spaces any where. Then mulch the plants, keep down the 
 weeds, give them a sprinkling now and then of some kind 
 of fertilizer ; not too much, however, for it is not wise to 
 accustom them to too ''rich living." For the first year 
 after setting out let them grow as bushy as they please; 
 the foliage will shade the tender bark of the stem, and 
 encourage the formation of a mass of fibrous rootlets ; but 
 after the first year it is well to prune surplus branches, 
 leaving one leader to form the stock of the future tree ; 
 do not let the little shoots that put out along the stem do 
 any more than show themselves before you pinch them off; 
 keep a foot or two of the stem clear of branches. 
 
 From the first year on, you can bud your young seedlings 
 with some choice varieties, and then in from one year from 
 the bud each little tree will be worth thirty cents, and in 
 another year forty or fifty cents, according to variety and 
 growth ; or, as seedling two-year-old trees, sell at twenty 
 cents, three years at thirty, four years forty, each year 
 adding ten dollars per hundred to their value. 
 
 There is now, and will be for years to come, a brisk de- 
 mand for young trees, both budded and seedlings, and the 
 thrifty far-seeing settler may readily clear several hundred 
 dollars annually with the investment of no capital save 
 that of a little care in planting seeds and raising a nurs- 
 ery. 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV. X 
 
 HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT.* 
 
 In transferring a scion of some choice variety to a new 
 and independent life on a strange stock there are two 
 modes of procedure — either to bud or graft the one upon 
 the other. Grafting and budding are almost identical, 
 save in the mode of approach of scion to stock; in the 
 former whole twigs, or even large branches, are used as 
 scions ; in the latter, only the little dormant buds that lie 
 perdu in the axil of every leaf. In grafting the toj) of the 
 tree is cut off, usually close to the ground; in budding 
 only the tips of the growing branches are pinched off — 
 and right there lies the secret of the universal preference 
 for budding over grafting — for if the bud refuses, as we 
 may say, to suckle its foster mother, the tree is not inj iired 
 in the least, and, if the season permits, another trial may 
 be made at once ; while if the graft fails, the stock has at 
 best been put back a year or two in its growth and indeed 
 may never recover from the shock at all. 
 
 The operation of propagating varieties by budding is 
 full of mystery and wonder. We take a tiny bud, not 
 even developed so as to be visible to the eye, but given a 
 growing leaf we know that it conceals this embryo bud at 
 its base. We cut a slit in the bark of a tree, and cutting 
 off this tiny bud slip it into the aperture, and from this 
 invisible germ a great tree in time springs forth, bearing 
 fruit like unto its parent. How is it done? We know 
 that it is, just as we know that our hearts beat, our lungs 
 inflate ; we can see the outward result, and watch its prog- 
 
 * By permission of the Florida Agriculturist, in which this chapter was 
 originally published. 
 
38 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 ress, but as to what mysterious inner force is at work to 
 accomplish the marvelous result, who can say ? 
 
 We know that it is the cambium or proper juice of veg- 
 etables that serves as the means of junction between the 
 scion and the stock — this is why they must be of similar 
 nature. Just exactly as in ourselves the two lips of a 
 wound are drawn together by the coagulable lymph which 
 the blood deposits between them, but we do not know how 
 nor by what inner force this result is attained. 
 
 Examine carefully the wound of a bud when it has 
 ''taken," about two weeks after the operation, and you 
 will observe a thin layer of small, green granulations in 
 the midst of a viscid fluid, and joining the two parts that 
 have thus been successfully brought together. These gran- 
 ulations are the rudiments of vegetable organization, and 
 are deposited by the cambium, soon becoming fully solidi- 
 fied and complete ; and wherever there is a wound on a 
 tree you will find this knitting going on, just like the 
 mending of a bone in a human being, provided that the 
 air has been carefully excluded from the wound. 
 
 Before entering upon the practical details of the usual 
 methods of budding let us fully understand the several 
 requirements necessary for its successful operation. 
 
 First of all, both scion and stock should be in active 
 growth, both should be strong and healthy, as otherwise 
 the value of the future tree would be seriously impaired ; 
 the scion should be taken from fully matured shoots of the 
 current year's growth of a bearing tree, and always from 
 the lateral branches, as they, for some unexplained reason, 
 will produce fruit much sooner than a scion from the 
 uppermost branches ; also, where it is practicable to place 
 a bud with fruit already growing on it in the stock, fruit 
 will be obtained much sooner than by the simple bud 
 alone. We have just shield-budded a Sicily lemon, with 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 39 
 
 fruit as large as a walnut on its upper end, and we expect 
 to see that lemon come to perfection in the bosom of its 
 foster mother, and to have brothers and sisters two years 
 hence. 
 
 In two weeks after the operation of budding its success 
 or failure will usually be apparent. During this interval, 
 and longer, if the bud *' takes," the scion should be partially 
 shaded from the too fierce rays of the sun by a light wrap- 
 ping of moss, or better still, as it avoids the risk of too 
 much moisture from heavy rains, by a board inclined 
 against the trunk in front of the scion. 
 
 Another point, and one not generally known (we have 
 only learned it ourself by personal experience), is this: 
 Always insert your bud on the north or northeast side of 
 the stock ; glance at the shadows cast by our hot summer 
 sun during three fourths of the day, and you will see the 
 reason why — the southern and western portions of the 
 stock being all that time exposed to its scorching rays, and 
 insuring the broiling or frying to a brown cinder of your 
 tender scion. 
 
 Still another thing to be attended to before beginning 
 the actual operation of budding is the mode of wrapping 
 after the insertion of the scion. Some people give no 
 protection to the bud at all, and these slovenly folks lose 
 three fourths of their work, as they deserve to do ; others 
 put a little daub of grafting wax over the edges of the 
 cut, and these scarcely less lazy people lose at least one 
 half of their time and labor, and those scions that do 
 ''take" do not grow with half the vigor that they would 
 if properly treated at the outset. 
 
 But there are still other persons, wise in their genera- 
 tion, who put faith in those grand old sayings that 
 
 " Whatever 's worth the doing- 
 Is worth the doing well;" 
 
40 FLORIDA FRITITS — ORANGES. 
 
 and ' ' a little trouble in the present saves much trouble in 
 the future ; " and these sensible individuals, before pro- 
 ceeding to bud their trees, prepare a quantity of strips of 
 strong muslin or calico, about a quarter of an inch wide, 
 dip them into melted grafting wax, take them out with 
 little sticks and hang them up to dry. They will keep 
 good for years if need be. They are then ready to wrap 
 tightly around the scion after its insertion in the stock, the 
 end and edges are rubbed down firmly with the finger, and 
 kept in position by tying a piece of string around it. By 
 this simple method the scion and stock are held securely 
 in close contact, and air and water are excluded while the 
 process of junction is going on, a necessity, as we have 
 already seen, to its success. 
 
 To illustrate the difference between smearing with wax 
 and binding with waxed strips, we quote from a writer in 
 a New York rural publication. He bound a part of his 
 scions with strips and on others used only wax : 
 
 "Those Avrapped with strips all grew; of the others, 
 about one half grew ; also many of the former grew eight 
 feet in one season, the waxed ones, without the strips, not 
 making over half that growth. I claim that there are 
 absolutely many chances in favor of the strips over the 
 other way." 
 
 Even in the old method of regular grafting, where the 
 whole top of the tree is cut off, these waxed strips are just 
 as much to be preferred over the wax daubs as in budding. 
 Try it and see, and our word for it you will never again 
 set about this kind of work without plenty of waxed strips 
 at your side. 
 
 There is a regular recipe for making the grafting wax 
 most commonly used ; it is this: " One part beeswax, one 
 part tallow, two parts rosin ; melt together till thoroughly 
 incorporated." 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 41 
 
 Now, it may be presumptuous in us to meddle with this 
 time-honored recipe, but still we will venture to insinuate, 
 with all due respect, that in our own experience the rosin 
 may, with advantage, either be omitted entirely, or else 
 only half as much be added to the beeswax and tallow 
 instead of double as much. We find that the strips dipped 
 in the latter only are fully as effective and far more agree- 
 able to handle; neither do they, as some claim, become 
 rancid without the rosin. 
 
 Lastly, a very sharp-pointed, thin-bladed knife is neces- 
 sary — and now we are ready to select our scions, which, as 
 we have elsewhere stated, must be taken from, as well as 
 inserted in, a growing plant, or one at least with "loose 
 bark." Considerable judgment must be exercised in this 
 selection, as a "stick" of buds may be either too old or 
 too young. It is too old if the shoot taken be of more 
 than a year's growth ; too young if it be not fully ma- 
 tured — the woody parts hardened and the embryo bud 
 developed beneath the axilla of the leaf. It is always 
 best to use the growth of the current season just as soon 
 as this stage of maturity has been reached, and a short ex- 
 perience will enable you to judge accurately when this 
 point has been attained. These remarks apply to all scions, 
 whether orange, lemon, peach, plum, apple, or any other 
 of the great vegetable tribe. 
 
 And now, at last, we come to the practical details of 
 the actual art, for it is an art, of budding. There are 
 several modes of introducing the scion to the stock ; of 
 these there is one largely practiced, we are sorry to say, 
 that can not be reprehended too severely. A man cuts 
 off a short stick containing two or three buds, shapes one 
 end to a flat point like a pen, then makes a little cut cross- 
 wise in the stock, thrusts the "pen bud" down into the 
 slit, and passes on to scar another tree and waste another 
 
 4 
 
42 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 bud, boasting of how many he can do in an hour. True, 
 it is a quick way of playing at budding, in one sense ; but 
 when, by and by, he comes back again and again to re- 
 place dead buds and search for fresh spots on the poor, 
 devoted stock, where its once smooth bark is not all rough- 
 ened and scarred by old wounds; if then, we repeat, he 
 will only keep count of the time thus occupied after the 
 work should have been completed, and the time lost in the 
 growth of the buds while the season is passing relentlessly 
 on, he will come to the conclusion that a little more time 
 and care in the first place would have been time and 
 trouble saved, and loss of buds and of the growing season 
 saved also. And therefore we would banish the "pen 
 buds " as the resource of lazy, ne'er-do-wells, w ho w ill reap 
 as they sow. 
 
 The one kind of budding that is pre-eminent over all 
 others for its invariable success, if properly done, is called 
 "shield budding." See that your stock is cleared of all 
 twigs that may interfere with the wrappings ; then make 
 a vertical slit about an inch and a half long, any where 
 from four inches to two feet above the ground, then make 
 another cut across at the base, the two cuts presenting the 
 appearance of the letter T reversed thus, 1 ; the cross-cut 
 is often made at the top, but it is not the best way. Now 
 pass the point of your knife, or the flat handle, if it is a 
 regular budding-knife, carefully along the upright cut, 
 slightly raising the edges, giving the knife a certain little 
 twist, easily learned, at the base so as to leave the corners a 
 little turned back like the ' ' dog-ears " of a book. Now take 
 your knife and carefully cut ofl* a bud from your " stick," 
 take as little of the wood as possible, and let the bark ex- 
 tend about half an inch below and above the bud ; now 
 take this little strip in your hand and, with the woody 
 side upward, bend the end slightly till the thin layer of 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 43 
 
 wood remaining separates at the end from the delicate 
 bark, then thrust your thumb nail between the two, and 
 now, holding the bud uppermost so as to keep it straight 
 and unbroken, gently pass your nail along, bending the 
 woody layer downward until it is entirely detached, leav- 
 ing in your hand a nice, clean strip of bark with the bud 
 intact ; if, however, the wood has not parted readily, but 
 has torn the bud or left a little hole in it, be sure that it 
 was not in a fit condition for budding and throw it away. 
 
 This may seem a difficult and delicate operation at the 
 first glance; but difficult? no, not after a little practice; 
 delicate? yes; but one can not expect to treat a tender 
 bud roughly and have it live. If you prefer you can 
 omit to remove the woody layer, provided you cut it as 
 thin as possible, but it does not make either so sure a junc- 
 tion or so sightly in the years to come, for, as the alburnum 
 or wood will never unite with the stock, neither be ab- 
 sorbed, there will always be an ugly knot or ridge mark- 
 ing the point of junction between stock and scion, whereas 
 the strip of bark only, unites completely in every part, 
 leaving in after years a smooth, straight trunk, with no 
 unsightly prominence. 
 
 And now you are ready to insert the bud, which is to be 
 done upside down, for the same reason that you made the 
 cross-cut at the base of the perpendicular instead of the 
 top, namely, because in this position, as you will see, it 
 sheds rain, and allows no water to lodge and soak in be- 
 tween the bandage and the bud — it is always better to 
 leave the leaf attached to the bud — as' this avoids leaving 
 open any channel for air or moisture to penetrate, and, 
 moreover, the sap in the leaf nourishes the bud ; but, with 
 or without the leaves, insert your bud upside down ; push 
 it gently up from below till the upper end of the cut is 
 reached, be sure that the bud-bark lies smoothly, and that 
 
44 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 the lower end does not project below the cross-cut; this 
 accomplished, start the wrapping just below the lower end 
 of the cut, holding the end firmly while you wrap, pulling 
 tightly all the while. 
 
 Some employ two wrappings, one above and one below 
 the bud, as it is all important to leave the bud itself — and 
 only the bud — exposed to light and air; but a skillful 
 worker will use only one strip, giving a certain downward 
 slant to the last turn above that will carry it below the 
 bud in front, and then continuing the wrapping until the 
 cut is well covered, tying the strips, as we have already 
 said. In two weeks you will know whether your work has 
 been "for better or for Avorse;" the former, certainly, if 
 all has been done '' decently and in order." The junction 
 always takes place at the top first ; therefore, as the edges 
 swell and unite, the top wrapping should be first loosened, 
 say in ten days after the sprout has started, and the lower 
 wraps a week later ; it is better to loosen at first than to 
 remove them entirely, as the newly-formed bark needs 
 some protection for a month or two. 
 
 Having thus investigated the mysteries of the more pop- 
 ular art of budding, let us next ' ' interview " that which 
 may well be termed its '' elder brother." 
 
 Far, far back in the olden times, the theory and practice 
 of grafting or multiplying and perpetuating remarkable 
 varieties or monstrosities, by the union of a young shoot 
 from one kind of plant with the stem of another, was al- 
 most as well understood as at the present day. It is not 
 an art which admits of much progress or alteration. There 
 is but one means of securing success, and therefore as we 
 graft nowadays so did the ancient Greeks and Jews and 
 Chinese before us. The New Testament refers to the art 
 as practiced by the Jews ; Pliny and Virgil tell us that it 
 was familiar to the Greeks ; but nowhere can we trace the 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 45 
 
 first discovery of what, though so common, is one of the 
 most wonderful phenomena of nature. As to the Chinese, 
 the first Roman Catholic missionaries who ventured to pen- 
 etrate the then mysterious fastnesses of heathenism taught 
 them the art, and so readily did they take up the new idea 
 thus presented to them that very soon they excelled their 
 teachers, just as, at the present day, they surpass all other 
 nations in the practice of curious and unique modes of 
 grafting shoot upon shoot, stem upon stem, until ofttimes 
 six or eight, ten or twelve kinds of fruit (of the same nat- 
 ural family, of course) may be seen borne upon the same 
 tree, all flourishing, all strong and healthful. 
 
 There is no one function of the horticulturist more im- 
 portant than this ; it accomplishes the propagation of par- 
 ticular varieties more surely and more speedily than is pos- 
 sible by seeds or cuttings or layers, and besides this, is 
 invaluable in hastening and increasing the fruitfulness of 
 fruit trees. Another thing, too, when a root is still vigor- 
 ous and healthy, but its stems and branches old and weak, 
 a graft or bud near or upon the thrifty root will, in a very 
 short time, replace the worn-out branches with a new, 
 strong healthy growth, into which all the strength of the 
 large root is thrown at once. The stock should always 
 have strong roots; about the graft or scion it does not 
 matter so much, though, of course, it is desirable that 
 it also should be of vigorous habit; but if it is not, a 
 healthy stock will impart to a weak but not diseased scion 
 a large portion of its own thrift and vigor. Grafting 
 should always be performed early in the spring, when the 
 sap is just beginning to circulate ; the grafts may be either 
 shoots of the current year's growth, or those of several 
 years back ; and herein is one of the most marked differ- 
 ences between grafting and budding, for with the latter the 
 scion must invariably be of the current season's growth, 
 
46 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 containing an embryo bud. The stock does not change 
 the species of the scion, but it does very much affect the 
 quality of the fruit. A weakly stock will make small and 
 insipid, a vigorous one large and fine-flavored fruit. 
 
 The great art in grafting, and it requires no small de- 
 gree of skill and care and patience, is to unite exactly the 
 inner bark of the scion with the inner bark of the stock, 
 and thus to keep them in close contact until the union is 
 complete; it is a more troublesome and more uncertain 
 operation than that of budding, besides being more injuri- 
 ous to the stock in case of failure, but it has the one ad- 
 vantage of giving a quicker and larger start to the new 
 tree in the event of success, for, while the budded tree has 
 but one tiny bud to start from, the grafted tree may have 
 one or a dozen whole branches, sometimes even the entire 
 top of a tree. 
 
 There are several methods of grafting, and to the de- 
 tails of these we will now proceed : 
 
 The most simple, and therefore most commonly success- 
 ful, is that called " grafting by approach" or '' inarching." 
 For large plants it is impracticable, but for smaller plants, 
 one of which at least is in a box or pot, it is invaluable. 
 The two plants, stock and scion, being brought close to- 
 gether, wounds are made upon each part to be grafted ex- 
 actly corresponding to each other ; in other words, plates 
 of bark of equal size are removed, and the new parts thus 
 laid bare are bound together in close contact, with a pre- 
 pared wrapping which keeps out the air. In one month 
 (not in two weeks as in budding) if the work has been 
 properly done, union between the two will have taken 
 place, and then all that is necessary is to cut loose the 
 scion from its original parent, and briug down its foster 
 mother to the level of the " child of its adoption," when 
 a new plant of the desired kind will be the result, without 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 47 
 
 injury to that from which it was taken. By this method 
 stems, roots, and branches may be united, and fruit, or 
 even flowers, be grafted upon leaves ; in short, ' ' grafting 
 by approach" is grafting par excellence, and affords scope 
 for curious experiments, such as we have just indicated; 
 experiments that any skillful and ingenious gardener may 
 vary and multiply indefinitely. 
 
 In some cases, while the junction between scion and stock 
 is in progress by this method, the plants are placed in 
 moist hot-houses (not beds), or under bell-glasses, and if 
 an accumulation of too much moisture is carefully guarded 
 against this plan is a good one, as the union takes place 
 more surely and expeditiously. This is the favorite method 
 of grafting in cases where the plants in question, either 
 stock or scion, are too rare and valuable to risk their de- 
 struction by ordinary methods in the event of failure to 
 knit. 
 
 And next we come to "whip" or '' tongue " grafting, 
 usually practiced on small nursery trees. To perform this 
 operation in the most perfect manner, the top of the stock 
 and end of the scion should be of equal diameter, and 
 therefore this kind of grafting, unlike the others, may be 
 done on smaller stocks. Both scion and stock must be cut 
 obliquely as nearly at corresponding angles as it is possi- 
 ble to get them. The best way to secure accuracy in this 
 respect is, first to cut off" the stock and then place the 
 extremity of the scion alongside and a little below the 
 oblique cut, to scratch the line of the latter on the scion, 
 and then make a clean, smooth cut along the slope indi- 
 cated. 
 
 Next, the tip of the stock must be cut off" horizontally, 
 and a narrow slit made nearly in the center of the sloped 
 face of the stock downward, and another corresponding 
 one in the slope of the scion upward. The tongue or 
 
48 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 wedge-like strip, which now passes the upper part of the 
 sloped face of the scion, is next to be slipped downward in 
 the cleft of the stock, the inner bark of both being brought 
 closely together on one side, so as to prevent all chance of 
 slipping out of place in tying, and this tying must be done 
 at once tightly and neatly. 
 
 The last-named operation in grafting as in budding is a 
 most important item in the work, and while strips of bast- 
 matting are most commonly used, we can not too highly 
 recommend the employment of strong muslin dipped in 
 equal parts of melted tallow and beeswax. Where these wax 
 strips are not used, however (and sometimes in large stocks 
 even where they are), grafting clay must be employed. 
 There are several ways of preparing it : one is to beat up 
 well together three parts of stiff yellow or blue clay, or 
 clayey loam, with one part of horse dung, and a little 
 chopped hay ; another, that chiefly used by the French and 
 Dutch, is to mix one half fresh cow dung with one half 
 loam. But whether waxed strips, bast-matting, or graft- 
 ing clay are used, every part of the wounds of stock and 
 scion must be well and thoroughly covered, as the whole 
 end and purpose of both clay and strips is to prevent air, 
 rain, and light from penetrating to the wounded parts. 
 
 The French method of grafting differs from ours, which 
 is copied from the English, inasmuch as, no matter how 
 large the stock may be, they never cut off more than the 
 width of the scion ; and as their nation excels the English 
 as gardeners, it would, we think, be well to take the hint 
 thus thrown out. A true-born Johnny Bull scorns to ac- 
 cept a lesson from the despised and hated Johnny Crapaud, 
 but not so his old-time friend and ally. Uncle Sam ; so let 
 us. Uncle Sam's children, take heed and profit. 
 
 And, in point of fact, it would seem useless as well as 
 hurtful to inflict a larger wound than necessary upon the 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 49 
 
 stock, thus giving it more work to do to heal over its cuts 
 just at the time when its full energies are needed in the 
 proper sustenance of its foster child; and therefore we 
 would advise the adoption of the French method, and the 
 cutting away of the major part of the stock after the graft 
 has taken firm hold, not before. 
 
 "Cleft" grafting is next in order. Here the head of 
 the branch or stock is cut off obliquely, and then the 
 sloped part cut horizontally to its middle; then, with a 
 sharp knife or chisel, which latter is best, a cleft two inches 
 deep is made in the crown downward, at right angles to 
 the sloped part. Be very careful here not to injure the 
 pith, or yours is ''love's labor lost." Leave the knife or 
 chisel placed horizontally in the base of the cleft to keep 
 it open, and take up your scion ; now with a sharp knife 
 cut its extremity for an inch and a half in the shape of a 
 wedge, leaving it about an eighth of an inch thicker on 
 the outer or bark side, and bringing it to a finer edge on 
 the inner side; and now you are all ready to slip your 
 scion down into the cleft as deep as the wedge you have 
 cut — one and a half inches — this done, with the thicker or 
 bark edge placed very carefully even with the inner bark 
 of the stock, draw out your knife from the cleft below it, 
 and you will be surprised to see how closely and firmly the 
 scion is held. Two or three scions may be inserted in this 
 way into the same stock in separate clefts, the whole being 
 tightly wrapped and closed up. 
 
 "Crown" grafting is employed chiefly on thick stocks, 
 long branches shortened, or headed-down trees, and as 
 many as a dozen scions may be used if desired. First you 
 saw off the head of stock or branch as level as may be and 
 pare off the surface smooth; then cut one side of your 
 scions flat and sloping, one and a half inches long, making 
 a little horizontal cut or shoulder at the top to rest on the 
 
 5 
 
50 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 crown of the stock. Your scions ready, slip a thin blade 
 or the ivory handle of a budding-knife about two inches 
 downward, between the bark and wood at the top of the 
 stock, pass it gently around the latter, withdraw it and 
 thrust in its place your scions, one after the other, their 
 number being limited, if you like, only by the size of the 
 stock, till they stand up like a crown around the top of 
 the stake, their little shoulders resting on the level surface 
 for support. And now the inevitable wrapping and the 
 operation is completed, ''for better or for worse," as a 
 month will tell. 
 
 . Yet another method of grafting is there, termed "side 
 grafting." This is often also called "tongue grafting," 
 and differs only from ' ' whip " or " tongue grafting " proper 
 in being performed on the side of a tree instead of on the 
 top of a cut down stock. Where a valuable tree has lost 
 a branch from any cause, as often happens, and an ugly 
 lopsided appearance is the result, "side grafting" is re- 
 sorted to to supply the deficiency. Having selected the 
 spot where you wish a new branch, you pare off the bark 
 and a little of the wood, cut the scions to fit as nearly as 
 possible, and wrap them closely together. 
 
 In all these various modes of grafting, while their suc- 
 cess or failure will be evident within a month by the aspect 
 of the buds on the scion, yet it is not safe, if good fortune 
 has attended your efforts, to remove the wrapping or clay 
 for at least three months, until the graft be completely 
 healed over, and even then the removal should be gradual. 
 In some cases, to be deternlined by the judgment of the 
 operator, a ligature around the graft, or a stake to which 
 the young shoots of the scion should be tied, may be ad- 
 visable for a year or more, and often a bandage of moss 
 wrapped lightly around the point of junction will be of 
 great advantage in retaining moisture and warding off the 
 
HOW TO BUD AND GRAFT. 51 
 
 hot rays of the sun until the wounds are completely- 
 healed over. 
 
 There is still one more mode of grafting which may aptly 
 be termed a ''cross" between it and budding. This is 
 called "flute or ring grafting," and consists in taking a 
 ring of bark, with several buds on it, cutting away a cor- 
 responding ring from its stock and putting in its place the 
 scion ring, so that the edges of the bark equally join. This 
 must be done in the spring, when the bark parts most read- 
 ily, and is the surest of all modes of grafting because it so 
 nearly approaches budding pure and simple. Care must 
 be taken, however, not to encircle the tree completely in 
 cutting the scion or stock, as this would girdle it and 
 check its growth, or perhaps even result in its death. 
 
 In grafting it is always better to take the scion from the 
 lateral branches, because more fruitful, and also to remove 
 them from the tree an hour or two before using, that the 
 sap may partly dry out, leaving place for the sap from 
 the stock to enter more freely. 
 
52 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WHERE TO PLANT. 
 
 And now, having brought up our young trees to a point 
 where they are ready for setting out, let us consider the 
 best location for their permanent home, where their life 
 work may be most perfectly accomplished. 
 
 At the very outset it becomes a mooted question whether 
 to locate the grove in pine land or hammock. Some grow- 
 ers advocate the one, some the other ; but the fact is, that 
 as time rolls on and brings further experience in this new 
 calling of orange culture, the friends of the pine land 
 groves are becoming more and more numerous. 
 
 Until very recently there was one point on which both 
 cliques were in accord, and this was that the orange -tree 
 would not flourish on low lands, but that a high, dry loca- 
 tion was imperative. But now several well-known reliable 
 growers have come to the front to prove that orange trees 
 will do, have done, and are doing well on low hammock 
 and on low flat woods ; that they grow as thrifty, bear as 
 profusely, and their fruit stands shipping as well as though 
 the trees were set on the high lands. 
 
 One of these growers, Mr. E. H. Hart, of Federal 
 Point, Florida, gives it as his opinion, based on the expe- 
 rience of many years, that * ' the crusade against low lands 
 for the orange is an arrant humbug that ought to have been 
 exploded long ago. It has been kept up chiefly by those 
 having high lands to sell, and by persons who, living upon 
 land of a different character, knew no better." The gen- 
 tleman referred to has for fourteen years successfully raised 
 and cultivated a large grove on just such land as has been 
 condemned heretofore as absolutely worthless for orange 
 
WHERE TO PLANT. 53 
 
 culture, flat pine woods, with clay and hard-pan only 
 eighteen inches from the surface. 
 
 In very rainy weather the soil becomes so saturated with 
 water that it fills up and runs over into the furrows and 
 ditches prepared to carry off the surplus moisture ; yet in 
 defiance of this and of the ' ' croakers " who declared the 
 trees would die as soon as their tap-roots reached the hard- 
 pan, Mr. Hart's grove is to-day one of the finest in the 
 State, although, as he says, " on several occasions the river 
 (St. John's) rose to an unusual height, and stood for sev- 
 eral weeks a foot or more deep in the lower parts of my 
 grove, the higher ground being also completely soaked by 
 reason of no drainage. So far from suffering injury, the 
 trees appeared rather benefited by the irrigation." Also 
 this same orange grower, having ditched his grove after- 
 ward, decided that a simple, shallow furrow was all that 
 was needful. 
 
 In Sardinia there is a famous grove, a square mile in 
 extent, where a stream of water running through the cen- 
 ter is employed to lay the whole grove under water every 
 two weeks, all through the summer. 
 
 Now, here are well-authenticated instances going to prove 
 that the orange is more * ' given to drink " than used to be 
 believed, and that it will grow on low lands if properly 
 looked after ; and by ' ' properly " we mean that, in plant- 
 ing, the trees should be set a little higher than the sur- 
 rounding land, and that shallow ditches or furrows, a hun- 
 dred feet apart, should be run through the grove. There- 
 fore, while we would not advise the settler to select ''flat 
 woods" for a grove, other things being equal, yet if such 
 lands ofier decided advantages as to price, location as to 
 transit lines, society and health, over other lands offered in 
 the desired vicinity, we would say, "take them, set your 
 trees high, furrow your grove to lead off" superfluous water, 
 
54 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 put out a few Eucalyptus globulus trees here aud there, 
 and have no fears of the result." 
 
 The orange tree is a good deal of a cosmopolitan, and 
 will flourish in a variety of soils ; in clay, sand, shell, or 
 loam ; in low or high hammocks ; in pine land or black- 
 jack lands. Very much depends on the treatment it re- 
 ceives, but when it is as easy to obtain pine land or high 
 hammock, they are to be preferred, as giving equal or even 
 better results than the others with less labor. 
 
 Given two tracts of land, one hammock, the other good 
 pine, at equal cost, and equal advantages in all other re- 
 spects, many would doubtless select the former. But we, 
 with the experience gained by eight years' residence in 
 Florida, would select the pine land for a permanently satis- 
 factory grove. 
 
 Undoubtedly the hammocks are the richest lands at the 
 start, but their fertility is deceptive, that is, it is not last- 
 ing ; trees and vegetables grow finely for several years, but 
 the fertility given to the soil by the once falling leaves of 
 the deciduous undergrowth (cut away to make room for 
 cultivation) is soon exhausted, and after that every year 
 increases the need of fertilizers in the hammock groves. 
 But with pine lands it is just the reverse, they are poorer 
 at the outset, but improve steadily with each year's culti- 
 vation. 
 
 Pine land, with clay subsoil, is rapidly coming more and 
 more into favor as the best possible basis to work upon ; it 
 has ' ' bottom " on which one can depend to retain all sur- 
 plus fertilizers until the trees can utilize them. When 
 you can find clay subsoil any where from two to six feet 
 from the surface, there be not afraid to locate your grove. 
 
 It is not always safe to depend on surface indications, 
 or the reports of others ; the most trustworthy plan is to 
 take a spade yourself and dig here and there on the land 
 
WHERE TO PLANT. 55 
 
 you propose to use for your grove, and thus avoid the 
 possible application of the fable of ' ' The Lark and Her 
 Young Ones." 
 
 We have never yet met an orange grower whose trees 
 were located on good pine, with clay a few feet below the 
 surface, who was not thoroughly satisfied with the progress 
 of his grove. Then the hammock land is much more ex- 
 pensive than the pine ; when the latter can be had of the 
 best quality from ten to twenty dollars an acre, the former 
 is held from fifty to seventy-five, or even a hundred dollars. 
 
 The expense of clearing the land preparatory to cultiva- 
 tion must also be taken into account. The hammock land 
 is full of underbrush, young trees, roots, vines, and pal- 
 metto; all these must not only be cut down, and either be 
 burned or piled up to decay, and furnish by and by nour- 
 ishing food for the future grove, but the numberless roots 
 must also be grubbed up at no light expenditure of time 
 and money ; time, if the settler is a strong man, able and 
 willing to work ; money, if he has to hire the clearing 
 done for him. 
 
 It does not cost less than forty or fifty dollars to clear 
 an acre of hammock land as it should be cleared, and for 
 a year or two afterward the fight against the upspringing 
 roots must be waged unceasingly, or the clearing will go 
 back to its original state, and all the time and money 
 already expended be thrown away. 
 
 In clearing a piece of hammock for a grove it is only 
 the undergrowth that should be got rid of entirely ; nearly 
 aU, if not quite all, of the grand old live-oak trees should 
 be left standing to flourish as of old, before civilization 
 had dreamed of intruding upon their time-honored do- 
 mains. This is 'a very important point in the well-being 
 of the grove, especially in one formed by budding a former 
 "wild grove." 
 
56 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 It should be remembered that these trees have grown up 
 from earliest infancy to maturity beneath the protecting 
 shelter of these giant oaks, whose wide-stretching arms, 
 heavily draped with moss, ward off the high winds, frosts, 
 and the fierce heat of the mid-day sun ; alter these condi- 
 tions by cutting down all the protecting oaks, the ''Orange 
 Guard " they may well be called, and you at once give the 
 trees it is your interest to care for, such a shock as they 
 will never recover from, and expose them to hardships 
 such as they never encountered before. The thriftiest 
 young groves in the State have been grown under just 
 such shelter as the great oaks delight to bestow upon 
 them. 
 
 The value of these * ' Orange Guards " was thoroughly 
 demonstrated two years ago, when groves supposed to be 
 too far south or too well shielded by water protection to 
 be imperilled by frost were severely damaged, and some of 
 the trees killed to the ground by a sudden nocturnal visit 
 from erratic ''Jack Frost." 
 
 These groves were not sheltered by overhanging trees ; 
 but further north by many miles was a far-famed grove on 
 Orange Lake that was thus guarded, and adjoining it an- 
 other wherein all the trees had been cut down. When 
 that disastrous frost came, the latter grove looked as if a 
 fire had swept through it, the trees being stripped of their 
 leaves, and thousands of dollars' worth of fruit lying under 
 them ; while the former was totally uninjured, its leaves 
 as green as in midsummer, its fruit untouched. The owner 
 of the unsheltered grove now declares that he would gladly 
 give twenty thousand dollars for a few of the stately forest 
 trees that once sheltered his domesticated wild grove. 
 
 We have said enough to demonstrate the importance of 
 this point, so will pass on to the consideration of pine land 
 suitable for orange culture. 
 
WHERE TO PLANT. 57 
 
 The growth of timber on these lands is, as its name de- 
 notes, chiefly pine, with here and there small oaks, shrubs, 
 wild persimmons, hickory, and a few other trees, some- 
 times solitary, but more frequently in groups ; and where 
 the latter occurs it is called ''scrub hammock." The rule 
 is, that where tall, straight pine trees are found, large in 
 size, and about seventy to the acre, and no undergrowth, 
 except the wire-grass may be so termed, the land is first- 
 class ; where the small oak trees are scattered thinly about, 
 it is second class, and where these oaks surpass the pines in 
 number it is less desirable, being inferior to the others. 
 There is something to be said, however, even for this; it 
 is very poor at first, it is true, but it responds quickly to 
 fertilizers, and even the poorest of it can be brought to a 
 high degree of cultivation, and thereafter continually im- 
 proves year by year. 
 
 There is only one way of clearing hammock land, and 
 that we have mentioned ; there are, however, several ways 
 of preparing pine land for a grove. One way is to girdle 
 the trees, which deadens them and puts an immediate stop 
 to the great drain of their wide-spreading roots upon the 
 plant-food lying latent in the ground. The trees thus 
 girdled are left standing, and then the land is ready for 
 fencing and plowing : but in a few months the dead limbs 
 begin to fall, and so continue for several years, and the 
 branches must either be carried away from time to time, 
 or else allowed to remain where they fall to be an eye-sore 
 and a constant annoyance in cultivation. 
 
 The first cost of this method of clearing is very little, 
 only about two dollars per acre or less, but it is a very un- 
 satisfactory way, and likely to cost more in the end than 
 it saved in the beginning. 
 
 After a few years' time, when the orange grove is fully 
 under way, the deadened trees will begin to fall during 
 
58 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 a heavy rain or a high wind, or frequently without these 
 provocations ; down they crash, now here, now there, and 
 as they are not remarkable for good judgment, they are 
 just as likely as not to come down on an orange tree and 
 put it beyond the pale of recognition. And then the 
 fallen giant must be chopped up and either hauled away 
 or burned, the expense and trouble of doing which are 
 now just as great as they would have been at first, plus 
 the loss of some of your best orange trees. 
 
 The claim made that the drapping branches, bark, and 
 sap of the pine trees left to decay on the ground furnish a 
 valuable fertilizer is a specious one; and even if one is 
 willing to have his grove strewn over with branches that 
 trip up his horse and interfere with the plow, the amount 
 of gain to the soil is so small that a few cart loads of rot- 
 ten sap and grass hauled from outside and spread around 
 the orange trees would far surpass it. Altogether we can 
 not recommend this method, for we do not think the gain, 
 even considering the small first cost, at all commensurate 
 with the "after-claps" of the falling pines, crushed and 
 ruined orange trees, the inevitable final clearing up of 
 trash, and last, not least, the certain introduction of the 
 destructive wood-lice among the orange trees. 
 
 Another and better way is to hew down the trees, have 
 rails split from all that are suitable for the purpose, then 
 pile and burn the remnants; this method costs for the 
 clearing from twelve to eighteen dollars an acre, according 
 to the number of trees to be disposed of, and the amount 
 of ' ' small deer " in the shape of small bushes and young 
 oaks to be grubbed up by the roots. 
 
 But then the stumps of the pine trees remain in the 
 ground, and it is a sad mistake to leave them there, as so 
 many do ; they are not only a constant eye-sore (that is 
 the least of the objections), but no matter how often and 
 
WHERE TO PLANT. 59 
 
 how carefully the land is cultivated, these stumps scattered 
 all over it will harbor ants and weeds, especially that curse 
 of a cultivated field in the South called "maiden cane" 
 grass, which it is almost impossible to eradicate ; once it is 
 established, its roots run down to a depth of several feet, 
 and every joint makes a new plant. For this enemy the 
 pine stumps afford first-class rallying points ; it is simply 
 impossible to destroy it in a field where they are. And 
 even if the maiden cane can be kept at bay, as the orange 
 trees grow larger the pine stumps encroach upon the space 
 they require, and by this time, when it is at last deemed 
 advisable to get rid of them, fully one half will have to 
 be chopped out laboriously, because the orange trees near 
 them would be injured if they were burned out. Better, 
 by far, burn them out in the first place, and have your 
 land smooth and clean, and no broken or crooked lines 
 among your orange rows because of stumps interfering 
 with setting them out in their proper places. It will cost 
 you fifteen or twenty cents apiece to do this, but it is 
 cheaper in the end. 
 
 A still better method, because cheaper and just as effect- 
 ive, is one that is more rarely practiced than the other 
 two, only because it is newer and not generally known as 
 yet in Florida. This is to dig a hole quite deep against 
 one side of the pine tree, cutting off the large roots there 
 and laying bare the tap-root, and then build a fire in the 
 hole beneath and against the tree ; by keeping the fire 
 constantly smoldering, and in contact with the tap-root, 
 the latter is burned off, and the tree, having thus lost its 
 balance, topples over and comes crashing to the ground all 
 at one time, and it only remains to burn the tree, fill up 
 the hole, and the land is clear and smooth, ready for the 
 plow for all time to come ; no falling branches or trees, no 
 weed-gathering stumps. This method of clearing costs 
 
60 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 from twenty to thirty dollars an acre, not so mucli indeed 
 as first cutting and burning the trees, and then having the 
 stumps burned out. 
 
 The land cleared, plowing is next in order; this can be 
 done at an expense of three dollars an acre, not a high 
 charge for breaking new land, as it is no easy or quick work 
 even in our light Florida soil. 
 
 Rails for fencing are split from the pine trees at a cost 
 of a dollar a hundred, and it is well to have them split be- 
 fore the trees are burned, as among those cut down, would 
 be many suitable for the purpose. Hauling the rails and 
 building the fence (Virginia worm-fence is the rule) will 
 cost fifty cents a hundred ; the total cost of inclosing one 
 acre, eleven hundred rails, will amount to sixteen dollars 
 and fifty cents ; five acres, between forty and fifty dollars. 
 
 But however much or little the land may be cleared for 
 a grove, or whether pine or hammock be selected, it should 
 invariably be located near some assured and permanent 
 transportation facilities, either in the present or the near 
 future, when the grove will have " come into profit." 
 
 When groves are twenty or more miles from an outlet 
 (and some very fine groves are thus situated), the hauling 
 by wagon is expensive and tedious, and the cause of great 
 loss, by bruising the fruit so as to render it unfit for mar- 
 ket. Also do not go too far north in the State, thinking 
 that all places are equally favored for orange culture ; it is 
 best not to venture beyond the thirtieth degree. 
 
 A good deal has been said and written about water pro- 
 tection, and there is no doubt that a location near to and 
 south or west of one of our large lakes, or a cluster of 
 small ones, is desirable. But the vicinity of the water 
 does not always ward ofi* frost; it all depends upon how 
 the frost approaches. A warm vapor always hangs over 
 a large body of water, and if a cold north or northwest 
 
WHERE TO PLANT. 61 
 
 wind comes rushing across the placid bosom of the lake, it 
 has force sufficient to carry this warm vapor on with it, and 
 by the time the south shore is reached the captive air has 
 raised the temperature of its captor by several degrees, so 
 that its frosty quality is lost. But if the cold wave comes 
 quietly and by stealth, as it were, and creeps slowly over 
 the water it chills the warm vapor, and so reaches the 
 south as cold as when it left the north shore. 
 
 Besides this it has been clearly proved that frost, like 
 wind storms, travels in streaks, often with clearly defined 
 margins, so that a grove that may escape one frost may be 
 touched by another less severe, apparently " without rhyme 
 or reason." 
 
 And so, after all, the best protection a grove can have is 
 from a belt of timber land, either inclosing it entirely, or 
 else guarding it on the north or west, since these are the 
 quarters whence come the highest and coldest winds. This 
 is a shield that can happily be obtained in almost any lo- 
 cality in Florida, for nearly every settler takes his land at 
 first or second hand, and forest land still predominates 
 throughout the State ; nowhere do we find immense con- 
 tiguous tracts of land all cleared and under tillage as in 
 the older settled States. 
 
62 FLORIDA FEUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 BUDDED TREES OR SEEDLINGS? 
 
 The former most emphatically. 
 
 Time was, and that only a few years ago too, when the 
 majority of growers favored the seedling tree, because it 
 was said to grow larger, fruit more prolifically, and bear 
 longer than the budded tree. But the tide of opinion has 
 decidedly veered around nowadays, as a greater degree of 
 experience is gained and fuller scientific investigation 
 brought to bear on the mooted question. 
 
 Thomas Meechan, editor of the Gardeiier's Monthly and 
 Horticidturist, of Philadelphia, who is one of the recog- 
 nized authorities on horticultural matters in the United 
 States, tells us most decidedly that budding orange trees 
 does not dwarf them in the least, unless a dwarf scion is 
 used ; and this opinion, coming from such a source, should 
 carry conviction with it, even if there were no other avail- 
 able testimony, of which, however, there is plenty. It is 
 impossible to understand the foundation upon which the 
 theory has been based, that by budding we sacrifice size 
 of tree and quality of fruit, for certainly experience does 
 not demonstrate either of these charges. In the first place 
 budding orange trees is comparatively a new thing with us 
 all, while seedling trees date back for many years. Where 
 a fair comparison between the trees is attainable it is proved 
 that the budded trees are fully as large as the seedlings of 
 the same age. 
 
 There is one thing that has probably misled many 
 superficial observers in this connection, and that is 
 that trees that bear early and continuously, as budded 
 
BUDDED TREES OR SEEDLINGS. 63 
 
 trees do bear, do not increase so rapidly in wood, year 
 by year, as where the tree's whole energy is devoted to 
 making wood, but where the budded tree has become as 
 large as a seedliug bearing tree, it will be seen that the 
 after-growth of the budded tree surpasses that of the 
 seedling. 
 
 Captain Burnham, of Indian Kiver, tells us that his 
 trees are nearly all budded except a few seedlings scattered 
 here and there in his grove, and these latter are decidedly 
 smaller and less thrifty trees, though of the same age. In 
 fact, the further one goes into the subject the more majes- 
 tically does the once maligned budded tree loom up and 
 the seedling retire into the background, to be brought for- 
 ward again simply as stock, in which character we have no 
 word to say against it. 
 
 Seedlings versus budded trees? Why, the seedling has 
 no case at all. It has been proven that it does not grow 
 larger or bear more fruit than the budded tree, and, when 
 we look at the question financially, its case is more hope- 
 less than ever. 
 
 Why is it that we dig and delve and toil to make an 
 orange grove ? Truly, that it may return our labor in good 
 solid coin, and that, as soon as may be. 
 
 Did any one ever hear of a tree budded from a bearing 
 one that did not fruit until it was eight, ten, twenty years 
 from the bud ? Yet the two first dates named are those 
 the seedlings usually attain before they bear at all, while 
 it is not uncommon for them to reach the age of fifteen and 
 twenty years before bearing a single orange, and sometimes 
 they are forever barren. Very few settlers there are, even 
 with very limited means, who could not struggle along 
 somehow if their trees could be made to yield a small re- 
 turn in four or five years, but who, if compelled to wait a 
 return for ten or twelve years would fall down worsted in 
 
64 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 the fight and suffer a financial shipwreck. In short, as a 
 well-known orange grower emphatically asserts : 
 
 "It is universally recognized that budding shortens the 
 period before fruiting. Is not this, then, a strong reason 
 financially why we should adopt the budded system ? My 
 own experience teaches me the necessity of budding. I 
 can see no dwarfing tendency or results ; on the contrary, 
 my budded trees are larger than seedlings of the same age, 
 and the fruit is certainly as good. I have not been able to 
 see that the production is fewer in numbers. I therefore 
 give my unqualified opinion that it will not only pay to 
 bud the orange tree, but that as intelligent men we can not 
 afibrd to do otherwise." 
 
 There is also another strong argument in favor of budded 
 trees that we have not yet touched on. Years of experi- 
 ence have taught every horticulturist that the attempt to 
 produce certain varieties of fruit from seed almost invari- 
 ably results in failure. The seed either produces an infe- 
 rior fruit or an entirely new variety, which is likely to 
 be poorer rather than better than that which produced 
 the seed, and before any result can be attained years of 
 care and waiting must elapse. Every grower who has 
 carefully observed the fruit produced by the various trees 
 in a seedling grove can not have failed to notice a great 
 difterence therein. Let the seeds that produced these trees 
 be ever so carefully selected, some of the trees will pro- 
 duce better oranges than others with the same care and 
 treatment. 
 
 Now this is not the case with budded trees. From the 
 moment the first tiny little leaf starts out, the germ of the 
 future tree, its destined work is marked out and known. 
 If a bud from a bearing Mediterranean Sweet, Navel, 
 Homosassa, or Mandarin is used, then we know what the 
 budded tree will bear, and thus we not only secure beyond 
 
BUDDED TREES OR SEEDLINGS. 65 
 
 doubt a fine variety of fruit, but the identical variety we 
 have selected as preferable. Surely this one advantage 
 alone should be sufficient to tip the scale in favor of the 
 budded tree. It is no slight thing to know for a certainty 
 that, after several years' expenditure of care, money, and 
 patience, we have secured the most desirable varieties of 
 fruit. 
 
 Not many years since the sour orange was the favorite 
 for budding stock; of late, however, the scarcity of this 
 tree has led to experiments which tend to prove that there 
 are several kinds of stock to be preferred to the sour 
 orange. 
 
 There are several strong objections to this wild stock 
 from the hammocks. First — and this is a very impor- 
 tant matter — it is almost impossible to secure a sufficient 
 quantity of roots in comparison to the size of the trunk ; 
 again, they have grown up from seed to maturity in rich 
 land, protected from sun and wind by the dense foliage 
 around them, and when they are transplanted to a grove 
 they suffer from change of habit. If they live at all their 
 growth is feeble and sickly. They will put out, perhaps, 
 a few sprouts, and then stand still for months or even 
 years, the vitality of the trunk being exhausted, and the 
 roots not having sufficient life to supply further nutri- 
 ment. 
 
 As an example we give an instance of our own personal 
 experience: Five years ago we set out a grove of sour 
 stocks, taken from the hammock — to be budded in due 
 time — on pine land, at an expense of one dollar each. A 
 few of the transplanted stumps died almost immediately. 
 The others lingered on, just alive, most of them too feeble 
 to take a bud. After two years of lost time and patience, 
 the majority were pulled up and thrown away, to be re- 
 placed by thrifty budded trees from the nursery. This 
 
 6 
 
66 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 year still more have been dug out in disgrace, while the 
 few stumps that nourished their foster children, the sweet 
 buds, are only now, after four years, beginning to make a 
 respectable growth. Had these sour stumps been stock of 
 the proper kind they would have grown right along and 
 accepted the bud in due time. The grove then set out 
 would now have been a bearing one, beginning to pay 
 back the money, care, and time expended on it. As it is, 
 four years are totally lost. So much for setting out the 
 wrong kind of stock. 
 
 The stocks that are- now coming into competition with 
 the once universal sour orange are lemon, lime, grape fruit, 
 and the sweet seedling. The three former are stronger 
 growing trees than the latter, but this also is as thrifty as 
 need be, and is becoming a great favorite with many 
 growers. 
 
 One of Florida's foremost nurserymen, Mr. A. J. Beach, 
 of Palatka, takes a decided stand in favor of the sweet 
 seedling for stock, especially because, in the event of a 
 frost severe enough to kill orange trees to the ground, 
 the sweet seedling sprouting from the ground would still 
 bear a sweet orange without requiring to be again bud- 
 ded; supposing, of course, that its roots had attained a 
 bearing age. 
 
 But what then ? The fruit would still be only a seed- 
 ling orange of no special variety, and more likely poor 
 than good ; so that budding would be just as desirable 
 for the same reasons as it was at first. Consequently, 
 while we acknowledge the sweet seedling to be good 
 stock, we can not admit that it would not require re-bud- 
 ding, the same as any other, in the event of its being Jiilled 
 to the ground. 
 
 In consequence, the sweet seedling is preferred to any 
 other stock, it having been shown by various experiments 
 
BUDDED TREES OR SEEDLINGS. 67 
 
 that it is the safest for the orange and lemon buds. Its 
 roots are large, strong, and healthy, and intended by na- 
 ture to minister to the needs of a large, majestic tree. It 
 is rarely affected by the gum or any other root disease, and 
 both orange and lemon buds have a close and strong affin- 
 ity for this stock. 
 
 The lemon also does well as stock for the orange, al- 
 though some claim that here, as well as with the lime and 
 citron, the stock exercises an influence upon the fruit, 
 and it is apt to be coarse flavored, with a pungent, acid 
 flavor. These same growers admit, however, that the 
 sweet orange raised on lime, grape fruit, and lemon stock, 
 is of larger size and in greater quantity than that raised 
 from the orange stock. 
 
 Of all the citrus stocks named the citron enjoys the least 
 favor, and we think deservedly so. 
 
 The lemon seedling is a good thrifty grower, but will 
 not thrive in so great a diversity of soil and situation as 
 the others. 
 
 The lime makes a strong, rapid stock, and will flour- 
 ish with less care and in poorer soil than any of the 
 others. Owing to its rather dwarfish habit it would be 
 better to bud it with one of the half-dwarf varieties of 
 the orange — such as the St. Michael or the Mandarin — thus 
 avoiding the danger of the top outgrowing the trunk. 
 
 The size and quantity of fruit borne on lime and 
 lemon stock is largely increased over the original, but it 
 is claimed by some that the quality is rather deteriorated. 
 As, however, it has been proven by our most eminent 
 botanists that the stock does not in any way influence the 
 character of the fruit borne by the scion, except in so far 
 as a thrifty stock makes a thrifty tree, and vice versa, we 
 can not but believe the asserted effect, of the lime and 
 lemon on the orange to be fanciful, not sustained by fact. 
 
68 FLORLDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 It must, however, be borne in mind that these two, the 
 lemon and lime, are more easily affected by cold than 
 orange or grape fruit, and hence are not safe stock in lo- 
 calities exposed to frequent frosts. 
 
 The grape fruit germinates as readily from the seed as 
 the sour orange, and grows off as vigorously from the very 
 first. It is as hardy as the sweet orange, is less subject to 
 disease, and makes an excellent stock for the latter. Per- 
 sonally, we prefer it to any other. 
 
 In budding one's own nursery-raised seedlings, no matter 
 what the stock may be, it is best to bud them in the nurs- 
 ery when the stock is one year old ; then, as soon as the 
 bud shows it has taken, take up the trees carefully and set 
 them out in the grove, where they are to remain, for when 
 you have your trees at hand it is better to set them out as 
 young as possible while the roots are so small that it is 
 easy to take them up without losing any, and thereby giv- 
 ing the tree a set-back. 
 
 Do not cut back entirely until the transplanted tree has 
 had time to grow. If all the trees in the nursery are not 
 needed for budding at the same time, it is a good plan to 
 bud alternate trees. Those that remain will have a space 
 of two feet in which to grow another year, or the space 
 thus left vacant may be filled in again with fresh stock 
 from the seed-bed. 
 
 In buying from the nurseries, and this we would 
 advise all to do who have not their own nursery, it is 
 best to purchase stock three years old and one year 
 bud. These trees are of a size that renders them easy 
 to handle and set out, and they grow off finely, being 
 neither old enough to lose many rootlets in the process 
 of transfer, nor too young to bear a temporary cessation 
 of growth. 
 
 Trees such as these, of the best varieties grown, are to 
 
BUDDED TREES OR SEEDLINGS. 69 
 
 be had at fifty dollars per hundred; trees of two years' 
 bud, with stock of four or five years' growth, at seventy- 
 five dollars; and a still larger size at one dollar each. 
 When the sweet seedling is purchased for setting out in a 
 grove, it should be not under three nor over five years for 
 the best result to be obtained. 
 
 Setting them out from your home nursery, it is better to 
 put them out just as soon as they are a year old, putting 
 stakes to protect them from the plow and cultivator until 
 they are large enough to take care of themselves. This 
 precaution is, of course, necessary with the young budded 
 trees as well ; and it is especially needful to tie the bud to 
 a stake, lest a high wind should wrench loose its as yet 
 tender hold upon its foster mother ; many are the promis- 
 ing young trees thus lost, from sheer carelessness. 
 
70 FLORIDA FKUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW TO PLANT. 
 
 The last thing, before you are ready to set out your 
 grove, is to have the ground thoroughly plowed. This 
 should not be the first time, however, for it is not well to 
 plant trees in freshly plowed land, as the soil is always 
 more or less sour, and needs sun and air to sweeten it. 
 If it is practicable to break up the land for the future 
 grove several months before setting out the trees, and to 
 plant and turn under a crop of covv^-peas with or even 
 without a light sprinkling of lime, so much the better, 
 although this is not absolutely necessary. The ground 
 thus prepared, the next thing in order is to lay it out in 
 grove form. 
 
 Supposing that your fences lie at right angles with each 
 other, as they should do, this will not be a very difficult 
 matter ; measuring the distance you wish the first row to 
 be from a parallel fence, first at one end and then at the 
 other of the proposed line, stretch a rope (or wire pre- 
 ferred) from a stake driven down at the point of measure- 
 ment at one end and to its corresponding stake at the 
 other. Before this is done, however, tags at the desired 
 distance apart should have been tied to rope or wire in 
 such manner as to preclude their slipping out of place. 
 Now, keeping your measuring cord tight, drive down a 
 stake at each of these tags ; these mark the position of the 
 tap-root of the tree. Now, whatever space you have 
 chosen for your trees to set apart, as just staked out, 
 whether twenty, twenty-five, or thirty feet, measure this 
 distance at a right angle for your first row at each end, 
 remove your measuring line to these new points of depart- 
 
HOW TO PLANT. 71 
 
 ure, and drive down your stakes to mark the tags as 
 before ; this gives the second row of trees. By adopting 
 this simple and easy mode of measurement, crooked and 
 irregular rows are avoided, and the grove thus laid out 
 will present a regular and pleasing effect to the eye, and 
 be much more easily cultivated than one whose trees are 
 set here and there, irregular in distance and in line. Tlie 
 plow or cultivator can run much closer to trees that are 
 set in a straight line, and very little work is left to be done 
 by the hoe. 
 
 There is great diversity of opinion as to the proper dis- 
 tance to set apart orange trees, and yet it is a question of 
 vital importance. We do not set out our groves for our- 
 selves alone, but for our posterity also, for generations to 
 come. We should, therefore, bring our best judgment to 
 bear upon a permanent arrangement for the position of 
 the trees. He who successfully brings to maturity a grove 
 of orange or lemon trees is preparing a noble heritage for 
 his heirs, and his work should be well and carefully done. 
 
 The trees look small and puny when first set out, but do 
 not forget that they are put there to stay, and that for 
 years to come they will continue to increase constantly in 
 size, until by and by the day Avill come when each of those 
 trees will be forty or fifty feet high, with a trunk which 
 two men with outstretched arms can not entirely encircle, 
 and with a fruitage of from five to ten thousand oranges. 
 It seems incredible, does it not, that these little trees, 
 many of them no thicker than your finger, should ever 
 attain such a size ? Yet others have done it, and these will 
 do it in time ; not in ours, perhaps, but in that of our 
 children and children's children. 
 
 If the trees are planted too close the grove will be 
 dwarfed and almost wrecked, as the years roll on, until 
 some day it will become imperative to remove a part of 
 
72 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 the trees, and unless this is done with regularity and the 
 alternate trees taken out the effect will not be satisfactory, 
 and the whole symmetry of the grove destroyed, to say 
 nothing of the loss of half the fruit for many years. 
 
 There are two budded groves, not a mile from the writer 
 at this present moment, where ten or twelve years ago 
 little trees were set out fifteen feet apart. To-day, many 
 large bearing trees have had to be removed from one of 
 these, and their profit lost for years to come, while in the 
 other the sun never reaches the ground, and rain, only as 
 it drops from and through the branches that closely inter- 
 lock and dwarf each other. Until the alternate trees in 
 this grove are removed it will never do half as well as if 
 the trees had at first been placed at a proper distance apart. 
 It will not be long before the owner will be compelled to 
 thin out his trees. 
 
 Another grove, too, we know of, where the wild trees, 
 budded where they stood twelve years ago, are now crowd- 
 ing each other to such an extent that the owners are 
 about to remove a large number, although doing so will 
 entail a loss of several hundred boxes for several years to 
 come. 
 
 Now, these are things that "try men's souls," yet they 
 have to be done sooner or later when the grove is origi- 
 nally set too close; hence the importance of judicious 
 spacing when first planting. There are still a few growers 
 who recommend planting in squares of fifteen or eighteen 
 feet, but many have gone to the other extreme, and advo- 
 cate squares of thirty-five or even forty feet. The great 
 majority, however, have paused half way, and consider 
 from twenty-five to thirty feet the best spacing for the 
 orange or lemon grove, and undoubtedly they are in the 
 right. Such a distance apart gives the trees ample room 
 to spread, and yet wastes neither land nor labor. Where 
 
HOW TO PLANT. 73 
 
 there is or is likely to be superabundant moisture, plant 
 the trees thirty feet apart, to give the sun a better chance 
 to reach the ground. On high lands set your trees at 
 twenty-five feet. 
 
 And now, the ground prepared and spaced off, you are 
 ready to dig your holes. The depth and diameter of these 
 will depend on the size of your trees. Give plenty of 
 room, and do not crowd the roots or curl them up. Throw 
 the top soil to one side, the subsoil to the other ; if you 
 have well-rotted stable manure, compost, muck, or com- 
 mercial fertilizer ready, mix it sparingly, half with the 
 subsoil half with the top ; but this is not necessary. 
 
 The removal of the tree from the nursery to the grove 
 is not the simple thing many conceive it to be — that is, if 
 it be properly done. Let your trees be improperly handled 
 while being dug and set out, and if they grow at all it will 
 be a sickly, stunted growth, that will be a perpetual re- 
 minder to their owners of the old and truthful adage, 
 ''Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." 
 
 The work of taking up and transplanting trees whose 
 roots are chiefly fibrous, like those of the citrus family, is 
 one requiring time, care, and patience. Don't try to do 
 too much at one time or you will repent it. 
 
 In digging trees preserve every root and rootlet that is 
 possible. If they are to be carried to any distance or kept 
 for several days out of the ground, it will pay well to puddle 
 the roots — in other words, dip them in a paste made of 
 clay and sand, made just thin enough to let the finest 
 rootlets be plunged in it without breaking, and yet thick 
 enough to cling to them like a close-fitting garment. 
 Roots thus protected, put away in a shady place, and 
 watered so that they do not get dry, will keep in good 
 order for two or three days. Under no circumstances 
 must the tender rootlets of the citrus family be permitted 
 
 7 
 
74 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 to dry off during the interval between digging and plant- 
 ing, for, being evergreens, they dry oif very quickly, and 
 will never revive again. Never let the sun touch them. 
 
 In packing for shipment the roots should be thoroughly 
 enveloped in moss, straw, or grass, very slightly dampened ; 
 more trees are lost in transportation, through rotting and 
 over-heating, than by being too dry ; in conveying them in 
 wagons, even a short distance, damp Florida moss should 
 be thrown over them. Take them from under this shelter, 
 one by one, as you are ready to plant them, never drop 
 them ahead of the workmen. 
 
 The soil should be damp, both when the trees are taken 
 from the nursery and when they are set out. Place the roots 
 in water for twelve hours before planting, and use water 
 freely when setting them out. In planting, the bottom of 
 the hole should be slightly raised in the center, sloping 
 downward toward the sides ; then, with a small spade or a 
 pointed stick, make a hole in the middle of the mound for 
 the tap-root ; and just here is an important item. The tap- 
 root — it does no harm if it is cut partially away — should 
 rest in the hole thus prepared for it, to such a depth as will 
 bring the top lateral roots of the tree about an inch above the 
 ground after the soil is all filled in around the tree. 
 
 Too much caution can not be exercised about this, for if 
 the tree is set too deep it will be a long while, perhaps 
 years, before it will flourish, for it will be compelled to 
 send out fresh surface roots to take the place of those 
 smothered from the air and warmth by too deep planting. 
 
 Remember that freshly plowed land is always raised sev- 
 eral inches above its general level, and also that trees al- 
 ways settle after being planted from one to two inches, 
 according to their weight. Therefore, let the upper roots, 
 where they stand out from the stem, be in full view after 
 your work is done, th^-n you are assured it is well done. 
 
HOW TO PLANT. 75 
 
 Before the tree is placed in the hole trim off with a 
 sharp knife all the bruised or broken roots, and cut back 
 the tree severely, allowing a few, but only a few, leaves 
 to remain; then push the tap-root down into the hole 
 prepared for it, pack the top earth you have thrown out 
 around it, spread out the lower layer of the lateral and 
 fibrous roots, holding out of the way the upper roots, pack 
 down the soil firmly on them with your hands, spread out 
 the upper layers and pack the earth firmly on them with 
 your feet, then pour on a half pail of water, when that 
 has had time to settle spread the sub-soil around the tree 
 and level off the ground, and that completes the operation. 
 
 A day or two after the trees are set out examine them 
 and see if any of them need straightening, also if any of 
 the holes need more filling. Trees, if possible, should be 
 pruned a week or two before removal from the nursery to 
 enable them to recover from the shock that is always at- 
 tendant upon severe pruning. For at least several months 
 after planting the trees should be mulched, in order to pre- 
 vent the possibility of the upper rootlets becoming dry 
 before they have had time to establish themselves in their 
 new quarters. 
 
 We may have seemed tedious and unnecessarily minute 
 in treating of this matter of ''how to plant," but the ex- 
 perience of all orange growers teaches that the most critical 
 period in the life of the tree is that in which it is moved 
 from the nursery to the grove, and in the manner in which 
 that is done depends its after career for better or worse ; it 
 is the corner-stone of the future grove. 
 
 The following table will be found convenient for refer- 
 ence in laying out a grove and in ordering trees : 
 
 NUMBER OF TREES IN SQUARES PER ACRE. 
 
 20 X 20 feet 108 trees. 30 x 30 feet 48 trees. 
 
 25 X 25 " 70 " 35 X 35 " 35 " 
 
76 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HOW TO CULTIVATE. 
 
 Under this heading we come to the most vexed question 
 among the many that perplex the orange grower. Doubt- 
 less twenty years ago, before orange culture became an es- 
 tablished industry, the few men who counted a small num- 
 ber of these trees among their possessions deemed that 
 they knew all about their culture. But nowadays the 
 orange grower is feign to confess that there is much yet to 
 learn in his business, that time and experience are still 
 required before the best results can be certainly obtained. 
 
 One lesson at least has been brought home to every 
 orange grower, and it is one that all new-comers should 
 heed, since second-hand experience is cheaper than that 
 paid for out of one's own pocket, and this is, that when an 
 orange grove is the Alpha and Omega, the sinew and back- 
 bone of a Florida home, it must be treated as such. 
 
 Who would think of embarking in any commercial bus- 
 iness, stocking one's store, for instance, and then going off 
 here and there, leaving the business to take care of itself, 
 and the stock at the mercy of thieves ? Yet such a course 
 would be quite as sensible as that pursued by those who 
 set out an orange grove and then leave it uncared for, 
 save, perhaps, by a semi-occasional plowing, which is given 
 more in the interest of corn, cow-peas, or some such crop 
 planted among the trees, than in that of the latter them- 
 selves. 
 
 Those who have bought their experience personally have 
 waked up by and by to the fact that all the time spent in 
 waiting for the trees to take a start, while being treated in 
 this shabby manner, is just so much time lost. 
 
HOW TO CULTIVATE. 77 
 
 The orange will bear a great deal of harsh treatment and 
 neglect without actually dying, but it will not thrive nor 
 come quickly into profit, unless it is carefully tended and 
 nurtured, just as one would look after any other business 
 that he expected to be profitable, or to become his future 
 support. 
 
 But, as we have just said, how best to accomplish this 
 desirable result is a much vexed question, for the calling, 
 being a comparatively new one, there are almost as many 
 systems put forward as there are orange growers, and be- 
 tween them all the new-comer can not but become bewil- 
 dered and confused. A great deal may be learned by com- 
 paring methods and results in one's own neighborhood, 
 finding out who has failed and who has succeeded, and the 
 cause which led to each result, and then guiding one's own 
 course accordingly. 
 
 The advocates of plowing, once a numerous body, are 
 becoming fewer and fewer as time proves that there is no 
 tree or plant that will respond more generously than the 
 orange to proper cultivation, which is not with the plow. 
 
 ''Let the weeds and grass grow in the grove and plow 
 them under two or three times in the course of the season," 
 used to be the text preached to the novice, and practiced 
 by the old-system growers. This is the plan still followed 
 by some, but the majority have come to the belief that the 
 plow should not be allowed at all in a grove that is bearing 
 or nearly approaching it, for by this time the ground will 
 be closely matted with roots thrown out by the trees, and 
 as the majority of these are surface roots, the plow will 
 tear and loosen them, and thus, by the old method, " two 
 or three times in a season " the trees were rudely deprived 
 of a portion of their food caterers, and their growth 
 checked while Dame Nature paused to replace the fibrous 
 roots thus torn away. 
 
78 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 So the turn-plow should be banished from the bearing 
 grove, and in fact from every grove after the trees are 
 half grown, and a single thirty- two-inch sweep used in its 
 place. Many use the cultivator and harrow, but the sweep 
 is better than either ; it is more uniform in its depth of 
 cutting than either the plow, cultivator, or harrow. It 
 cuts off weeds under ground better than the two latter, 
 and, taken altogether, does better and cheaper work in a 
 grove free from stumps, and is superior to any other im- 
 plement we know of. 
 
 The ground throughout the grove should be kept level 
 and the surface stirred with sweep or cultivator to a depth 
 of no more than three inches, as far out as the roots have 
 extended. Each time the cultivator or harrow passes 
 through the grove it should be followed by the hoe, not 
 only to cut down all grass and weeds, but to draw any soil 
 that may have been thrown against the trunks of the 
 trees, or piled up on top of the crown of the lateral sur- 
 face roots. 
 
 We have in a previous chapter referred to the impor- 
 tance of allowing the crown of these roots to be level with 
 or slightly above the surface of the ground, and now refer 
 to it again because it is a point the why and wherefore of 
 which is but little understood or heeded, even by those 
 growers who are esteemed most intelligent and wide awake 
 to the best methods of culture. 
 
 If the crown of these laterals is left a little above the 
 soil when the young tree is set out, as nature intended it 
 to be, they will develop very rapidly, and as these are the 
 main channels for conveying food and drink to the inner 
 parts of the tree, the importance of this point is readily 
 seen. It is exactly on the same principle that we draw 
 away the earth from around an onion to hasten the growth 
 of the bulb, and every where among the forest trees we 
 
HOW TO CULTIVATE. 79 
 
 see Dame Nature employing this method to brace and 
 strengthen their growth. 
 
 As a general rule clean culture from February to June, 
 suspending culture from the latter period, gives the best 
 results, where the ground is dry and rolling. Where it is 
 low and damp, allowing the grass to grow, cutting it once 
 or twice in the season and leaving it to decay on the sur- 
 face is the better plan. The former is the best for pine 
 lands, the latter for wild hammock groves, although cir- 
 cumstances may, in individual cases, modify these rules, 
 but generally they hold good. 
 
 We know of a pine land grove, where for several years 
 grass was allowed to grow, and three or four times in a 
 season plowed under ; the trees did not grow well or bear 
 well; they became sickly and insected, and the oranges 
 rusted. Then clean culture was tried, and a cultivator 
 passed through the grove every two weeks from January 
 to October. It was curious to see how those trees bright- 
 ened up under what was evidently congenial treatment, for 
 that time, at least. Before the season was over they started 
 to grow vigorously, throwing out thrifty shoots from top 
 to bottom, the insects disappeared, the trees lost their sickly 
 yellow look and joyously donned their wonted dark green 
 livery, and the fruit was large and fine and bright. 
 
 Another instance we know: A wild hammock grove, 
 where clean culture was practiced for several seasons, the 
 trees, hitherto healthy and in vigorous growth, drooped, 
 turned yellow, became the prey of insects, dropped their 
 oranges, and seemed likely to die. Then the owner stopped 
 plowing and cultivating, allowed the' luxuriant grass to 
 grow at will, and when it became too rampant had it 
 cut and left it where it fell. Almost immediately the 
 drooping trees lifted up their heads, the insects fled, and 
 to-day, when the ground has not been stirred for more 
 
80 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 than two years, this erewhile sickly grove is one of the 
 finest and most beautiful sights to be seen in Florida. 
 
 And just here we see why it is so difficult to lay down a 
 giA'en rule as a safe guide in all circumstances for the 
 would-be orange grower to follow. It is emphatically true 
 in orange culture, as in many other things, that ' ' circum- 
 stances alter cases." While the trees are young, and their 
 roots extend over but a small portion of the ground, it is 
 a good plan to cultivate the grove as a vegetable garden. 
 
 The fertilizers used for the latter do double duty, as any 
 surplus left by the vegetables goes toward enriching the 
 land that by and by will be invaded by the hungry army 
 of orange rootlets ; the green stuff also that remains after 
 the crops are gathered supplies a very necessary element 
 to the successful grove, namely, vegetable humus. During 
 the first two seasons, when the trees are only four or five 
 years old, the vegetable rows may approach the trees 
 within four feet, but every year afterward the distance 
 should be increased one foot, until the cultivation of vege- 
 tables finally ceases, and the orange rootlets run ri(jt over 
 the whole grove, reveliug in the rich soil that has thus 
 been prepared for their coming. 
 
 It behooves every orange grower to keep his eyes open, 
 to read, to watch, to observe, not only his neighbors' meth- 
 ods and experiences, but also to note the results of his own 
 work, and alter his course if it seems likely to wreck his 
 particular barque. 
 
MULCHING AND PRUNING. 81 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MULCHING AND PRUNING. 
 
 In the question of "Mulch or not to Mulch," we come 
 to another disputed point. Some advocate mulching 
 orange trees both old and young, advocate it most emphat- 
 ically ; others oppose mulching at all, just as vehemently, 
 while others again say, "mulch young trees and those just 
 set out for a year or two, but never mulch otherwise." 
 
 Who is right and who is wrong ? No doubt in this, as 
 in other questions where opinions differ, there is some right 
 and some wrong on all sides. 
 
 Taking it altogether, however, there is much more to be 
 said in favor of mulching than against it. Its opponents 
 are in the minority now, and likely to become still more so 
 as time rolls on and brings greater experience in orange 
 culture. 
 
 In one of our most reliable agricultural works we find 
 the following concise declaration as to what mulching does : 
 * ' Mulching holds moisture in the soil and retains the at- 
 mospheric ammonia, breaks the force of the rains, and 
 thus prevents the ground from being baked ; prevents also 
 the soil from freezing so easily as when exposed ; prevents 
 rapid thawing during the heated season, and cools the 
 earth. These are the principal advantages to be derived 
 from mulching, and yet they are sufficient to make any 
 farmer think favorably of it," 
 
 And we will add, not only farmers, but especially orange 
 growers. Mulching their trees has been practiced by our 
 oldest growers, and the fact that they still continue the 
 practice speaks volumes as to the result of their years of 
 experience. 
 
82 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 The objections made to its use by some are, that it tends 
 to increase the surface roots and increase their liability to 
 injury from frosts. 
 
 The first of these statements is true — mulching does pro- 
 duce more roots at the surface — but what then ? 
 
 It is to these very surface roots that the citrus family is 
 indebted for its chief supply of food ; these are the main 
 purveyors of the tree, the large roots serve as anchors and 
 canals through which nourishment is conveyed, but the 
 tiny, fibrous roots that creep here, there, and every where, 
 are ever on the lookout for food supplies, and where they 
 find it most abundantly there they go. They seek moist- 
 ure and warmth ; beneath the shelter of the mulch they 
 always find it ready for them. The warmth they might 
 have had without the mulch, but not the moisture. The 
 more of these surface roots there are the better, as the 
 orange is a surface-feeding tree, and, as the mulch rots 
 away, a rich vegetable mold accumulates around the tree 
 which is of immense benefit. 
 
 A grove where the trees are well mulched does not need 
 half so frequent cultivation as one where the ground is left 
 entirely bare. Whatever portion is covered by the mulch 
 is kept free from weeds and grass, the ground is rendered 
 porous and friable, and the roots which would be near the 
 surface, even without the mulch, are protected from their 
 greatest enemy, drought, very eftectually. 
 
 Some advocates of mulching go so far as to recommend 
 shading the entire surface of the grove. Now this is prof- 
 itable under some circumstances, where the trees are large 
 and shade a good portion of the ground by their foliage, so 
 that the mulch need only cover the intermediate spaces ; 
 but when the trees are young it would require so great an 
 expenditure of time, labor, and money, as to be almost 
 impracticable. It is all-sufficient that the ground be cov- 
 
MULCHING AND PRUNING. 83 
 
 ered to a depth of several inches, leaving a bare space of 
 about a foot around the trunk. The mulch should extend 
 about two feet beyond the outer roots ; this is very impor- 
 tant. Never allow the mulch to touch the trunk, it will 
 soften and rot the bark and encourage insects to settle 
 around it. 
 
 We have not yet touched on the second objection of the 
 anti-mulchers — that "of increased liability to frost." 
 
 In reply to this we give an extract from the report of 
 one of our well-known Florida growers, and another from 
 a prominent planter engaged in orange culture at Pass 
 Christian, Mississippi. The Florida man says : 
 
 "It has been urged that mulching makes the orange 
 tree tender and more liable to freeze. Believing a state- 
 ment of this kind, I was kept from mulching for three 
 years, and then I only began by the trial of a few trees at 
 first. I am satisfied, by careful experiments and observa- 
 tion, that no harm can come to trees on that account if 
 properly applied. Old trees and young trees, trees just 
 set out, and trees bearing five hundred oranges each, have 
 been alike benefited. Trees that were mulched during 
 the freeze of last winter came out of it much better than 
 those that were without mulching ; and now, during the 
 present dry weather, while other trees are becoming yellow 
 and curling the leaf at mid-day, the mulched trees retain 
 a dark green, healthy color, and are growing right along." 
 
 So much for our Florida witness ; now for the voice from 
 Pass Christian : 
 
 "My grove of five thousand trees escaped very serious 
 damage during the severe cold of two seasons ago. I at- 
 tribute this exemption to a thorough mulching of the soil, 
 which protects them from the intense heat of summer as 
 well as the cold of winter." 
 
 Surely the experience of these two men should count 
 
84 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 for something, especially when in almost every paper we 
 glance at we see notes here and there, showing that others 
 have made the same discovery. 
 
 Altogether, mulching bids fair to play no unimportant 
 part in the future of orange culture. 
 
 The least expensive way of mulching is to spread dried 
 or partly decayed vegetation (no woody fibers) around the 
 trees in the way we have already mentioned, several inches 
 deep, a foot from the trunk, and two feet beyond the outer 
 roots — grass, weeds, leaves, straw, pine needles, well-rotted 
 sawdust, bagasse — all these are good, and always to be had 
 in quantity merely for the labor of gathering them. When 
 the mulching becomes thin, as it will in time, when the 
 lower portions decay and work down to feed the little 
 rootlets, replace it, and at the same time enlarge its area, 
 remembering that the trees are growing all the time, and 
 their roots reaching out farther and farther. A top dress- 
 ing of lime, ashes, or potash will hasten the decay of the 
 mulch ; it is, at the same time, of great benefit. 
 
 It is wonderful how a tree thus treated will flourish, 
 even when it has been in poor condition up to the time of 
 applying the mulch. An instance in point is that of a 
 bearing grove where the oranges were dropping off*, the 
 leaves yellow, and the trees sickly. At this juncture the 
 owner caused two cart loads of mulch to a tree to be spread 
 on the ground so that the entire space between the trees 
 was covered, at a cost of twenty -five cents per load. In 
 two weeks the oranges ceased to drop, the leaves went 
 back to their healthy green color, and the trees bristled 
 with new growth. It was two years before the mulch had 
 to be renewed, and in all that time neither the expense of 
 hoeing nor cultivating the grove had to be met, the mulch 
 keeping the ground moist and friable, and choking out all 
 weeds. 
 
MULCHING AND PRUNING. 85 
 
 There is a mode of mulching that we have not referred 
 to that is well worth general adoption, combining, as it 
 does, the double benefit of mulching and green manuring. 
 This is, to remove carefully the loose earth from the roots 
 of the trees to as great a depth as is practicable without 
 injuring them ; then to fill in level with the ground the 
 mulching material, which in this case should be grass, 
 weeds, cow-peas, or other green stuff; sprinkle with lime 
 or ashes if handy — it will do without, however — then 
 tramp it down and throw on top the soil taken out. This 
 retains the moisture, hastens decay, and absorbs gases that 
 would otherwise escape. It is mulch and manure at the 
 same time. 
 
 The question of pruning is one about which there is 
 little controversy, less so, perhaps, than any other one 
 point in orange culture, though even here there are some 
 who differ from the great majority. 
 
 Of all domesticated fruit trees the citrus family requires 
 the least pruning; some say none at all, but experience 
 teaches otherwise. 
 
 Pruning is one of nature's great laws in the vegetable 
 kingdom. Look at our forest trees ; in their youth their 
 branches are low on the trunk, they are needed then to 
 shelter the tender stem from sun and rain. As the tree 
 grows older these first branches drop off, leaving the stem 
 clean and graceful. Dame Nature has pruned them. When 
 a branch dies, by and by, it decays and falls to the ground ; 
 it is useless, so that too is pruned away. Look at the 
 young pine trees ; their branches are Ioav and sweep the 
 ground, but the matured trunk rises eighty feet in the air 
 without a single branch. 
 
 Never use a dull knife, saw, or shears in pruning a tree ; 
 the sharper the tool the better. It is always best to use 
 shears on the smaller branches rather than the knife, the 
 
86 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 latter being apt to slip and tear the bark. When the knife 
 must be used, however, let the cut be upward rather than 
 downward, as this lessens the danger of damage to the 
 limb. Bear in mind that a rough, haggled cut does not 
 readily heal, and very often never heals, thus injuring the 
 tree permanently; and for this reason, when limbs have 
 been sawed off, the cut should be pared smooth with a 
 knife, and then covered with thick shellac varnish or graft- 
 ing wax to exclude sun and rain until healed, otherwise 
 disease may be communicated to the whole tree. 
 
 All water sprouts — that is, sprouts starting near the 
 ground — should be pinched off as soon as they appear; 
 they are robbers of the legitimate branches above them. 
 Watch carefully for dead limbs, and cut them away as 
 quickly as possible, taking a portion of the live wood with 
 them to be sure that none of it remains. * ' Once upon a 
 time" it was thought though a dead limb w^as unsightly 
 and useless it did no actual harm, but it has recently been 
 proven otherwise. A dead limb not only evaporates the 
 sap that should go to the nutriment of the tree, drawing 
 it up by capillary attraction like a sponge, but the ele- 
 ments of decay it contains flow back into the tree and so 
 promote disease ; therefore, never let a dead limb remain 
 to counteract all your good works. Some branches there 
 will be, not dead but diseased, so that they either develop 
 no leaves, or else sickly ones. Let these be pruned away 
 also for the same reason. 
 
 Do not trim the branches up high on the trunk ; encour- 
 age low growth, especially while the trees are young. This 
 is Nature's plan for protecting the tender bark from the 
 sun, and should not be interfered with. As the tree grows 
 taller cut away the branches gradually, until, when the 
 tree is in bearing, you can just get under it by slightly 
 stooping, but can stand upright against the trunk. The 
 
MULCHING AND PRUNING. 87 
 
 most successful groves and the healthiest trees are those 
 where the lower branches, when laden with fruit, barely 
 escape or even touch the ground. Keep an open head to 
 the tree so that the sun and air can reach freely to all 
 parts, leaving the most vigorous lateral branches and cut- 
 ting away the weaker ones. Never allow your young trees 
 to become matted with branches inside so that the trunk 
 can not be seen. Sooner or later they will crowd each 
 other so much that you will be compelled to cut them out, 
 and then all their vigor of growth will be just so much 
 vitality thrown away. Better keep the head open from 
 the start and allow no such wastage of time and thrift. 
 
 By pursuing this course systematically, by the time the 
 tree is ready to bear it will be in fine shape — " a thing of 
 beauty and a joy forever." It will then need very little 
 after-pruning, except to clear out dead branches. 
 
 If you have set your trees twenty-five or thirty feet 
 apart, keep the tops low to facilitate gathering the fruit ; 
 if, however, they are set only twenty feet apart, higher 
 tops will be desirable, since the ground must not be too 
 densely shaded by the foliage. The orange is emphatically 
 a child of the sun, and will not thrive unless sun and air 
 can circulate freely about and above its roots. 
 
 Prune in the spring, in January, February, or March. 
 Fall or winter pruning is apt to be injurious as promoting 
 new growth at a season when growth should be checked. 
 
 Whenever possible cut away the large thorns that not 
 only make gathering the fruit a slow and delicate opera- 
 tion, attended with torn flesh and clothes, but puncture the 
 oranges when swaying in the breeze, and thus render them 
 unsalable. 
 
88 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 HOW TO FERTILIZE. 
 
 This is a subject of great importance, and one that it 
 behooves every farmer and fruit groAver to study closely. 
 It is the corner-stone of his prosperity, the back-bone of 
 his wealth. 
 
 There are many commercial fertilizers in the market of 
 approved value, and it is well to use them in conjunction 
 with home-made manures when one has the means to do 
 so ; but scarcely one in ten of the embryo Florida orange 
 growers is able to procure these, and so his chief depend- 
 ence is on the home-made compost heap. This is by no 
 means a despicable resource, as we shall presently see ; in 
 fact there is no excuse for any man in Florida who owns a 
 horse and cart for not having an abundance of valuable 
 fertilizer for his trees, at merely the expenditure of time, 
 the light labor of collecting trash, and hauling it home. 
 
 The man who has not the means to purchase the needed 
 food for his trees, and yet has no great heaps constantly 
 preparing for such, is simply a lazy man, and not such as 
 will ever work his way to better times, even in Florida. 
 
 We do not need to discuss the question of applying 
 commercial fertilizers, as each manufacturer publishes his 
 particular directions, and these should be followed in each 
 case. 
 
 In forming a compost heap the farmer should bear in 
 mind the particular purpose to which it is to be applied, 
 since neither all trees nor all crops take kindly to the same 
 kind of food. There is as much difference, comparatively, 
 in the food of the different members of the vegetable king- 
 dom as there is in that of the animal. A horse will not 
 
HOW TO FERTILIZE. 89 
 
 eat flesh, nor a dog hay ; neither will all trees flourish on 
 the same nutriment. 
 
 Every intelligent horticulturist is aware of this fact, and 
 acts accordingly, being guided in the application of ma- 
 nures by the analysis of the ash of such plants and trees 
 as he cultivates. It is on this principle and on this basis 
 that the ''special manures" are manufactured, each con- 
 taining the particular ingredients needed by the particular 
 plants to which it is intended to be applied ; one may need 
 a larger amount of ammonia than the soil naturally fur- 
 nishes, another more phosphates, another more nitrogen. 
 When these special fertilizers are made by honest manu- 
 facturers, they are very valuable aids to the farmers and 
 fruit growers, either used alone or mixed with the compost 
 heap. 
 
 Analysis shows that the ash of the orange tree and fruit 
 contains a large percentage of potash, lime, and phosphoric 
 acid, besides smaller quantities of other mineral ingredi- 
 ents ; hence, these are substances, conjoined with sufiicient 
 vegetable matter to retain moisture, that the orange grower 
 must feed to his trees. 
 
 And now, how are these to be obtained? Easily, and 
 by every man who chooses, for they are all about him in 
 profusion, needing only to be utilized by a provident and 
 thrifty hand. 
 
 Pine land, on which the bulk of the orange crop is 
 raised, is deficient in vegetable humus, which is as necessary 
 to the proper growth and nourishment of the tree as any 
 other ingredient; perhaps more so, since this humus has 
 proven to be the most important vehicle of assimilation of 
 the other foods; for instance, the analysis of a soil may 
 show lime to be needed, and lime is forthwith applied, 
 and without effect ; but, powerless to work alone, com- 
 bine it with humus, which, as every one knows, is simply 
 
90 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 decayed vegetable matter, and then its effect will be 
 quickly visible. 
 
 Here is one of the many proofs that there are two dis- 
 tinct classes of manures — one serving as the actual food of 
 plants, the other assisting in preparing that food by com- 
 bining with the substance in the soil, and bringing it into 
 a form that the plants can assimilate, or by changing such 
 as would be inimical to vegetable life. Thus, for instance, 
 when we apply lime to a newly-broken piece of land which 
 is mucky, we say that the lime has " sweetened it," because 
 its action on the carbonic acid contained in the muck is 
 such as to change by combination that which would other- 
 wise be hurtful to vegetation, and to transform it to a val- 
 uable manure. 
 
 Every orange grower should prepare a compost heap as 
 one of the very first steps to successful cultivation. 
 
 Make a pen of any desired size with posts for the cor- 
 ners, boarded sides, and a tight board floor; for conven- 
 ience in filling it is well to have one side made so that the 
 boards can be added or taken away at will ; two perpen- 
 dicular strips at each end, with space between to allow the 
 boards to move up and down, will be found very handy. 
 The tight board bottom is very important, as it saves all 
 the liquid manure that would otherwise wash down in the 
 ground and be lost ; but even more so is a roof to cover 
 the compost from the destroying effect of the sun, and also 
 to shed heavy rains, at least partially. 
 
 No thrifty or intelligent man will allow his compost or 
 stable manure to be exposed to the sun and rain, knowing, 
 as he does, if he have any ordinary knowledge of his busi- 
 ness, that fully two thirds of its value is thus wasted. A 
 pile of stable manure or compost leached by sun and rain 
 is a pitiable spectacle of slovenly farming, and the man 
 who pursues this method may be sure he will never pros- 
 
HOW TO FERTILIZE. 91 
 
 per, no more than the man who leaves his store open for 
 thieves to enter and carry off his most valued stock in 
 trade. 
 
 The compost pit prepared, the first thing to do is to put 
 in a layer of muck about six inches thick, or if muck is 
 not to be had, grass, weeds, sawdust, pine needles, pine 
 burrs, rotten sap-wood, and dead leaves will answer almost 
 if not quite as well. This supplies the humus element of 
 plant growth ; next a layer of cotton seed. This is a val- 
 uable fertilizer, especially so when thus composted, and 
 contains four per cent of nitrogen, three per cent of pot- 
 ash, and three per cent of phosphoric acid — a ton of the 
 seed being worth seventy-two dollars as manure — another 
 layer of muck, then one of stable manure; another of 
 green trash with muck again. These thoroughly wetted at 
 the time of piling, and worked over once or twice, will, in 
 three months' time, furnish the thrifty orange grower with 
 as fine a fertilizer for his trees as any money could pur- 
 chase, especially if, some days before applying to the trees, 
 his means permit him to whiten the ground with lime or 
 land plaster. 
 
 The capabilities of a compost heap are, in fact, almost 
 unlimited ; it is a take all and hold all receptacle, of which 
 one may truly say " all is fish that comes to its net." 
 
 Nothing that is subject to decay comes amiss — rags, old 
 clothes, old shoes, old newspapers, trash of all sorts, kept 
 moist with liquid manure or house slops, etc. , will in a few 
 months become useful and available plant-food. 
 
 Every animal that dies on the farm should be dismem- 
 bered and buried deep in the compost to become a valuable 
 element thereof. Lime, land plaster, ashes, poultry guano, 
 all these add vastly to the supply of plant-food furnished 
 by the compost. But be it known and heeded that ashes 
 and poultry guano should never be mixed, as the ammonia 
 
92 FLORIDA FKUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 of the former will thereby be liberated ; neither should 
 lime and stable manure be composted together for the 
 same reason. Land plaster may, however, be freely used 
 with great benefit, especially when applied directly above 
 a layer of either guano or stable manure, as it prevents 
 their ammonia from escaping. 
 
 Where one can afford to purchase bone-meal, making 
 sure that it is genuine, it will pay liberally to apply light 
 layers of it to the compost heap. 
 
 A few years ago the relative value of bone-meal and 
 stable manure was tested with the following results : 
 
 1. One bushel of crushed bone is more than equal to 
 twenty -five bushels of good farm-yard manure. 
 
 2. That bone-meal is more permanent in its effects than 
 any putrescent manure usually produced on a farm. 
 
 3. That its effects on good land are more manifest than 
 on inferior. 
 
 4. That when combined with putrescent manure or com- 
 posted, the effect, both instant and remote, far exceeds that 
 of any manure known. 
 
 About twenty years ago a Mr. Bonner, of the State of 
 New York, patented a process of quickly rotting manure 
 which was tested with great success, the manure being 
 ready for use in fifteen days. The patent expired long 
 ago, but tlie process has only lately been made public, and 
 is now open to all and should be generally adopted, as the 
 exj^ense is very trifling and the labor of handling no 
 greater than that of any other compost. 
 
 At the foot of the pen should be a vat or hogshead, 
 partly sunk in the ground for convenience' sake, of a ca- 
 pacity of six or seven barrels. Into this vat all the soap- 
 suds, house slop, drainage from the barn-yard, etc., are to 
 be poured. If it takes too long to half fill the vat in this 
 manner, fill in with water ; or, better still, with liquid ma- 
 
HOW TO FERTILIZE. 93 
 
 nure, two pailfuls of stable manure to one barrel of water ; 
 let it stand twenty-four hours before using. When the vat 
 is from one half to two thirds full add following mixture : 
 
 Unslacked lime, two bushels. 
 
 Soot, two bushels. 
 
 Salt, four pounds. 
 
 Saltpeter, two pounds. 
 
 Unleached ashes, two bushels. 
 
 Land plaster, five bushels. 
 
 Condensed manure, such as hen guano, privy 
 
 manure, or bought fertilizers, three barrels. 
 
 These amounts are sufficient to decompose a ton of dry 
 wash, or ten tons of green stuff, and of course can be eas- 
 ily reduced in quantity when desired. Mix these ingredi- 
 ents with the water, adding the lime, ashes, and land plas- 
 ter last of all. 
 
 Place in the pen a layer of muck, dirt, or sawdust, 
 about three inches thick, then add the materials to be 
 rotted, straw, grass, leaves, sawdust, etc.; wet them thor- 
 oughly with the liquor from the vat, well stirred before 
 using, then add another layer of muck and wet that, and 
 so keep on, alternating muck and trash until the pan is 
 full, wetting each layer as you proceed. 
 
 Your pen should have a roof, as stated elsewhere ; and 
 this is a very important matter, and one especially insisted 
 on by Mr. Bonner, in his patented formula given above. 
 
 Repeat this wetting every four or five days, first making 
 holes with a crow-bar worked back and forth, and then 
 pouring the liquid from the vat freely over the whole j)ile. 
 In fifteen days the manure will be in perfect condition, 
 well-rotted and fine ; heat will be generated in one week, 
 and, should it seem too great, may be moderated by the use 
 of water. Do not be sparing of the liquor at the time of 
 first piling the heap. 
 
94 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 In this formula it may be noted that substances known 
 to be antagonistic are brought together — ashes and hen 
 guano, lime and stable manure — yet here their mutual de- 
 stroying propensities are conquered, and in achieving this 
 desirable result lay Mr. Bonner's patent. Let us look into 
 the chemical action that takes place among these various 
 materials and see how he explains it. 
 
 The fermented liquor starts the heat, assisted by the 
 lime. The lime being a hydrate is caustic, and a re-ar- 
 rangement of the particles takes place, owing to the eager- 
 ness of the lime for carbonic acid, which is generated 
 immediately the heat begins. Ammonia is formed from 
 the ingredients of the heap, but first from the liquor in 
 the vat. The formation is also hastened by the lime and 
 potash ; the saltpeter also liberates nitric acid. Ammonia, 
 though gaseous, exerts a mysterious effect of its own in 
 the heap, and greatly assists decomposition. 
 
 But it may be asked why the lime and potash do not set 
 free the ammonia from the heap. Such would be the case 
 in an ordinary barn-yard heap, but here the process of de- 
 cay progresses under different conditions. First, the heap 
 is kept wet with the liquor, as the wetting occurs every 
 few days; second, the muck, sawdust, and other absorb- 
 ents are a protection. Water absorbs and retains ammo- 
 nia, and the rotting of the heap is so rapid, and the chem- 
 ical changes are so numerous, that it is finished before an 
 escape can be made. 
 
 At the end of fifteen days, as we have said, fermentation 
 ceases, and then the mass should be overhauled, well mixed 
 w^ith dry earth, muck, or sand, and put away under shelter, 
 which will prevent its heating again, and preserve the vol- 
 atile matters until ready for use. So thorough is the fer- 
 mentation that it would be a difficult matter to create heat 
 again, even if desired. 
 
HOW TO FERTILIZE. 95 
 
 The utility and economy of this process consists in the 
 converting of leaves, corn-stalks, cotton-seed, rotten sap, 
 etc. , into ready-made manure. All seeds are destroyed by 
 the process, so that any noxious weed may be fearlessly 
 cast into the heap ; bones broken into small pieces will be 
 dissolved at once, and become valuable plant-food. A 
 compost made by this formula is not only ready for use in 
 so short a time, but its value is double that of ordinary 
 stable manure, and contains all the elements of plant-food. 
 
 And all this valuable fertilizer can thus be made at 
 home by Bonner's process at a mere nominal cost of 
 five dollars per ton. This is the ne plus ultra of compost 
 heaps. 
 
 If the soot called for in the formula can not be obtained, 
 use more saltpeter; if ashes turn up missing, substitute 
 ten pounds of caustic potash; and remember, never to 
 leave the pile uncovered — nor, we may add once more 
 (for this can not be too strongly impressed on the fruit 
 grower), any other manure heap, if its full value is de- 
 sired to be preserved. 
 
 A word or two about the best manner of preserving 
 stable manure while collecting: nine out of ten of the 
 Southern farmers stable their horses in stalls with the 
 ground as the only flooring. This is a great mistake, and 
 occasions a waste of the most valuable portions of the ma- 
 nure, the liquid or urine. 
 
 In a valuable little book called, '' Talks on Manure," by 
 Joseph Harris, he tells us that one ton of stable manure 
 contains only twelve pounds of nitrogen, six pounds of 
 phosphoric acid, and thirteen pounds of potash, and these 
 are its only elements of practical value. Think of it, out 
 of two thousand pounds of matter, only thirty-one pounds 
 of manure, all the rest waste ; and here is the plan Mr. 
 Harris proposes (and has proven for years to be all that 
 
96 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 he claims) for increasing the properties of the proportions 
 of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, and reducing the 
 amount of waste to be handled : 
 
 ' ' Instead of throwing the manure out of the stables and 
 putting it in piles to be leached and sun-dried, keep it 
 where it drops ; keep the stable well littered with straw, 
 grass, pine-needles, and sawTlust, which answer the double 
 purpose of making good beds for the animals to lie on, and 
 of absorbing the liquid manures and the gases of the other 
 fermenting excrements. The urine of domestic animals is 
 worth much more than the dung, and this I have found 
 the best and cheapest way of preserving it. Keep a good 
 supply of ' trash ' on hand, and every two or three days, 
 as the stalls become foul, cover them with a fresh layer. 
 
 " Let it stand during the whole season, and in the spring 
 haul it out and distribute it. The whole mass will be de- 
 composed and comparatively dry. One load of such ma- 
 nure is worth half a dozen that has been made in the usual 
 way, and all the labor of repeated handling will have been 
 avoided," 
 
 We have now said quite enough to prove our assertion 
 a while ago, that there is no excuse for any man in Florida 
 who can procure the services of a horse and cart, for not 
 having a sufficiency of fertilizer for his grove. If he has 
 no horse of his own, it would be an easy matter to go out 
 in the piney woods or hammock, rake up a number of piles 
 of trash, and then hire a horse and cart for a day to haul 
 them to his compost pen. 
 
 In applying fertilizers to trees, the latter should be 
 treated rationally. A surfeit of rich food will derange 
 the animal system, and so it will the vegetable. Too large 
 quantities of manures — rich in nitrogen, for instance — will 
 cause die-back and fungoid diseases. 
 
 While the trees are young and in rapid growth they will 
 
HOW TO FERTILIZE. 97 
 
 bear heavy manuring, just as a growing child will eat more 
 in proportion than an adult ; but if the system of high 
 manuring is continued after they have arrived at the bear- 
 ing age, eight or ten years, it will almost invariably retard 
 their fruiting, as too rich a soil has a tendency to make 
 wood rather than fruit. Therefore, after the seventh year, 
 the quantity of manures should be gradually lessened, and 
 only enough used to keep the tree in a healthy slow growth 
 condition. 
 
 In manures for young trees nitrogen should be present 
 in larger quantities than for bearing trees, the latter re- 
 quiring more potash, phosphoric acid, lime, and other kin- 
 dred manures. 
 
 Yellowish leaves indicate a deficiency of nitrogen in the 
 soil ; dark green leaves show that there is plenty of it. 
 
 When the clay is five or six feet or more below the sur- 
 face, so that manures are liable to be washed down below 
 the roots, three or four light manurings, one in January, 
 another in March, another in June, and the last in August, 
 are better than one or two heavy manurings. The first 
 should be heavier than the rest, however, as tending di- 
 rectly to help the latest buds and young fruit. Liberal 
 manuring as early in the spring as possible — and by this 
 we mean the Florida spring, which begins in January — 
 conduces to a larger and finer fruit crop than can be at- 
 tained when this is neglected. Frequent experience has 
 proven this as an invariable rule, other things being equal. 
 When clay is within three or four feet of the surface, two 
 heavy applications of manure, one in January and the 
 other in July, are all that is necessary, the clay serving 
 as a base to retain it until the roots can assimilate it. 
 
98 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 
 
 So much has been said and written about the enemies of 
 the orange tree that one .might think it one of the most 
 delicate and cruelly afflicted trees in the vegetable king- 
 dom, while the contrary is really the truth, and it escapes 
 very lightly. For instance, there are no less than sixty 
 insects that prey on the apple tree, twelve on the pear, 
 sixteen on the peach, seventeen on the plum, thirty-five 
 on the cherry, and thirty-one on the grape. 
 
 And yet we have heard orange growers grumbling over 
 the constant fight against the insects that attack their trees. 
 To such we commend a glance at the above host of enemies 
 upon which the northern fruit growers are waging constant 
 and not always successful war. Many of these are borers, 
 and their work is done in secret, and in an almost impreg- 
 nable fortress ; whereas, an orange tree has no borers, all 
 its foes being open and aboveboard, and hence easily de- 
 tected and conquered. 
 
 The renowned scale insects are the most injurious, and, 
 before the best means of fighting them was discovered, did 
 much damage to the trees, and threatened a wide-spread 
 destruction to the orange interest in Florida, when it first 
 appeared in the State, which was at Mandarin, about 
 twenty years ago, being carried there on orange trees 
 brought direct from China. 
 
 It may seem surprising that from a few trees, and from 
 one grove, this minute enemy of the orange tree should 
 have spread all over the State, and that, too, in a very 
 short time ; but when one comes to consider the matter it 
 is not so wonderful after all. 
 
ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 99 
 
 For one thing, there are several small beetles, and some 
 large ones, found in all our groves, that feed on the scale 
 or Goccids, and as the latter are very minute and are often 
 seen to mount on the backs of their unconscious enemies, 
 they are thus carried by the beetles from tree to tree, and 
 also from grove to grove. 
 
 Again, the shrike or butcher-bird dearly loves to select 
 the long, sharp thorns of the orange tree, on which to im- 
 pale his victims, insect, lizard, or small snake, as the case 
 may be. He prefers trees that have low branches, and 
 these are the very ones, as a rule, that are most thickly in- 
 fested by the scale insects, especially the long scale. 
 
 In impaling his prey on the thorns the bird moves his 
 little claws freely over the branch, and some of the insects 
 clinging to it are sure to adhere to them ; then he flies off* 
 to another tree or grove, and the scale is rubbed off* and 
 finds a new field for its work. The butcher-bird also fre- 
 quently transfers his impaled victims from one tree to an- 
 other, and if the first has been infested with the scale and 
 the second has not, the latter can not much longer boast 
 of its freedom ; and even when the bird eats his prey from 
 the thorn on which it was first impaled, some of the scale 
 insects that are certain to adhere to it will cling to his 
 beak and probably be rubbed off* on some other tree. 
 
 We have a friendly feeling for the butcher-bird ; he is 
 such a neat, Quakerish-looking, fat, chubby little fellow, 
 and so familiarly saucy withal ; and we are sorry we can 
 not acquit him of helping to spread the enemies of our 
 groves, albeit he does it without malice prepense. 
 
 High winds and spiders are also important and wide-spread 
 factors in the distribution of scale insects, all of which are 
 small and light; nursery stock and matured fruit itself 
 are also active agents in the matter. What is this much 
 talked of, much fought against scale insect, you ask? 
 
100 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 For full and detailed information on this point, as on 
 that of all the insect enemies and friends of the orange, 
 we would refer our readers to the valuable work on 
 "Orange Insects," written and published by William H. 
 Ashmead, of Jacksonville, Florida; and also to those of 
 Prof. Comstock, Dr. C. J. Kenworthy, and the recent 
 pamphlet issued by the Agricultural Department, contain- 
 ing the result of the investigations of its special agent as 
 to the " rust mite." These books, being devoted exclusively 
 to the one subject, deal more extensively with the enemies 
 of the orange than the limit and object of our present work 
 permit us to do. 
 
 Briefly, therefore, we will note the most injurious of 
 them only, that they may be recognized when seen, and 
 the proper weapons used in the battle against the invaders. 
 
 The long or mussel-shell scale insect is a very tiny fel- 
 low, rarely to be seen, unless revealed by a powerful mi- 
 croscope ; then it appears like a very lively louse, quick 
 and active in its movements, and when alarmed instantly 
 seeking concealment under the scale it has created as its 
 dwelling, which has first served as a home for its eggs, 
 which are purple and laid in two parallel rows, and then 
 as a shelter for its young. 
 
 The latter, the moment they emerge from the eggs, be- 
 gin to suck the sap from the bark or leaf to which they 
 may be attached. They will then scurry around and be- 
 come visible through their movements for three or four 
 days, then insert their beaks in a suitable spot and come 
 to an anchor forever. In a few days the waxy substance 
 of which their scale house is composed begins to arch over 
 their backs ; their legs, useless now, drop off, and the fly, 
 reversing completely the order of things, returns to a lar- 
 val shape, lays its eggs and dies ; soon the eggs hatch and 
 the round of reproduction begins again. One would 
 
ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 101 
 
 hardly think that such a tiny thing could do so much dam- 
 age to a noble tree ; but the trouble is in their number, 
 which is legion. 
 
 There are several kinds of scale, but all are to be plainly 
 seen on the leaves, twigs, and even on the fruit. All are 
 enemies to the tree, and all may be killed by the applica- 
 tion of the remedies given at the conclusion of the present 
 chapter. 
 
 The white scale is the most noticeable, its color and the 
 large size of its scale house, in comparison with that of the 
 mussel-shell scale just described, making it very conspicu- 
 ous. This scale is highly arched, and of a pinkish-white 
 at maturity, with seven well-defined dots, three on each 
 side and one at the posterior. Just before the eggs hatch 
 the scale becomes more globular in form and the top takes 
 on a brown tint. The insect, which is pale yellow, and 
 looks, under the microscope, like a wood-louse, crawls 
 about for a few days, then strikes its beak into the bark 
 and the waxy scale begins to form. This completed, the 
 eggs are laid, over one hundred in number. 
 
 Mr. Ashmead, in his work already referred to, makes a 
 calculation of the progeny of one of these scale insects, 
 for one season, and it amounts to the frightful total of one 
 million. 
 
 If it were not for that Providence which is ever watch- 
 ing and planning for man's welfare, his fight against the 
 spread of these destructive insects would be an almost hope- 
 less one ; but he is not left to battle single-handed. Even 
 the most minute insects have their relentless ' ' war of 
 races," and thus the scale insects have enemies, who, had 
 they happily been imported into our country at the same 
 time, would never have allowed them to spread far and 
 wide, and create the panic they did among the orange 
 growers. 
 
102 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 Chief among these staunch friends of the orange tree 
 are the orange scale apelinus, the twice-stabbed lady-bug, 
 minute scymnus, red mite, and orange chrysopa. 
 
 The first-named, the orange scale apelinus, is a four- 
 winged fly, about 0.2 of an inch long; it lays one egg 
 under each scale among the eggs of its foe, and as soon as 
 the larva, which is a white footless grub, is hatched, it be- 
 gins to feed on the latter, changing into its pupa state only 
 when the last egg is gone ; a few days later it punctures 
 the top of the scale, and emerges in its perfect fly-shape. 
 
 The next of our good friends, being more noticeable, is 
 often, alas, ruthlessly slaughtered for an enemy by those 
 who, if they knew its true character, would carefully pro- 
 tect it. From February to November, in this State, one 
 often sees a little round, dark bug with two red spots on 
 its wings, and also a dark, slate-colored larva crawling 
 among the orange trees. They are one and the same in- 
 sect, the twice-stabbed lady-bug, and so valuable a friend 
 to the orange grower as to be worthy of importation to any 
 grove where it has not voluntarily settled. 
 
 They breed throughout the year and in the fall lay their 
 eggs where the scale insect is most abundant ; then, when 
 their eggs hatch, the dark, spine-like larvae at once com- 
 mence feeding on the scales around them ; soon they crawl 
 off* to a retired spot, afl[ix themselves to a leaf or branch, 
 and become pupse, which, in a few days, again change to a 
 soft, pale-colored beetle, without a sign of the spots and 
 dark wings shortly to appear. 
 
 If there is any Spanish moss on the tree the larvae will be 
 found there in greater numbers than elsewhere. 
 
 The minute scymnus, large scymnus, and red orange mite, 
 are so small as to be rarely observed by the naked eye, and 
 hence they are exposed to the same danger of destruction 
 by those they serve, as are those heretofore mentioned. 
 
ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 103 
 
 The two former are beetles, whose larvae, hatching in the 
 spring at the same time with the scale insects, wage re- 
 lentless war upon them. They come in April and disap- 
 pear in June, to reappear when the great fall broods are 
 hatched. 
 
 The orange chrysopa is another most helpful friend; it 
 is a small, lace- winged, yellowish green fly, much resem- 
 bling a tiny dragon-fly ; its eggs are suspended on a deli- 
 cate thread to the orange leaf, the larva covers itself with 
 minute pieces of dried leaves or bark, feeding on the scale 
 inside until the time comes for it to form an oval moss-like 
 cocoon on the under part of the leaf, whence in a few days 
 the perfect fly emerges. 
 
 The blood-red lady-bug is also an exceedingly active 
 helper to the orange grower, devouring the scale insects by 
 the million; the pupa emerges from a gummy substance 
 attached to a leaf, and becomes a perfect beetle (red) with- 
 out spots or markings. We have been thus particular in 
 describing the appearance of these little friends of ours 
 that they may be recognized as such, and their lives 
 spared. Other friends the orange tree has besides, but 
 we have not space to enumerate them. 
 
 The mealy bug is one of the most serious enemies, not 
 only of the orange but of the pine-apple, and if not relent- 
 lessly fought, threatens to become a W'Orse enemy than the 
 scale. It makes no scale shelter, is ever moving about, 
 and places its eggs beneath a cotton-like substance. In 
 twelve days they hatch, and the young begin their career 
 of destruction, sucking the juices from the tender leaves 
 and twigs, the odd, mealy substance from which they take 
 their name forming meanwhile all over them. They in- 
 crease very rapidly, breeding all the year, and seem to 
 defy any w^ash that does not contain kerosene ; this, how- 
 ever, is fatal to them. 
 
104 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 The leaf-footed plant bug is another destructive foe to 
 the orange, and also to the plum, rice, and many other 
 vegetable productions. The young are a bright yellowish 
 red, without the leaf-like extension to their legs that after- 
 ward appears. The adult is a curiously-shaped reddish 
 brown bug, having a long sharp beak, and a transverse, 
 yellowish white band across its wings ; when the latter are 
 raised, its back is seen to be flat and hollow, red in color, 
 with black spots ; its hind legs are oddly shaped like nar- 
 row leaves. It sucks the sap from tender shoots and ter- 
 minal branches, thus killing them outright. Mr. Ashmead 
 gives the only remedy known, of catching them in a but- 
 terfly net and scalding them. 
 
 Grasshoppers and katydids are also destructive foes to 
 orange trees, devouring leaf after leaf in an incredibly 
 short time; their quick, active movements make them 
 hard to deal with, and the best known weapons with which 
 to fio-ht them are the birds and a flock of chickens and 
 guinea fowds in the grove. 
 
 There is a large, beautiful butterfly that may be seen 
 every where in Florida from early spring to winter ; it is 
 black, with two yellow bands across its wings, formed by 
 a series of yellow spots. 
 
 Under the rule of ''Handsome is as handsome does," 
 the orange grower has reason to regard this beautiful in- 
 sect as hideous, since it and the orange dog or puppy are 
 identical. 
 
 Whenever you see a little round egg sticking to an 
 orange leaf, crush it at once; the orange butterfly has 
 laid it there, and directly it will become a peculiarly 
 marked worm, with a large head, from which it projects 
 red filaments, and opens its large mouth like a snarling 
 dog when disturbed, emitting a pungent odor. 
 
 Until within the last year or two there were various 
 
ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 105 
 
 opinions about the cause of the rusty appearance of so 
 many Florida oranges; now, however, no doubt remains 
 on the subject. It is caused by a minute insect called the 
 rust mite, that would never have been discovered but for 
 the microscope being applied to the orange while still on 
 the trees, for within half an hour after the fruit is taken 
 from its parent stem every insect has disappeared. The 
 mite punctures the oil cells, the oil exudes and becomes 
 oxidized, and hence the dark appearance, and hard, rusty 
 skin of the fruit. 
 
 This appearance damages the sale of the orange, but 
 does not impair its quality ; in fact, it appears rather to 
 develop its saccharine qualities. Place before a Florida 
 child two oranges, one bright, one rusty, and it will seize 
 the rusty one first. The rusty orange, protected from the 
 air by its hard, dry skin, ships much better than the bright ; 
 and so, if it were not for the damage done to the looks, 
 and hence to the sale of the fruit, there would be little 
 fault found with the mite. 
 
 This one consideration, however, is enough to cause war 
 to be declared against it ; but fortunately, remedies have 
 been found, to which we shall presently refer. 
 
 One other insect we shall mention, because it is very eas- 
 ily seen, and its destructive operations openly conducted 
 right under one's eyes — he is a bold, fearless marauder. 
 Professor Riley, of the Agricultural Department, calls him 
 Euthoctha galeator. He resembles greatly the well-known 
 squash bug, and delights to insert his strong proboscis in 
 the tenderest shoots to be found, causing them to wilt and 
 droop to their death, even while he robs them of the food 
 on which they live. The insect is one of the chief causes, 
 if not the chief, of the so-called disease of die-back. 
 
 We have now described, so far as the limits of our pres- 
 ent work will permit, the chief enemies and friends of the 
 
106 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 orange tree, and will now proceed to give the most effect- 
 ive weapons with which the former may be conquered. 
 
 It is not enough to know the formulas of washes to be 
 applied to the tree, but also at what time the application 
 should be made to be effective. 
 
 Let us take the long or mussel-scale insect first : the first 
 brood hatches from the middle of April to the first week in 
 May ; the second from the last of July to the middle of 
 August ; and the third and last from the last of Septem- 
 ber to the middle of October. 
 
 The white scale has also three broods ; the first in April 
 and May ; the second from the middle of July to the first 
 of August ; and the third from the last of August to the 
 second week in September. 
 
 He who waits until their protecting shield has been 
 reached may as well spare his labor, for his most powerful 
 washes will fail to penetrate it, or to disturb the insect. 
 Applied at the right time, however, as given above, just 
 after the eggs are hatched and the fly has left the scale 
 house, it is easily exterminated. 
 
 When trees are very badly infested it is well to cut 
 off and immediately burn the smaller limbs ; then, with a 
 fountain spray pump, drench the tree thoroughly with one 
 of the preparations given below. 
 
 FOR SCALE INSECTS. 
 
 No 1. 
 
 Sal soda, 10 pounds, 
 
 Hard soap, 5 " 
 
 Water, 40 gallons. 
 
 Dissolve the soap in a little boiling water, place in a 
 tight barrel, break up the soda in small pieces, add it ; fill 
 up the barrel with soft water, and stir the mixture till well 
 mixed. Keeps good indefinitely. Apply to the trunk 
 
ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 107 
 
 with a brush, rubbing in well ; drench top and leaves with 
 a rose syringe. Apply twice a year, spring and fall; 
 oftener if the grove is seriously infested. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Tobacco stems, 5 pounds, 
 
 Copperas, 5 " 
 
 Water, 40 gallons. 
 
 Boil tobacco in sufficient water to extract the full 
 strength ; strain and measure liquid ; put in a barrel and 
 add enough water to make up the forty gallons ; then add 
 the copperas and stir till dissolved. Apply as before 
 
 stated. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 "Whale-oil soap, 10 pounds, 
 
 Kerosene oil, 5 gallons. 
 
 Water, 5 " 
 
 Common soap will do if the other is not to be had. 
 Dissolve the whale-oil soap in hot water, then add the 
 kerosene; churn them together until well mixed. For 
 use : add one quart of the emulsion to two gallons of 
 water. Apply as before. 
 
 This preparation is destined to supersede the lately dis- 
 covered "kerosene butter," made by combining the con- 
 densed milk and kerosene, as being much cheaper, quite 
 as effectual, and much less labor to prepare. It does not 
 injure the most tender shoots,' and kills the scale at once ; 
 is also a valuable fertilizer, and as it falls back from the 
 leaves and sinks into the ground, drives away other insects 
 that may be hiding around the tree. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 Cotton -seed hull meal or ash; syringe the tree with 
 water, then throw up the ash into the tree. 
 
108 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 This is effectual for small trees but not so good on large, 
 because the upper limbs are apt to escape. 
 
 FOR THE MEALY BUG. 
 
 The formula given as No. 3 is the safest to apply to the 
 bug, as the other washes seem to injure it very little if 
 any ; kerosene will destroy it. 
 
 LICHENS, SMUT, HONEY-DEW. 
 
 For ridding tree trunks of lichens and old half loose 
 bark, for removing smut and that sticky substance, the 
 excrement of insects called honey-dew, formula No. 1 is 
 very effectual, used with a scrubbing-brush on the tree 
 trunk for lichens and old bark, and with the hand-pump 
 for smut and honey-dew. 
 
 ORANGE PUPPY. 
 
 As a rule this worm, to which we have already alluded 
 as identical with the the large butterfly, is not seriously 
 aggressive, and can be kept down by hand picking, be- 
 cause its numbers are not great in any one grove, except 
 in some few cases; the mocking-birds, woodpeckers, and 
 butcher-birds proving excellent remedies against its alarm- 
 ing increase. Where, however, it becomes so troublesome 
 as to really injure the trees by robbing them of their foli- 
 age ; drenching the tree with lime-water will prevent the 
 mother butterfly from depositing her eggs among them, 
 as no butterfly will settle on a plant syringed with lime- 
 water. 
 
 DIE-BACK 
 
 Is, as we have noticed elsewhere, caused by the attack of 
 insects that kill the terminal branches and young shoots as 
 fast as they appear. Now, with every new shoot its corre- 
 sponding roots die also ; and so, ere long, the whole tree 
 
ENEMIES, AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM. 109 
 
 feels the loss of its needful nutrition, and twig after twig, 
 branch after branch dies back, often puzzling the owner to 
 determine the trouble. 
 
 Chief among the insects that have been proved at last 
 to be the cause of the trouble, are the leaf-footed plant bug 
 and the Euthoctha galeator, which, not being stationary, are 
 hard to rout, but may be driven away by several drench- 
 ings of No. 3 ; but the tree must be carefully pruned of 
 every dead or sickly limb, or even, if necessary, its whole 
 top cut away to give the few roots left alive a chance to 
 recover their vigor. 
 
 THE RUST MITE. 
 
 The recent report of the special agent of the govern- 
 ment entomologist on this insect is so full of interest and 
 instruction, that we embody it in the next chapter. 
 
110 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE RUST MITE.* 
 
 Discoloration of the Fruit. The brownish discoloration 
 of the rind of oranges, familiarly known as "rust," has, 
 since the production of this fruit became an important in- 
 dustry in Florida, given great concern to the producers, 
 and occasions annually serious loss by affecting injuriously 
 the salableness of the fruit. In appearance the rust varies 
 from a light- or dark-brown stain beneath the cuticle to a 
 rough incrustation resembling an exudation of resinous 
 gum upon the surface. In the former case the golden 
 color of the ripe orange is more or less obscured, and in 
 the latter entirely destroyed by the discoloration. When 
 entirely coated with rust the surface becomes finely chapped 
 and roughened, giving to the unripe fruit a likeness to rus- 
 set apples. 
 
 The season during which rust makes its appearance in- 
 cludes nearly the entire period of growth of the fruit, be- 
 ginning in early summer, when the fruit has attained less 
 than one third its full size, and continuing late into autumn. 
 Its most rapid increase is, however, in A\igust and Sep- 
 tember, as the orange approaches maturity. Rarely is 
 there any real increase after the rind begins to ripen, al- 
 though the discoloration usually attracts attention just at 
 this time, and frequently occasions unnecessary alarm. 
 On the contrary, there is always a perceptible brightening 
 as the fruit attains its full color, and oranges slightly af- 
 fected, or affected early in the season, when fully ripe show 
 but little trace of rust. 
 
 =:=Report of H. G. Hubbard, Special Agent, to the United States Ento- 
 mologist. 
 
THE RUST MITE. Ill 
 
 Is Rust a Fungus or an Exudation of Gum f The term 
 "rust" is very indefinitely applied to a great variety of 
 plant diseases, some of which are clearly due to the pres- 
 ence of fungi, and others are considered pathological con- 
 ditions of the plant, attributable to, for the most part, un- 
 known or conjectural conditions of soil or climate. 
 
 A good example of the first class is found in the com- 
 mon and very destructive rust of the fig. Any one who 
 will take the trouble to examine with a good glass the 
 brown discoloration upon the surface of the leaves, may 
 easily detect the sacs or asci of the fungus, filled to burst- 
 ing with the spores, or pouring them out upon the surface. 
 
 Nothing of this kind is seen upon the leaves or rusted 
 fruit of the orange. A microscopic examination of the 
 fruit rind reveals no forms of fungus, but shows the oil 
 cells to be more or less completely emptied of their con- 
 tents, and the outer layers, the epithelial cells, clogged 
 with brownish resin, or entirely broken up and divided by 
 fissures, which permit evaporation of the fluids from the 
 underlying cells. The rind of rusted fruit, therefore, 
 shrinks and toughens, and loses by evaporation or oxida- 
 tion the greater jDart of its essential oil. 
 
 Reasons for Considering it the Worlc of a Mite. If we ex- 
 amine critically with a hand lens of considerable magnify- 
 ing power the surface of a rusted orange, we will find here 
 and there in the depressions, groups of minute white fila- 
 ments adhering closely to the rind. Carefully transferring 
 one of these filaments to the stage of a compound micro- 
 scope, and applying a power of several hundred diameters, 
 the character of the object is clearly shown. It is the cast 
 skin of an insect. 
 
 If the examination chance to be made in winter, when 
 the fruit is ripe, the number of these exuviae will not be 
 strikingly great ; but if made in autumn or late summer, 
 
112 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 the surface of every orange showing rust will be found 
 thickly sprinkled with them, and we shall be forced to 
 conclude that we have before us the relics of a numerous 
 colony, which at some former period infested the fruit. 
 
 Extending the examination to fruit that as yet shows 
 no indication of rust, we will, if the season is not too far 
 advanced, obtain abundant confirmation of this conclusion, 
 and find these colonies in the full tide of their existence. 
 The former occupants of the cast skins prove to be elon- 
 gate mites, of honey-yellow color, too minute to be seen as 
 individuals with the unassisted eye, but visible in the 
 aggregate as a fine golden dust upon the surface of the 
 fruit. 
 
 The Mite on the Leaves. Having tracked the mite by 
 means of its tell-tale exuviae, and detected it at work upon 
 the fruit, if we turn our attention to the leaves it needs 
 no prolonged search to discover it here also, and in even 
 greater abundance. In fact it is evidently upon the leaves 
 that the mites exist and propagate throughout the year ; 
 for not only are they found upon fruiting trees, but upon 
 plants of all ages, in the nursery as well as in the grove. 
 
 Nothing resembling the rust of the fruit follows their 
 attacks upon the leaves. Each puncture of the mites 
 gives rise to a minute pimple or elevation, until the sur- 
 face of the leaf becomes finely corrugated, loses its gloss, 
 and assumes a dusty and corroded appearance. 
 
 This tarnished appearance of the foliage is very charac- 
 teristic, and remains a permanent indication of their dep- 
 redations after the mites themselves have disappeared. 
 
 First Appearance of Mites on the Fruit. From the time 
 when the cellular structure of the rind has completely de- 
 veloped, and the oil-cells have begun to fill, until the fruit 
 is far advanced into the process of ripening; in other 
 words, from early spring until late in autumn, it is liable 
 
THE RUST MITE. 113 
 
 to attacks of the mites, but it is in the intermediate period 
 of its growth that the fruit offers conditions most favorable 
 to their increase. 
 
 Attacks of the Mite always followed by Rust. The evidence 
 that rust follows as a sequence upon the depredations of 
 this mite is circumstantial rather than direct, but is also 
 cumulative. Oranges marked and kept under observation, 
 but allowed to remain upon the tree, have in all cases 
 rusted after being overrun by the mites. Those upon 
 which no mites made their appearance remained bright to 
 maturity. 
 
 A very large number of observations show a close con- 
 nection between the occurrence of mites upon the foliage 
 and rust on the fruit, so that it may be stated as a rule, 
 when the foliage of a tree retains its gloss, the fruit also 
 will be bright, and, conversely, when the condition of the 
 leaves indicates the presence of mites in great numbers, 
 the fruit will be discolored. 
 
 This is found to be true, not only of the entire tree but 
 of restricted portions. Thus the upper, the lower branches, 
 or one side of an orange tree may produce rusty fruit while 
 that on the other parts of the tree remains bright. In 
 such cases there will always be a marked difference in the 
 condition of the foliage upon the two portions, and the 
 leaves surrounding the affected fruit will indicate more or 
 less clearly the work of mites. 
 
 Other and perhaps more exclusive reasons for consider- 
 ing the mite responsible for rust will be better understood 
 when the habits of the mite itself have been considered. 
 
 Interval between the Disap'pearance of the Mites and the 
 Appearance of Rust. As has been indicated, the mites do 
 not permanently infest either the surface of the leaf or the 
 rind of the fruit, but wander off to fresh feeding ground 
 when, through their combined attacks, all the accessible 
 
 10 
 
114 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 oil-cells have been emptied of their contents, or the tissues 
 have been too much hardened by advancing maturity to 
 be easily penetrated by their beaks. 
 
 The effects of their puncture upon the cellular structure 
 of the plant, however, continue after their departure,, and 
 upon the fruit rust develops with a varying interval, de- 
 pending possibly upon the relative humidity of the air. 
 Usually the discoloration is very apparent after the lapse 
 of a week, and the rind continues to harden indefinitely, 
 Dr as long as it is exposed to the air. 
 
 Description. The so-called rust insect is a four-legged 
 mite, honey-yellow in color, and about three times as long 
 as broad. The body is cylindrical, widest near the ante- 
 rior extremity, and tapers behind, terminating in two 
 small lobes, which assist the animal in crawling and enable 
 it to cling firmly to the surface upon which it rests. The 
 front is prolonged in a conical protuberance, which ap- 
 pears to be composed of two closely applied lobes. The 
 upper surface at its widest part is marked on each side 
 with shallow depressions, which are faintly prolonged on 
 the sides and reach nearly to the terminal lobes. The ab- 
 domen consists of about thirty segments ; the beak, a short, 
 curved tube, is usually retracted between the organs of 
 the mouth. The latter form a truncated cone, concealed 
 from above by the projection of the front, and difficult to 
 resolve into its component parts. Under high powers it 
 can be seen to consist of at least two thick lobes, which in 
 the living mite have a reciprocal forward and back move- 
 ment. 
 
 The two pairs of legs are placed close together, at or 
 very near the anterior extremity and project forward. 
 They are four-jointed, and terminate in a curved spine, 
 with opposing bristles. The intermediate joints bear one 
 or two very long bristles. Several fine bristle hairs ari&ing 
 
THE RUST MITE. 115 
 
 from the under surface of the body, curved upward at the 
 sides, and two very long bristles at the caudal extremity, 
 curving downward, are trailed after the mite as it crawls. 
 
 The length of the adult mite is 0.14 millimeter (.005 
 inch). The young do not differ essentially in structure 
 from the adult mites, but are thick and short, almost cordi- 
 form, and the legs are very short. . 
 
 The eggs, which are deposited singly or in little clusters 
 upon the surface of the leaves, are spherical, transparent, 
 with a yellow tinge. Their diameter is more than half 
 that of the mite at its widest part, and they probably in- 
 crease in size by the absorption of the moisture after they 
 are laid, otherwise the body of the mite could not contain 
 more than three or four fully developed ova. The embryo 
 is curved within the egg, its head slightly overlapping the 
 tail. 
 
 Life History. In hot weather the eggs hatch in four or 
 five days, but in winter their development is more or less 
 retarded by cold, although it is not entirely arrested, even 
 by frost, and the duration of the egg period seldom ex- 
 ceeds two weeks. 
 
 The young mites are bright, translucent, yellow in 
 color. Within a week or ten days they undergo a meta- 
 morphosis or molt, during which the animal remains dor- 
 mant for about forty-eight hours. With its legs, which 
 are placed close together and stretched out in line with 
 the body, and with its two-lobed anal proleg, it clings 
 closely to the surface of the leaf. The form becomes 
 more elongate and spindle-shaped. The body of the trans- 
 forming mite separates from the old skin, which becomes 
 pellucid and empty at the extremities, and finally splits 
 longitudinally, releasing the renovated mite. The rejected 
 pellicle is left firmly adhering to the surface on which it 
 rests, but is in time removed by the action of the weather, 
 
116 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 and much sooner from the leaves than from the rind of 
 the fruit. 
 
 The adult mite is slightly darker than the young in 
 color, and becomes more opaque as it grows older. No 
 sexual differences have been distinguished, nor has the act 
 of coupling been observed. 
 
 Owing to the difficulty of confining the mites without 
 interfering with the conditions necessary to their existence, 
 it has not been possible to determine the duration of their 
 lives. It is, however, safe to conclude that they live sev- 
 eral weeks after reaching the adult stage. The number 
 of eggs deposited is also uncertain, but it is probably not 
 abnormal, and the enormous po^^ulousucss of their colonies 
 must be attributed to rapid development and comparative 
 immunity from enemies and parasites, rather than to ex- 
 cessive fecundity. 
 
 Food. This evidently consists of the essential oil which 
 abounds in all succulent parts of the orange and its con- 
 geners, and which the mites obtain by penetrating with 
 their sucking beaks the cells that lie immediately beneath 
 the epidermis. That they do not feed upon the chloro- 
 phyl is shown by the color of their intestinal contents, 
 which has no tinge of green but a clear yellow, unmistak- 
 ably indicating the source from which it came. 
 
 Wandering Habits. While engaged in feeding, the mites 
 remain quiescent for a length of time varying from a few 
 minutes to half an hour. They then move on a short dis- 
 tance and again become motionless. If disturbed they 
 have a habit of erecting themselves upon the leaf, cling- 
 ing to its surface only by the anal proleg. 
 
 When dissatisfied with their surroundings, or when food 
 becomes scarce, they wander restlessly about, and undoubt- 
 edly travel to considerable distances. Their rate of prog- 
 ress on a smooth surface is quite rapid, and amounts to ten 
 
THE RUST MITE. 117 
 
 to twelve feet per hour. It is therefore not surprising to 
 find them changing their position frequently; disappear- 
 ing suddenly from one portion of the tree, and appearing 
 as suddenly in great numbers upon another and distant 
 part of the same tree. 
 
 It is not to be understood that the mites show any con- 
 cert of action in moving their colonies, or that they are in 
 any other sense gregarious than that they are usually found 
 very thickly scattered over those parts of an infested plant 
 which oifer favorable conditions for their support. Thus 
 the new growth of many orange trees becomes occupied or 
 infested by them as rapidly as the leaves fully mature, and 
 the number upon a single leaf may be estimated by many 
 thousands. 
 
 Numerical Abundance. The following examinations, made 
 in January, will give an idea of the extent of the brood 
 during the coldest parts of the Florida winter : 
 
 From a large number of leaves in late autumn growth 
 one was selected which showed an even distribution of 
 mites upon its surface. An area of one square inch was 
 accurately marked out with a needle, and subdivided into 
 sixteen equal squares. The number of mites and their 
 eggs upon four of the small squares taken at random was 
 counted, and found to aggregate 1,142.* This gives for 
 the square inch under observation 4,568 mites. The leaf 
 was then cut into squares and triangles, and was found to 
 cover fifteen square inches upon a sheet of paper. 
 
 On the supposition that the experimental square inch 
 gives a fair average, the number of mites upon the upper 
 surface of this leaf was 68,520. Certain portions, not 
 exceeding one quarter of the whole, were, however, more 
 
 *The number of eggs exceeded that of the mites, a phenomenon not 
 often observed, and which may be attributed to the unusuailj^ cold and un- 
 favorable weather at the time of the examination and for several weeks pre- 
 vious. 
 
118 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 or less thinly populated. Deducting, therefore, twenty- 
 seven per cent from the above, we have 50,020 mites, the 
 approximate population of the upper surface. The under 
 side of the leaf was less thickly infested, but the number 
 of mites may be estimated at one half that of the upper 
 face or 25,000. Thus the number of mites and their eggs 
 upon a single leaf is found to reach, even in mid-winter, 
 the enormous sum of 75,000. 
 
 In early summer, when the breeding is active, these esti- 
 mates will be greatly exceeded. At times an orange tree 
 may be so completely infested with the mites that, of its 
 thousands of leaves, very few can be found free from their 
 presence. If, then, we attempt to calculate the number 
 that may exist contemporaneously upon a bearing tree, we 
 find it represented, not by millions but by billions, and 
 the figures obtained convey no definite inpressions to the 
 mind. 
 
 Preference shown for Half Shade. An examination made 
 on a bright, sunny day shows that, while the mites can not 
 long endure the direct light and heat of the sun, they also 
 avoid dark shade. At midday they are more abundant 
 upon the under side of exposed leaves, and although they 
 at all times show a marked preference for light, they de- 
 sert those parts of the leaf or fruit upon which it falls 
 brightest. On a leaf partially exposed to the sun the 
 mites congregate near one edge in the morning, and in the 
 afternoon cross to the opposite side of the same surface, 
 following the shifting shade which, by reason of its curva- 
 ture, the edges of the leaf throw upon one side or the 
 other. 
 
 Rings of Rust on Fruit. On the fruit, this preference of 
 the mites for half shade causes a phenomenon which will- 
 be recognized as very common on rusty oranges. This is 
 the occurrence of rust in a well-defined ring obliquely en- 
 
THE RUST MITE. 119 
 
 circling the orange, as the ecliptic does the earth. The 
 rust ring is seen most plainly on the fruit from the upper 
 portion and south side of a tree when it stands with others 
 in a grove, and will be found to mark the band of half 
 shade between the portion of the orange most directly ex- 
 posed to the sun's rays and that in densest shadow. The 
 surface covered by this penumbra band is precisely that 
 upon which the mites gather most thickly in the middle 
 of the day. Here their attacks upon the rind will be 
 most severe, and its after effects most noticeable. 
 
 There is also observable in rusted fruit a marked differ- 
 ence in - the amount of discoloration upon the opposite 
 sides. Even where no plainly marked ring is visible the 
 side of the fruit which upon the tree was turned opposite 
 the sun frequently presents a bright spot, and the opposite 
 side an area of lighter bronze, with less sharply defined 
 boundaries. 
 
 These facts, taken in connection with the observed habits 
 of the mites, may be regarded as the strongest evidence 
 showing a connection between rust and their attacks upon 
 the fruit. 
 
 Influence of Weather. It has been already observed that 
 the hatching of the eggs, although retarded, does not cease 
 in cold weather, and that the breeding continues throughout 
 the year. Frost, which is sometimes severe enough to kill 
 the adult mites, does no injury to the eggs, and the sever- 
 ity of a winter has little if any effect upon the prevalence 
 of the mites during the following summer. In droughts, 
 however, there is some evidence that many of the eggs 
 dry up and are exterminated. The extremely dry seasons 
 of 1881 and 1882 have been followed in the winter of 
 1882 and 1883 by the brightest crop of fruit that has 
 been known for several years. 
 
 Agencies which Assist in the Distribution of the Mites. The 
 
120 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 activity of the mites and their readiness to climb upon any- 
 thing they meet in their path, renders it evident that any 
 living creature which passes from one tree to another is 
 competent to transport the mites with it. The tail feath- 
 ers of birds must sweep thousands from the surfaces of the 
 leaves, and spread them from tree to tree or from grove to 
 grove. 
 
 So readily do they relinquish their hold when brought 
 into contact with a moving body that the point of a needle 
 swept across the surface of an infested leaf will usually be 
 found to have several mites adhering to it. 
 
 The same agencies which assist in the spread of scale 
 insects undoubtedly serve to scatter the mites. Not only 
 do they climb readily along the web of spiders, but they 
 may frequently be seen upon the bodies of the spiders 
 themselves, which do not seem to be at all disturbed by the 
 restless movements of their little attendants. 
 
 The wandering habit of spiders is well known ; their 
 method of bridging great distances by casting out hun- 
 dreds of feet of silken line to be wafted by the winds and 
 caught in distant trees has often been noted. There is 
 little doubt that of all other modes of dissemination both 
 of the scale insect and rust mite, that of transportation by 
 spiders is the most important, the most constant and regu- 
 lar. The spiders bear with them upon their hairy bodies 
 the young bark lice and the adult mites, conveying them 
 in their own migrations to distant points, and colonizing 
 them under their protecting web whenever they chance to 
 select the leaves of the citrus plant as their resting place. 
 And here is found the solution of that puzzling influence 
 of the wind so often remarked in the case of scale insects, 
 and which has led many to believe that they are dissemi- 
 nated directly by this agency, and therefore spread most 
 rapidly in the direction of the prevailing currents. 
 
THE RUST MITE. 121 
 
 Spiders of the web-making kinds are necessarily depend- 
 ent upon the wind in making long voyages. The warm 
 southeasterly winds of spring excite in them the migra- 
 torial instinct, and at a time when the orange trees are 
 swarming with the quickened life of scale and mite, from 
 a thousand projecting points of branch or leaf the spiders 
 are sending out their lines of rapid transit, and are bear- 
 ing with them, "on the wings of the wind," the seeds of 
 mischief to the orange grower. 
 
 The Mite known only upon Plants of the Citrus Family. 
 The rust mite attacks indiscriminately the various species 
 of citrus in common cultivation, but has not been observed 
 to feed upon plants of any other genus. It is found upon 
 the lime, citron, shaddock, bigarde, and tangerine, and 
 none of the varieties of the orange are known to be in any 
 degree exempt. 
 
 Upon the leaves and fruit of all these species of 
 citrus, the effects of its attacks are essentially the same, 
 although the rust is more noticeable on the sweet and 
 bitter orange. 
 
 Effect of Attacks upon the Foliage. Like certain internal 
 animal parasites, which feed only upon the fat of their 
 host and do not touch its vital organs, the mite does not 
 destroy the vital functions of the leaf. The chlorophyl is 
 untouched, and the plant is robbed of a portion only of 
 its essential oil. The leaves never drop, no matter how 
 severely attacked, but there is a loss of vitality, and the 
 growth of the plant is checked. This is especially noticed 
 in young trees, which are frequently overrun by the pests 
 in early summer, and during the remainder of the year 
 make little progress. 
 
 The foliage of affected trees wears a dry, dusty appear- 
 ance, and loses color. The leaves are without gloss, and 
 become slightly warped as in droughts. 
 
 11 
 
122 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 Rusted Fruit. If severely attacked by rust before it 
 has completed its growth, the orange does not attain its 
 full size. Very rusty fruit is always small ; its quality is, 
 however, improved rather than deteriorated. The tough- 
 ened rind preserves it from injury and decay, prevents 
 evaporation from within, and carries the ripening process 
 to a higher point. 
 
 Rusty oranges can be shipped without loss to great dis- 
 tances; they keep longer both on and off the tree, and 
 when they reach the Northern markets are superior to the 
 bright fruit in flavor. Consumers, not being aware of this 
 fact, however, prefer the latter, and the reduced price of 
 the bronzed fruit more than offsets to the producer its 
 superior keeping and shipping qualities. 
 
 Geographical Distribution. Rust appears to be known 
 upon the orange only in Florida. Within the limits 
 of the State, however, its presence is universal. No 
 section, whatever claims may be made to the contrary, 
 is exempt. 
 
 Influence of Soil and Methods of Cultivation. The effect 
 upon the prevalence of rust of various systems of cul- 
 tivation and of applications to the soil, for the pur- 
 pose of changing its nature or supplying assumed de- 
 ficiencies in its composition, has been the subject of end- 
 less discussion, and of experiments affording negative or 
 conflicting results, which can not profitably be reviewed 
 here. 
 
 Suffice it to say, no method of combating rust by spe- 
 cial treatment of the soil, or other indirect action through 
 the plant, has been proven effective. By forcing with fer- 
 tilizers and high cultivation, no improvement is affected 
 in the color of the fruit. This depends not upon the 
 condition of the tree, but rather upon the number of 
 the mites, which is, in fact, increased by an abundant 
 
THE RUST MITE. 123 
 
 supply of new growth and a constant succession of fresh 
 and vigorous leaves. 
 
 It seems, however, to be an established fact that the 
 fruit is less liable to rust upon low than upon high lands. 
 Groves planted upon moist, rich hammock produce, as a 
 rule, brighter fruit than those upon high, sandy pine lands. 
 This result is commonly attributed to the abundance of 
 moisture in low ground ; but it may be more directly due 
 to the denser shade afforded by a more vigorous foliage 
 and reduced radiation from a darker soil. In the native 
 wild groves, which are always densely shaded by forest, 
 neither rust nor mites are found, and the same immunity 
 is enjoyed by cultivated trees planted in similar situations. 
 
 Preventive Measures. It is not at present possible to 
 suggest any preventive measures that can be universally 
 adopted, nor are precautions likely to avail much against 
 an enemy which already exists, even if it does not always 
 make its presence known, in almost every grove and nurs- 
 ery in the State. 
 
 Those who advocate forest culture for the orange may 
 justly claim for it the advantage of comparative immunity 
 from rust, but a decision on the merits and demerits of this 
 and other systems of cultivation must be left to the horti- 
 culturist. 
 
 It may, however, be proper to suggest that where isola- 
 tion is practicable, much can be accomplished toward the 
 exclusion of such pests as the rust mite and the scale in- 
 sects by properly arranged natural screens. Narrow belts 
 of original forest, with its undergrowth, may be left at 
 least on the southeast side of the grove, or, on high land, 
 the tall pines may be supplemented by hedge-rows of the 
 native holly, the jujube, or other evergreen shrubs which 
 thrive upon uplands in the South. 
 
 Such wind-breaks not only protect the bearing trees and 
 
124 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 fruit from the whipping action of southeasterly gales, but 
 afford the best and only hindrance to the spread of mites 
 and bark lice, prohibiting their direct importation upon 
 spiders and other insects through whose aid they are dis- 
 seminated. 
 
 Ap2')lication of Insecticides. As the rust mite lives ex- 
 posed upon the surface of the plant, neither inhabiting a 
 gall nor making any protective covering for itself or 
 young, it is not a difficult matter to reach it with insecti- 
 cides thoroughly applied. The adult mites are very deli- 
 cate, and readily succumb to applications of moderate 
 strength ; but the eggs possess much greater vitality, and 
 require for their destruction solutions of great penetrating 
 power. The immature mites, while undergoing their trans- 
 formation, are also difficult to kill, and appear to be spe- 
 cially protected by the old skin, within Avhich their changes 
 take place. 
 
 These three stages, the adult, the molting young, and 
 the egg, exist simultaneously at all seasons of the year. 
 The development of the mite has been shown to be very 
 rapid ; the eggs hatch in four or five days, the time ex- 
 tending rarely, in winter, to two weeks. Molting takes 
 place in seven to ten days, and lasts two days. Eggs are 
 probably laid in a few days after the molt. 
 
 In applying remedies it follows from these data that if 
 the mites alone are killed and their eggs left alive, young 
 mites reappear immediately; adults are found in ten or 
 twelve days, and fresh eggs are deposited within two weeks. 
 If the molting mites are also left alive very little good can 
 be accomplished, as a fresh crop of adult mites and eggs 
 will be produced in two or three days. 
 
 In combating the rust mites the difficulty in killing the 
 eggs compels us to adopt one of two alternatives. We 
 must either use powerful insecticides, in solutions even 
 
THE RUST MITE. 125 
 
 stronger than are required for scale insects, or else make 
 several applications of washes competent to kill the mites 
 only. In this way the trees may be freed of mites, by 
 killing the young as they hatch, and not allowing any to 
 reach the adult stage and produce a fresh crop of eggs. 
 
 The following substances have been tried and their ef- 
 fects noticed upon the mites and their eggs : 
 
 Whale-oil Soap. The action of this substance upon the 
 mites is peculiar ; a trace of it in solution causes them to 
 relinquish their hold upon the leaf. All other liquids that 
 have been tried, even if they kill the mites, increase the 
 tenacity with which they cling to its surface. All the 
 free'!^ mites are at once removed from leaves dipped in a 
 solution of one pound to one hundred gallons of water. 
 Stronger solutions are, however, required to kill them or 
 their eggs and the dormant (molting) young. 
 
 The following experiments made in the laboratory upon 
 infested leaves show the action of solutions of various 
 strength. In order to retain the mites upon the leaves 
 the liquids were beaten into foam, which was spread evenly 
 upon both surfaces, care being taken to wet every part of 
 the leaf: 
 
 Solution : One pound to five gallons. Adult mites all 
 killed ; molting mites apparently all dead. Eggs evidently 
 affected, not all killed, but many collapsed by the second 
 day. 
 
 Solution : One pound to one gallon. (This solution is 
 nearly solid when cold.) Mites all killed. On the second 
 day all the eggs appeared collapsed and dead. 
 
 The whale-oil soap usually supplied by dealers is inferior 
 to that used in the above experiments. As an effective 
 remedy for rust mite a solution of one pound to five 
 
 *This term includes adults and young not dormant or undergoing trans- 
 formation. 
 
126 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 gallons of water may be recommended. It should be ap- 
 plied in early spring before the new growth begins. Two 
 or three applications will be required, which should be 
 made at intervals of one week. The cost of the wash, at 
 the ordinary retail price for the soap (ten cents per pound), 
 is two cents per gallon. 
 
 Very weak solutions may be made effective if used at 
 frequent short intervals, but the labor and expense of 
 making the numerous applications required will be very 
 great. 
 
 A solution of one pound to a gallon will not injure the 
 trees but may cause the blossoms to drop. No directions 
 can be given as to the greatest strength of solutions that 
 can be used upon blooming trees without loss of fruit, as 
 this depends largely upon the condition of the tree. So- 
 lutions of one pound to ten gallons can probably be safely 
 used in most cases, and will be effective if several appli- 
 cations are made at intervals of a few days. 
 
 Sulphur. The mites, both adult and young, are very 
 sensitive to sulphur, and are killed by it in any form in 
 which it can be made to act upon them. The eggs, how- 
 ever, are not readily affected, and even survive an expos- 
 ure to the fumes, which will kill the plant. Fumigation 
 can not be resorted to without extreme danger to the life 
 and health of the tree. The finely powdered (sublimed) 
 flowers of sulphur does not affect the plant; it adheres 
 more readily than might be supposed to the smooth surfaces 
 of the leaves, and especially Avhen they are roughened by 
 the mites ; it is not entirely washed away by heavy rains. 
 Although it does not kill the eggs, it effectually extermi- 
 nates the free mites, which are sure to come in contact 
 with it in their wanderings, and if it can be made to re- 
 main upon the plant, the young, as they are hatched out, 
 are also destroyed. 
 
THE RUST MITE. 127 
 
 Flowers of sulphur must, therefore, be regarded as one 
 of the cheapest and most effective remedies for rust mite, 
 and it may be used to great advantage in connection with 
 whale-oil soap and other insecticides. It may be sus- 
 pended in water and applied in spray. With proper ap- 
 pliance the dry powder may be sifted or blown upon the 
 foliage when wet with dew or rain. A little wheat flour 
 added to the powder would increase its adhesiveness. 
 
128 ' FLOKIDA FKUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GATHERING AND PACKING. 
 
 It is a proud and happy day to the orange grower when 
 he gathers in the first golden herald of the good time com- 
 ing, and thus receives the glad assurance that the reward 
 of his years of toil and patience are close at hand — that 
 the night is past, and the dawn of prosperity is near. 
 
 It is not every one who knows how to gather and pack 
 his crop so that it will reach its distant market in good 
 order, and yet this point is so important that, if not prop- 
 erly understood, it matters not how full a crop the tree 
 may yield, since the fruit will yield no profit but rather 
 loss, for freight must be paid whether the fruit will sell 
 for enough to cover it or not. 
 
 This matter of proper shipping is a rock on which many 
 a goodly barque, sailing out into the world with fair hopes 
 and prospects, becomes an utter wreck. And the worst 
 of it is that such shipwreck as this, at the last moment, 
 is caused almost invariably by culpable carelessness on the 
 part of the owner of the fruit, whether he does the work 
 of picking and packing with his own hands, or trusts it to 
 hired help who have no interest in the well-being of the 
 crop or its ultimate fate. 
 
 As soon as the oranges begin to show by their yellow 
 tinge here and there that ripening has commenced, the 
 trees should be examined every two or three days, and all 
 specked or defective fruit taken ofi", the ripest first. This 
 serves two purposes : first, such fruit is always the earliest 
 to ripen, and if carefully handled and shipped it will pay 
 well to send it forward while the market is comparatively 
 empty ; second, the removal of such defective fruit, which 
 
GATHERING AND PACKING. 129 
 
 will only get worse if left on the tree, will benefit the fruit 
 remaining. 
 
 Step-ladders are usually employed in gathering such 
 oranges as can not be reached from the ground, as it is 
 almost impossible to find a secure resting place for an ordi- 
 nary ladder, and besides it is constantly catching on side 
 limbs. Better, however, as well as cheaper than either, is 
 another sort of ladder, which may easily be made by any 
 one out of materials nearly always to be found ' ' lying 
 around loose " on the farm. The steps are made of strips 
 three inches wide, about fourteen long, nailed at proper 
 distances apart, on a plank two inches thick and from six 
 to eight inches wide, the last strip resting on the ground as 
 a base. 
 
 This simple ladder is easily handled and rests securely 
 on a limb where the ordinary ladders would shake back 
 and forth, while the projecting side pieces or steps serve a 
 useful purpose when it is desired to hang the bag or sack 
 of the picker on them. 
 
 This bag, its mouth held open by an oval piece of wire, 
 should not be too deep nor too large ; if the former, the 
 first oranges picked are apt to be bruised in dropping ; if 
 the latter, the bag will interfere with the picker's move- 
 ments, and will become too heavily weighted to be carried 
 with ease, no matter how broad the band that secures it 
 around his shoulders. 
 
 The orange should never be pulled from the stem, as this 
 rude severing almost invariably tears the skin and ' ' plugs " 
 the fruit, which is then unfit to be shipped, since it will 
 surely rot on the way and damage the whole box. 
 
 A sharp knife or small shears are the proper things to 
 use, and the stem should be so clipped that from one 
 eighth to one quarter of an inch remains on the orange 
 until cured, when it will drop ofi". 
 
130 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 
 
 If the oranges are of diiferent varieties each kind should 
 be carefully kept by itself. 
 
 As soon as a cart load has been picked they should be 
 hauled away to the packing-house ; and if this is any dis- 
 tance from the grove, or if the road, though short, is 
 rough, moss should be placed at the top and sides of the 
 cart to avoid bruising the fruit, for the orange, when just 
 " under ripe," as it usually is and should be when picked, 
 is plump and solid ; the skin is composed largely of water, 
 and if its tiny cells are bruised and broken, decay at once 
 sets in. 
 
 Every shipper should have a house or room set apart 
 for curing and packing the fruit. There are two methods 
 of preparing it for shipment, of which the old method, 
 which is termed "sweating," would seem the very worst 
 treatment to which it could be subjected, and we believe 
 it to be so, and to have caused the loss of thousands of 
 dollars to Florida orange growers. 
 
 As we have said, the skin of the newly plucked orange 
 contains a great deal of water, and before packing it for 
 shipment we want to get rid of this surplus element of de- 
 cay. In order to accomplish this desirable result it used 
 to be the universal custom, and one that is still too much 
 in vogue, to put the oranges in a large heap and cover 
 them with blankets, leaving them thus for several days, 
 until they had undergone a sweat, a number being rotted 
 and crushed by the process, and the inevitable germs of 
 decay generated in many others. Those that appear sound 
 after this ordeal are spread out for a day to dry, and then 
 shipped, almost invariably to be reported, "arrived in bad 
 condition. "_ 
 
 Who can wonder ? They have been coaxed and encour- 
 aged to decay before their journey was commenced, by 
 having their tender skins heated, steeped in moisture, and 
 their cells crushed by pressure. 
 
GATHERING AND PACKING. 131 
 
 A far more sensible plan of curing oranges and lemons 
 is that adopted by the more progressive growers. Around 
 the walls of a well-ventilated room or house shelves should 
 be made, as deep as one's arm can conveniently reach 
 across, the first shelf about two feet from the floor, and 
 the others about one foot apart. These shelves should be 
 composed of narrow slats two inches apart, their edges 
 carefully rounded off* to avoid bruising the fruit, and one 
 of the slats placed on edge at the front to prevent the fruit 
 from rolling off". When difierent varieties are to be gath- 
 ered, separate shelves should be set apart for each kind, 
 the name being placed in a conspicuous position, that there 
 may be no mistakes made. 
 
 The oranges should be gathered on a clear, dry day, after 
 the dew has dried off of them, and arranged carefully on 
 the shelves, one tier deep only, and not pressing against 
 each other. Here they remain from four to six days, or 
 longer if desired ; when the skin feels dry and firm they 
 are ready for sorting and packing. 
 
 No one who has ever tried the drying process as above, 
 will any longer feel a doubt as to its infinite superiority 
 over the old method of *' sweating." 
 
 The last method toughens the skin by evaporating, in a 
 quiet, natural way, the watery fluid. 
 
 The sweating causes a heating, fermenting action, to- 
 tally opposed to nature, that expands the cells of the 
 skin and at once starts a decay, which very often does 
 not appear outwardly until the orange is many miles on 
 its way to market, and thus the fruit arrives in bad con- 
 dition, very likely does not even pay expenses, and then 
 the grower tears his hair, and more than half the time 
 blames the transportation companies (who have sins 
 enough of their own to carry) for what is entirely due 
 to his own ill-advised treatment of his luscious fruit. 
 
132 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 A plump orange, in good order, as when picked from 
 the tree, may be laid away in a dry, well-ventilated place, 
 and will keep good for months, in perfect condition, its skin 
 finally shriveling and hardening, yet the fruit remaining 
 juicy and sweet; but place alongside of it one that has 
 passed through the sweating process, and very soon it will 
 soften and become a decomposed mass of pulp. We have 
 tried both processes and "know whereof we speak," as do 
 hundreds of others. In the light of this new process of 
 curing oranges the old method of ' ' sweating " will quickly 
 become obsolete, and when all our growers awake to this 
 truth, and also to the fact that our golden fruit can be 
 kept for months in perfect order for shipment, if only 
 proper care is taken in gathering and handling, so that no 
 bruise shall start decay before the the aqueous fluids have 
 evaporated, when they aAvake to these things then will 
 thousands of dollars be saved to them annually. 
 
 Impress on all who are employed in gathering the fruit 
 that now, when it is plump and full of moisture, the least 
 fall or blow will be the signal of decay. An orange will 
 bear five times as hard usage after drying as when fresh 
 from the tree. 
 
 The operations of sorting and packing are, as we have 
 intimated elsewhere, of so vital an importance to the 
 grower, as affecting his profit or loss on his entire crop, that 
 if he is unable to perform them with his own hands, he 
 should at least attend to them personally, and keep his 
 eyes wide open. 
 
 Oranges of one kind and one size should go in one box ; 
 not all sizes mixed together, as we have often seen. 
 
 After being assorted, not only with regard to size, but 
 also as to bright or rusty or half rusty, each orange should 
 be wrapped in a square of the manilla paper that comes 
 prepared for the purpose, already cut, in graded sizes for 
 
GATHERING AND PACKING. 133 
 
 wrapping the various grades of oranges. This paper can 
 usually be obtained from the nearest store, but always at 
 Jacksonville, as can also the boxes for packing. These 
 last contain two cubic feet, inside measurement, with a 
 middle division. They are delivered to the purchaser un- 
 made, the various pieces being put up in bundles, ready 
 for nailing together. 
 
 In making these up, one side, rather than the top, should 
 be left off for greater convenience in packing the fruit, 
 which should be in layers close together, so they will 
 not shake about. The top layer should project from 
 a half inch to an inch above the box, so that when 
 the side is nailed on, it will press down firmly, tighten the 
 whole box, and prevent jarring, even after the fruit has 
 shrunk, as it will inevitably before reaching a distant 
 market. 
 
 Be extremely careful to throw aside every specked or 
 defective orange; tAVO or three in a box may ruin the 
 whole lot. 
 
 Let the oranges in every box be, as nearly as possible, 
 of uniform size, color, and texture. 
 
 The number of oranges should always be plainly 
 marked on the box, and each shipper should have his 
 own stencil brand, by which his fruit may be known at 
 a glance. 
 
 When he has made a reputation for good packing and a 
 uniform quality of fruit, as marked on the boxes, he will 
 then find no difficulty in obtaining the best prices for his 
 crop, as his brand will be sought for and picked out by 
 those who are willing to pay for honest fruit. 
 
 It would be useless to attempt to give here the proper 
 marks for the various grades of oranges, as these are often 
 changed, and personal inquiry at the time of shipping will 
 elicit all necessary information on this point. 
 
 V 
 
134 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 We earnestly recommend the newly created "Florida 
 Fruit Exchange" to every shipper, as, if properly sup- 
 ported by them, it must result in a vast increase in the net 
 results of shipments to those who have heretofore been 
 wholly at the mercy of irresponsible commission men, 
 and without redress for the false returns too frequently 
 made. 
 
 Several methods of packing oranges away, so that they 
 will keep in perfect condition for months, have recently 
 proved successful, thereby enabling the grower to hold 
 his fruit, if he chooses, for the highest prices late in the 
 season, or even in midsummer. 
 
 One of these is to pack the fruit in thoroughly dry sand, 
 making sure that they do not touch each other ; another, 
 to pack in dry sawdust ; and another, in cotton seed. 
 
 Still others have buried the fruit in the sand, under a 
 rain-proof shelter, and found them perfect after six months 
 or more. 
 
 These are facts to be well heeded when the market is 
 glutted, or prices for any reason not satisfactory, and 
 above all, when (if ever again) comes the warning from 
 the Signal Service office of ' ' severe cold " approaching. 
 
 In the recent almost unprecedented cold wave that 
 swept over our fair State, while this work was in press, 
 hundreds of thousands of oranges were lost upon the 
 trees that might have been saved had their owners real- 
 ized the danger, and been marketed months later. 
 
ABOUT VARIETIES. 135 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ABOUT VARIETIES. 
 
 In selecting the best varieties of orange trees for a grove 
 there is need for the exercise of sound judgment. Some 
 oranges ripen early, others late in the season. The fruit 
 of some trees is large, of others, small; of some, rough- 
 skinned, of others, smooth. 
 
 The point is to select such as will come into market at 
 the best time, and such as will present the most attractive 
 appearance. 
 
 The first object may be attained by planting a number 
 of the earliest and latest ripening varieties, that may be 
 placed on the market just at the time other oranges are 
 scarce, and therefore bringing the highest prices. The 
 second point is met by having the fruit of medium size, or 
 rather over medium size, and the skin smooth. 
 
 A grove of trees, one third earliest, one third medium, 
 and one third of the latest maturing sorts, will bring in 
 to its owner much larger profits than one where the trees 
 have been selected hap-hazard, without any regard to the 
 two important points just mentioned. 
 
 The first among early oranges is 
 
 beach's no. 1. 
 
 This is a very sweet fruit, of a rich, high flavor; it 
 is nearly round, and has a very dark orange-color skin ; 
 it stands shipping finely, and has no equal as an early 
 orange. Time of ripening, from September 15th to Oc- 
 tober 1st. 
 
136 florida fruits — oranges. 
 
 beach's no. 2 
 
 Is above medium size, rather pear-shaped; eating quali- 
 ties same as above ; is a fine shipper. Kipens November 1st. 
 
 CHARLEY brown 
 
 Is of excellent quality ; a strong, rapid grower ; nearly 
 thornless ; greatly flattened at stem and blossom ends ; cir- 
 cumference very large. Ripens in October and November. 
 
 ST. MICHAEL. 
 
 A fine, delicate-flavored fruit, pear-shaped, of a pale 
 yellow color ; thin skin and medium size ; one of the ear- 
 liest to fruit from budding ; is very prolific, so much so as 
 in many cases to dwarf the tree. Ripens in October and 
 November. 
 
 beach's no. 3 
 
 Has a peculiar, tender pulp ; pleasant acid when ripe ; a 
 favorite sort ; size, medium ; color, light orange ; shape, 
 flat from stem to blossom end ; a fine shipper. Ripens in 
 December. 
 
 Extract from the report of the Pomological Committee 
 of the Florida Fruit Growers' Association for 1878 : After 
 comparing and testing, in the most thorough and impartial 
 manner, a large number of varieties, your committee feel 
 warranted in recommending for general cultivation the 
 following : Homosassa, Magnum Bonum, and Nonpariel. 
 
 homosassa. 
 
 Size, medium ; somewhat flattened ; very heavy ; color, 
 bright ; skin remarkably tough and dense, but one of the 
 thinnest ; pulp fine, sweet, vinous flavor. 
 
ABOUT VARIETIES. 137 
 
 MAGNUM BONUM. 
 
 Size, large to very large ; flattened ; color, light orange ; 
 skin, smooth and glossy ; pulp, tender and melting, sweet 
 and vinous; fruit, very juicy and heavy. 
 
 NONPARIEL. 
 
 Size, above medium ; rather flattened ; color, true or- 
 ange ; pulp, tender and juicy ; flavor, sub-acid and vinous. 
 
 NAVEL. 
 
 This peculiar orange is also known in Florida as the 
 Umbilical, Bahia, Embiguo, and Seedless orange. 
 
 It is well to know that there are two distinct varieties 
 of the Navel orange; one was imported into California 
 from Australia, the other was brought from Bahia by the 
 Department of Agriculture at Washington. 
 
 The latter is in every respect the superior, and in Cali- 
 fornia is known as the Riverside or Washington Navel; 
 the former is called the Australian Navel. 
 
 The Navel, Bahia, etc., of Florida, is identical with the 
 Riverside Navel. 
 
 The tree is not very thorny, and is a good grower and 
 early bearer, frequently bearing fruit the second year after 
 budding, even on small stocks. Size, large to very large ; 
 color, dark orange ; has a protuberance on the blossom 
 end, hence its name and trade-mark; stem inserted in "a 
 shallow-ribbed cavity with deep lines; skin, smooth and 
 glossy; pulp, melting and tender; juice, sweet, sprightly 
 and aromatic ; first quality. Ripens in January. 
 
 TANGIERINE. 
 
 ^This is the general name of a peculiar type of orange, 
 which is well known as the kid-glove species. Some bot- 
 
 12 
 
138 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 anists regard it as a distinct species, while others contend 
 that it is merely a marked variety of the sweet orange. 
 
 • MANDARIN. 
 
 This is a very beautiful tree, distinguished by its small 
 lanciolate leaves and slender flexible branches, which cause 
 it to resemble the weeping willow in appearance ; is rather 
 dwarfish, and of a formal habit of growth ; the flowers are 
 volute, and smaller than those of the sweet orange. 
 
 The first fruit is small, flattened ; skin of a deep saflTron 
 color, and so loosely attached to the rind that it may be 
 pulled away, and the pulp, which is very aromatic and 
 pleasant, may be eaten without soiling one's gloves ; hence 
 the popular name of this type of orange. 
 
 CHINA, 
 
 Or, as it is sometimes called, the Willow-leafed orange, or 
 St. Michael's Tangierine. Tree dwarf, with willow-like 
 foliage ; remarkably hardy. A very ornamental and de- 
 sirable species ; the fruit is small, flattened ; skin thin and 
 of a deep yellow^; loosely adhered; pulp, dark orange 
 color, spicy and aromatic. 
 
 moragne's tangierine. 
 
 Tree largest of its family ; size and foliage more nearly 
 ^:esembling the sweet orange; fruit large, flattened, of a 
 deep crimson color ; skin adhering lightly to pulp ; juice 
 sweet and aromatic. 
 
 BIJOU, 
 
 Or, as it is often called, Dancy's Tangierine. This is a 
 seedling of the Moragne Tangierine, and resembles it 
 closely, except that the fruit is of superior quality. The 
 tree is a strong, upright grower. 
 
ABOUT VARIETIES. 139 
 
 SATSUMA.* 
 
 This is another of the kid-glove oranges only recently- 
 introduced, and is destined to take high rank as a table 
 and dessert fruit. It was brought to Florida from the 
 island of Kimbin, Japan, in 1874 and in 1878, and takes 
 its name from one of the chief cities of that island. The 
 tree is thornless, the leaves peculiarly thick, lanciolate, 
 medium size, petiole linear. 
 
 The fruit is medium size, flattened; skin, deep orange 
 color, smooth and thin, easily detached ; pulp, dark orange ; 
 segments part freely, fine grain, tender, sweet, and deli- 
 cious ; best in quality of the kid-glove family. 
 
 This tree has one quality which will render it a valuable 
 acquisition to our list of oranges — it is remarkably hardy. 
 During the cold winter of 1880 the cold wave of Decem- 
 ber 25th, which injured so many trees in the northern and 
 central portions of Florida, the Satsuma stood unharmed. 
 On Fort George Island, near the mouth of the St. John's 
 River, where the Satsuma was first planted on Florida soil, 
 lemons, limes, and shaddocks suftered in fruit and limb; 
 sweet oranges lost their leaves and young tender growth, 
 while the Satsumas, close by their side, did not suffer in the 
 least, either in fruit, leaf, or branch, the leaf not even turn- 
 ing yellow or dropping; and in January, 1881, the same 
 experience was repeated. 
 
 SPICE. 
 
 Another of the kid-glove oranges, introduced into the 
 State by Col. Codrington, editor of the Florida Agricultu- 
 rist, from seed planted nine years ago ; hence is yet rare. 
 
 -For some unexplained reason the Satsuma does not thrive when budded 
 on sour orange stock, hence it should never be used, a slow, stunted growth 
 resulting. Always bud the Satsuma ou the sweet orange, grape fruit, lime, 
 or lemon stock, the former two only, however, in the more northern sec- 
 tions of the State. 
 
140 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 It has a small, thick leaf, rather larger than the Tangi- 
 erine, and in smell strongly aromatic ; fruit grows in clus- 
 ters ; is small ; of a rich, red color. " The prettiest orange 
 we have," says Col. Codrington, ''and if cut in bunches 
 and shipped North before Christmas, would command high 
 prices for decorating trees and churches. 
 
 During the severe cold that has so recently (January, 
 1886) visited this State, the Tangierine family have proven 
 themselves almost frost-proof in the following order : Spice, 
 Satsuma, Bijou, Mandarin. The fruit of the Satsuma not 
 being injured. 
 
 This closes the list of kid-glove or Tangierine varieties, 
 which are all favorite market varieties, and figure largely 
 at balls and public banquets. 
 
 And now we come to the latest ripening varieties. 
 
 beach's no. 5 
 
 Is the largest orange grown in the State; pear-shaped; 
 skin smooth ; dark orange color ; pulp, tender and sweet ; 
 fine shipper ; tree very prolific ; is the only orange that 
 makes a full crop every year. Ripens in February, when 
 it blooms again for next crop. 
 
 acis. 
 
 One of the finest late varieties ; of large size and very 
 fine quality ; tree a very strong grower. 
 
 hart's tardiff. 
 
 Or Harfs late, as it is sometimes called ; skin smooth, with 
 deep pits ; color, pale yellow ; sometimes seedless, at others 
 has from one to five seeds ; pulp, sweet, juicy, with a brisk 
 racy flavor. Ripens late in January, and will keep in per- 
 fect order on the tree till July or August. A good fruit 
 for market. 
 
ABOUT VARIETIES. 141 
 
 PHILLIPS BITTER SWEET. 
 
 Fruit large ; skin thin ; pulp tender, juicy, and sub- 
 acid ; slightly bitter and aromatic ; an excellent summer 
 fruit ; the tree is thornless ; is a hybrid between the sweet 
 and sour orange. Every grove should have a few trees. 
 
 MALTESE BLOOD. 
 
 Fruit large, sweet, juicy and seedless; takes its name 
 from the peculiar color of the pulp, which is blood-red 
 in flakes when half ripe, but entirely so when ripe. A 
 favorite fruit ; the tree is thornless. 
 
 There are many other varieties of the orange cultivated 
 in Florida, but these are widely known and highly es- 
 teemed, and a wise selection from those we have named 
 will be all-sufiicient to secure an ample reward of the 
 golden fruit, although it would doubtless be well to set 
 out a few of each new variety introduced, and thus grad- 
 ually determine the most valuable. 
 
142 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 In closing our remarks upon the culture of that golden 
 fruit, the orange, we should leave it incomplete did we not 
 gather in a few ' ' odds and ends " of ideas and experiments 
 that are floating about, here and there, in connection with 
 this interesting subject. One of these is the question of 
 '' overproduction," which seems to be disturbing the minds 
 of many superficial observers. We say superficial observ- 
 ers advisedly, for those who take a second glance into the 
 matter know such a thing to be impossible. 
 
 Orange culture can never be overdone in this country ; 
 the markets can never be so glutted as to make the prices 
 obtained unremunerative, if concerted action be used. 
 
 And why? Because the extent of country where or- 
 anges (and lemons) can be successfully grown is very 
 small compared to the extent of country ready and willing 
 to purchase them. 
 
 In the Mediterranean countries you see all the people 
 eating this Queen of Fruits ; they have been educated to 
 consider it as a necessity, as a part of their daily food, to 
 be bought in preference to other food if there is not money 
 enough to purchase every thing desired. A beggar will 
 buy oranges and go without meat. 
 
 The people of the United States do not yet appreciate 
 the full value and health-giving properties of the orange 
 as an article of food ; it is eaten now rather as a luxury 
 than a necessity ; but they are just coming to a truer ap- 
 preciation of its real value, and before long the voice of 
 one of our most eminent physicians, who has said that ''if 
 each of his patients would eat an orange before breakfast, 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 143 
 
 his practice would soon be gone," will be re-echoed all over 
 the land. 
 
 There are thousands of persons in the United States 
 who have never seen an orange, and other thousands who 
 never obtain one, except at almost prohibitory prices. 
 Some day, as the number of oranges placed on the market 
 increases, these people will be reached, and oranges placed 
 in their hands at the prices for which the more fortunate 
 citizens of our Eastern cities obtain them at present. 
 
 It is quite true, as often stated, that thousands upon 
 thousands of orange trees are being planted all over Flor- 
 ida; but it is safe to add that fully one third of those 
 planted will never come to bearing maturity ; many will 
 fail from wrong treatment ; many will be abandoned by 
 non-persevering owners ; and many more will die because 
 they have been planted too far north, and their strength 
 will be exhausted by too frequent frosts. 
 
 But even supposing that every tree planted came to ma- 
 turity and bore its load of golden fruit, and that every 
 foot of ground on that one twentieth part of Florida, 
 which is all that can ever be utilized for orange culture, 
 should bear its dozen oranges, what would all that amount 
 to when divided among the nearly fifty-eight millions of 
 inhabitants of the United States, such being the population 
 of the present year, 1886 — a population immense now, and 
 doubling every thirty years ? The population will increase 
 almost indefinitely ; the year 1940 will witness a popula- 
 tion in the United States of more than two hundred mill- 
 ions. But nature has fixed the limit of the orange-bearing 
 belt in the United States, and nature's laws are irrevocable. 
 
 The vast markets of the West and the Northwest have 
 never yet received an adequate supply of oranges, the ma- 
 jority of them none at all, and it will be many years be- 
 fore the supply will meet the demand. 
 
144 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 Florida oranges are admitted to be superior to any other 
 in the world, and for this reason, although their numbers 
 are yet comparatively few, they occupy the foremost place, 
 and are eagerly sought for at the highest prices. The ge- 
 nial climate of Florida, and a soil peculiarly adapted to 
 the growth of the orange, coupled with the long period of 
 warmth and sunshine, perfect and concentrate its juices 
 without destroying its aromatic flavor. 
 
 These advantages, joined with a proximity to the great 
 markets, which allows the fruit to remain on the tree until 
 ripe, gives, and always will give, the first rank to Florida 
 oranges in the United States. 
 
 If the orange growers of Europe find it to their advan- 
 tage to ship their inferior fruit to America, the expenses 
 of freight, commissions, and a tariff" (secured by General 
 Sanford, of this State, for the protection of home grow- 
 ers), if, we say, the European growers still reap a good 
 profit, in spite of their drawbacks, what should not the 
 home grower reap, with better fruit, lighter freight, and 
 no tariff"? 
 
 Those who only see the tempting-looking Mediterranean 
 fruit, as set forth for the inspection of the retail consumer, 
 have a very feeble conception of the real extent of the 
 business, or the frequent losses to the shippers. To those 
 who do know, the wonder is that the foreign growers still 
 persevere in sending their fruit so far to meet with such 
 frequent losses. 
 
 Quite often the loss from decay on cargoes from the 
 Mediterranean and the West Indies amounts to fifty, sev- 
 enty-five, or ninety per cent. In many cases not enough 
 is realized from the cargo to pay the freight. When, how- 
 ever, the cargo arrives in good order, its sale often gives 
 the owners a large profit, and so they keep on, after each 
 reverse hoping for " better luck next time." 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 145 
 
 Nor would these profits accrue to the foreign orange as 
 often as they do, were it not for a trick of the trade 
 adopted by some dishonest dealers. Knowing the eager- 
 ness with which Florida oranges are sought, they select 
 the best looking foreign oranges, usually those from Va- 
 lencia, in Spain, mark them " Florida," and sell them as 
 such to unsuspecting or ignorant customers. 
 
 In New York alone, during the Christmas holidays, 
 over fifty millions of oranges are sold, and nearly all of 
 them are labeled *' Florida oranges." A dealer in New 
 York, who largely supplies the Washington and Fulton 
 markets, tells us frankly that all of the best imported 
 fruit is labeled ' ' Florida " to meet the popular demand. 
 
 The day is coming, however, when the superior orange 
 of Florida will drive the inferior imported fruits out of 
 the markets, and there will no longer be any temptation 
 to deceive the consumer. 
 
 It is quite likely that the prices of Florida oranges, as 
 ruling at present, will fall somewhat in years to come, but 
 they will never fall so low as not to be remunerative. 
 Even supposing that the impossible should become pos- 
 sible, and the United States should find more oranges 
 raised on her soil than she could consume with profit to 
 the grower, there is England ready, as has been proven 
 by actual experiment, to buy our oranges at a higher 
 price than she gives for the sour Mediterranean fruit — a 
 price that yields a handsome profit to the producer ; but 
 we shall never, in all probability, have need to seek a for- 
 eign market for our oranges. 
 
 To further show how preposterous the cry of overpro- 
 duction is we will ask how it is that, with the immense 
 area of country devoted all the time in the United States, 
 to raising apples, peaches, plums, cherries, there has not 
 long since been overproduction ? 
 
 13 
 
146 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 
 
 So far is this from being the case, and so profitable have 
 these orchards been to their owners, that instead of any 
 overproduction, the people, like Oliver Twist, call for 
 "more, more," and the demand for nursery stock to set 
 out new orchards is considerably on the increase, although 
 in these fruits nearly all the States are competing with 
 each other, and are able to raise their own temperate cli- 
 mate fruits on their own soil. 
 
 Overproduction of oranges! when there are just as 
 many people waiting to consume the Queen of Fruits as 
 there are to consume all the apples, pears, and peaches 
 raised on ten thousand times the area. 
 
 The question that faces the orange grower is, how to 
 supply the future increasing demand. 
 
 Superior varieties of fruit will always bring superior 
 prices; a fruit with a known name and reputation will 
 rank higher than one unnamed. 
 
 An experienced orange grower said: "Seedling trees 
 are generally eight to ten years coming into bearing, and 
 no two trees in a grove are sure to produce alike, or of as 
 good a quality. While we only get twenty dollars a thou- 
 sand for seedling and unnamed varieties, we get from 
 forty to fifty dollars per thousand for our select varieties. 
 The sooner orange growers understand this the better it 
 will be for them." 
 
 Even supposing that the price of oranges should drop 
 to ten dollars per thousand, which it is not likely to do for 
 the best qualities, the grower would still realize as follows : 
 Given seventy trees to the acre, and each tree bearing only 
 five hundred oranges, that would be five dollars a tree, or 
 three hundred and fifty dollars per acre ; so that a ten-acre 
 grove at these moderate estimates would give an annual 
 income of thirty-five hundred dollars. 
 
 Can you find ten acres North that will give so good a 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 147 
 
 return to the farmer? except, perhaps, a specialty like 
 cranberry raising, for which but little land, comparatively, 
 is available. 
 
 Italy has 4,800,000 lemon trees, which now produce 
 1,200,000,000 lemons per annum, while Florida has not 
 reached the a b c's of orange culture, and virtually has 
 not touched lemon growing; yet we hear no complaint 
 that Italy has even reached the ' ' alarming " point of over- 
 production. 
 
 Having, as we trust, laid the ghost of overproduction 
 to rest, the next point for consideration is a method of in- 
 ducing barren trees to bear, that has only lately come 
 into vogue among our more progressive orange growers,- 
 and is still undreamed of by those v/ho prefer the old time- 
 worn grooves. It is not a new method, having been prac- 
 ticed for years past in many places, and upon many kinds 
 of fruit trees, with uniform success. 
 
 In all groves or orchards, of whatsoever kind, will be 
 found here and there trees that flourish and grow thriftily, 
 yet bear little or no fruit. These are termed barren trees ; 
 and the method we have referred to is designed to produce 
 fruitfulness in these lazy, ne'er-do-wells of the vegetable 
 kingdom. 
 
 There are a good many orange trees at the present time, 
 scattered about, which are old enough and thrifty enough, 
 but never bear a crop. 
 
 Girdling a non-productive tree in order to retard the 
 flow of sap, and encourage the formation of fruit buds 
 rather than wood, is the method we have mentioned, and 
 though only now coming into extensive use, has been 
 known and practiced by pomologists for the last hundred 
 years. 
 
 It is rather curious that we girdle a tree to kill it and 
 girdle it to make it live and be useful. But in the one 
 
148 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORA^'GES. 
 
 case we cut deep through outer and inner bark ; in the 
 other we carefully remove a ring of the outer bark only, 
 from one to three eighths of an inch wide, cutting entirely 
 around the tree or branch, if we only desire to try the ex- 
 periment on the latter. A knife or small saw, with the 
 teeth set wide, will do the work effectually. 
 
 There is an apple orchard out West where alternate rows 
 of young, unbearing trees were girdled, and two years 
 after they were loaded to the ground with the finest fruit, 
 while the rows between them, of the same age, not girdled, 
 had not a single apple on them. 
 
 This practice of girdling is both rational and effective, 
 and is destined to give the intelligent fruit grower consid- 
 erable command over his trees. 
 
 When early bearing is desired the ring of bark should 
 be removed while the tree is growing, during the previous 
 year. For early ripening and increased size of fruit, gir- 
 dle just after the fruit has set. Another way of girdling, 
 which we prefer, consists in winding wire two or three 
 times tightly around the tree, so that the return flow of 
 sap will be retarded. 
 
 Still another way of inducing barren trees to bear, is to 
 drive into the trunk a circle of nails close together ; this 
 has the double effect of girdling the bark sufficiently to 
 retard the sap (which always leads to the formation of 
 fruit), and of introducing into the body of the tree an 
 element which is as needful to vegetable health as it is to 
 human — namely, iron. 
 
 Yet another method of producing fruit was discovered 
 in rather an amusing way some years ago. A high tem- 
 pered man became angered at two of his neighbors, and 
 as they would, in all probability, have objected to his re- 
 lieving his feelings by beating them, he went into his gar- 
 den, where stood two thrifty old plum or pear trees that 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 149 
 
 had never borne fruit. These trees he named as his ob- 
 noxious neighbors, and taking up a club, soothed his feel- 
 ings by giving their tree-namesakes a tremendous drub- 
 bing. This was in the summer ; the trees did not groAV 
 quite as fast as usual, and the next season, for the first 
 time, they bore large crops of fine fruit. Investigation 
 proved that the whipping they had received had bruised 
 the bark so as to retard the flow of sap, just as if they 
 had been girdled. 
 
 Girdling orange trees by any of these methods should 
 be done from June to September, when fruit is wanted for 
 the next year ; and to make large and early fruit, late in 
 March or early in April. 
 
 The China berry tree is said to be a great fertilizer, 
 when planted in the ' ' diamonds " between the orange 
 trees. It profusely drops its foliage, adding a rich humus 
 to the soil. It will abundantly fertilize the soil for a space 
 of thirty or forty feet around it. 
 
 From Australia comes a voice that is echoed from many 
 parts of Florida, saying: ** We have found, not the rem- 
 edy, but better still, the preventive for the scale insect." 
 What is it? A tree that has been making considerable 
 stir in the world of late, because of its anti-malarial and 
 draining properties, the Eucalyptus. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that insects dislike the smell and 
 taste of this remarkable tree, and it has never been known 
 to be attacked by any of their mischievous race. 
 
 Who does not know the peculiar aromatic odor of the 
 Eucalyptus, as from afar the winds waft its perfume? 
 Place some of these trees among your orange trees — the 
 more the better — if your land is inclined to be too moist, 
 and whatever orange trees are near enough to get the 
 benefit of their odor, will be free from insects, even though 
 others around them may be infested with them. This is 
 
150 FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 especially true as regards the scale insect, which appears 
 to have a very great dislike to the Eucalyptus tree. 
 
 It is also claimed that strips of the bark of this tree, 
 tied around the trunks of other trees, will keep insects at 
 bay, just as a few of its leaves scattered about the floor 
 will drive fleas away. These assertions being true, we 
 should judge that a wash made of a strong effusion of 
 Eucalyptus leaves or bark, would be a very effectual 
 weapon wherewith to fight our insect enemies. 
 
 The following tables will be found very valuable for ref- 
 erence in measurements ; 
 
 TABLES OF MEASURES. 
 
 Plants and Trees to an Acre. 
 
 DISTANCE APART. NUMBER. DISTANCE APART. NUMBER. 
 
 6 inches by 6 inches, . . 174,240 13 feet by 13 feet 258 
 
 9 " "9 " .. 77,440 14 '^ 14 " 223 
 
 1 foot by 1 foot, 43,560 15 " 15 " 193 
 
 lA feet by 1 J feet, 19,360 16 " 16 " 171 
 
 2 " 2 " 10,890 17 " 17 " 151 
 
 3 " 3 " 4,840 18 " 18 " 135 
 
 4 " 4 " 2,722 19 " 19 " 120 
 
 5 " 5 " 1,742 20 '' 20 " 108 
 
 6 '' 6 « 1,210 25 " 25 " 69 
 
 7 " 7 " 889 ' 30 " 30 " 48 
 
 8 " 8 " 680 35 " 35 " 35 
 
 9 " 9 " 538 40 " 40 " 27 
 
 10 « 10 " 435 50 " 50 " 17 
 
 11 " 11 " 360 60 " 60 " 12 
 
 12 " 12 " 302 66 " 66 " 10 
 
 Boxes for Measures. 
 A box 19 X 19 inches, 18 inches deep, holds 1 barrel or 3 bushels, 
 A box 16 X 16 inches, 8f inches deep, holds 1 bushel. 
 A box 8^ X 8| inches, 8 inches deep, holds 1 peck. 
 A box 8x4 inches, A\ inches deep, holds 1 gallon. 
 A box 4x4 inches, 4^ inches deep, holds 1 quart, 
 A box 48 X 41 inches, 32 inches deep, holds a ton of coal. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS. 151 
 
 Dimensions of One Acre of Land. 
 
 A piece of ground 5 yards by 968 yards. 
 A piece of ground 10 yards by 484 yards. 
 A piece of ground 20 yards by 242 yards. 
 A piece of ground 40 yards by 121 yards. 
 A piece of ground 70 yards by 69^ yards. 
 A piece of ground 80 yards by 60| yards. 
 A piece of ground 60 feet by 726 feet. 
 A piece of ground 110 feet by 396 feet. 
 A piece of ground 120 feet by 363 feet. 
 A piece of ground 220 feet by 197y\ feet. 
 A piece of ground 240 feet by 181J feet. 
 A piece of ground 440 feet by 99 feet. 
 
 Capacity of Cisterns for each Twelve Inches in Depth. 
 
 25 ft. in diameter holds 3,672 gal. 9 ft. in diameter holds 476 gal. 
 
 20 " " 2,350 " 8 « " 376 " 
 
 15 « « 1,322 " 7 " « 288 " 
 
 12 " " 846 " 6 " « 211 " 
 
 10 " « 687 " 5 « « 147 " 
 
 A measuring cord should be part of the furniture on 
 every farm. To make one, procure sixty-seven feet of 
 strong rope, one inch round ; make a loop or fasten a ring 
 or bar at each end, and make these precisely sixty-six feet 
 apart ; this is four rods. Then tie a piece of red rag in 
 the center. One acre of ground will be a piece four of 
 the cords (chains) long and two and a half 'svide, equal to 
 sixteen by ten rods, making one hundred and sixty square 
 rods to one acre. The advantage of the ring or loop is 
 that one person can measure alone by driving a stake in 
 the ground to hold the rope while he stretches it out. 
 The rope should be soaked in tar and dried, which will 
 prevent it from shrinking when wet. 
 
152 FLOKIDA FRUITS — ^LEMONS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LEMON CULTURE. 
 
 All that has been said in these pages regarding orange 
 culture will apply equally well to lemons, with a few slight 
 modifications. 
 
 One of these differences relates to pruning ; as we have 
 seen, the orange tree will admit of considerable lopping 
 off of its branches, and with benefit. The lemon, on the 
 contrary, resents any such meddling with its branches, un- 
 less they are dead ; then, of course, they must be removed. 
 One single cutting away, especially of the lower branches, 
 that nature intended to shield its trunk from the sun and 
 wind, will put back the tree from one to two years in 
 growth, and seriously affect its vigor and health. 
 
 We remember a case in point : A gentleman had one 
 especial lemon tree near his house, and wishing to make it 
 an ornament to his grounds, determined to curb its strag- 
 gling propensities, and " train it in the way it should go." 
 With knife, saw, and shears, he pruned and lopped until 
 the tree had assumed the desired symmetrical proportions — 
 tall and rounded, its trunk smooth and bare instead of be- 
 ing well nigh hidden by sheltering foliage. 
 
 The tree was expected to bear fruit the next season, but 
 it did not ; it devoted its energies to replacing its lower- 
 most branches. Carefully they were pinched and pruned 
 away ; not a very arduous task was this either, for the 
 growth was weak and slow ; then the leaves turned yellow, 
 new shoots were scarce, and the whole tree assumed a sickly 
 appearance. 
 
 Still the true cause of the trouble was not even sur- 
 mised, and once more the limbs were cut back; another 
 
LEMON CULTURE. 153 
 
 year, two years, and though the tree still lived, that was 
 all it did do ; a few weakly blossoms came straggling out, 
 gave a weary, hopeless sigh, and sank to the ground. 
 
 Then the owner of the tree resolved to cut it down, root 
 and branch, but the gentle housewife pleaded for its ex- 
 istence ; it was near the dwelling, and sickly as it was it 
 gave some needed shelter. 
 
 *'■ Very well, then, let it stay; but I'll do nothing more 
 with it. I'll let it alone entirely." 
 
 So it was "let alone," and that was the greatest boon 
 that could have been granted that unhappy tree. Slowly 
 and cautiously, as though fearful of attracting attention, 
 and hearing more sharp, cutting remarks on its behavior, 
 it put forth new branches low down on its trunk. They 
 grew on until their drooping leaves shaded it once more ; 
 then the top took a start, and all through the season it 
 grew, becoming more and more vigorous. In the spring 
 it set a hundred or more fine lemons, and the next year 
 bore a heavy crop, just because it was " let alone." 
 
 Again, while orange groves may be planted with profit 
 on hammock lands, a lemon grove can not. The trees will 
 not flourish at all in the hammocks ; we do not know why. 
 No explanation of the cause has ever been given, but the 
 fact remains, even with regard to high hammocks. 
 
 The lemon requires a dryer soil than the orange ; hence 
 some locations that suit the latter will not answer at all for 
 the former. The quality of the soil, however, is not of so 
 much importance for the lemon tree as it is for the orange, 
 the latter being a grosser feeder. The lemon will grow 
 well and thriftily where its more epicurean sister would 
 'languish for want of food. 
 
 As a rule, the lemon tree is less hardy than the orange ; 
 a degree of cold that does no harm to the latter wilts the 
 young growth of the lemon and causes its leaves to drop. 
 
154 FLORIDA FRUITS — LEMONS. 
 
 There are exceptions to this rule, however, as we shall 
 see presently, when we come to note the different varieties. 
 
 The culture of the lemon in those of the United States 
 adapted for its growth — Florida, Louisiana, and Southern 
 California — has not yet received the attention due to its 
 national importance ; on the contrary, it has been greatly 
 neglected. 
 
 This state of affairs is largely due to a prevailing opin- 
 ion that it is useless to try to compete with the foreign or 
 Mediterranean lemon ; and certainly the latter is far supe- 
 rior in quality to the orange from the same localities, a fact 
 abundantly proved by recent statistics, which show an 
 enormous increase in the importations during the last few 
 years, and a corresponding decrease in the amount of 
 oranges brought into this country. 
 
 Now, there is no reason whatever why the hundreds of 
 thousands of dollars annually sent out by the United 
 States in exchange for this popular and necessary fruit 
 should not be kept at home, and go to enrich our own cit- 
 izens rather than foreigners. 
 
 The whole trouble has originated, first, in the inexperi- 
 ence of the growers in properly gathering and curing the 
 lemon for market; second, in the general and erroneous 
 impression that the lemon tree is more liable to become 
 diseased than the orange; third, the fact that nearly all 
 seedling lemon trees bear fruit with a rind so bitter and 
 coarse as to be unfit for market ; and fourth, in a totally 
 mistaken idea on the part of the growers as to the kind of 
 lemon most popular in the markets. 
 
 But latterly, our people have waked up to the impor- 
 tance of the subject, and these old-time rocks in the sea 
 of lemon culture are being at last blown to atoms before 
 the ''Hercules powder" of investigation and common- 
 sense. 
 
LEMON CULTURE. 155 
 
 The first rock — that of the lemons reaching market in 
 bad condition — has been removed. They used to be picked 
 when quite ripe, packed at once, and sent off, to be found 
 almost invariably heated and rotten at their journey's end. 
 But now they may be kept perfectly good for six months 
 or more by proper treatment, and they will improve rather 
 than deteriorate by being so kept. 
 
 It is a very simple matter, this preparation of lemons 
 for market, being exactly the same process we have already 
 described as applied to oranges, namely, an avoidance of 
 moisture while curing, by spreading the fruit on well-ven- 
 tilated shelves, and afterward sorting in grades and wrap- 
 ping in manilla paper. 
 
 But at the outset there is one point of difference, and 
 this it is which is of paramount importance, involving suc- 
 cess or failure. The orange will keep well, even if picked 
 when quite ripe ; the lemon will not. It must be picked 
 when just commencing to turn yellow, and at least one 
 half of the rind is still green ; picked in this condition it 
 should be kept on the drying shelves for at least six or 
 eight weeks. 
 
 This is the secret of curing lemons successfully, as recom- 
 mended by a special committee of California citrus-fruit 
 growers, appointed expressly for the purpose of investigat- 
 ing this important subject. 
 
 The second rock that has stood in the way of lemon cul- 
 ture in the United States — the idea that the tree is more 
 subject to disease than the orange — doubtless arose from 
 the pioneer trees having been planted on soil too moist for 
 them, under the belief that wherever the orange would 
 flourish, the lemon should do likewise. 
 
 As a matter of fact the latter, in suitable locations, 
 outstrips the orange in the rapidity of its growth, even 
 though on much poorer soil ; it is even less liable to dis- 
 
156 FLORIDA FRUITS — LEMONS. 
 
 ease, and scale insects more rarely attack it. Where an 
 orange tree will bear one thousand oranges, a lemon of 
 the same age will bear from three to five thousand. 
 
 It is rather a notable oddity that the first two or three 
 crops, even of the finest varieties, are apt to be coarse and 
 spongy, and totally unlike the after-crops. One might al- 
 most imagine the tree to be following the example of the 
 ** lords of creation," and ''sowing its wild oats" in its 
 youth, before settling down as a staid, demure ''dealer 
 in first-class fruits only." 
 
 The third rock on which the lemon barque of the United 
 States was ere while threatened with shipwreck, was the 
 "sporting" tendency of the seedling lemon. But our 
 growers have learned at last not to put their faith in trees 
 of this class, for, after patiently waiting for years, the 
 fruit, in nine cases out of ten, is worthless. The moral 
 of this is, raise no seedling lemons for their fruit; they 
 make good, thrifty stocks, and that is all they are good 
 for. 
 
 Bud approved varieties of lemon on lemon, lime, or 
 sweet orange stock ; the last is best of all for the colder 
 sections, as it renders the tree more hardy. Never waste 
 time waiting for a seedling lemon to bear, unless you wish 
 to taste of the " Dead Sea Apple." 
 
 The mistaken idea as to the popular lemon called for by 
 the public is well set forth (in all good faith, however) by 
 the following extract from a work quite recently published 
 about Florida : 
 
 "The tree grows more rapidly, produces fruit sooner, 
 and has larger and better flavored lemons than are found 
 any where else. I have seen and picked lemons of one and 
 a half to two pounds in weight, and at the State fair saw 
 lemons weighing two and a half pounds." 
 
 Now, here is the very rock on which many a lemon- 
 
LEMON CULTURE. 157 
 
 laden barque has gone down. Who wants lemons that weigh 
 from one and a half to two and a half pounds ? Not the 
 saloon-keepers, they will not, when sliced, go into their 
 tumblers ; not the confectioners, their rind is too coarse 
 and bitter, and the juice too scarce; not the private 
 family, they are too much for one and not enough for 
 two; in fact, no one wants these monsters, and ere while 
 our growers were striving to see who could produce the 
 largest lemons that would sell the least. Very large lem- 
 ons are not only rough-skinned, but their centers are hol- 
 low and the pulp contains comparatively little juice. 
 
 This is why the common Florida lemon is good only for 
 home use ; it will not sell in the markets, but is valuable 
 to the growers for family purposes, because it fruits early 
 from the seed, is very prolific, bears constantly, blossoms, 
 ripe and half-grown fruit, and buttons just set, all hang- 
 ing on the tree together. 
 
 Growers are finding out their mistake now as to the 
 right kind of lemons to put on the markets to compete 
 with the foreign fruit. The latter meets the popular want ; 
 therefore, in size, aroma, color, texture of the skin, free- 
 dom from seeds, and the absence of bitterness in the rind 
 after being a long time in water, in all these points we 
 have our model ready at hand, and it must be followed if 
 we of America would drive out the foreigner. 
 
 This same special committee to which we have referred 
 has also pointed out the way to do this ; it collected for 
 investigation lemons from all quarters of the globe — 
 Palermo, Messina, Malaga, Sicily, and Spain, California, 
 Mexico, South America, and Florida. The appearance 
 of the fruit, its size, quality of rind, percentage of acid- 
 ity, bitterness, flavor, and quantity of juice, are the points 
 that were made a basis of comparison. 
 
 And this was the result of long and patient examina- 
 
158 FLORIDA FRUITS — LEMONS. 
 
 tion : that a lemon weighing, when cured, about three 
 ounces, with a soft, smooth, golden-colored rind, is the fa- 
 vorite in all the great markets, and will sell readily at the 
 highest prices where larger and rougher skinned fruit will 
 scarcely sell at all at any price. 
 
 And the directions given, so that this desired quality of 
 fruit may be home-grown, are to discard all trees that after 
 a fair trial continue to show bitterness ; to raise no seedling 
 lemons for fruit, and to exercise great care in selecting 
 buds from trees of proved excellence, that are free from 
 bitterness and rich in citric acid. 
 
 Some of the budded varieties already introduced in Cal- 
 ifornia and Florida were pointed out as well worthy of 
 cultivation, and as already commanding as high a price in 
 the great markets as the best imported lemons. 
 
 Of these, Gary's Eureka stands foremost. Of this lemon 
 we are told that it originated from a chance California 
 seedling, and that the original tree, when only seven years 
 old, produced over two thousand lemons, and that many 
 other trees budded from it on orange stock, three years 
 from the bud, are fruiting heavily ; and that while the or- 
 dinary Sicily lemon brings only ten dollars per thousand 
 in San Francisco, the Eureka brings thirty dollars per 
 thousand. Mr. Gary tells us that he has for years been 
 in search of a truly good le-moii, and now he has at last 
 found it, wherefore he cries, "Eureka!" 
 
 And now let us pass on to our notice of the different 
 varieties that have been proven worthy of cultivation, and, 
 as we have seen, first and foremost comes the 
 
 EUREKA. 
 
 The tree is thornless, a strong grower, and an early and 
 prolific bearer; fruit, medium size, rind sweet, no bitter- 
 ness — a strong, pleasant acid, and seedless. 
 
LEMON CULTURE. 159 
 
 VILLA FRANCA. 
 
 A very fine lemon ; tree an early bearer, and more hardy 
 than most lemons. A growing favorite every where. 
 
 LEMON OF GENOA. 
 
 Introduced from Genoa, Italy. Tree thornless; an 
 early and heavy bearer ; fruit medium size ; sweet rind ; 
 strong, pleasant acid. 
 
 SICILY. 
 
 Tree a prolific bearer ; fruit medium size ; very juicy ; 
 skin very thin ; a good keeper and shipper. 
 
 French's seedling. 
 
 Tree a strong grower, almost thornless; fruit small, 
 rather flattened ; skin very thin, tough, and dense ; pulp 
 fine, juicy, and highly flavored; fully equal to the im- 
 ported Sicily. 
 
 BIJOU. 
 
 This is a superior fruit that has suffered much injustice 
 in this State, owing to the fact that, whether accidentally 
 or otherwise, a lemon really worthless, the Bergamot, has 
 been placed on the market under the name of Bijou, the 
 two being very distinct varieties. The true Bijou is the 
 hardiest among lemon trees, and will bear as much cold, 
 uninjured, as the orange; leaf broad and small; smooth 
 thin skin; very juicy; fine acid. Commences to ripen 
 August 1st. 
 
 variegated. 
 
 Strong grower ; leaves mottled with white ; pale straw 
 color, and several shades of green ; very ornamental ; 
 fruit smooth, thin-skinned ; fine acid ; medium size ; very 
 superior. 
 
160 FLORroA FRUITS — LEMONS. 
 
 NAPOLEON. 
 
 Prolific bearer ; fruit medium size ; thin rind ; very 
 juicy ; shape, oblong. Excellent for fehipping. 
 
 AUGUST. 
 
 Tree a rapid, vigorous grower; new growth, deep pur- 
 ple ; fruit medium size ; smooth, thin skin ; fine acid ; 
 shape, elongated ; a splendid shipper. Ripens August 1st. 
 
 BELAIR PREMroM. 
 
 A very fine variety ; tree strong and thrifty. Fruit of 
 the best; small size; pleasant acid; smooth, thin skin, 
 without bitterness. 
 
OTHER CITRUS FRUITS — LIMES. 161 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OTHER CITRUS FRUITS — LIMES. 
 
 Next after the orange and lemon the lime ranks as the 
 most important member of the celebrated citrus family, 
 and the day is not far distant when the hitherto modest 
 lime will step forward and assert itself as the full equal of 
 the lemon. 
 
 The production of limes in quantity is one of the latent 
 interests that will spring up in the near future of Florida. 
 The lime tree is an early and prolific bearer, and will 
 bring its owner a revenue more quickly than any other of 
 the citrus fruits. 
 
 The lime, which is found scattered over the State, and 
 known as the "Florida lime," is in reality the Mexican 
 lime, and is well worthy of extended culture. It never 
 "sports" like the lemon, but is a quiet, steady-going tree, 
 coming true to its seed always, growing rapidly, and pro- 
 ducing abundantly good fruit in poor soil when only three 
 years old. 
 
 Wherever the lime is introduced it receives a warm wel- 
 come ; its acid is more pleasant than that of the lemon ; 
 its juice far more abundant in proportion to its size, and, 
 being smaller than the lemon, is highly esteemed ; and, in 
 fact, preferred before the latter for hotel, saloon, and culi- 
 nary uses. 
 
 Pickled and preserved limes are justly celebrated, and a 
 jelly made of limes is also delicious. 
 
 With all these points in its favor, how is it that compar- 
 atively so few limes are planted ? 
 
 There are two reasons, we are told. First, because the 
 lime tree is the most delicate, as regards cold, of the citrus 
 
 14 
 
162 FLORIDA FRUITS OTHER CITRUS FRUITS. 
 
 family, and is often touched by frosts; second, because 
 the fruit does not ship well ; and third, because the prices 
 it brings in market are not as great as those for oranges or 
 lemons. 
 
 Granted — the first reason ; but the injury done by the 
 cold in South and East Florida is, after all, infrequent, 
 and rarely amounts to more than killing the tender new 
 growth which the lime is ever putting on, regardless of 
 season, drought, or poor soil, and this does not really hurt 
 the tree. It is true that the area of successful growth of 
 the lime is limited; all the better, then, for those who 
 dwell within that area ; there is no danger of their enter- 
 prise being overdone. Therefore, South and East Florida 
 may pass by this first reason for non-cultivation of the 
 lime as of minor importance to them at least. 
 
 Now for the second — '' the fruit will not ship well;" we 
 move an amendment: ''It Jias not shipped well;" and 
 then we grant this too. But this is not the fault of the 
 fruit any more than that of the sweated orange, which, 
 started on its downward journey by heedless or ignorant 
 hands, reaches its destination in an unsalable condition. 
 This frequently happens, yet we never heard any one say 
 that the " orange will not ship well," nor does any one re- 
 fuse to set out groves of the same on this account. 
 
 The truth is that the lime will ship just as well as its 
 kindred fruit, the lemon, if picked when only a quarter 
 or half ripe, cured on drying shelves, and packed just like 
 oranges and lemons. 
 
 But we have never known a single instance where this 
 ordinary care has been taken with the lime. It has never 
 had a fair chance given it to reach its market in good con- 
 dition. Nor is the absence of the curing process the only 
 trouble, as a prominent grower plainly puts the case : 
 
 "Our producers have not selected their fruit. They 
 
LIMES. 163 
 
 have not sent to market only first-class fruit, but have 
 sent instead a heterogeneous collection of large, small, 
 ripe, green, and in some instances, from sheer carelessness, 
 half-rotten fruit. Of course the merchant returned ac- 
 count of sales ' niV I will say, in this connection, that I 
 have just received account sales of my last shipment of 
 limes, returning me, net, seven dollars and forty-five cents 
 per thousand, and written on the margin was, ' Good, well- 
 selected limes looking up.'" 
 
 This tells the whole story. Prepare and pack limes 
 properly, that they may be fairly introduced into the 
 great fruit marts, and the convenience of using them, as 
 compared with the large lemons, will soon make them for- 
 midable rivals to the latter. 
 
 A citric acid manufactory, to take up the ''culls" of 
 our lime trees, would be a great boon to this State, and 
 put thousands of dollars in the pockets of the people very 
 speedily, for there is no tedious waiting for ten or twelve 
 years for limes to come into profit. Commencing to bear 
 at the third year from the seed, they rapidly increase in 
 bearing capacity, until, when they are twelve years old, 
 they bear from three to five thousand limes. 
 
 Now, suppose one hundred seedling orange trees and 
 one hundred limes to be set out at the same time ; at twelve 
 years of age the one hundred orange trees, carefully culti- 
 vated and fertilized, will yield little if any income. The 
 one hundred lime trees, much neglected and unfertilized, 
 will be each bearing, say three thousand limes. Suppose 
 they sell for only three dollars per thousand, net; well, 
 here we have an income of nine hundred dollars for the 
 hundred lime trees occupying less than one acre of ground. 
 
 The lime tree is of low, bushy habit, and does not so 
 deeply resent trimming up as does the lemon. Tall, up- 
 right trees, with smooth, bare trunks, have been shaped 
 
164 FLORIDA FRUITS — OTHER CITRUS FRUITS. 
 
 from the lime ; but it is better to let nature take her own 
 way, and she intended the lime to be a tall, pyramidal 
 bush, rather than a tree. All that is desirable is to prevent 
 the lower branches from lying on the ground, and to trim 
 out the center so that air and sunshine may reach every part. 
 
 In raising seedling limes always select the seed from the 
 largest and most perfect fruit, and the fruit from this is 
 sure to be of the same quality as the parent ; a seedling 
 lime destined to bear the best quality shows it at once by 
 the dark color of its new growth. There are only two or 
 three varieties of the lime, and these are the 
 
 Tahiti. Strong grower, nearly thornless ; very early 
 and heavy bearer ; fruit large ; strong, rich acid. 
 
 Florida. Introduced from Mexico, and known in Cal- 
 ifornia as the Mexican. Fruit medium size ; skin smooth 
 and thin ; juice, acid, rich and abundant. 
 
 Sweet or Dulcis. Large, thick-skinned, pulpy; valued 
 only as a variety, and for preserving. 
 
 Persian. Lately introduced ; a very superior sort. 
 Fruit large, and often exceeds the ordinary lemon in 
 size; juice a very pleasant acid; pulp tender and seed- 
 less ; bears frost well. 
 
 THE CITRON. 
 
 The citron, like the lemon and lime, is more susceptible 
 to cold than the orange, and is the least esteemed of the 
 citrus family, with the single exception of the shaddock. 
 The tree is rather dwarfish, attaining the height of eight 
 feet; is erect and irregular in growth, and has many 
 drooping branches, with short thorns. 
 
 The fruit is quite large' and heavy, and of several varie- 
 ties and shapes. In Florida but two kinds are extensively 
 known, but in Europe six varieties are cultivated, the 
 common, the flat-fruited, the forbidden-fruited, the round- 
 fruited, and the thick-leaved. In all these sorts there are 
 
THE SHADDOCK. 165 
 
 two rinds — the outer one thin, with miliary glands, full of 
 a very fragrant oil ; the inner thick, white, and fungous. 
 It is for this thick rind only that the citron is valued, it 
 being used extensively in confectionery, both in its can- 
 died and ''preserved" forms. The United States has 
 always received its supply of candied citron from abroad, 
 as it has been supposed that the fruit, as grown here, could 
 not be as well cured as the foreign grown. 
 
 This idea has lately, however, been proved to be incor- 
 rect, and now, in San Francisco, we find a wide-awake firm 
 advertising for all the citrons that can be raised in Cali- 
 fornia, and that, too, at good paying rates to the grower. 
 
 In Florida some of our energetic house-keepers have 
 been quietly experimenting, and the result has been a 
 better and finer article than the imported candied citron, 
 bringing the highest price whenever placed on the market. 
 
 The sooner our people realize that there is money in the 
 citron, the better it will be for them. The fruit is easily 
 prepared for market and is very profitable. The tree is 
 readily propagated from cuttings, which bear fruit in two 
 or three years ; it also grows readily from seed. The vari- 
 eties grown in Florida are the 
 
 Orange. Shape round, like an orange ; size large ; skin 
 pale yellow, rough and glossy; inner skin white, coarse, 
 and thick ; a very desirable variety. 
 
 Lemon. Shape oblong, like a lemon ; size very large, 
 weighing from two to eight pounds ; skin light yellow ; 
 rough and glossy ; inner skin thick, spongy, and aromatic. 
 The best sort for general cultivation. 
 
 THE SHADDOCK. 
 
 The shaddock is a strong, thrifty grower; its general 
 appearance closely resembles the orange ; its leaves, how- 
 ever, are larger, and have a broad-winged petiole, and its 
 
1G6 FLORIDA FRUITS — OTHER CITRUS FRUITS. 
 
 habit of growth is more irregular and spreading ; the fruit 
 is very large, and not greatly esteemed, although the sub- 
 acid juice is very refreshing. It ripens in the early winter, 
 and continues on the tree in good condition until May and 
 June. Varieties are : 
 
 Mammoth. Fruit very large ; skin smooth, glossy, pale 
 yellow ; rind thick, spongy, and bitter ; pulp green, watery, 
 and sub-acid. 
 
 Blood. Resembles the mammoth in all respects except 
 that the pulp is red, and the flavor of juice more delicate. 
 
 Grape Fruit or Pomolo. This fruit is held by some to 
 be a distinct species, but it is no doubt a variety of the 
 shaddock, and the most esteemed. Fruit is pale yellow, 
 small compared to the other varieties of the shaddock ; 
 skin smooth, rather thin ; pulp sub-acid and very refresh- 
 ing, with a decided grape flavor ; hence its most popular 
 name. It is rapidly coming into favor in the Northern 
 markets ; many prefer it to the orange. 
 
PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 167 ^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PINE-APPLES. 
 
 Next in importance to the culture of oranges and lem- 
 ons in Florida, and destined to rival even these fruits in 
 the future, comes the pine-apple, most fragrant of all 
 fruits, and second to none in delicious flavor. 
 
 This industry, like those just mentioned, is still in its 
 infancy here, and consequently there are many conflict- 
 ing opinions as to the best soils and modes of culture. 
 
 From a mass of opinions on this subject we have endeav- 
 ored to sift out facts, and to recommend a mode of culture 
 which may be relied on as safe to follow, and reasonably 
 certain to lead to success. 
 
 One writer on pine-apple culture tells us that "the best 
 soil for them is new, rich land, closely underlaid with 
 clay;" another says, "the soil should be very rich, and is 
 better to be all clay," while others recommend rich ham- 
 mock land. 
 
 Now, all this may be true in certain places and latitudes, 
 but it is not true in Florida, as a rule. Pine land gives 
 the best result in every instance upon record, and it needs 
 but little fertilizing either. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose the pine-apple needs a very 
 rich soil to do its best ; it is a plant that wants ouly mod- 
 erate food, and is easily surfeited, and its growth actually 
 retarded by too much fertilizing : and in this fact lies the 
 secret of the failure of nearly all who have not succeeded 
 in raising this delicious fruit successfully. 
 
 Rarely, indeed, is the man who set out his pine-apple 
 plantation on rich hammock land found extending it — at 
 least not on the same soil— while, whenever a patch has 
 
168 FLORIDA FRUITS — PINE- APPLES. 
 
 been started on pine land, and moderately cared for, you 
 will find the owner preparing to plant more and more in 
 sheer delight at the ' ' treasure trove " he has discovered at 
 his feet. Even the poorest pine land, moderately fertil- 
 ized, with a yellow subsoil close to the surface, has been 
 proved to give better plants and larger fruits than rich 
 hammock lands adjoining. 
 
 Another mistake, that is not made so frequently as it 
 used to be, was setting the plants on moist land. The 
 pine-apple is closely allied to air plants, and therefore is 
 not only a moderate feeder, but also a moderate drinker ; 
 its long, narrow leaves draw no small share of its required 
 nutriment and moisture from the air, leaving the roots 
 little to do. 
 
 Pine-apples, unlike most other fruits, are not propagated 
 from the seed, for it is a singular fact that not more than 
 one fruit in a million of the cultivated varieties contains 
 a single seed ; hence, if compelled to depend on seeds for 
 their increase, we should be badly off indeed. When seeds 
 are found they are regarded as great treasures, and care- 
 fully planted ; for from this source only can new varieties 
 be obtained ; sometimes they prove valuable, more times 
 not. 
 
 The pine-apple plant, like the banana, bears fruit but 
 once and then dies down ; if the old root is left in the 
 ground, suckers rise up from the base of the leaves near 
 the ground. As soon as these attain a sufficient size, the 
 root should be raised and cut, with one sucker to each 
 piece, and these pieces set where they are to stay. 
 
 At the top of the fruit is a crest of leaves called the 
 crown, and surrounding this, at its base, are other tufts 
 called crownlets ; while at the base of the fruit itself, sur- 
 mounting the stem upon which it grows, are still other oflT- 
 sets termed slips. Upon the stalk which bears the pine 
 
PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 169 
 
 are "eyes," which, treated like grape cuttings, are also 
 used to increase rare varieties. 
 
 From these sources — suckers, crowns, crownlets, slips, 
 and eyes — pine-apples are easily and abundantly propa- 
 gated, and these are usually sought after in the order 
 named, from the idea that suckers fruit first, crowns next, 
 and so on. 
 
 This too, however, has been shown to be an erroneous 
 impression; the fact is, that the size of the plant alone 
 governs its fruiting. Given a large sucker and a small 
 slip, and keep them growing equally fast, then, of course, 
 the sucker will fruit first, the slip last ; but reverse these 
 conditions, take a large slip and a small sucker, and the 
 slip will be the first to yield up its luscious treasure. 
 
 It is of no advantage to send to a nursery or else- 
 where for ready-rooted plants. Get as large sized plants 
 as you can to start with, but any roots that they may 
 have before coming into your possession you may count 
 as nil. 
 
 Pine-apple rootlets are of so tender and perishable a na- 
 ture that even if they survive transplanting, they will be 
 longer in reviving and going to work again than new roots 
 will be in forming and taking hold ; consequently, rooted 
 plants are no desideratum. 
 
 It is a very easy matter to root suckers, crowns, crown- 
 lets, and slips after you have them on the ground ready 
 for planting, and it is better to start them on their root- 
 ward journey before setting them out in their permanent 
 places. 
 
 As a preliminary, carefully pull off* the overlapping 
 leaves at the base for an inch or half inch, according to 
 the size of the offsets ; this will facilitate the rooting pro- 
 cess; then make a bed of damp moss, keep it damp, and 
 place them, base downward, in it, just as you would place 
 
 15 
 
170 FLORIDA FEUITS — PINE- APPLES. 
 
 them in the ground when planting ; cover them with more 
 moss, not damp, and place them in a shady spot. 
 
 After they have lain thus a week or two examine them, 
 and plant those that have sent forth slender white rootlets 
 a half inch or more in length; some will take several 
 weeks longer than others to do this, but it is best to wait 
 their time before setting them out, and they will grow 
 off more surely and thrifty by this method than by any 
 other. 
 
 Some planters recommend leaving the offsets exposed to 
 the sun for weeks or even months to facilitate rooting ; but 
 while the plants will really root under this heroic treat- 
 ment, it is at the exj^ense of their ultimate thrift, and the 
 rooting in the damp moss and in the shade is by far a 
 better plan, and one that makes a certainty of the after 
 well-being of every offset; not one will be lost by this 
 method. 
 
 But no matter how the plants are rooted, it is necessary 
 to see that after being set out they do not lack moisture 
 until thoroughly established — a period that will be known 
 by a wider opening of the offset in the center, and new 
 leaves appearing there ; after that they may be mulched 
 when the soil is moist, and left to take care of themselves, 
 so far as moisture is concerned. 
 
 In preparing ground for a pine-apple plantation, parallel 
 lines three feet apart should be laid off, and a compost of 
 well-rotted stable manure and muck, or leaves, or muck 
 and bone-meal spread in along these lines for a width of 
 about eighteen inches and a depth of one foot. 
 
 The trenches thus prepared should be settled by one or 
 more heavy rains before setting out the plants. The latter 
 should be placed two feet apart, not closer, to insure each 
 plant plenty of room ; too close planting will, of a surety, 
 stunt both plant and fruit. 
 
PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 171 
 
 In the West Indies and Bahamas, the growers plant 
 close to keep down the weeds, and they succeed admirably 
 in keeping down the fruit also. They plant from twenty 
 thousand to twenty-five thousand on an acre ; this is why 
 we see so much small and inferior fruit thrown on the 
 American markets. 
 
 Planted as the experience of our leading Florida grow- 
 ers recommend, as given above, an acre will contain, say 
 six thousand five hundred plants; these, at twenty-five 
 cents for each fruit, will bring their owners the respectable 
 sum of one thousand six hundred and twenty-five dollars — 
 no mean showing as the earnings of one acre of ground ; 
 and in addition to this amount of hard cash must be added 
 its representative in the shape of the suckers, crownlets, 
 and slips that remain after the fruit is ready for market, 
 enough to set out two or three acres of land. 
 
 Sometimes fruit is obtained in twenty months, oftener 
 in two years, and sometimes not for three or more from 
 the setting out of the offsets ; it all depends on the care 
 they receive, and, above all, on their proper protection 
 from frost. 
 
 Pine-apples once started need little care, almost none if 
 the ground about them is heavily mulched ; they should 
 be mulched to keep down weeds, this latter being the ex- 
 tent of their requirements after being properly prepared 
 at the outset. Some growers prefer frequent cultivation 
 with hoe or harrow instead of mulching ; it is as yet an 
 open question as to which mode is preferable. Soil and 
 location must decide this matter in individual cases. The 
 question of frost protection is a most important one to the 
 Florida grower, for the plant is essentially tropical, and the 
 least frost injures it more or less; a light frost only kills 
 the leaves, and if the plant is not near fruiting this injury 
 will only diminish its size and retard the fruiting season. 
 
172 FLORIDA FRUITS — PINE-APPLES. 
 
 But let the plant be large and well on toward the fruit- 
 ing time, and then if the leaves are killed the fruit will 
 be small and unmarketable, while if water should be stand- 
 ing in the little cup formed by the center leaves, when a 
 sharp frost sufficient to freeze the water chances that way, 
 woe to the plant itself; its tender life currents will be so 
 chilled and shocked as never more to grow, and the plant 
 will droop and die, to be replaced by feeble suckers. 
 
 But there is no need that such mishaps should occur 
 with a careful planter; a slight protection will insure the 
 safety of the pine-apple in sections where frost sometimes 
 occurs. 
 
 While the plants are small a couple of sticks — shingles 
 are convenient for making them — stuck down so that their 
 tops meet above the plant, with a handful of the long gray 
 moss so abundant in the hammocks — which, by the way, 
 is no moss at all, but belongs to the pine-apple family, and 
 is an air-plant — dropped over them, is all-sufficient. 
 
 When they become too large for this, two ten- or twelve- 
 inch boards, nailed together at a right angle, and then 
 placed over the plant like an inverted trough, afford an 
 excellent shelter. If the boards are not over ten feet long, 
 one man can easily lift them into position on the approach 
 of a threatening night, for it is at night that the Florida 
 frosts nearly always occur. 
 
 Another method of protection is to drive down low 
 stakes among the pine-apples, to lay small scantling or 
 rails from stake to stake, and on these pile brush, corn- 
 stalks, any thing that will serve as a shelter ; cloths or 
 bagging are also often stretched over the protecting frame- 
 work, and these, though a little expensive at the outset, 
 are really economical in the end, since the one expense 
 serves for season after season, while brush must be collected 
 and removed each year. 
 
PINE- APPLE CULTURE. 173 
 
 Yet another way of protecting pine-apples, and, in fact, 
 any plant from frost, is to make ready here and there, espe- 
 cially to the north and west of the plantation, small piles of 
 heavy timber, with light-wood knots ready for kindling on 
 the approach of frost. Plenty of leaves and dampened 
 brush should also be at hand to cast on the blaze when 
 once fairly started, so as to make a "smudge fire" — that 
 is, one that will give out a sufficient heat while not burn- 
 ing away freely or clearly, the more smoke, the better. 
 
 The cold winds that sweep Florida once or twice in ordi- 
 nary winters invariably come from the northwest, and in 
 arranging these protecting ''smudge fires," this should be 
 held in mind, and the cold winds made useful by wafting 
 the warmest air just where it is wanted. 
 
 Although, as we have seen, new varieties can only be 
 obtained from those very rare jewels, pine-apple seeds, and 
 not more than one in a hundred of these is of any value, 
 yet by long years of patience and perseverance a number 
 of varieties have been secured. Of these the following 
 have been introduced and successfully cultivated in Flor-. 
 ida ; doubtless others will follow : 
 
 SPANISH. 
 
 This pine-apple has a bewildering number of aliases, as 
 follows : " The Ked Spanish," " Red Pine," because of the 
 reddish tint of its leaves and bloom ; ' ' Black Spanish " and 
 *' Black Jamaica," because in certain stages of its growth 
 the fruit is very dark, almost black ; and last, ' ' Commer- 
 cial Pine," because of its fine shipping qualities, which 
 cause it to rank high in a commercial point of view. 
 
 This plant fruits sooner than the Sugar-loaf, and bears 
 a greater degree of cold without injury, and also grows 
 more thrifty on poor land, but the quality of its fruit is 
 not so good. The latter drawback, however, is not con- 
 
174 FLORIDA FRUITS PINE- APPLES. 
 
 sidered of mucli importance in its commercial value, and 
 the Spanish to-day is the favorite pine-apple with the 
 "large" Florida planter. 
 
 SUGAR-LOAF. 
 
 This is a superior fruit, fragrant and delicious in flavor, 
 but inferior in size to the Spanish, and for this reason not 
 so generally cultivated for market. The Egyptian Queen 
 or Trinidad, and the smooth-leaved Cayenne are fine va- 
 rieties, the fruit of the former being considered superior 
 to the Sugar-loaf, while the large fruit and the smooth 
 leaves of the Cayenne makes it a very desirable sort to 
 cultivate ; one of the drawbacks to pine-apple culture be- 
 ing the torn clothes and flesh that are apt to follow quick 
 or careless movements among its prickly leaves. 
 
 In the Azores where, as in Florida, freezing winds some- 
 times sweep over the islands, pine-apple culture is one of 
 the great staples, and vast conservatories are built on pur- 
 pose to preserve the fruiting plants from the uncertainties 
 of the climate. 
 
 Fruiting plants, we repeat — for there is a distinction 
 made between plants too small and those large enough to 
 bear fruit — the former are left in the open ground to take 
 their chances as best they may, until they are nearly ready 
 to fruit, then they are carefully taken up and placed in 
 the conservatory, where the whole energies of the gar- 
 dener are devoted to the task of coaxing out of them the 
 largest and finest pine-apples possible. 
 
 This plant, as we have seen, does not fruit at any given 
 time of year, but according to its size : and it is a point 
 with Azorians to place their best fruit in the London mar- 
 ket during the Christmas festivities and the height of the 
 "season." They have found a method of making their 
 plants fruit at the proper time by constant attention, to 
 
PINE-APPLE CULTURE. 175 
 
 hurry their growth, or none at all, to retard it. Sometimes 
 they even resort to the heroic treatment of sacrificing the 
 bloom, so as to induce the immediate starting of the suck- 
 ers that always appear at the blooming season, ready to 
 grow off rapidly and bear fruit on their own account at a 
 more suitable season than that essayed by their parents, 
 whose career was, as we have seen, "nipped in the bud." 
 
 Great care is taken in handling and packing the fruit, 
 so that it may reach its market in full perfection. Choice 
 specimens, frequently weighing twelve to fifteen pounds, 
 are cut with the stem several inches below the fruit ; then 
 an ordinary flower-pot, or even a tin can is filled with 
 mold, and the stalk inserted in the latter in such a manner 
 that it looks as though it were grown there; each pine 
 thus prepared is placed in a wooden skeleton case, just 
 large enough to hold it, the pine being first wrapped in 
 paper ; in this way it can be transported without risk of 
 injury. Extra choice fruit, such as we have described, is 
 frequently sold in London for from twelve to fifteen dol- 
 lars each, but usually the best prices obtained are from four 
 to five dollars each. 
 
 The Florida grower has not the incentive of such extra- 
 ordinary prices for his pines, but still there is profit enough 
 even in the American markets, to induce careful culture 
 and packing ; and, therefore, he would do well to follow 
 the example of the Azorian grower. 
 
 Pine-apples, growing as they do on a tall stem, must 
 naturally, as they grow large and heavy, incline to one 
 side or other, and finally, if not prevented, will lie })ros- 
 trate among the leaves or on the ground, exposed on the 
 one side to rot from undue moisture, on the other to sun- 
 scorch from the direct rays of the sun falling on it while 
 moist with dew or rain. The pine-apple stalk should, 
 therefore, be secured to a stake to keep the fruit upright. 
 
176 FLORIDA FRUITS — PINE-APPLES. 
 
 In its wild state, when the ripe fruit falls over in this 
 manner, the several crownlets and slips at the base of crown 
 and fruit send down tendrils and take root ; and then, thus 
 established in life on their own account, they become de- 
 tached from the parent fruit. It is by this method that 
 large tracts of country become run over with pine-apples 
 in a very short time; in the wild state, moreover, they 
 ripen but once a year. 
 
 When pine-apples are nearly ripe, and unusually wet 
 weather sets in, it is weU, if possible, to shelter the fruit 
 from excess of moisture, as the latter, at this stage of 
 growth, is likely to cause blackness and acidity at the 
 center. 
 
 It has also been noticed that when the long leaves of 
 the plant are drawn up around the pine, it colors better 
 and ripens more evenly. 
 
GUAVA CULTURE. 177 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 
 
 The guava is one of those fruits which, introduced and 
 acclimated in Florida some years back, is not yet fully ap- 
 preciated at its proper commercial value. Year by year, 
 however, the guava is winning its way to the front rank 
 of Florida fruits, and it only needs the establishment of 
 guava-jelly factories to give an immense impetus to the 
 planting of this valuable fruit, the chief drawback to its 
 extended culture thus far having been its perishable na- 
 ture, its skin and general texture being much like that of 
 a pear, only that it is more juicy, and in transit this juice 
 is apt to be pressed out. 
 
 But no energetic person, as we shall presently see, need 
 wait for the establishment of neighboring factories for 
 making jelly of the fruit he raises, for it can be made at 
 home, and the large profit therefrom accruing be placed 
 directly in his own pocket. Or, if he is so circumstanced 
 as not to be able to do this, there has lately been opened a 
 way to ship his fruit without danger of loss in transit, and 
 that is simply by drying it, just as any other fruit is dried. 
 There are small family fruit evaporators now in the market 
 that can be procured at a cost of only a fcAV dollars, but 
 as it is not every one who can afford even these few dol- 
 lars, or who can conveniently procure the evaporators, even 
 when the money to do so is forthcoming, we give below 
 the plan of a home-made evaporator, which can be made 
 by any one of ordinary intelligence. This will be found 
 useful, not only for guavas but for all other fruits that one 
 may wish to preserve by this method. 
 
 Three things are requisite — a hogshead ; a long, narrow 
 
178 FLORIDA FRUITS — GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 
 
 box, twenty inches deep and wide, and about six feet in 
 length, such as is used for shipping tall nursery trees, and 
 a small stove. 
 
 The hogshead is placed on end and a door sawed out of 
 the side to admit the stove ; a hole eighteen inches square 
 is then made in the top of the hogshead to allow the 
 heat from the stove to pass up into the box, which is 
 stood upright over the hole, the lower end being knocked 
 out, and is carefully fitted down on the hogshead, so that 
 none of the ascending heat shall escape. A hole, sur- 
 rounded by tin, is made in the side of the hogshead, oppo- 
 site the stove, through which to pass the stove-pipe, so that 
 none of the smoke can ascend into the box. 
 
 That which would be the lid of the box if it were on 
 the ground, is fitted on hinges so as to open like a door, 
 thus giving easy access to the interior, which is fitted with 
 open sliding shelves, resting on cleats about three inches 
 apart, one above the other. These shelves should be of 
 wood, with numerous small holes perforated in them, or 
 better still, of stout galvanized wire netting. 
 
 Place the fruit to be dried, cut in strips, on these shelves, 
 close the door, which must fit as tightly as possible, keep 
 up a gentle fire in the stove, and in ten or twelve hours 
 you will have as sweet a dried fruit as you ever tasted, and 
 the cheapest, too, by far, but perhaps not the handsomest 
 looking. 
 
 Guavas dried in this way can be preserved for home use 
 all through the non-bearing season, or shipped to jelly or 
 marmalade factories without risk, and at a much less ex- 
 pense as regards freight than if the ripe fruit were shipped 
 in its natural state. 
 
 Guavas, if well cultivated and moderately fertilized, 
 bear fruit in eighteen months from the seed ; they are also 
 easily raised from layers or slips. 
 
GUAVA CULTURE. 179 
 
 The guava is usually less a tree than a broad, straggling 
 bush, although sometimes trimmed up into tree-shape, and 
 in the more southern parts of Florida it grows so large that 
 it becomes a veritable tree, with branches stout enough to 
 support a person climbing among them, like an apple tree. 
 
 Over considerably more than half the State, however, 
 the ' ' common guava " attains the height and shape of a 
 large bush only, from twelve to fifteen feet high, because, 
 unless carefully protected, it is apt to be killed back by 
 frosts ; but even when this mishap does occur the roots are 
 not injured. Very often the main branches are also unhurt 
 and the plant at once puts forth an amazing amount of 
 energetic growth, and in a few months replaces all it has 
 lost, losing but one season's crop. 
 
 It is a common saying among growers that " if only one 
 crop in three years is secured it pays well to raise guavas ;" 
 but there is no reason why a crop should not be secured 
 every year, the guava being naturally a constant and heavy 
 bearer. 
 
 In setting out guavas where liable to frost, it is best to 
 place them in rows twelve feet apart each way ; this gives 
 them plenty of room, and yet is close enough to render it 
 easy to protect them from frost by driving down stakes here 
 and there along the rows, as close as possible to the main 
 body of the plants on each side, and then nailing to these, 
 long, slender slats, in such a manner that the outlying 
 branches will be pressed inward in a compact mass. The 
 stakes should be high enough to permit a covering of moss 
 or pine boughs to be laid across the top, from side to side, 
 supported by cross-slats here and there. This top cover 
 is very important, as it is the heavy dew that falls on frosty 
 nights, succeeded by the hot rays of the morning sun, that 
 makes all the trouble. To prevent this cold dew and hot 
 sun from touching his tender plants is the one object of 
 the Florida grower's winter protection. 
 
180 FLORIDA FRUITS — GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 
 
 Another method of cheating ''Jack Frost "of his prey 
 is to have ready piles of wood, the bulk of it trash, that 
 will make plenty of smoke to the north and west, since 
 the hurtful winds always come from these directions. 
 Then, when a frosty night is expected, the fires should be 
 kindled and kept " smudged," so that they will burn slowly, 
 yet sufficiently, until dawn. 
 
 If neither of these precautions can be taken, the next 
 best way is to throw earth around their trunks, as high as 
 possible, and let it remain thus until the end of January, 
 and in unusually severe winters even later; then, if the 
 upper branches are " nipped," enough is saved for another 
 vigorous starting point. But the guava is well worth a 
 great deal more trouble and expense in affording it winter 
 protection than is required by any of the methods we have 
 named. 
 
 There are more guavas being set out this year than ever 
 before. Those who do not care to make their fruit into 
 jelly can either dry it for shipping, as we have seen, or 
 else sell it in neighboring towns, where there is always a 
 demand for it at from one dollar to two dollars a bushel ; 
 and even at the latter rate it is very easy to see how prof- 
 itable a fruit the guava is when an acre contains over two 
 hundred plants, yielding each, at three years old (if not 
 killed by frosts), nearly a bushel of fruit. 
 
 Popularly there are supposed to be three distinct varie- 
 ties of the common guava cultivated in Florida, all of 
 them large, averaging five to six ounces, but some speci- 
 mens reaching eight and nine, or more rarely even ten 
 ounces. 
 
 One of these varieties has a bright pink flesh, another 
 yellow, and the third and favorite, white. The skin of 
 all is green when unripe, yellow when matured, and all 
 resemble pears in shape. 
 
GUAVA CULTURE. 181 
 
 But these three apparent varieties are in reality the 
 same ; take the seeds of one sort, plant them and the fruit 
 will not come true only to the kind planted; some will 
 have yellow flesh, some white, some pink, thus proving 
 that the varieties are identical. 
 
 The guava scorns the longest drought, and responds 
 generously to good culture and plenty of food. It needs 
 no pruning except an occasional pinching off of the end 
 of a limb that has grown inordinately long without branch- 
 ing, and a cutting off or layering (for another plant) of 
 such limbs as lie on the ground. The guava is a thrifty 
 grower, not stopping to rest even during the cooler months, 
 and this is why its young growth is so liable to be killed 
 by frost. 
 
 Recently there have been introduced into Florida two 
 varieties of guavas that are frost-proof, and hence are des- 
 tined to be extensively planted as soon as known. The 
 fruit is similar in shape to the common guava, though 
 much smaller, but the bush bears no resemblance at all to 
 its commoner brethren. 
 
 The leaf of the latter is rather large, pea-green, lanceo- 
 late, and ribbed; the new growth being slightly tinged 
 with pink. The frost-proof guavas are more compact and 
 slower in growth : their leaves are small, thick, shiny, and 
 dark green, more like those of a camellia or daphne than 
 those of a guava. 
 
 One of these is the " Cattley guava," so named after 
 Mr. Cattley, who was the first to introduce it into English 
 hot-houses, from its native land, Brazil. The fruit, claret- 
 colored, is not as large as an English walnut, but its lack of 
 size is made up in quality and quantity, its flavor being far 
 superior to that of the ordinary guava, and making a more 
 delicate jelly, while the bush is extremely prolific, an 
 eighteen mouths' old plant sometimes bearing nearly five 
 hundred guavas. 
 
182 FLORIDA FRUITS — GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 
 
 The other frost-proof guava resembles the Cattley, ex- 
 cept that the fruit is about twice as large, and is yellow. 
 Both of these guavas have a decided strawberry flavor. 
 The last mentioued is sometimes called the " yellow guava," 
 but the true name is " Chinese guava." 
 
 These two varieties are scarce as yet, but this is a fault 
 that will mend as time goes on. The grower who plants 
 these need have no fear of frosts, and his yearly profits 
 will be assured without the necessity of winter protection, 
 except in rare cases, as they will survive a temperature 
 of 26°. 
 
 In selecting seed for planting guavas, and, indeed, any 
 other fruit, sow only those from the best specimens to be 
 obtained. This simple precaution will assure vigorous 
 plants and superior fruit. 
 
 The guava, as a home fruit, is extremely valuable, tak- 
 ing the place of the peach in the North, to a great extent, 
 and continuing to ripen from the middle or end of July 
 until the beginning or middle of November, according to 
 the season. The frost-proof guavas are not unfrequently 
 found in bloom all the year around, and this is also the 
 case with the common guava, in localities removed from 
 the influence of cool weather. None of the guavas bear 
 all their blooms at one time and then are done for the year, 
 as is the case with the peach, apple, and kindred fruits. 
 The early spring bloom is, of course, that of the main 
 crop, but ripe fruit and new scattering buds may be seen 
 all through the season on the bush and stem. The various 
 modes of preparing this and other fruits for the table and 
 conmiercial purposes will be fully treated of in our con- 
 cluding chapter. 
 
 THE BANANA. 
 
 This favorite fruit is susceptible of cultivation only in 
 a much more limited area than any of the other Florida 
 
BANANA CULTURE. 183 
 
 fruits, for the reason that it, like the pine-apple, is a true 
 child of the tropics, and can not endure the least touch of 
 frost uninjured; but, unlike the pine-apple, it is not so 
 readily sheltered, owing to its tall nature. In the more 
 southern portions of Florida, especially along the coasts, 
 the raising of bananas for market has become quite an im- 
 portant industry, and even much further north in the 
 State, where occasional frosts catch the plants and kill 
 them to the roots, they are raised in no inconsiderable 
 quantities, and when one remembers the amount of fruit 
 they bear, in proportion to the ground they occupy and 
 the care they receive, it is no wonder that they should be 
 planted wherever there is the least chance of their perfect- 
 ing their fruit. 
 
 Besides their food value (they are very nutritious, and 
 act favorably on the liver), bananas are general favorites 
 simply as fruit, and we rarely meet with a person who is not 
 fond of them; therefore, wherever they have any chance 
 of reaching maturity, the Floridian sets out his banana 
 plants, many or few, according to circumstances. 
 
 North of the twenty-ninth degree they are killed to the 
 ground almost every winter ; south of the twenty-seventh 
 they are seldom touched by frost ; while in the intermedi- 
 ate latitude they do well, rarely losing more than their 
 leaves. 
 
 The banana likes a rich, warm soil — sandy loam is the 
 best ; it does well on moderately moist land, but better on 
 dry, if kept mulched. 
 
 In setting out a plantation of bananas, the young plants 
 should be placed in rows eight feet apart, and nine feet apart 
 in the rows, so set that each plant will be opposite the cen- 
 ter of the vacant space in the next row. By pursuing this 
 plan they will "shelter each other, and yet will not ward off 
 the rays of the sun, of which they can not have too much ; 
 
184 FLORIDA FRUITS — GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 
 
 and, moreover, a consideration not to be despised, their 
 broad leaves will furnish just the amount of shade required 
 by garden vegetables during midsummer, and the fertiliz- 
 ers and cultivation applied to the latter will also benefit 
 the bananas. 
 
 In preparing for the plants holes three feet wide and 
 two feet deep should be dug, and a rich compost of rotted 
 leaves, muck, and manure, or commercial fertilizers, placed 
 in the bottom of the hole, and the rest mixed with the soil 
 that is packed around the roots. 
 
 A mistake our Florida planters usually make is, in not 
 setting the banana deep enough in the ground. The hole, 
 as we have said, should be two feet deep, and if the plant 
 to be set should not be large enough to permit this depth 
 to be filled in around it at once, then the earth should be 
 packed in as far as possible, and the rest filled in gradually 
 as the banana grows upward. In other words, the banana 
 plant, to do its best, must be set at least two feet below 
 the surface of the ground. 
 
 When fifteen months old the banana, if it has no draw- 
 backs, will put forth, from the center of the stem at the 
 top, a curious shaped bloom, that just appears, pointing 
 upward from amid the broad leaves, and then droops out- 
 ward and downward at the end of a stout stalk. The bloom 
 looks much like a fat ear of corn with red husks. These 
 latter lift slowly up, one after the other, as though hinged 
 at the top, revealing the strange, odd-looking "fingers" of 
 bananas, ranged S3^mmetrically beneath them. Each leaf 
 of the husk drops off* after it has done its duty in protect- 
 ing the young fruit from the sun for a day or two, and 
 the next in order of descent raises the lid from its row of 
 fruit. 
 
 The same red husks, brighter inside than out, are just 
 the shape of the popular, long, shell-shaped pickle dishes, 
 
BANANA CULTURE. 185 
 
 and retain their stiffness for days ; and, holding a cupful of 
 water, they make really beautiful bouquet-holders, that the 
 eye can not tell from the finest Japanese red lacquer ware. 
 
 The number of fingers in a cluster of bananas varies 
 greatly, according to the variety of the plant or richness 
 of the soil. The Horse banana, which is most commonly 
 cultivated in Florida, bears from twenty to sixty bananas 
 in fingers or rows of eight to ten. They are usually large, 
 and, when suffered to remain on the plant till nearly ripe, 
 are as fine in flavor as one need wish, but when cut green 
 are apt to be insipid. 
 
 Another banana. Hart's Choice, is superior to the Horse 
 banana in every respect. Both of these varieties will 
 stand a greater degree of cold than any others of their 
 race, and the fruit of each is yellow when ripe, but these 
 are the only main points of resemblance. 
 
 Hart's Choice, a native of the Bahamas, is stout of stem 
 and does not break down beneath the w^eight of its fruit 
 in a gale, as the Horse banana frequently does. It blos- 
 soms early, and in warm weather the fruit may be cut in 
 ninety days thereafter. The other variety is often from 
 one hundred to one hundred and twenty days in ripening. 
 Hart's Choice bears from fifty to one hundred bananas in 
 a cluster. The fruit is four inches long and one and a 
 half in diameter, with a clear, golden-yellow skin, slim as 
 a kid glove; the flesh is firm, yet melting and buttery, 
 sweet and highly aromatic, but not musky like so many of 
 the banana tribe. 
 
 There is no finer banana than this in the world, and 
 Florida owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. E. H. Hart, of 
 Federal Point, whose twelve years' patient efforts and ex- 
 periments led at last to the discovery of the ' ' Hart's 
 Choice" banana, or, as some of our nurserymen have 
 chosen to call it, "Golden Early." 
 
 16 
 
186 FLORIDA FRUITS — GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 
 
 Sooner or later, for it varies greatly as to time, the ba- 
 nana plant will send up suckers from its roots, which in 
 due time are to take its place; for the banana, like the 
 pine-apple, bears fruit but once, and then, if not cut down 
 when the latter is removed, it will soon fall prone on the 
 ground. The best plan is to chop it up (an easy matter) 
 in small pieces, and bury them near the growing plant, as 
 the decaying leaves and stems of a banana plantation fur- 
 nish it with no small amount of fertilizing material. 
 
 The banana will often send up from five to ten suckers, 
 and these should not all be allowed to remain ; if they are 
 the result will be small, stunted plants and fruit. Two 
 are enough to leave with the parent plant; the others 
 should be transplanted when about three feet high. 
 
 It is a fact not generally known or noted, that from 
 transplanted suckers no great results in fruit will be ob- 
 tained. The planter must look for the heaviest fruiting to 
 those stalks that have come up from the parent root and 
 have never been disturbed. Heavy mulching during the 
 summer months will be found of great utility. 
 
STRAWBERRIES. 187 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SMALL FRUITS — STRAWBERRIES. 
 
 Only a few years ago the idea of raising strawberries in 
 Florida for profit, or indeed, even for home use, with any 
 measure of success, was scouted at as chimerical ; though 
 why it should have been so is difficult to tell, since they 
 love a warm sun, a light soil, and abundant moisture, and 
 all these they can find with ease in Florida. 
 
 That it should have been questioned whether there 
 would be profit in the crop for export purposes is not to 
 be wondered at. There is no fruit that requires more 
 careful handling nor more rapid transportation to market 
 than this delicious berry, of which it has been quaintly 
 said: ''Doubtless God could have made a better berry, 
 but he never did." And until very recently these essen- 
 tial points were lacking in our midst. 
 ^ In the face of many discouragements, no little ridicule, 
 and utter ignorance of the proper berries to select for the 
 best results in a climate and soil new to them, a few enter- 
 prising settlers, here and there over the State, set out 
 small plats of strawberry plants for domestic use. 
 
 The first trials were sufficient to dispel the illusion that 
 Florida soil would not raise strawberries to perfection, and 
 further experiments, intelligently and perseveringly con- 
 ducted, have demonstrated the fact that Florida's soil and 
 climate are particularly adapted to their culture, and that 
 this is destined to become one of the largest sources of 
 income. 
 
 For several years past those sections accessible by rail, 
 and therefore having the advantage of rapid transit, have 
 shipped large quantities of strawberries to Northern and 
 
188 FLORIDA FRUITS — SMALT. FRUITS. 
 
 Western markets, at an immense profit to the growers. 
 And now, month by month, these facilities for shipping 
 are increasing and extending ; the railroads and their water 
 connections are reaching out their stalwart arms and em- 
 bracing the whole State, while several of these roads are 
 already running refrigerator cars for the benefit of those 
 who raise the more perishable fruits, among which the 
 strawberry stands foremost. 
 
 Of course all varieties are not suited to light, sandy soils, 
 nor will all pass successfully through our long summer 
 season. Locality influences this fruit more than any other 
 one cause ; therefore, a plant that will bear large, luscious 
 berries in a cool climate and clay soil, will naturally be- 
 come stunted and bear smaller, less delicate-tasted berries 
 under the opposite conditions. 
 
 It was probably some such mistake as this that at first 
 created the impression that it was ' ' no use to try to raise 
 strawberries in Florida." But our people are wiser now 
 about this, as well as many other things of kindred nature. 
 Here, there, every where, at all points where rapid trans- 
 port is at hand, acres upon acres of this delicious berry 
 have been planted, bringing golden return to their owners, 
 and constantly the acreage devoted to this crop is on the 
 increase ; it is larger now (in the spring of 1886) than it was 
 last year, and next year it will be larger still. The man 
 who properly plants and cares for one acre will set out 
 five, ten, twenty acres the following season. 
 
 And no wonder; for the returns from this fruit, put 
 upon the market at a time of year impossible to any but a 
 Floridian, are something enormous. From one thousand 
 to two thousand dollars per acre are not infrequently 
 made, and sometimes more, with a favorable season and 
 the plants in full bearing ; even the first crop often yields 
 from five hundred to eight hundred dollars. 
 
STRAWBERRIES. 189 
 
 Before proceeding to tell "how to do it," let us quote a 
 few well-authenticated data of profits, carefully collected 
 from the fortunate, or more properly speaking, enterpris- 
 ing recipients, for the special purpose of proving the com- 
 mercial standing of the strawberry in Florida. 
 
 One lady reports from one eighth of an acre pine land, 
 set out and tended by herself, fertilized with a compost of 
 cow manure, ashes, and forest leaves, scattered broadcast, 
 the plants not mulched or their roots disturbed during the 
 blooming season, a yield of four hundred quarts, which 
 were sold on the spot at prices varying from seventy-five 
 to fifteen cents a quart, making a return at the rate of six 
 hundred and forty dollars an acre. 
 
 Another cultivator, from the same space, on pine land, 
 no fertilizer, picked three hundred and twenty quarts, and 
 sold them at home for twenty cents a quart. 
 
 A shipment of one thousand and fifty quarts of straw- 
 berries from Jacksonville to New York, in a refrigerator 
 car, gave a return of two thousand six hundred and thirty 
 dollars, being sold at two dollars and a half a quart. The 
 expense of picking and shipping was two hundred and 
 eighty-three dollars, leaving a clear profit of two thousand 
 three hundred and forty-six dollars. 
 
 From Gadsden and Clay counties comes the report of 
 from six to eight thousand quarts raised on one acre ; not 
 once or twice, but many times ; and others can do as well. 
 
 We have now given enough examples to establish our 
 claim that the strawberry is destined to become one of 
 Florida's most valuable crops, particularly in the more 
 central countries, from Sumter northward. 
 
 We would not, however, have our readers infer that the 
 above figures or their close approximate are invariable ; it 
 is, however, safe to count on a profit, year in and year out, 
 of from at least two hundred to three hundred dollars per 
 acre. This is a very low estimate. 
 
190 FLORIDA. FPailTS — SMALL FRUITS. 
 
 The variety of berry planted, the mode of culture, 
 amount of fertilization, supply of moisture, and time of 
 ripening all influence the result. And now let us pass on 
 to the modus operandi. 
 
 Strawberries love moisture, not too much but enough, 
 and continuously supplied ; hence, in selecting ground for 
 their cultivation, choose always a low spot, but not by any 
 means a wet spot, or one not susceptible of drainage ; dry 
 soil on top with moisture near enough to the surface to 
 feed the down-reaching rootlets that are ever crying out 
 for "water, water, more water," is what this berry wants 
 and must have to thrive. 
 
 A level piece of land, with clay from eighteen inches to 
 two feet below the surface, would be a good selection. 
 When shelter from the north and west winds can be pro- 
 cured, it will be found an advantage, as these are the winds 
 that whip out foliage and dry off moisture. 
 
 If no such spot offers, a full measure of success can not 
 be had, unless artificial irrigation can be supplied, and as 
 a matter of fact, in all cases where a large acreage is 
 planted this should be given, either by means of a wind- 
 mill or ram ; this latter is comparatively inexpensive, and 
 in many locations entirely practicable ; and in other cases, 
 again, where a lake or pond is at hand, standing on more 
 elevated land than the strawberry field, a simple aqueduct 
 or pipe line would furnish all the water needed. 
 
 The proper location selected, the next step is to clear the 
 ground thoroughly of all roots and trash, and plow, har- 
 row, and rake until it is smooth and level. Next lay off 
 the beds for the plants ; if in the field, for culture by horse 
 power, mark them three feet apart; if a small garden 
 patch only, for hand culture, eighteen inches between the 
 rows will be ample. 
 
 Many consider the **hiir' system superior to any other; 
 
STRAWBERRIES. 191 
 
 by this method the beds are made four feet wide, and the 
 plants set out in three rows, one in the center, the others 
 fifteen inches from it on either side, and the plants fifteen 
 inches apart in the rows. The finest obtainable fruit is 
 said to be secured by this mode of planting, but it requires 
 hand culture in the beds themselves, though between them 
 the cultivator can be used. Strong, thrifty plants in the 
 ^'hill" protect each other, as the close foliage shades roots 
 and berries. 
 
 For field culture in Florida, however, we believe the 
 narrow row, which is also called the ^'hill" system, and 
 more correctly so than the above, to be the most satisfac- 
 tory in all respects. Mark off" the rows as before, three 
 feet apart, or two and a half if preferred; now, throw 
 down upon them a liberal supply of well-rotted compost, 
 muck, stable or cow manure (do not allow sticks or stub- 
 ble), and either spade or plow it in at least a foot deep; 
 do not make the mistake of treating the strawberry as a 
 surface feeder ; its roots, if they can find food, will go down 
 two feet or more, as they love to do in their search for 
 water, and spread very little on the surface. 
 
 If none of the home manures named can be had (they 
 are to be preferred for turning under because retentive of 
 moisture), use some good commercial fertilizer instead, and 
 do n't be afraid of it either. 
 
 The plants in the narrow row should be set in singe line, 
 ten or twelve inches apart ; if in good soil, one year's growth 
 will make a continous line of green. 
 
 The cultivator will keep the soil clean and mellow, and 
 leave very little to be done by hand ; what there is can be 
 readily done by a simple little iron instrument, readily made 
 by the local blacksmith, in shape thus, T; fasten this to a 
 wooden rake or hoe-handle, and it will be found a most 
 excellent implement for the purpose, as it can be used flat 
 
192 FLORIDA FRUITS — SMALL FRUITS. 
 
 to scrape the surface, or, turned perpendicularly, can be 
 thrust deeply between and close to the plants with scarcely 
 any disturbance, yet, by a side twist, drag out the most 
 obstinate weeds when deep among their roots. 
 
 By this system of planting, the ground is as fully occu- 
 pied as it should be ; each plant receives the proper share 
 of attention, the berries are open to light and air on all 
 sides, and the mulching, which is now considered indispen- 
 sable to good culture, is easily applied. 
 
 There is no doubt that a thick mulch around the plants 
 does exercise a very great influence on their thriftiness ; it 
 keeps the land evenly moist, not wet one day and dry the 
 next to the detriment of the surface roots; it protects the 
 fruit from injury by heavy rains, keeps it out of the dirt, 
 and, to a great extent, prevents the growth of weeds. 
 
 So important is this mulching considered by the straw- 
 berry growers around Charleston, S. C, that they willingly 
 pay one dollar a bale for pine straw, the collection of which, 
 for this purpose, has become a regular business, and use 
 thirty bales to the acre, covering almost the entire ground. 
 They claim that the expense is amply reimbursed, not only 
 in the increased yield of the plants, but in the saving of 
 expense in keeping down the weeds. The Florida grower 
 has plenty of pine straw at hand, free of cost, save that of 
 gathering; wire-grass or leaves would answer the same 
 purpose, though more liable to be disturbed by the winds. 
 
 And now a few words as to the proper mode of setting 
 out the plants ; this is a very important point, apparently 
 very simple, yet it is very seldom done as it should be. 
 The well-known horticulturist, E. P. Koe, speaks feelingly 
 on this subject as follows : 
 
 " We may secure good plants of the best varieties, but 
 if we do not set them out properly the chances are against 
 our success, unless the weather is very favorable. So much 
 
STRAWBERRIES. 193 
 
 depends on a right start in life, even in a strawberry bed. 
 There are no abtruse difficulties in properly imbedding a 
 plant. One would think, if a workman gave five minutes' 
 thought and observation to the subject, he would know ex- 
 actly how to do it; if one used his head as well as his 
 hands it would be perfectly obvious that a plant set with 
 its roots spread out, so that the fresh, moist earth could 
 come in contact with each fiber, would stand a far better 
 chance than one set out any other way. And yet, in spite 
 of all I can say or do, I have never been able to prevent 
 very many of my plants from being set too deeply, so that 
 the crown and tender leaves were covered and smothered 
 with earth, or not deep enough, thus leaving some of the 
 roots exposed. Many others bury the roots in a long, 
 tangled bunch ; others hastily scoop out a shallow hole, in 
 which the roots are placed in the form of a half circle, with 
 the roots which should be down in the cool, moist depths 
 of the soil turned up toward or to the very surface." 
 
 And yet, as Mr. Roe further remarks, "It is almost as 
 easy to set out a plant properly as otherwise," and the re- 
 sults are certainly very different. 
 
 Here is the right way to plant a strawberry. Make a 
 hole deep enough to put the roots, spread out in a fan-like 
 circle, down for their full length into the soil, holding the 
 plant in the left hand ; fill in with the right hand, pressing 
 firmly around the roots ; when the soil is even with the 
 surface, press with both hands as close to the plant as pos- 
 sible, putting on your full weight until the crown is just 
 even with the surface ; if you can pull the plant up again 
 by taking hold of the leaves, you have not made it as firm 
 as it should be. 
 
 This method may seem hard and slow, but once it is 
 learned it can be done very quickly. The negro women 
 around Norfolk, Va., frequently set between two and 
 
 17 
 
194 FLORIDA FRUITS — SMALL FRUITS. 
 
 three thousand plants a day, and do it properly, too. Al- 
 ways plant in moist, freshly-stirred ground, free from lumps 
 or trash. 
 
 If the roots, on receipt of your plants, are found to be 
 sour, black, or moldy, and this often happens if they have 
 journeyed far, wash them in clean, lukewarm water, and 
 carefully trim off the shriveled ends ; let them lie in water 
 for a few hours. After they are set out, sprinkle a hand- 
 ful of fine bone-meal, if you have it, close around the 
 plants, water them liberally, soaking the ground, and 
 mulch heavily. 
 
 Unless the weather be cloudy for several days, at and 
 after the time of setting out, shade must be supplied — 
 palmetto leaves are excellent for this purpose — placed al- 
 most horizontally so as to shelter thoroughly from the sun ; 
 in lieu of palmetto, even a handful of grass dropped on 
 the crown of the plant is better than nothing. 
 
 Do not allow the runners to grow until after the fruit- 
 ing season is over ; if you do, the plants will be less thrifty, 
 the berries smaller, and less in quantity. But after the 
 fruit is all gathered, then let the runners run; if there 
 are any vacant spaces in the rows put down some, so the 
 gaps will be filled, and this is all that needs to be done, 
 so say some of our Florida cultivators, until the time for 
 transplanting or setting out comes round again. 
 
 "Let the weeds grow as they will during the summer 
 season, they will shelter the strawberry plants from the 
 sun, and they will be found all right when you come to 
 cut down and weed out the trash in October." 
 
 And that there is some truth in this statement we have 
 proved in our own garden ; plants utterly hidden from 
 May to September were found to be thrifty and green 
 when summoned from their retirement. 
 
 Another plan, highly recommended by those who have 
 
STRAWBERRIES. 195 
 
 tried it, is to dispense with the mulch after the crop is in, 
 and instead to sow a row of cow-peas, some short, bushy 
 variety, between the rows, and chop them down when the 
 peas are nearly ripe, leaving the roots undisturbed ; the 
 foliage thus cut is to be left on the ground to shade and 
 enrich it, while the cow-pea roots will at once go to work 
 to make good their loss, and by the time setting and culti- 
 vation come around again, a second lot of foliage is ready 
 to be cut and used as a mulch for the fruiting plants ; by 
 this simple, inexpensive method the ground is greatly en- 
 riched, the rows and straggling runners shaded during the 
 summer, and a large supply of mulching grown on the 
 spot without the labor or expense of hauling it. 
 
 It is not necessary, as once supposed, to make a new 
 bed each year; a strawberry field, if well fertilized and 
 cultivated, may, with profit, occupy the same ground for 
 three or four years, and sometimes more. 
 
 The best time to set out the plants in our State is from 
 the middle of September to the middle of November, but 
 October is preferred as the month par excellence. Good, 
 strong plants will begin to bear in January, and keep on, 
 more or less, until May or June ; the main Florida crop is 
 gathered during February, March, and April ; the ship- 
 ping season frequently lasting over seventy days. 
 
 Remember that the strawberry is a gross feeder, it is a 
 great drinker, a confirmed toper, but it is just as great an 
 epicure. 
 
 A celebrated grower of small fruits thus tells how to 
 fertilize this plant : 
 
 '* Use all you think you can afford, then shut your eyes 
 and put on as much more, and it will pay every time." 
 
 As to the best fertilizers to use : this depends so much 
 upon the character of the soil in different localities that 
 the wisest plan is to make local inquiries, and find out who 
 
196 FLORIDA FRUITS SMALL FRUITS. 
 
 has succeeded and who has failed, and what fertilizers were 
 used. Stable manure, if free from stubble, is considered 
 one of the very best foods for the strawberry ; also cow- 
 chips and muck, the latter applied with more active mate- 
 rial. Bone dust, cotton-seed meal, and wood ashes are 
 also of great value ; and here is something vouched for by 
 good authority as being splendidly effective : 
 
 ' ' Fill a half hogshead with water, and put into it one 
 quarter of a pound of ammonia, and the same amount of 
 niter. When the plants are blossoming sprinkle them 
 with this solution at evening, twice a week, until the fruit 
 is nearly full size. The result will be double the amount 
 of fruit." 
 
 Never use lime or land plaster, as they are poisonous to 
 the strawberry. Do not forget this. 
 
 And now as to the varieties best suited to our soil and 
 climate. 
 
 Upon this point there is a wide diversity of opinion, 
 owing, doubtless, to the difference in culture and soil in 
 the several localities, which, as we have seen, exercise a 
 powerful influence on the strawberry, both in quality and 
 quantity of fruit. 
 
 We would advise every one intending to embark in 
 strawberry culture to set aside a small piece of ground for 
 experiment, and to plant therein a dozen plants or more 
 of every variety that seems desirable or likely to prove 
 profitable ; a couple of years' culture will show which to 
 retain and which to reject. 
 
 At present the leading market variety is undoubtedly 
 the celebrated Charleston berry, Neunan's Prolific ; this is 
 a medium sized, aromatic berry, firm and sub-acid, and a 
 great bearer. At the same time we believe that there are 
 others which will eventually be recognized as superior. 
 
 The Federal Point or Little Giant is a very flue, large 
 
STRAWBERRIES. 197 
 
 berry, and either is or has become " a native of the coun- 
 try ;" it bears well, ships well, and in flavor is superior to 
 the Neunau berry. 
 
 With many growers the Crescent seedling is growing 
 rapidly in favor, and deservedly so. This is a very dis- 
 tinct and remarkable variety; its average size does not 
 much exceed that of the famous old market berry, the 
 Wilson, and its flavor is about the same. Its blossoms 
 are, however, imperfect, and a perfect flowered variety 
 should be set in every eighth row. It is extremely pro- 
 ductive, and has a really wonderful capacity for thriving 
 on poor, thin land, and under almost all circumstances and 
 in any soil ; it cares nothing whether its home be in the 
 cold clay of Canada or the warm sand of Florida. Prac- 
 tically it is the cosmopolitan berry. A yield of over five 
 thousand quarts to the acre is not uncommon, even with 
 slight fertilizing, and the bright scarlet berries are very 
 handsome, attracting quick sales. 
 
 The chief fault of the Crescent seedling is that the ber- 
 ries are apt to be too soft for a long journey by rail, unless 
 carried in refrigerator cars, as, in fact, all strawberries 
 ought to be. 
 
 We might go on indefinitely suggesting varieties as 
 worthy of at least a trial, but the truth is that every berry 
 which has been proven to do well on light, sandy soil, and 
 to resist summer heat and drought — and these are many — 
 should be tested carefully by the Florida grower who de- 
 sires to attain the best possible results, and consequently 
 the largest profits. 
 
 Remember always that it is only the best fruit that 
 brings the best prices, and that there is a right way and a 
 wrong way in picking and packing, as in every thing else ; 
 and this latter part of the business is of so much impor- 
 tance that though all the rest may be done properly, and 
 
198 FLORIDA FRUITS — SMALL FRUITS. 
 
 the finest berries obtained, yet if this, the closing opera- 
 tion, is carelessly performed, all the previous work is 
 thrown away, and a report of "arrived in bad condition, 
 not salable," will be the ultimate result. 
 
 Never pick the berries when they are wet ; always gather 
 them when they are half or two thirds colored, and, if 
 possible, leave an inch, or better still, two inches of the 
 stem attached to the fruit, they will keep fresh and firm 
 much longer. 
 
 Inspect every berry yourself, do n't trust this important 
 work to others or you will deservedly suffer for it ; there 
 will most certainly be some fruit too ripe to pack, and if 
 not thrown out great injury will result to the rest. 
 
 Pack in neat strawberry boxes, not loosely, but so as to 
 prevent shaking about ; and you will find it pays to place 
 the top layer stems downward, so as to show the bright 
 red color of the berry to best advantage. 
 
 Ship always by the quickest route, and, wherever possi- 
 ble, in refrigerator cars or boxes. 
 
 In order to find how many plants are required to set 
 an acre at any given distance apart, multiply the width 
 by the breadth in feet, and see how many times this num- 
 ber is contained in 43,560, which is the number of square 
 feet in an acre. For example, plants set 1 x 3 feet, each 
 plant would occupy three square feet ; therefore, by divid- 
 ing 3 into 43,560 the number required would be given. 
 
 BLACKBERRIES. 
 
 Why this luscious berry has not already come more 
 "to the fore" in Florida we are unable to see, except on 
 the well-known principle, that "we always overlook our 
 nearest blessings." 
 
 The blackberry grows wild in abundance here, as it does 
 in almost if not quite every State in the Union ; and just 
 
BLACKBERRIES. 199 
 
 because it is so wide-spread a blessing it meets with less con- 
 sideration than it deserves. Only a few years ago it was 
 regarded in this country, as it still is abroad, merely as a 
 bramble. Of late, however, attempts have been made to 
 originate ' ' prize berries " by planting the seed, but so far 
 Dame Nature has the best of it, as all the finest varieties 
 now in cultivation are from chance seedlings found grow- 
 ing wild. 
 
 For instance, the well-known Kittatinny blackberry was 
 found in the mountains in Warren County, N. J.; its fruit 
 is large, very large under good culture, sweet, rich, and 
 melting, but, like all its race, hard and sour when eaten 
 prematurely. 
 
 For home use they should not be picked until fuUy ripe, 
 but if they are to be shipped then gather them when half 
 ripe, and pack with the same care bestowed upon straw- 
 berries. 
 
 There are two species of blackberries, out of the hun- 
 dred and fifty scattered over the world, that have furnished 
 all our best varieties for cultivation ; these are the Ruhus 
 villosiLS or High Blackberry, and Ruhus canadensis or 
 Dewberry. Both of these are found iu Florida, and both 
 are worthy of close attention, and wherever fine bushes 
 are found they should be carefully transplanted and culti- 
 vated ; they should, however, be in a dormant state when 
 moved, and if this precaution be taken there will be very 
 little danger of the plants dying, as they will stand a great 
 deal of hard treatment. 
 
 The soil should be light, mellow, moist, and not over 
 rich ; the same manures recommended for the strawberry 
 are suitable for the blackberry, but the quantity should be 
 less ; too rich soil will produce a rank growth of canes, but 
 lessen the quantity of fruit. 
 
 The rows should be seven or eight feet apart for field 
 
200 FLORIDA FRUITS — SMALL FRUITS. 
 
 culture, six feet for garden, and the plants three feet apart 
 in the rows. 
 
 If the ground is not very fertile the young plants v/ill 
 need a start, Avhich can best be given by scattering a com- 
 post containing muck down the furrows in which they are 
 planted. They should have support, to do their best, and 
 an inexpensive method of giving it is by the use of posts 
 and wire ; by this system they can be grown in one bushy 
 row, shading and supporting each other. 
 
 The canes often shoot up five or six feet high, and this 
 should be prevented by pinching off the ends of the shoots ; 
 this checks the upward tendency and forces side branches, 
 which are the fruit bearers. 
 
 RASPBERRIES. 
 
 This is a fruit as yet new to Florida, but we believe 
 that some varieties can be profitably raised, and we urge 
 upon our readers careful and persevering experiments in 
 this direction. 
 
 Like the strawberries, raspberries require moisture and 
 cool manures; muck, sweetened by lime, is one of the 
 best fertilizers for this splendid berry, but, unlike the 
 strawberry, it does well in partial shade, although it does 
 not require it. 
 
 As a rule, the black-cap varieties do better in light soils 
 than the red, but there are some of the latter that appear 
 to flourish equally well in sandy loam as in heavier lands ; 
 foremost among these stands the Cuthbert, a very fine, red 
 berry, and one especially adapted for trial here. 
 
 Let every fruit grower try a few raspberries of differ- 
 ent varieties, requesting some prominent nurseryman to 
 select for him such as are worth the experiment in our soil 
 and climate. Be assured he will not regret it. 
 
OLIVES. 201 
 
 CHAPTEE XXI. 
 
 OLIVES AND PECANS — OLIVES. 
 
 The olive is a low-branching evergreen tree, reaching a 
 height of from twenty to thirty feet ; its leaves are stiff 
 and narrow, of a light or bluish green ; its blossoms appear 
 on the wood grown the previous year, in June, July, or 
 August ; the fruit is a berried drupe, oblong, rather small, 
 of a yellowish green color, but when fully ripe turning 
 black. 
 
 A native of Greece, it became naturalized centuries ago 
 in Spain, Italy, the South of France, Morocco, and kin- 
 dred climates ; in fact, the whole basin of the Mediterra- 
 nean, from the thirty-fifth to the forty-third degree of lati- 
 tude, is one great belt of olive trees. 
 
 This, like the orange tree, attains literally to a "green 
 old age." In the valley of the cascade of Marmora, there 
 is a plantation over two miles in extent of very old trees, 
 supposed to be the identical ones mentioned by Pliny as 
 growing there in the first century of the Christian era. 
 
 In Palestine, here and there, are olive trees estimated to 
 be two thousand years old, and some of these, although 
 their trunks are hollow and like an empty shell, bear boun- 
 tiful crops ; one, a few years ago, yielded two hundred and 
 forty quarts of oil. 
 
 It is a common saying in Italy, " If you want to leave 
 a lasting inheritance to your children's children, plant an 
 olive." 
 
 The olive has been successfully cultivated in California 
 for a number of years ; and if in California, why not then 
 in Florida? As a matter of fact, it has been raised and 
 has fruited in Orange, Hillsboro, Dade, Nassau, St. Johns, 
 
202 FLORIDA FRUITS — OLIVES AND PECANS. 
 
 and other counties. The climate is suitable, the soil equally 
 so, for, while this fiinioiis tree will grow luxuriantly in a 
 clay soil, if well fertilized, it delights in a dry, sandy loam, 
 and planted in such is thoroughly at home. 
 
 It bears fruit at two or three years old, increasing up to 
 its fiftieth year, and in its sixth year, if it has been well 
 cared for, begins to repay the expense of cultivation, even 
 if the ground between the trees is not otherwise employed, 
 and there is no reason why it should not be cultivated to 
 annual crops, just as a young orange grove may be. 
 
 The olive, as we have mentioned, likes a dry soil; its 
 roots run down deeply, and find all the water they need 
 far below the surface. In California the olive growers 
 claim that it is the only tree that needs no irrigation, es- 
 pecially in the foot-hills of Santa Barbara County, and 
 around San Jose; here the frequent fogs are found to 
 yield sufficient surface moisture for the olive, and for the 
 olive alone. 
 
 Certain it is that it never suffers from drought. The 
 first olive trees in California, and presumably in the United 
 States, were planted years ago by the old Jesuit Fathers at 
 the " Spanish Mission," north of Monterey, and the first 
 regular orchard was set out at San Jose, thirty years ago. 
 
 From these trees came the now celebrated Mission olives 
 so popular in the State of their adoption. Oil sweet, rich, 
 and agreeable to the taste, has been made in California 
 and has met a ready sale, but all the olive oil at present 
 produced, and there is a large acreage now in bearing, is 
 not sufficient to supply the demand from the druggists 
 alone ; and if all the land in California and in Florida 
 suited to the culture of this valuable tree, were now 
 planted and yielding olives, the supply would still be in- 
 sufficient ; or at the best, not more than equal to the de- 
 mand, for good, honest olive oil is needed every where; 
 
OLIVES. 203 
 
 for daily use in the household, for medicinal purposes, in 
 the various arts. There is no other oil that is as highly- 
 esteemed for the same uses, and when we consider that it 
 retails in this country at one dollar a quart flask, and 
 that an acre of olive trees in full bearing will average 
 seven hundred and fifty quarts, a certain profit is self- 
 evident. 
 
 In 1884 the United States paid for imported olives, one 
 hundred and twenty-seven thousand one hundred dollars ; 
 why should we not keep this money in our own pockets ? 
 
 And in addition to the yield of oil there is the pickled 
 olive ; the same fruit picked when half ripe, steeped in an 
 alkaline solution to extract a part of its bitterness, then 
 washed in fresh water, and finally bottled with salt and 
 water, to which fennel or some other aromatic herb is added. 
 The taste for the pickled olive is an acquired but still an 
 extensive one, and the demand is large ; it might just as 
 well be supplied by home product as to be imported. 
 
 The olive does not require rich land, too much fertiliz- 
 ing improves neither the tree nor the fruit, hence it is one 
 of the cheapest of all fruits to raise ; and not alone for 
 this reason, but also because the cultivation of the ground 
 set in olives, does not at all injure or retard it. Peach or 
 pear trees, grape-vines, corn, vegetables, all can be grown 
 continuously in the olive orchard, rather to its advantage 
 than otherwise. 
 
 Another point in its favor is the ease with which it is 
 propagated ; suckers rise in abundance from the roots of 
 the older trees, and these, transplanted, become trees in 
 their turn. The seed is frequently planted, and some claim 
 that this is the best mode of propagation ; cuttings from 
 the olive, however, take root so readily that this is the 
 usual method followed to obtain young trees. 
 
 A rather odd circumstance is related which strikingly 
 
204 FLORroA FRUITS — OLIVFS AND PECANS. 
 
 illustrates this point. Mr. Jackson, in his ''Account of 
 the Empire of Morocco," mentions a large plantation of 
 olive trees near Messa, which struck him as being, to say 
 the least, very whimsical in the arrangement of the trees, 
 for they were planted here, there, every where, sometimes 
 in large grouj)S, sometimes in small, sometimes singly, and 
 again in short rows or angles ; order nowhere, eccentricity 
 reigning supreme. 
 
 Inquiry brought to light the history of this unique plan- 
 tation, it was as follows : 
 
 ' ' I learned from the viceroy's aide-de-camp, who attended 
 me, that one of the kings of the dynasty of Saddia, being 
 on his journey to Soudan, encamped here with his army ; 
 that the pegs with which the cavalry picketed their horses 
 were cut from the olive trees in the neighborhood, and that 
 these pegs being left in the ground on account of some 
 sudden cause of the departure of the army, the olive trees 
 in questiim sprang from them. And the disposition of the 
 trees did exactly resemble the arrangement of cavalry in 
 an encampment." 
 
 From twenty-five to thirty feet is the proper distance for 
 setting the olives in the orchard. 
 
 The proper time for gathering olives for the press is just 
 as they mature ; if they are left too long on the tree the 
 next crop will be a failure, and it is to this fact that the 
 olive tree owes the unjust reputation it has gained in some 
 countries, in Languedoc, Spain, and Italy, for instance, 
 of bearing only on alternate years ; in these countries the 
 crop is gathered in December and January, while in France 
 it is gathered in November, and there the trees bear regu- 
 lar annual crops, while the oil, because the fruit is gath- 
 ered during the first stage of maturity, as soon as it turns 
 purple, is of a better quality and commands the highest 
 prices. 
 
OLIVES. 205 
 
 In Europe tlie method in general use for gathering the 
 olives is to knock them off with long poles, and then the 
 women, children, cripples, and old men pick them up from 
 the ground. This is a very poor plan, as it not only bruises 
 the fruit and renders it liable to rot, but the contact with 
 the earth is apt to give an unpleasant taste to the oil. 
 It is much better in all respects, even as regards economy, 
 to pick them by hand. 
 
 Elwood Cooper, the well known California (Santa Bar- 
 bara) horticulturist, tells us of a method of collecting the 
 olives of his own contrivance, *'by which an active man 
 can pick four hundred pounds a day." 
 
 **I have," says he, "arranged, on a ranch wagon, plat- 
 forms wdth ladders securely fastened, so that the fruit from 
 the different heights of even large trees can be gathered 
 from the wagon, which is driven along the rows, and one 
 half of the tree picked from each side. This plan obvi- 
 ates the necessity of moving ladders, climbing, etc., and 
 relieves the pickers from the labor of carrying the fruit, 
 as the sacks containing the same are always at hand on the 
 platform. The leaves and imperfect berries are separated 
 by passing the whole through a winnowing mill ; this 
 process leaves the fruit in the best possible condition 
 preparatory to manufacturing the oil." 
 
 This latter process is exceedingly simple. To allow the 
 water to evaporate and to concoct the mucilage, the olives 
 are spread out in beds about three inches thick and left 
 for several days. Then the fruit is reduced to a pulp, 
 placed in sacks of coarse linen, and subjected to a light 
 pressure. 
 
 The oil first expressed is the purest and highest priced ; 
 the cake left is moistened in water and again pressed, a 
 second-rate oil being the result, as noAv the oil of the 
 kernels, under the heavier pressure, mingles with the oil 
 
206 FLORIDA FRUITS — OLIVES AND PECANS. 
 
 of the fruit and deteriorates from its quality both in taste 
 and in its keeping properties. This, the common oil, can 
 not be kept sweet in casks for more than eighteen months 
 or two years. 
 
 Eaising olives for commercial purposes will yet become 
 one of Florida's great industries, and not only so, but there 
 is no reason why other of the ''far south" States should 
 not help in the good work, for while this noble tree, as we 
 have seen, does not desire a rich soil and will flourish in 
 sand or clay, or on rocky ground, it will also resist frost to 
 a great degree, having been frequently known to stand un- 
 injured through a temperature as low as 14°. 
 
 A few words as to varieties, of which there are many 
 scattered over the world. 
 
 The Mission olive, already referred to, is late in matur- 
 ing its fruit ; but this, in Florida, where the mild climate 
 would admit of every olive attaining its full maturity, is 
 no objection, although, in a colder climate, it would be a 
 serious drawback. 
 
 The Manzanillo olive is one of the early ripening kinds ; 
 is excellent for pickling, and yields good oil. 
 
 The Keudonvillo. Fruit small but excellent. 
 
 The Nevarillo Blanco. A copious bearer of large olives, 
 yielding abundantly of the best oil. 
 
 The Empeltre. An excellent bearer ; oil first quality ; 
 resists frost well; a valuable kind for cooler as well as 
 warm sections. 
 
 The Gordal. Hardy also ; fruit of the best for pickling 
 or oil. 
 
 The Verdeso. Also frost-resisting ; quality same as the 
 Gordal. 
 
 These are all early maturing trees ; in the late, equally 
 good for Florida, we have the 
 
 Marvileno, bearing very lar^e olives. 
 
PECANS. 207 
 
 Picudo, whicli yields enormous sized fruit, both first 
 quality for oil and pickles. 
 
 Madrilenzo. Fruit large, excellent for pickling, walnut- 
 shaped ; yields but little oil. Prune tree cautiously. 
 
 THE PECAN TREE. 
 
 This is another of Florida's coming crops. Our people 
 are just beginning to realize, not that there is profit in this 
 popular nut, but that it can be raised here, on their own 
 grounds, to perfection. 
 
 And why not ? It is native to Texas and Louisiana ; it 
 flourishes in every State as far north as Virginia, and even 
 (near the coast line) in Maryland, Delaware, and Southern 
 New Jersey, for it is the fact that in these States there are 
 pecan trees, large, beautiful, and bearing heavy annual 
 crops. 
 
 There are several fallacies that have contributed to re- 
 tard the spread of pecan orchards. 
 
 First and foremost is the idea held by so many, that to 
 plant a pecan tree is to plant only for the profit of one's 
 grandchildren ; probably this idea came from the knowl- 
 edge that, as a rule, nut-bearing trees are long in coming 
 into profit ; the hickory, and some others are fifty years or 
 more before they bear any crops worth speaking of, but 
 it is not so with the pecans. Planted on land of ordi- 
 nary fertility they usually begin bearing at six or seven 
 years old from the seed ; on rich land they are often a year 
 or two later in bearing, because they grow faster and make 
 such luxuriant foliage that they have no time to stop for 
 nut-making ; in either case the nuts are of the same qual- 
 ity, first class and thin-shelled. 
 
 So much for the first fallacy ; now for the second, and 
 that is, that the nut must absolutely be planted where the 
 tree is to grow, because "if grown elsewhere and trans- 
 
208 FLORIDA FRUITS — OLIVES AND PECANS. 
 
 planted, the tap-root will be cut or broken, and if it is 
 curtailed at all the tree may grow, but will never bear nuts." 
 
 Now, there is just as much truth in this idea as there is 
 in the statement that the moon is made of green cheese. 
 The transplanted pecan will grow and bear fruit just as 
 any other tree will, even though its long tap-root is broken 
 in moving ; it is not the tap-root that bears the nuts, it is 
 merely the anchor that keeps the tree upright and helps 
 convey its water-supply. 
 
 If it can be done conveniently, it is better to plant the 
 nuts three inches deep, good, fresh nuts and no others, 
 laid on their side, where the tree is to stand, because then 
 there is no check to the growth by transplanting, and 
 nearly a year is thus gained. 
 
 But it is not necessary, and the great majority of pecan 
 orchards are set from nursery trees ; the nuts are started 
 in boxes of moist earthy and as soon as they sprout are 
 placed in the nursery rows. When high enough out of the 
 ground they should be heavily mulched. 
 
 By the end of the first season they w411 be ten or twelve 
 inches high, and if the soil is loose and deep the tap-root 
 will be still longer than the top. And now they should 
 be set out where they are to remain, either in the or- 
 chard, thirty-five feet apart, about forty trees to the acre, 
 or here and there, wherever a handsome, highly ornamen- 
 tal shade tree is wanted, in avenues or in nooks around 
 the house. 
 
 The pecan tree seems to be at home in all kinds of 
 soil, so that it be not desperately poor, and has a clay sub- 
 soil — rocky, clay, or sand, dry or moist. And as to its 
 culture : for the first two or three years it should be well 
 mulched, and occasionally, if the soil is thin, be moderately 
 fertilized ; this is all the care it needs, for its deep-seated 
 rootlets render it independent of surface cultivation. 
 
PECANS. 209 
 
 It is a fact not generally known that the cutting of a 
 tap-root, of nut-bearing or other trees, is really beneficial 
 to the lateral growth of the tree; another little known 
 truth is that the tap-roots of all trees, nut or others, are 
 short-lived; they die and decay as the lateral roots grow 
 large and strong. 
 
 In setting out the young tree or in planting the seed in 
 the open ground, we would strongly recommend surround- 
 ing it with a circle of the woven wire netting, now so much 
 in use for fences, arched across the top; this would not 
 only mark the spot but protect it from injury by the plow, 
 in raising crops in the orchard, and also from horses or 
 cattle. 
 
 Since the pecan needs no surface working we would ad- 
 vise that the orchard be converted into a permanent past- 
 ure, and the ground thus made to serve a double purpose, 
 as well as the trees, the latter furnishing a most grateful 
 shade for the cattle grazing there, while the wire nettings 
 raised higher as the trees grow, would prevent any injury 
 being done to the trees. 
 
 If the seed are planted in the orchard, put two or three 
 in the hill, they will sprout in from four to ten weeks ; sur- 
 plus ones can be removed ; they should be partially shaded 
 during their first summer. 
 
 December, January, and February are the best months 
 for planting pecans, either seeds or trees. 
 
 As we have noted, the first season's growth should leave 
 the young tree ten or twelve inches high ; the second year 
 they will grow three or four feet ; and the third they will 
 be well branched, and from seven to ten feet high. 
 
 And now, having seen how easy it is to raise a pecan 
 orchard — there are a number of trees now fruiting heavily 
 in Florida — let us see why we should do it as a source of 
 income easy and sure. 
 
 18 
 
210 FLORIDA FRUITS — OLIVES AND PECANS. 
 
 The oldest pecan orcliard of which we have any record 
 is in Alabama, and is over fifty years old ; the trees in this 
 orchard now frequently yield three barrels of nuts each 
 in the same season, producing an income, without trouble 
 or expense, save that of gathering the nuts, of one thou- 
 sand dollars annually per acre. 
 
 A barrel contains one hundred and forty-five pounds of 
 nuts, and last year, from Florida trees, they averaged to 
 the producer twenty-three cents per pound by the barrel. 
 But even at only ten cents a pound, one hundred pounds 
 to the tree, and forty trees to the acre, we have a clear 
 profit of four hundred dollars, while the ground that sup- 
 ports these bountiful trees may also yield other crops or 
 feed a herd of cattle. 
 
 There is no other tree that, with so little care, expense, 
 or attention, will yield so much profit. 
 
 Let Florida have her pecan orchards as well as her 
 orange groves. It has already been proved that the one is 
 as valuable as the other, and when the Florida pecan is 
 placed upon the market, as it is certain to be ere long, it 
 will rank with the Florida orange and pine-apple, for no 
 other State can equal her soft-shelled pecans. 
 
 The largest and oldest bearing pecan orchard now in 
 Florida consists of fifty trees, the property of Arthur 
 Brown, of Black water, Santa Rosa County ; they are from 
 twenty-five to forty years old, and are the pride of their 
 owner, and, as we can certify, justly so. 
 
 Not only are the trees beautiful in themselves, but their 
 products of several distinct varieties of thin-shelled pecans 
 are all that any one could desire; never has the writer 
 tasted pecans as thin-shelled, tender, and delicious in flavor 
 as those raised in this Blackwater orchard, the pioneer of 
 Florida's future pecan industry. The nuts from these 
 beautiful trees were on exhibition at the New Orleans Ex- 
 
PECANS. 211 
 
 position as coming from "Santa Rosa County, Fla.," and 
 justly attracted general attention because of their large 
 size, smooth shell, thin enough to be crushed in the hand, 
 and delicate, sweet flavor. 
 
 This practical proof of what Florida had done, and 
 could do again, at once gave the needed impetus to pecan 
 culture, and already hundreds of young trees from this 
 pioneer orchard are working their way ' ' upward and on- 
 ward " in almost every county in the State. 
 
 The pecan tree appears to have but one enemy, and 
 that one obtains foothold only through carelessness. Watch 
 the trees and keep them free from caterpillars' nests, other- 
 wise a large worm makes its appearance and girdles the 
 limbs, killing them in a short time. The presence of the 
 caterpillar is easily detected, hence can be easily got rid 
 of; so says Mr. Brown, who know^s more about pecan cul- 
 ture than any one else in Florida. 
 
 The worm betrays its presence by the exudation of gum 
 on the tree, which, being scraped off*, reveals beneath a 
 round hole entering the tree for an inch or two and then 
 turning upward ; a piece of wire thrust into this hole will 
 kill the worm. If, however, the worm is not found there, 
 but has deserted the scene of its first labors, dig around 
 the roots of the tree close to the trunk, and it will be 
 found to a certainty. 
 
 Mr. Brown reports that he searches for these worms, 
 which are striped and long-nosed, every spring, but has 
 only killed seven ; hence, they are certainly not very for- 
 midable from numbers, if hunted down in this manner. 
 
 The several varieties in this pioneer orchard, than which 
 no better can be found for planting throughout the State, 
 or outside of it either, are named as follows, all of them 
 being remarkably soft-shelled : 
 
212 FLORIDA FKUITS — OLIVES AND PECANS. 
 
 TURKEY EGG. 
 
 Very large, long; mottled marks and black stripes, 
 very distinct when first gathered ; sweet, tender, and deli- 
 cious in flavor. 
 
 GEORGIA MELON. 
 
 Very large ; rather round at one end, flat at the other ; 
 dark stripes over the entire nut like the famous Georgia 
 watermelon, hence the name given it ; meat of first quality 
 in every respect. From one tree of this variety Mr. Brown 
 gathered at one gathering (December) one hundred and 
 thirty pounds of nuts. 
 
 REPTON. 
 
 Large ; shell rather whitish, one end round, the other 
 decidedly pointed ; black points ; meat sweet and tender ; 
 tree remarkably beautiful. From one Rep ton tree, said 
 to be forty years old, over five hundred pounds of nuts 
 were gathered this past season. 
 
 TEXAS. 
 
 Quite large, some very long ; white hull ; black points. 
 
 RIBERA. 
 
 Large ; few black marks, and pointed at both ends ; 
 meat very fine. 
 
 PETITE. 
 
 Small and plump ; white hull ; very desirable. 
 
 In addition to these the Black water pecan orchard con- 
 tains several varieties, large and excellent, but not yet 
 named. 
 
 When we consider that this orchard was abandoned for 
 twenty years, left to take care of itself, and at the mercy 
 of hundreds of negroes and irresponsible whites, who 
 
PECANS. 213 
 
 "gathered" the nuts by throwing sticks and stones al the 
 trees instead of shaking them, their present production is 
 simply wonderful and very significant. 
 
 We acknowledge our indebtedness to their present owner 
 for many points of value given here regarding pecan cul- 
 ture. 
 
 It is yet too early in the history of Florida horticulture 
 to speak very positively as to the destined value of other 
 nut-trees in her future development. But we believe, rea- 
 soning from analogy, and from instances here and there 
 that have come to our knowledge of experiments success- 
 fully made in different sections of the State, that the pro- 
 duction of nuts of all kinds will eventually become one 
 of bountiful Florida's leading industries. 
 
 Walnut and hickory and oak trees are indigenous to the 
 State: surely this is hint enough to the wise man to press 
 forward and use this fact to his profit. 
 
 The white walnut, the butternut, and the chestnut, es- 
 pecially the Japan chestnut, are all quickly maturing trees, 
 and their nuts of superior quality. The white walnut and 
 the butternut bear in five or six years from the seed. 
 
 They like a light, sandy soil or loam, either naturally or 
 artificially fertilized ; a clay subsoil is no objection, but it 
 must be dry, whatever be its nature. Set the trees forty 
 feet apart and cultivate between, either to annual crops or 
 the smaller fruit trees, peaches, figs, plums, or grapes, or 
 berries. 
 
 The English walnut also succeeds well, having been 
 thoroughly tested. 
 
 The smaller soft-shell varieties of the walnut are most 
 profitable to cultivate ; when the common hard-shell vari- 
 ety sells for nine cents a pound, the former readily bring 
 fourteen to fifteen ; they also bear earlier than the hard- 
 shell black walnut. 
 
214 FLORIDA FRUITS — OLIVES AND PECANS. 
 
 Chestnuts are very profitable, and one of the most nu- 
 tritious of fruits, and tlie Japan chestnut has been proved 
 to be the best of its kind. It is a small tree, and bears at 
 three years old; of moderate size, very handsome for 
 lawns, as well as of great money value ; like the other nut- 
 bearers, it flourishes on sandy soils with dry subsoil. The 
 nuts are large and of the finest quality. 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 The cocoa-nut palm is one of the most valuable trees 
 given to the world by a most beneficent Creator, and its- 
 history and wide-spread capabilities are so full of interest, 
 especially to those who can proudly point to this great tree 
 rising heavenward upon their own domains, that it is well 
 worth while to pause and look upon it in its broader view 
 before proceeding to examine the narrower one of its prac- 
 tical culture. 
 
 Throughout all the broad extent of the vegetable king- 
 dom, there is no one family of plants so full of beauty, 
 usefulness, and majesty as the family of the palms. Their 
 prevailing form is familiar to every one, for no trees are 
 so often pictured as these, with their leafless, cylindrical 
 stems or stipes, as they are termed, surmounted by a crown 
 of graceful, tapering leaves. 
 
 It may not be generally known that this distinguished 
 family (like many human ones) receives its name from one 
 of its most diminutive members, the dwarf fan-palm, the 
 only one indigenous to Europe. 
 
 With this graceful little tree the Romans were well ac- 
 quainted, and from them it received the name of pahna, 
 from the resemblance of its fan-shaped leaves to the human 
 hand. Afterward, when its numerous relatives became 
 more widely known, the great similitude of their leaves 
 caused the name of palma or palm to be bestowed upon 
 them all, as the common surname of the whole family. 
 
 That many of these are as yet totally ' ' unknown to 
 fame " is not to be doubted ; each year come the tidings 
 of the discovery of some "new palm," and while nearly 
 
216 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 six hundred members have been introduced into the botan- 
 ical world, and a Christian name bestowed upon each, it is 
 the opinion of our savants that the entire family numbers 
 at least one thousand individuals, each generous palm 
 holding forth some "good and perfect gift" for man's ac- 
 ceptance. 
 
 Of this royal race there are two which are pre-eminently 
 familiar to the world at large, owing to the commercial value 
 of their products ; these are the date and cocoa-nut trees. 
 
 Of these two palms it is difficult to determine to which 
 belongs the higher rank ; in genealogy, the date-palm un- 
 doubtedly has the advantage; it is the "palm tree" of 
 Scripture, and from time immemorial has been an honored 
 dweller in its native lands, Asia and Africa. But on the 
 contrary, over the birth-place of the cocoa-nut there hangs 
 a strange mystery ; the only palm indigenous to both hem- 
 ispheres, and having a wider geographical range than any 
 other member of its family, yet neither in the East or 
 West has its place of nativity been clearly proven. 
 
 In the earliest reference to the cocoa-nut palm — one hun- 
 dred and sixty-one years b. c. — we find it mentioned as 
 growing in Ceylon, upon whose shores its nuts had been 
 cast by the friendly ocean waves. 
 
 But whence came they, from the main land of India or 
 the far-off continent of America? This is a question that 
 must forever remain unanswered ; but fortunately for man- 
 kind the mystery of its birth detracts in nothing from the 
 usefulness of this tree, which may well be called the 
 "Ocean Palm." 
 
 Down upon the wave-washed coast, with the salt spray 
 dashing over its stem and leaves and lashing its roots, the 
 cocoa-nut loves to dwell ; remove it inland, where the sea- 
 breeze can not play among its leaves, and it will droop and 
 languish. 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 217 
 
 Who has not read of those wondrous coral islands where 
 the cocoa-palm is ever the first, and oftentimes the only, 
 tree to spring up amidst the reeds? 
 
 Many a noble ship, many a precious life has been saved 
 by this ocean-loving palm, which, nestling down upon some 
 wave-hidden reef, sends its tall stem heavenward, flourish- 
 ing even while the sea washes over its base, and waving its 
 feathery leaves aloft in warning to the mariner, that he 
 may avoid the danger which else must have proved fatal to 
 him and his barque. 
 
 Familiar to many of our readers, doubtless, is an in- 
 stance of this high use of the cocoa-nut palm, which lies 
 ** near unto our home." 
 
 In the harbor of Baracoa, at the eastern end of the 
 island of Cuba, rises a mountain known as the "Anvil 
 Mountain," because of its resemblance to an anvil, as seen 
 against the horizon by an incoming vessel. Upon the very 
 summit of this mountain towers aloft a solitary cocoa-nut 
 tree ; the first object seen by the sailor as he nears the east- 
 ern end of the island, and as anxiously watched for as ever 
 is beacon or light-ship. No one knows how old it is, nor 
 who planted it there, but there it has been since the earli- 
 est records, and great will be the dismay among the way- 
 farers of the sea when the familiar "Anvil cocoa-nut" 
 is seen no more looming up grandly against the horizon. 
 
 Yet, dweller by the sea as it is, and basking in the warm 
 sunshine, the cocoa-nut loves not all tropical shores alike ; 
 with one exception, that of St. Jago, of the Cape de Verd 
 islands, it is never found upon volcanic shores, and in the 
 'Sandwich Islands it grows, but does not flourish with its 
 pristine vigor ; like an exile in a foreign land, it languishes 
 as though weary of life. The tree is smaller and less 
 hardy, and the fruit diminutive in comparison with its 
 brethren of Ceylon, an island which it dearly loves. 
 
 19 
 
218 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 Yet even thus, so highly was it prized by the natives, 
 that for centuries a law was in force, whereby women were 
 forbidden to taste its fruit under penalty of the dire dis- 
 pleasure of their gods. But the time came when this un- 
 just and superstitious law was to be rendered null and 
 void. 
 
 Oppressed as the native women were, they yet possessed 
 the right, in rare cases, of inheriting the chieftainship of 
 their fathers, and by one of these favored few was the 
 right to partake of the cocoa-nut won for all her sex. 
 Disregarding the threatened vengeance of the gods, as 
 launched upon her by their priests, she broke and ate one 
 of these hitherto sacred nuts, and, no evil consequences fol- 
 lowing, from that day the prohibitory law was abolished 
 throughout the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 We have already remarked that this beautiful palm has 
 a wider geographical range than any of its kindred ; this 
 is most emphatically true. 
 
 In India we find it growing low upon the wave-washed 
 shores, and again, less vigorously, at an elevation of six 
 hundred feet above the sea. In Venezuela it clings to 
 life at a distance of a hundred leagues from its beloved 
 ocean friend; and yet more, even in the heart of Africa 
 it finds wherewithal to exist, although it there bears no 
 fruit. 
 
 In striking contrast to these drooping exiles we need but 
 to look upon the little islands off" the coast of Sumatra, 
 washed over by every storm, to find the cocoa-palm lifting 
 its crowned head in the joyousness of full health and vigor. 
 Nearer home we find the Brazilian coast, for a distance 
 of nearly three hundred miles, heavily fringed with these 
 noble trees, while one small island near by (that of Ita- 
 marca) yields annually three hundred and sixty thousand 
 nuts. 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 219 
 
 Take away the cocoa-palm from the numerous islands of 
 the Pacific Ocean, and the majority of them would at once 
 become uninhabitable, for these useful trees, often alone 
 and unassisted, furnish the native population with food 
 and shelter and clothing ; without their loving gifts these 
 tropical isles would be dreary and desolate wastes. 
 
 Dwelling in the East and in the West this one palm 
 alone is said to furnish food for no less than a hundred 
 millions of human beings besides a countless host of 
 animals. 
 
 How say you, is not this a noble tree ? Is not its life 
 a precious one ? 
 
 Ceylon, however, that land of tropical profusion, is pre- 
 eminently the home of the cocoa-nut tree, although, as we 
 have intimated, it can lay no claim to being the place of 
 its birth. 
 
 In the most ancient voyages on record mention is made 
 of the "beautiful cocoa-nut groves" of this great island, 
 which, in days gone by, was called "Taprohane," and 
 again, " Serendih," while still further back it is supposed 
 to be identical with the far-famed "Tarshish" of the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Those very groves described by the Arabian voyagers 
 are still flourishing at the present day, only greatly en- 
 larged and improved, for so valuable have their products 
 become that the prosperity of the entire island is now in- 
 timately connected with their cultivation. And yet for 
 many years, for long centuries, in fact, the Cingalese lived 
 in total ignorance of the precious treasure which girdled 
 their shores. 
 
 True, as we read in the ancient chronicle of Ceylon, the 
 "Mahawanso," the small red cocoa-nut, grew in the inte- 
 rior of the island, and its milk was employed in manufac- 
 turing cement for building temples ; but further than this 
 
220 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 one variety the Cingalese knew nothing, and never dreamed 
 of its value as an article of food. 
 
 Regarding the tardy discovery of the vast importance of 
 the cocoa-palm, there is handed down among them a curi- 
 ous tradition ; the exact date of the events related is, how- 
 ever, not given. 
 
 It seems that a great and good rajah chanced, most un- 
 consciously, to offend the god Buddhoo by neglecting to 
 offer sacrifices under a certain tree, which the deity had 
 set apart as sacred to himself; not being blessed with om- 
 niscience, the rajah was ignorant of this fact, and was 
 (most unreasonably we think) punished for comporting 
 himself accordingly. His whole person became covered 
 by a white, scaly substance, so that he well-nigh lost all 
 semblance to humanity ; his people, by whom he was 
 justly beloved, offered prayers and sacrifices in his favor, 
 while he himself patiently awaited the result. 
 
 One night he fell into a deep trance, which lasted for 
 several days, and during this sleep he beheld a vast ex- 
 panse of water rolling up against the land upon which he 
 stood. He tasted it and found it nauseous and salt ; turn- 
 ing his back upon the blue waters, his delighted eyes rested 
 upon a great number of tall, slender trees, having no 
 branches, but only a tuft of leaves at the top, and dark- 
 colored balls nestling under this feathery crown. 
 
 The Kottah rajah awoke, and thought upon this won- 
 drous vision ; his home had ever been in the heart of the 
 interior, where, even to this day, the cocoa-palm is un- 
 known ; he had never seen the great ocean ; he had never 
 beheld such trees as he had looked upon in his sleep. The 
 more he thought upon it the more he became convinced 
 that his dream had been sent by the great god Buddhoo ; 
 but what did it portend ? 
 
 The Ilottah rajah prayed, and offered sacrifices of sweet- 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 221 
 
 smelling flowers, and then he once more lay down and fell 
 asleep. 
 
 But now the scene changed : he saw himself lying as he 
 actually was, beneath a tree, and from the neighboring 
 jungle an immense cobra di capello issued forth. The 
 rajah regarded it without fear ; it was the sacred snake of 
 the Buddhists, and had protected their god while he walked 
 the earth. The snake approached the dreamer, and thrice 
 dipped its forked tongue in the leaf of water which the 
 rajah's attendants had placed at his side ; then it bowed 
 its head over him and slowly retired to the jungle. The 
 good prince awoke, and slept again ; this time he revisited 
 the scene of his first vision, and there beheld an old man 
 *' whose face shone with the splendor of the moon." 
 
 This was Maha Sudona, the father of the god Buddhoo. 
 In majestic accents he addressed the rajah, bidding him 
 arise and journey for one hundred hours to the southward, 
 where he should behold in reality the tree of his vision; 
 its fruit he could obtain by fire, since it could not be other- 
 wise reached, and by making it his sole diet for the space 
 of three moons, his health would be restored, and a long 
 life await him. 
 
 And now, having looked at this most royal palm from 
 what we may well term the romantic point of view, let us 
 examine more closely into that portion of its life history 
 which is eminently practical and useful to man. Bearing 
 their feathery crowns to a height of from sixty to one hun- 
 dred feet, these noble trees, even before the period of their 
 fruit-bearing arrives, begin their career of usefulness in 
 shielding the palaces and huts which are built in their 
 midst, from the danger of the terrific thunder-storms 
 which are of such frequent occurrence in their native 
 land. Their tall stems arrest the fiery destroyer, and di- 
 verting it from its perilous course conduct it harmlessly 
 
222 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 to the ground; and thus it is that accidents from light- 
 ning are of extremely rare occurrence in the vicinity of 
 these beautiful palms. 
 
 Commencing our investigations, as is most appropriate, 
 at the lowermost point, let us first make acquaintance with 
 the roots of the cocoa-nut tree. These are not sturdy and 
 far-reaching, like those of our forest monarchs, but are 
 slight, slender, and flexible, springing singly from the bot- 
 tom of the stem, and deeply fringed with those wondrous 
 little caterers, the thread-like fibers which collect the food 
 and pass it on into the body of the tree. 
 
 And here, in the slender roots of the cocoa-nut palm, 
 we observe a phenomenon which finds numerous counter- 
 parts in human life : they are weak and easily bruised, yet 
 their hold is not readily shaken, and the more rocky the 
 soil upon which their lot is cast, the greater the obstacle 
 which they encounter, the stronger do they become, the 
 closer do they cling to their anchorage ground. 
 
 Do not these humble roots afford a noble example for 
 our guidance ? 
 
 And now let us see to what practical uses this, the least 
 valuable portion of the tree, is applied. 
 
 Boiled with ginger the roots become an efficacious rem- 
 edy in cases of fever, and, with the addition of the oil of 
 the nut, the same decoction is used as a gargle. 
 
 In Brazil baskets are woven from the smaller roots, and 
 of late the larger ones, highly polished, have come into 
 use as canes and umbrella handles. 
 
 In the East, where the habit of chewing the areca-nut 
 prevails, the more tender roots of the cocoa are chewed 
 instead, whenever a full supply of the favorite nut can not 
 be obtained. 
 
 Next in order comes the stem or stipe. It stands erect, 
 without branches, often reaching to the height of over 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 223 
 
 a hundred feet, and measuring from one to two feet in 
 diameter, while along its whole length, at regular inter- 
 vals, are well-marked parallel rings, the cicatrices of 
 fallen leaves ; by these rings the age of the tree is readily 
 ascertained. 
 
 Should its growth be retarded for one or two years, as 
 sometimes chances in unskillful transplanting, the stem ex- 
 presses its disapprobation by a permanent contraction in 
 diameter, so that the trunk has often a larger dimension 
 at the base and summit than at the middle. 
 
 In the interior arrangements of their stems the palms 
 bear no resemblance to other trees ; this one difference suf- 
 ficing to distinguish them at once as belonging to an en- 
 tirely distinct family, forming in fact the ultra-aristocracy 
 of the tropics. 
 
 Examine the stem of a white lily and you will find that 
 it is really a series of leaves, rising one above another, and 
 united at their bases so as to form an apparent stem. 
 Greatly resembling this growth is that of the palm ; it 
 possesses no bark, the surface appearing to be formed of 
 the cicatrices which succeed the fall of the leaves and 
 become gradually hardened by the action of the sun and 
 the air. 
 
 The wood of the cocoa-nut improves with the age of the 
 tree ; soft when young, it yearly increases in density until 
 finally it acquires an extreme hardness, and is consequently 
 highly valued. 
 
 In the Maldive and Laccadive Islands, boats are made 
 from the hollowed stem, and planked with wood from the 
 same tree. The Polynesians it furnishes with their most 
 valued spears, and the Puris Indians, of Brazil, manufac- 
 ture from it their best bows. 
 
 Many of our readers are doubtless familiar with the 
 wood of the cocoa-nut palm, although ignorant of its iden- 
 
224 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 tity with the ^^ poTcupine woocV of commerce, a change of 
 name more striking than euphonious, and for which it 
 would be difficult to assign a reason other than the caprice 
 of the manufacturers of elegant work-boxes and costly ar- 
 ticles of furniture, by whom it is chiefly imported. Hard 
 as ivory, of a rich chocolate color, spotted with black, and 
 finely veined, it admits of an exquisite polish, the choice 
 pieces frequently resembling dark agate. 
 
 Before the cocoa-nut palm becomes aged (it bears fruit 
 for seventy years and lives much longer), the interior of 
 the stem affords a floury substance, which is sweet and 
 pleasant to the taste, and may be called the bread of the 
 tree; in addition to this flour the stem also yields a species 
 of gum, highly prized by the Tahitian women, who use it 
 to plaster and stiffen their hair, according to their ideas of 
 beauty and grace. 
 
 In Barbary guests are entertained on festive occasions 
 with the honey or the dipse of the cocoa-nut palm, which 
 is really the sap of the tree. The crow^n is cut from off a 
 vigorous palm, and the top of the stem thus left bare is 
 scooped out into the form of a deep basin. 
 
 The sap ascends on its accustomed course, unconscious 
 of the evil fate that awaits it, and finding its return cut 
 off flows gently, and, as we may imagine, sadly into the 
 receptacle prepared for it. Here it collects at the rate of 
 three or four quarts a day, during the first fortnight ; after 
 this the quantity diminishes, and at the end of two months, 
 the sap, exhausted, ceases to flow, the tree becomes dry and 
 dead, and is cut down for timber or fire-wood. 
 
 The dvpse thus obtained is sweeter than honey, and of 
 less consistency, but if not used immediately it becomes 
 thick and ropy, and after distillation affords an agreeable 
 spirit, which is called arikyhj the natives, and is the " palm 
 wine " of the ancients. 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 225 
 
 Let us now pass on to the bud which contains the incip- 
 ient terminal leaf; this is sometimes used as an article of 
 food by both Europeans and natives; boiled it becomes 
 an excellent cabbage ; steeped in vinegar it forms an 
 agreeable pickle ; but, useful as the terminal bud cer- 
 tainly is in these capacities, it is to be regretted that it is 
 ever so employed, as its removal necessitates the death of 
 the tree. 
 
 Every one has heard of "toddy;" this is a sweet juice 
 obtained by wounding the unexpanded flower, and beating 
 it daily with a stick, which operation facilitates the flow 
 of the sap ; a healthy blossom will yield from one to two 
 quarts of juice daily for more than a month. 
 
 By boiling this sim, as it is called, a coarse, brown sugar 
 is obtained, which is termed pageny, one gallon of the suri 
 yielding a pound of sugar; while still warm, the thick 
 syrup is poured into cocoa-nut shells, where it soon be- 
 comes solid. By a subsequent operation the pageny itself 
 furnishes a most excellent molasses. 
 
 The su7'i, in its half fermented state, furnishes the yeast 
 used by the bakers of Ceylon, and reaching the stage of 
 acetous fermentation it becomes as fine a vinegar as one 
 need wish for. 
 
 Not yet have we measured the capacity of this wondrous 
 juice elaborated by the wounded flower, nor yet have we 
 seen the fullness of the return of "good for evil," of 
 which it furnishes so illustrious an example. 
 
 There is a form in which the suri is still more valuable 
 than as sugar, molasses, yeast, or vinegar ; this is the 
 " toddy," to which we have already alluded. In its middle 
 state of fermentation suri is transformed into this cele- 
 brated liquor, which, intoxicating in itself, is rendered 
 still more so by the addition of the leaves of a species of 
 datura. 
 
226 FLORIDA FRUITS COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 In appearance awack — another name for toddy — is clear 
 and transparent, and of a light straw color. Ceylon alone 
 exports annually from five thousand to six thousand leag- 
 uers, each containing one hundred and fifty gallons. 
 
 Nor are these the only gifts bestowed by the wounded 
 flower, which, be it observed, is of large size and purely 
 white, as befitting so beneficent a spirit. By adding a small 
 quantity of pageny to the sweet swi, a strong cement is 
 obtained, which is capable of receiving a beautiful polish ; 
 walls are prepared for the reception of this cement by 
 wetting them with a strong infusion of the husk of unripe 
 cocoa-nuts, a fluid which is also used in mixing the ma- 
 terials. 
 
 In Madras roofs are covered, and columns and floors 
 are overlaid with this pageny cement, the latter being fre- 
 quently stained so as to resemble the finest marble. In 
 Holland, too, this strange cement has been satisfactorily 
 employed for various purposes. 
 
 We come now to the leaves, which, always beautiful, are 
 also infinitely useful. 
 
 At the base of each young leaf, inclosing and protecting 
 it from harm, we find a net-work of fiber, which presents 
 the exact appearance of coarse cloth, the threads crossing 
 each other with great regularity. 
 
 The Papuans and Tahitians convert this strange cloth 
 into a garment, simply by joining its edges with a fiber 
 obtained from the same tree, and leaving a hole in the 
 center through which to pass the head. This garment is 
 usually worn by the native fishermen ; its strength, dura- 
 bility, and freedom from injury by sea- water rendering it 
 especially desirable for such pursuits. When fresh from 
 the tree it is beautifully white and as transparent as lace, 
 its pure delicacy suggesting the use to which it is fre- 
 quently applied — the construction of cradles for infants. 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 227 
 
 But soon the white cloth turns green, and is then made 
 into aprons and other garments. Age, so far from deteri- 
 orating, greatly increases its strength, and in this stage of 
 its existence it proves an invaluable friend to the native, 
 providing him with an excellent water-proof cloak " with- 
 out money and without price." 
 
 This cloth, so strangely woven in nature's loom, is also 
 employed as a filter for toddy, as a bag through which to 
 strain cocoa-nut oil, and as a sieve for sifting arrowroot 
 and other flour. 
 
 The leaves of the cocoa -palm are, probably, of all 
 leaves the most valuable. We have seen how, in their 
 incipient state, they are used as a vegetable ; in their next 
 stage, still unexpanded, though perfectly formed and of a 
 beautiful silver texture, white and semi-transparent, they 
 are wrought into exquisite crowns, wreaths, lanterns, and 
 valentines. 
 
 Beautiful in their youth, they are still more useful in 
 their old age — a prototype of human life. Old and with- 
 ered, their loveliness all gone, they yet furnish no despic- 
 able torches, when bound together in bundles six feet in 
 length and several inches in diameter. The torches are 
 called * ' chulls " in Ceylon, and if skillfully carried will 
 burn brightly for half an hour. 
 
 The young leaves likewise furnish boys and girls with a 
 beautiful material upon which to interchange verses upon 
 certain holidays. The older leaves, after undergoing a cer- 
 tain preparation, are termed ollahs, and as such are used 
 for graven purposes — letters, documents, books, and the 
 like. Neatly rolled up and sealed with gum lace, these 
 ollahs frequently pass through the post-ofiice, sometimes 
 traveling even as far as England without injury. 
 
 The young leaves are stronger than the old, and strips 
 of them are used for all kinds of ligatures, while the full- 
 
228 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 grown leaves, from fifteen to twenty feet long, are every- 
 where employed for thatching in Ceylon ; when nsed for 
 this purpose they are plaited into huge roofing-mats, with 
 which the bungalows of Europeans are thatched as well 
 as those of the native population. 
 
 The Malays plait the leaflets into sails for their phras, 
 and wonderfully durable do they prove to be. 
 
 The uses of the cocoa-nut leaf, like that of all palm 
 trees, are manifold. Mats for roofing buildings, for shel- 
 tering young plants, for covering cattle-sheds, for fenfces, 
 for walls, for ceilings, and for human coverings ; all these 
 necessities they supply in the one article of plaited mats. 
 Moreover, they furnish baskets, large and small, delicate 
 and rough, coarse, or so fine and close that fluid may be 
 carried in them as in buckets, baskets to catch fish and to 
 carry them. 
 
 The midribs of the leaves are used for propelling boats 
 instead of manufactured oars or paddles, and when bruised 
 at one end this same useful midrib is converted into a brush 
 for scrubbing and whitewashing. The smaller ribs of the 
 leaves become formidable rivals to the pin manufactories, 
 being universally employed by the poorer population of 
 the "palm lands" in place of those indispensable articles 
 of the toilet. As toothpicks, also, they perform good serv- 
 ice ; and by simply tying a bundle of them firmly together 
 with a midrib in their center, a most excellent broom is 
 obtained, so excellent, indeed, that no other is employed by 
 either rich or poor. 
 
 By the South Sea Islanders, too, these small ribs of the 
 cocoa leaf are extensively used as teeth for the combs of 
 which they are skillful manufacturers. 
 
 The chief food of domesticated elephants is the cocoa- 
 nut leaf, and it is a wonderful thing to observe how dex- 
 trously this intelligent animal separates the woody fiber 
 from the thinner margin of the leaf. 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 229 
 
 In the Maldive Islands a species of fish (the bonneta) is 
 preserved by means of the cocoa-nut leaf; the backbone is 
 removed from the fish, and, after being placed for some 
 hours in the sun, with frequent sprinklings of salt water, 
 it is wrapped carefully in cocoa leaves and buried in the 
 sand, where it soon acquires a horny hardness, and is then 
 sold in the markets. 
 
 By skillful manipulations hats, bonnets, capes, and tip- 
 pets are formed of the entire leaf, and in the Marquesas 
 Islands the full dress of the priests is formed of these won- 
 drous leaves, without the addition of any other material. 
 
 Soap is seldom needed or employed in the regions of the 
 cocoa-palm, because these same leaves, when burned, yield 
 a large proportion of potash, which admirably answers the 
 purj)ose of a cleansing agent. 
 
 So numerous, in fact, are the uses of the cocoa-nut leaf 
 that our limited space compels us to leave their value 
 "half untold." Let us, therefore, pass on to the fruit of 
 this noble tree, the cocoa-nut itself. 
 
 In its earliest state, small, green, and immature, it yet 
 commences its career of service to man, for, when grated 
 fine, it becomes a valuable medicine, and, when mixed 
 with the oil of the ripe nut, it becomes a healing oint- 
 ment. A little further advanced, the semi-transparent 
 jelly which lines the shell furnishes a delicate and nutri- 
 tious food, while the aqueous fluid or " milk" in its center 
 becomes, when iced, a most delicious luxury, which is also 
 frequently used in tea as a substitute for cow's milk. 
 
 In their unripe state cocoa-nuts are used as a regular 
 article of food. The natives of Ceylon and Malacca, living 
 upon no other food than this, will yet labor vigorously day 
 after day, while in the Maldive Islands labor performed 
 is more frequently than otherwise paid for in cocoa-nuts 
 alone. 
 
230 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 In every land where this palm flourishes its fruit forms 
 a principal article of food, and in the East, as we have 
 seen, the milk of the small red cocoa-nut is used as a cement 
 in building. 
 
 In the preparation of the world-renowned East India 
 condiment — "curry" — grated cocoa-nuts perform a most 
 important part. 
 
 The chief product in the kernel of the cocoa-nut is an 
 oil, which is extracted either by decoction or compression, 
 the latter being the method generally adopted when the 
 operation is performed upon a large scale. On an average, 
 twelve nuts yield one quart of pure oil. 
 
 The process is commenced by cleaning the nut of the 
 outer husk ; the shell is then broken and the nut exposed 
 to the sun for several days, at the expiration of which 
 time its watery parts are all evaporated. In this state the 
 kernel is called copra. 
 
 To extract the oil the copra is ground in a clumsy mill, 
 worked by bullocks, and the substance or refuse which re- 
 mains after this operation is fed to pigs and poultry. In 
 its native lands this oil is used for lamps ; the lower ranks 
 burn it in cocoa-nut shells, the wicks being a bunch of fiber 
 from the husk ; the wealthier classes, however, pour the 
 oil into brass lamps, four or five feet high, having several 
 flat basins with ornamental beaks to hold the wicks. 
 
 Cocoa-oil is also used to anoint the body, and is exten- 
 sively employed as a substitute for olive oil in pharmaceu- 
 tical preparations. Mixed with a species of resin, and the 
 compound melted, a substance is obtained which is used in 
 India instead of pitch for calking the seams of boats and 
 ships. 
 
 Cocoa-nut oil has, of late years, found two new and 
 important uses; the one as a chief substitute for wax 
 in the manufacture of fine candles ; the other as an 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 231 
 
 excellent material for a fine quality of soap. It is also 
 often employed as a lamp-oil in European countries, as well 
 as in its native land ; and the cloth manufacturer and glass- 
 blower frequently prefer its use to that of olive oil. 
 
 In closing our account of the uses of the kernel of the 
 cocoa-nut, we must not forget to mention a custom which, 
 to us of more refined taste, is simply revolting, but which 
 to the Marquesans who practice it is highly enjoyable and 
 natural : 
 
 When the elder natives decide upon a grand " drinking 
 bout," they collect together all the boys in the neighbor- 
 hood and compel them to seat themselves around an im- 
 mense bowl ; they are then well supplied with the kernels 
 of cocoa-nuts, and set to work to masticate them. Each 
 mouthful, when well chewed up, is spit out into the bowl 
 until a sufficient quantity is accumulated. Then the boys 
 are dismissed, water is poured upon the masticated nut, the 
 mass thoroughly stirred up, and, after being allowed to 
 settle again, the elders assemble, and for the next few 
 hours enjoy themselves to the full of their bent. 
 
 Now for the shells of the cocoa-nut ; these are converted 
 into beads, drinking vessels, ladles, sugar basins, and 
 measures. They also afford fuel, and, when burned to 
 charcoal and mixed with lime, form a coloring matter for 
 the walls of houses. 
 
 The husk or fibrous pericarp of the nut, called coir (from 
 the Latin word corium, the skin), is employed in various 
 ways as cordage ; it is, perhaps, most useful, and certainly 
 the best material yet known for cables, because of its great 
 elasticity and strength. Until chain cables were intro- 
 duced coir cables were universally used by all ships sailing 
 in Indian waters. 
 
 Coir is prepared by soaking the fiber in water for several 
 months, and then beating it upon a stone with a very 
 
232 FLORTDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 heavy weight ; the fibers are then twisted into yarn, from 
 which cordage of all sizes is manufactured. The natives 
 sew together with coir yarns the planks which compose 
 their boats. The ropes which anchor them and the sails 
 which give them the power of motion are made of the 
 same material ; nor does this, like hemp cordage, need to 
 be tarred, as the sea-water, ever friendly to the cocoa-palm, 
 improves rather than injures the coir fiber. 
 
 In Europe, as in Asia and America, this valuable fiber 
 is preferred to horse hair for stuffing beds, cushions, chairs, 
 and saddles, as it is indestructible, has no unpleasant 
 smell, and never harbors vermin. 
 
 Brooms, mats, rugs, and brushes are also manufactured 
 from coir, and in Ceylon the husk in its natural state with 
 the fiber attached forms a first-class scrubbing-brush all 
 ready for use. 
 
 Who will not " yield the palm" to the cocoa-nut tree as 
 the most royal, the most useful of its race, not excepting, 
 perhaps, even the honored date tree ? 
 
 For forty years or more this noble tree has thriven and 
 borne fruit among the Florida Keys, and here and there 
 on the mainlands of the southernmost portions of the State. 
 
 It is rather singular, therefore, that only within the last 
 three or four years has its culture come to be regarded as 
 among the commercial, not possibilities, but assurances of 
 our fair land; it is indeed "passing strange," and yet it 
 was the same with the orange and the pine-apple, and will 
 be with other resources now lying at our feet neglected or 
 unheeded in this wonderful country so full of unknown 
 possibilities. 
 
 As we have seen, the cocoa-nut palm requires the vicin- 
 ity of the sea to reach its highest perfection, and this 
 requisite is every where j)resent in those portions of Flor- 
 ida whose climate is suitable to its growth. 
 
 \ 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 233 
 
 From the Caloosahatchee River on the Gulf of Mexico, 
 and Lake Worth on the Atlantic, the cocoa-nut belt ex- 
 tends southward, embracing all the numerous coast islands 
 or ''Keys." 
 
 It is not, as many suppose, necessary that the salt spray 
 should literally lave the roots or trunk of the cocoa-nut, 
 but it is a fact that it needs salt air, and plenty of it, and 
 while it will grow one hundred miles or more from the sea, 
 it will not bear fruit ; the nearer its beloved friend, the 
 ocean, the more nearly perfection is attained. 
 
 The Florida nuts are fully equal in quality to any grown 
 elsewhere, and they possess a vast advantage over all others 
 in being so near the great United States market. 
 
 There is no doubt but that within the next few years all 
 the land in the State and on the Keys, suitable for cocoa- 
 nut culture, will be set in trees, and yet, when this is done, 
 so limited is the area convertible into cocoa-nut walks that 
 the whole number of trees is not likely greatly to exceed 
 one million, and consequently, the demand will always 
 exceed the home product. 
 
 The nuts are buried until they sprout, then transferred to 
 the field, and carefully planted where they are to remain ; 
 it is usual to make a hole two feet or more in depth, and 
 cover in the nut at the bottom, filling up level gradually, 
 as the young sprout pushes its way upward. 
 
 The Florida growers generally set the trees twenty feet 
 apart ; this is too close, and the time will come when the 
 roots will intermingle and rob each other of nutriment 
 and moisture, and then, to preserve the vigor of the rest, 
 some trees will have to be cut down as a sacrifice. 
 
 The tree generally begins to yield in six or seven years, 
 but not abundantly until it reaches its eighth or ninth year, 
 and then it continues to bear for seventy or eighty years. 
 In good soils, and especially in wet seasons, it will blos- 
 
 20 
 
234 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 som every four or five weeks, so that there are usually 
 ripe nuts and blossoms in all stages on the tree at the same 
 time. From five to fifteen nuts form a bunch, and a thrifty 
 tree will produce from eighty to one hundred annually, 
 sometimes more, but this is the average. 
 
 The cocoa-nut palm likes good feeding and salt air to 
 drink, but further than this requires but little culture. 
 
 Like all who occupy elevated positions in this world the 
 cocoa-nut has its enemies, and formidable ones they are, 
 too. 
 
 One comes direct from the skies, and its name is light- 
 ning ; it frequently strikes these lofty trees, kills the ter- 
 minal bud, and hence the tree, for death to the one means 
 death to the other. The others are *' of the earth, earthy." 
 One is a veritable hete 7ioir, or "black beetle;" it exca- 
 vates a hole of about an inch in diameter, in the terminal- 
 leaf bud, and when the leaves expand they appear full of 
 holes, as though riddled with bullets, and the tree often 
 dies from the injury it has received. The larva or grub 
 of this bete noir is about three inches long, plump, and 
 round in proportion, and its head is black ; it is called tu- 
 cuma, in British Guiana, and is esteemed a great delicacy 
 by the epicures of that country. Usually it is served up 
 by frying in a pan, but many prefer it raw ; they seize it 
 by its black head, dip it in lime juice, and forthwith swal- 
 low it with great gusto. 
 
 Ugh ! Here is a nice, new dish for some of our Florida 
 growers ! Try it, somebody. 
 
 Another depredator among the cocoa-nut walks is the 
 rat, especially the black rat, which nests in trees, and is a 
 splendid climber ; so serious has this source of trouble be- 
 come in some parts of Jamaica, the rats destroying the 
 tender young nuts by thousands, that the Director of the 
 Public Gardens and Plantations has given the subject spe- 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 235 
 
 cial attention, urged thereto by appeals from planters all 
 over the island, and below is what he has to say regarding 
 his investigations and search for a remedy : 
 
 ' ' I have had reason to look upon the depredation by 
 rats in cocoa-nut trees as one of the most serious troubles 
 of the cocoa-nut planters. Numerous letters have been 
 addressed to me on the subject, and in addition to this I 
 estimated that at the Palisadoes plantation, under my 
 charge, the loss caused by rats among the cocoa-nuts 
 amounts to nearly £100 per annum. 
 
 *'Dr. Ferguson, of Port Maria, reports the destruction 
 caused by rats on his extensive cocoa-nut walks as ' im- 
 mense,' and the subject has necessarily occupied his atten- 
 tion for some time, while numerous other correspondents 
 speak in similar terms. 
 
 "The question of protecting cocoa-nut trees from the 
 attacks of rats is therefore a matter of considerable impor- 
 tance, and with the view of contributing something toward 
 this end I have lately been in communication with cocoa- 
 nut planters in different parts of the island, and from the 
 replies received I select one or two which, as the result of 
 actual experience, will no doubt commend themselves to 
 careful consideration. This first of these replies is from 
 Mr. Joseph Shearer, Vale Royal, Duncan's P. O., and is 
 as follows: 
 
 " ' I got out, in 1882, 1,000 sheets galvanized iron 36x12 
 (they stood me, with cost and charges, £35 14s.), and 1,000 
 tin sheets 36x12, the cost of which was £28 7s. 10c?. 
 Although dearer at first the zinc are preferable, as near 
 the sea the tin sheets soon become rusted. The rats were 
 so bad in the cocoa-nut walks where I used these sheets 
 that I reckoned they paid their cost fully the first year. 
 In putting them on I nailed them flat to the trees with two 
 or three sheathing nails in each. If the cocoa-nut trees 
 
236 FLORIDA FRUITS — COCOA-NUTS. 
 
 are very close together a rat can go from one to the other 
 across the limbs, and great care should be observed that 
 there are no ladders near by, such as a dry limb hanging 
 on the ground, or a mangrove twig, etc. close by, because 
 if there be any such the rat will get up the tree independ- 
 ently of using the trunk, and the zinc or tin sheets would 
 be of no use. It is a safeguard, if you can not isolate all the 
 trees, to at least isolate clumps, as now and again the rats 
 will find an opportunity of climbing. Care must be taken, 
 too, to dislodge the rats from the top before putting on the 
 tin sheets. The best thing I have found for this is sand- 
 wiches of bread and phosphoric paste de|)osited among the 
 roots and fronds.' 
 
 "Mr. John Clark, Haughton Court, Lucca, writes: 
 ' ' * The zinc sheets to protect cocoa-nut trees from rats 
 have been tried here with good results ; the rats that live 
 in the trees must first of all be driven out of the trees or 
 be poisoned ; the sheets must then be nailed round the tree, 
 simply flat against the stem, low enough in the case of 
 short trees so that the rats can not spring from the trunk 
 below the sheet on to a limb that may be hanging down 
 near the trunk, which they have been known to do. Kats 
 have been seen attempting to pass over the sheets and 
 failing. 
 
 " * The sheets are zinc, forty -two inches by twelve inches, 
 and apparently one thirty-second inch thick, and cost about 
 eight pence each in London. Tin sheets last no time, and 
 are not to be thought of. The nails for putting them on 
 are ordered as fivepenny galvanized shingling nails.' 
 "Father Woollett, Reading, writes as follows : 
 " 'I have, here at Reading, used tin bands to prevent 
 rats from climbing cocoa-nut trees, and with very good 
 effect ; but I regret to say that, owing to the neglect of 
 repairing damaged bands, the rats have recovered posses- 
 
COCOA-NUTS. 237 
 
 sion of the trees. The bands were so fixed that the lower 
 part opened out trumpet-shaped, the advantage of which 
 must be apparent. The cost of each tin, including the 
 fixing it on the tree, was 9d. Each tree was well cleared 
 of rats previously to fixing the tin on it, and a supply of 
 poison left for the benefit of any skulkers. Probably zinc 
 would be better than tin, stronger, and not so easily dam- 
 aged by weather.' 
 
 "Dr. Ferguson, Port Maria, recommends the use of 
 ' strips of galvanized iron in the form of an inverted fun- 
 nel, or even horizontal and kept in a position by wedges 
 of wood,' and as another idea suggests the use of ' two 
 semi-circles of earthen-ware tiles fastened by wire in holes 
 at the ends of the tiles. Such tiles, one half inch thick 
 and four or five inches broad, could be made by stamping 
 them out of clay in a press.' 
 
 "It is very probable that Mr. Shearqr and Mr. Clark's 
 plans, which require only galvanized iron (not tin) sheets 
 thirty-six inches by twelve inches, and fastened perpendic- 
 ularly on the trees by means of a couple of sheathing nails 
 will commend itself for general adoption. These sheets 
 cost, it will be noticed, delivered on the estate, at the rate 
 of £35 14s. per thousand. This is a large sum to expend 
 at once on cocoa-nut trees, but the bands are required only 
 for bearing trees, and-I quite agree with Mr. Shearer that 
 where the depredations by rats are really bad, the sheets 
 will pay for themselves during the first year." 
 
 As to the profits of a cocoa-nut walk, they are great 
 enough to satisfy the most exacting, once the trees are 
 fairly in bearing. 
 
 At this present time, and for several years back, the 
 nuts have brought, by the cargo, delivered in New York, 
 seventy-five dollars a thousand for the first quality, rang- 
 ing down to twenty dollars for poorer grades. 
 
238 FLORIDA FRUITS — OTHER TROPICAL FRUITS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 OTHER TROPICAL FRUITS. 
 
 Among the many other fruits of South Florida fast 
 rising into prominence, first and foremost stands the 
 
 MANGO. 
 
 This is a large, spreading tree like the walnut, with lan- 
 ceolate leaves, green and shiny, seven or eight inches 
 long, and having a sweet, resinous smell; the flowers are 
 white and grow in bunches at the ends of the branches. 
 The fruit bears considerable resemblance to a short, thick 
 cucumber, and taking the average of all the varieties, 
 " whose name is legion," is about the size of a goose egg. 
 
 Some, when ripe, are of a beautiful green, others are 
 orange color. When thoroughly mature, ripe, but not 
 overripe, the mango is as delicious a fruit as one need 
 wish to taste, but let it become in the least degree de- 
 cayed, and oh ! what a transformation. 
 
 The writer has a very vivid recollection of one such 
 eaten — nay, tasted — on the Isthmus of Panama; a mixt- 
 ure of tow and turpentine would be the nearest approach 
 to the delicious flavor and stringy texture of that mango. 
 It had probably not only "seen better days," but was also 
 one of those inferior seedlings which appear now and then 
 as "sports," although, as a rule, the seed of the mango 
 yields fine fruit. 
 
 This seed is a rather large stone, something like that of 
 the peach, to which the pulp adheres firmly ; the fruit is 
 very perishable, and so is the vegetative power of the 
 seed, and when they are to be sent to any distance they 
 should be carefully wrapj^ed in wax. 
 
THE AVACADO. 239 
 
 The mango is a native of Asia and its islands, and also 
 of Brazil, but the former are considered as superior both 
 in size and flavor. 
 
 So highly esteemed are some of the finer trees in India, 
 that guards are placed over them during the fruiting sea- 
 son ; especially is this the case with the Mazagong mangoes, 
 the most superior of all. 
 
 The mango dodol is the largest of all the many varie- 
 ties, the fruit being the size of a large shaddock, and 
 weighing over two pounds. This tree loves high, dry, 
 sandy soil, and moderate fertilizing ; it grows rapidly and 
 bears at three years old ; the fruit, where a market can be 
 quickly reached, finds ready and profitable sale, but will 
 not bear shipping on long or rough journeys unless picked 
 very green. 
 
 The Florida mango of the Gulf coast is at present mar- 
 keted chiefly in Key West and New Orleans. It is not as 
 yet extensively planted, but its area is yearly extending, 
 so far as the limited area possible for its growth will al- 
 low; it will not bear frost, and by *' frost" we mean here, 
 as elsewhere in this work, a degree of temperature which 
 will produce even a thin film of ice. 
 
 THE AVACADO 
 
 (Pronounced ah-guah-cahta), 
 
 Often, but erroneously, called the alligator pear; it is 
 not a pear at all, and has nothing in common with that 
 fruit except, perhaps, in shape and size; another name 
 frequently given it is " Vegetable Marrow." 
 
 The tree, which is a handsome one, attains to the size of 
 an apple tree ; the leaves are oblong, the flowers of a yel- 
 lowish-green color, and the fruit, which sometimes weighs 
 two pounds or more, is regarded as one of the most deli- 
 cious in the world. 
 
240 FLORIDA FRUITS — OTHER TROPICAL FRUITS. 
 
 It contains one large seed or kernel ; the flavor of the 
 fruit surpasses that of the finest muskmelon, and on ac- 
 count of its rich, marrow-like, vegetable texture, is usually 
 eaten with pepper and salt, or lime juice mixed with sugar. 
 
 There are three varieties of the avacado, the red, pur- 
 ple, and green, the latter being most highly esteemed. 
 
 This tree is counted among the purely tropical fruits ; 
 but this is, in some degree, a mistake. It has been suc- 
 cessfully raised, without injury from even severe frosts, as 
 far north as Palatka, and this fact should be more widely 
 known. 
 
 As simply a shade tree the avacado is beautiful, but 
 when to this is added the fact of a bountiful yield of fruit, 
 which sells readily at from six to eight cents a pound, or, 
 at the lowest, by the dozen at seventy-five cents, that the 
 tree will easily yield one thousand pounds annually, and 
 that it begins to bear when five years from the seed, it will 
 be seen that this is destined to become one of Florida's 
 favorites, so soon as its high qualities are better known. 
 The fruit ripens from August to October. 
 
 Other fruits there are in abundance which will yet 
 become known as ' ' Florida fruits," but at this present 
 writing are not sufficiently established or cultivated to be 
 of any commercial importance, although of no little value 
 to those whose location allows their culture. 
 
 The field for experiment is wide, and we hope to see it 
 thoroughly tilled, not only by private enterprise but under 
 the more effectual direction of both our State authorities 
 and the General Government. 
 
GRAPES. 241 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 GRAPES. 
 
 Many varieties of grapes have been tested, and tested 
 satisfactorily, in Florida, but foremost among them all 
 ranks the Bullace or VUis vulpina family, native grapes of 
 Southern origin, which, owing to their late blooming and 
 late ripening, will not succeed north of the more southern 
 portions of Virginia. 
 
 It is a curious fact that while the several members of 
 this family vary greatly in the quality of their fruit, even 
 in the wild state, this is the only difference that can be de- 
 tected in them : All the cultivated and all the wild varie- 
 ties are alike in leaf, bloom, and general habits, the only 
 perceptible difference, apart from the fruit, being that the 
 white sorts have pale green tendrils, and the purple kinds 
 purple tendrils. 
 
 The whole habit and manner of growth of the Vitis vul- 
 pina family is so entirely unlike that of any other grape 
 in cultivation, that the rules generally applied to grape 
 culture are here at fault. 
 
 Most grapes root with ease from cuttings, but the Bul- 
 lace varieties do not, their wood being so dense and com- 
 pact that it is almost impossible to get cuttings to strike ; 
 consequently the vines are propagated by layers, and where 
 a large number are desired, certain vines are set apart for 
 this purpose alone. These are kept cut back almost to the 
 stump, only short shoots, with four or five eyes or buds 
 are left ; this is done in the fall or in the spring. The 
 shoots, which are very numerous, are allowed to grow 
 until June, by which time they have attained a length of 
 five or six feet ; then the leaves are all stripped off from 
 
 21 
 
242 FLORIDA FRUITS — GRAPES. 
 
 the lower part, and the shoots gathered up in bunches of 
 six or eight ; a hole is made near their junction with the 
 stump ; a handful or two of rich compost or thoroughly 
 rotted stable manure, incorporated in the soil to be filled 
 in, then the vines are bent down into the hole, the earth 
 firmly packed in on them, the ends left out turned slightly 
 upward, and the work is done. During the summer the 
 weeds must be kept down, and the ground kept slightly 
 moist, not wet. By November the layers are ready to be 
 lifted and set out, either in their nursery or in their per- 
 manent places; they will be found fully supplied with 
 strong, thrifty roots. One good, large stump thus de- 
 voted to propagation, will in one season furnish from fifty 
 to a hundred layers. These layers may be set out at any 
 time while dormant, and this, of course, is during the win- 
 ter and early spring months. 
 
 They should not be set closer than twenty-five feet to 
 each other in any direction, and if the land is very rich 
 not closer than thirty feet. This may seem very far apart 
 while the vines are young, but wait awhile and see, and if 
 the holes where they are planted are well manured before 
 setting out you will *' see" all the sooner. 
 
 Cut back the vines as they are planted, so that no more 
 than three or four eyes or buds are left, and drive down a 
 stout stake alongside of each, so that it stands fully six 
 feet out of the ground. 
 
 Watch the young vines carefully and pinch off* all of 
 the lateral shoots, a few at a time, so as not to check the 
 growth of the main stem, which is the object of your care. 
 This must be tied to the stake as it grows until, at the end 
 of its first season, it should have reached the top, a single, 
 stout, clean stem. 
 
 Before spring comes again a canopy should be prepared ; 
 four perpendicular posts, six feet high (out of the ground) 
 
GRAPES. 243 
 
 and ten or twelve feet apart with slatted top, will suffice 
 for the second reason's growth, and each season, as the vine 
 spreads, the canopy must be spread also to meet its increas- 
 ing requirements. 
 
 It is a fact to be noted and heeded, especially by the 
 Northern settler who thinks he "knows all about grapes," 
 that the Bullace family will not do well at all spread out 
 on the perpendicular arbors usual at the North, and indeed 
 every where, for most other varieties of grapes. They must 
 emphatically be kept spread out uniformly on this horizon- 
 tal canopy, and not permitted to overlap and crowd ; if 
 they are, the fruit production is lessened and deteriorated ; 
 also the trunk for six feet up must be relentlessly shorn of 
 all lateral branches. 
 
 It has often been said that the Bullace grapes do not 
 need pruning ; and this is quite true in the sense in which 
 other grapes need it. This difference is owing to the fact 
 that in the Bullace or Vitis vulpina family all the eyes or 
 buds, that in other vines lie dormant, unless forced into 
 activity by pruning, start out of themselves, thus causing 
 a more even, uniform growth over the whole vine ; some- 
 times, when the vine is very vigorous, the branches over- 
 lap and crowd, and in these cases the Bullace vines need 
 pruning to the extent of cutting out the feebler stems. 
 We have often heard and known of persons "bleeding to 
 death," but it is not often that this happens to a denizen of 
 the vegetable world. 
 
 Until very recently all nurserymen and growers held 
 that there was no remedy for preventing Bullace grape- 
 vines from literally bleeding to death if any considerable 
 limbs were cut or broken during those months when the 
 sap is flowing freely in the spring and summer. Such is. 
 the tremendous force of the circulation of the sap, that 
 the wound thus made has no time to heal over like that of 
 
244 FLORIDA FRUITS — GRAPES. 
 
 an ordinary plant, but the sap flows out, drop by drop, 
 until the vine dies for want of nutriment. Recently, how- 
 ever, one of those happy accidents, by which so many dis- 
 coveries are made, revealed a remedy, certain, and easy of 
 application. A strong, thrifty vine having been burned by 
 its frame catching fire, the owner cut it back to about 
 eighteen inches from the ground. The vine at once began 
 to bleed, and its death must have speedily followed had he 
 not bethought him of charring the cut end; a lighted 
 torch was applied, but for a day afterward the sap con- 
 tinued to drip, though slowly; by another charring the 
 cure was completed and the vine saved. 
 
 The vine, if it has grown with its usual vigor and thrift, 
 should bear the second year from the layer — that is, the 
 first season on the canopy; of course it does not bear 
 very heavily, it has as yet neither root nor branch enough 
 to make much of a crop, but with each year's growth the 
 yield increases rapidly. 
 
 Old vines frequently bear thirty bushels of grapes, and 
 in vineyards of fifteen to twenty years' standing, single 
 vines often yield from fifty to seventy-five bushels. 
 
 A bushel of grapes, weighing about sixty pounds, yields 
 three to four gallons of wine, and from the pomace that 
 remains after expressing the juice no inconsiderable amount 
 of vinegar can be made. 
 
 The following are the several varieties of the Bullace or 
 Vitis vulpina grapes. 
 
 SCUPPERNONG. 
 
 Bunches seldom composed of more than eight or ten 
 grapes; grapes large, round, bronze color when fully ripe ; 
 skin thick, flesh pulpy ; very vinous, sweet, and of a pe- 
 culiar musky aroma ; exceedingly pleasant and refreshing. 
 
 Matures from middle to end of August. Fruit has 
 never been known to decay before maturity. Vine is free 
 
GRAPES. 245 
 
 from attacks of insects or disease ; gives a certain crop an- 
 nually ; is very prolific, and rapidly becoming popular as 
 a wine grape. Makes an excellent sweet wine, resembling 
 Muscat, and when properly manipulated produces a fine, 
 sparkling wine. 
 
 THOMAS. 
 
 Bunches of six to eight grapes; grapes oblong, large, 
 light violet color, quite transparent; pulp tender, sweet, 
 of a peculiar vinous flavor ; quality superior to any of its 
 type ; has but little musky aroma, and makes a superior 
 red wine. Matures middle to end of August. 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 Bunches of from fifteen to twenty-five grapes, which are 
 almost black, and sweet, vinous flavor. Matures end of 
 September to middle of October. 
 
 TENDER PULP. 
 
 An improved seedling of the Flowers. Grapes large, 
 very sweet ; pulp tender. Matures end of September. 
 
 PEEDEE. 
 
 Resembling the above, except that the grapes are light 
 colored, like the Scuppernong. 
 
 These are all of the Bullace family. Other grapes that 
 have so far been successful in Florida are : 
 
 CONCORD. 
 
 Bunches large, berries very large; blue-black, with 
 bloom; skin thin; pulp juicy; a beautiful market variety ; 
 rampant grower and good bearer. Ripens middle of July. 
 
246 FLORIDA FRUITS — GRAPES. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 Bunches medium, red or pink ; skin very thin ; pulp 
 very slight ; juicy, vinous, and most delicate table grape ; 
 very prolific bearer. Ripens about middle of July. 
 
 CLINTON. 
 
 Bunches medium, berries large, black, vinous, and very 
 refreshing ; makes a delicious claret wine. Ripens middle 
 of July. 
 
 DIANA. 
 
 Bunches large, compact, berries large; reddish lilac; 
 little pulp, sweet ; very productive. 
 
 HARTFORD PROLIFIC. 
 
 Bunches large, berries large, blue ; flesh pulpy, musky, 
 
 sweet; prolific bearer and fine grower. Ripens early in 
 
 June. 
 
 GOETHE (Roger's no. 1). 
 
 Large ; greenish yellow, turning pink at full maturity ; 
 very sweet, vinous, and of well-defined aroma; excellent, 
 and is a reliable bearer. Ripens in August. 
 
 WILDER (Roger's no. 4). 
 
 Very large; blue-black; very fine, and a thoroughly 
 reliable bearer. Ripens in August. 
 
 MRS. m'clure. 
 
 A cross between Peter Wylie and Clinton, foliage and 
 growth resembling the Clinton ; very vigorous ; bunch and 
 berry medium size ; white, and of excellent quality. 
 
 PETER WYLIE. 
 
 Vine vigorous, short pointed ; holds its foliage till fall ; 
 bunches alone medium, shouldered, loose ; berries medium. 
 
GRAPES. 247 
 
 round, white, transparent; golden yellow at maturity; 
 
 flesh melting, vinous, delicate, Muscat flavor ; quality 
 
 best ; best flavored white grape ever grown in the South. 
 
 Ripens in July. 
 
 berckman's 
 
 Holds foliage till frost ; bunches large, berries above me- 
 dium ; reddish pink ; first quality. Ripens in July. 
 
 These are all native grapes of the foreign varieties. 
 Black Hamburg, Black Prince, and Chasselas Blanc or 
 White Sweet Water have been tried and * ' not found 
 wanting," especially the former. 
 
 In fact, there is no doubt that Florida is destined to be 
 a great grape country, both for raisin-making and for the 
 production of wine. The grape loves a warm, dry, sunny 
 soil, more especially a sandy loam, and this Florida can 
 give almost over her whole surface. 
 
 Here, as well as elsewhere, one of the greatest difiicul- 
 ties the grape grower has to contend with is the pilfering 
 of the numerous bii'ds. Covering the several bunches 
 with paper or cheese-cloth bags is a method often resorted 
 to for protection, but this is a very tedious process. An- 
 other is to pass strings across the tops of the vines, birds 
 will not alight under them. 
 
 Still another, and a very effectual way to save the grapes 
 from the feathered robbers, is so to train the vines on hori- 
 zontal canopies that the dense mass of foliage on top will 
 shield the fruit below ; the birds then can not reach it, for 
 they will never fly up from beneath the canopy. 
 
 Yet another and very effective method for protecting, 
 not only grapes, but all fruit, is one invented by a poor 
 East India native, who little expected its fame would ever 
 travel beyond the limits of his humble field. 
 
 An empty bottle, a string, a cork, and a nail — these are 
 
248 FLORIDA FRUITS — GRAPES. 
 
 all the materials required. The bottom of the bottle is cut 
 off by a heated wire being drawn along a file mark ; then 
 the string is passed through the cork in the mouth of the 
 bottle, its lower end, with a nail (or small stone) tied to 
 it, hanging about two thirds of the way down to the lower 
 part of the bottle ; this, you will see at once converts the 
 latter into a bell, the nail being the clapper; the bottle 
 must now be hung up on a twig of the plant to be pro- 
 tected, either by a continuation of the clapper string, or, 
 which is much better, by a wire passed around the neck 
 of a bottle. The least breeze causes this novel bell to 
 tinkle, and a number of them, placed here and there in 
 an orchard or vineyard, will eflfectually frighten away the 
 birds, and preserve the fruit from their ravages. 
 
 Another enemy we have to contend against is the leaf- 
 roller, which devours the young leaves, and thus prevents 
 the fruit from maturing. The following is claimed to be 
 about the only effectual method of destroying them : 
 
 To ten pounds of flour mix enough petroleum to reduce 
 it to a thin liquid, no lumps ; then add one pound of bo- 
 rax and a half pound of sulphate of iron. Apply with a 
 spray fountain pump ; a light application will answer the 
 purpose, the lighter the better. A fine, frost-like coating 
 will be left on the leaves, protecting them from other in- . 
 sects as well as the leaf-roller. This emulsion is excellent 
 for the trunks of trees, and, diluted with whale-oil suds, 
 for spraying young trees. 
 
 In picking grapes to send to market great care must be 
 taken not to handle the bunch itself, as this will rub off 
 the bloom, which lends so attractive an appearance to the 
 grapes ; the stem only should be held in the hand. 
 
 Five-pound boxes, not larger than these, are the proper 
 size for packing them in"; they are very cheap, and are 
 made either of very thin pieces of wood or of stiff paste^ 
 
GRAPES. 249 
 
 board. The grapes must be laid in carefully, shaken 
 lightly to make them pack firmly, and filled even with 
 the top. The boxes thus prepared are placed in larger 
 boxes, and are then ready for shipment. 
 
 When grapes are properly handled in picking, so that 
 they are not broken or bruised, they may be kept for 
 months by the following simple process : 
 
 Nail cleats on the inside of nice, clean boxes, about an 
 inch from the top, and between them, on the inside of the 
 top of the box, nail bars, made of two strips of wood 
 placed one on the other, the lower one the widest, so that 
 there will be a ledge on each side of the narrower center 
 strip. 
 
 Let the grapes hang on the vines as late as possible, and 
 then cut the bearing shoot so that the bunch of grapes will 
 lie in the center ; cut the shoot to fit so that it will slide in 
 by a tight fit on the bars, one end resting on a ledge of 
 each ; this will hang the bunches in their natural position, 
 allowing the air to circulate freely all around them. Put 
 the cover on the box (loose), and place the latter in as 
 cool a place as you can find ; remove the cover now and 
 then and examine the bunches, taking off any dried or 
 decaying berries. 
 
250 FLORIDA FRUITS — CHINESE SAND PEARS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CHINESE SAND PEARS. 
 
 All over the North, wherever pears are grown, there 
 has of late years prevailed a dire disease, mysterious in its 
 cause, mysterious as to its remedies, and plain and certain 
 only in one respect, that of the destruction of pear grow- 
 ing as a profitable market fruit. Whole orchards of thou- 
 sands and tens of thousands of trees have gone down be- 
 fore the dread disease, and their owners have abandoned 
 the pear-growing business in despair. 
 
 For years it seemed as if this delicious fruit must be 
 numbered among the things of the past, but for the ad- 
 vent of that for which our horticulturists had been largely 
 hoping, an entire new race of pears, with all the health 
 and vigor of the wonderful pears of China, and free from 
 the dreaded "blight" and all other diseases so destructive 
 to those which may now be termed our native varieties. 
 
 In China the pear trees reckon their lives by as many 
 centuries as ours by decades, and are never attacked by 
 disease. This sturdy race of pears has been acclimated in 
 the United States by half a century of trial, and in all 
 that time not a single Chinese pear has been touched by 
 blight or any other disease. 
 
 Happily, it has also been shown that these pears, unlike 
 the majority of the more familiar sorts, are especially 
 adapted to the Southern States, particularly to Georgia 
 and Florida. 
 
 As yet there are not many varieties of these pears, all 
 of the sand pears now on the market having sprung from 
 the original Le Conte, but this is a fault that will soon be 
 mended, for all over the land enterprising horticulturists 
 
CHINESE SAND PEARS. 251 
 
 are experimenting in hybridizing the China sand pears 
 with our old valued varieties; that is, taking the pollen 
 from the blossoms of our best dessert pears, and impregnat- 
 ing with it the blossoms of the healthy, hardy Eastern 
 sorts. 
 
 Trees grown from the seeds of pears thus impregnated 
 have retained the same degree of health and vigor and 
 freedom from disease that belonged to the mother tree, 
 while the fruit they bear is as large, handsome, and deli- 
 cious as that of the home variety which was selected to be 
 the male parent, which is usually the Bartlett. And of 
 such excellent keeping qualities are these newly-created 
 pears that they may be, and have been, shipped to Europe 
 as freely and successfully as apples. 
 
 This race of blight-proof pears is one of remarkably 
 rapid growth and intense thrift and vigor. The trees 
 grow readily from cuttings, and, if well cared for, will 
 bear in three years from the date of rooting. 
 
 Their value is greatly enhanced by their power of adap- 
 tation to circumstances, for they will thrive on sandy soil 
 or in clay, in dry lands or in moister situations, although 
 they should never be planted in places more than moist — 
 wet. They like a rich soil, and respond generously to lib- 
 eral feeding. As all pear trees need a good supply of 
 water when fruiting, they should be heavily mulched dur- 
 ing this period, if set out on lands subject to drought. One 
 point must, however, be borne in mind; these pears, on 
 quince stock, Avill not do well in Florida. 
 
 All the sand pears are naturally symmetrical in shape, 
 and very ornamental, needing little pruning, save the re- 
 moval of dead branches from time to time. 
 
 That the Chinese race of pears is destined to become one 
 of the staple productions of Florida, as it is already of 
 Georgia, we have no doubt. It has only been three or 
 
252 FLORIDA FRUITS — CHINESE SAND PEARS. 
 
 four years since this fruit first began to attract the atten- 
 tion of Florida fruit growers, and already orchards of five 
 to twenty acres of Le Conte pears are being planted here 
 and there over the State by far-seeing men, whose energy 
 (and means) are equal to their faith. 
 
 From all parts of Florida reports are beginning to come 
 in of the successful fruiting of the few trial trees set out, 
 and before long pear orchards Avill be no uncommon sight. 
 In some localities they will rival the orange in number and 
 importance. 
 
 At present the Le Conte is the one Chinese sand pear 
 most generally known, because it was the first to be intro- 
 duced, and from it the other varieties have originated — 
 some just from the seed, some just as the Le Conte itself 
 originated, from an accidental hybridizing with the Bart- 
 lett pear — and of course some years necessarily elapsed be- 
 fore these new sorts could be fruited, or be sufficiently 
 proven to be placed upon the market as distinct varieties. 
 Meantime the Le Conte was winning its way to the front 
 rank and becoming widely known. There are now other 
 pears, however, originating from it, as the mother tree, 
 that are destined to surpass it in public favor as soon as 
 their great merits are generally known. Among these the 
 Kiefier Hybrid, as we shall presently see, stands pre-emi- 
 nent. The history of these several varieties of the Chi- 
 nese sand pears is as follows : 
 
 THE LE CONTE. 
 
 Over forty years ago Major John Le Conte purchased a 
 lot of fruit trees from a New York nurseryman, and 
 among them was one labeled ''Chinese Sand Pear." He 
 was told that this tree was of no value, as the fruit would 
 not mature in this country. The Major, however, carried 
 it to Liberty County, Ga., where it "waxed exceeding 
 
CHINESE SAND PEARS. 253 
 
 strong," grew into a tall, beautiful tree, and soon began to 
 bear a large, fine fruit, excellent for cooking, for preserv- 
 ing, and for dessert. 
 
 Major Le Conte had presented this tree to Mrs. Harden, 
 and after its true nature had been thus revealed, a friend 
 of the latter. Major Varnadoe, secured a cutting and 
 started the second Le Conte pear tree in Georgia, but just 
 then came our terrible civil war and the tree was neglected. 
 Peace restored, the Major turned back to his old project 
 again of propagating this grand tree on a large scale, and 
 when he moved to Thomas County, Ga., in 1869, he car- 
 ried with him a great quantity of these cuttings, and from 
 the young trees that resulted from these was inaugurated 
 what has already proved to be in Georgia, and will soon 
 prove to be in Florida, a veritable " bonanza." 
 
 The oldest growers of the Chinese sand pear race have 
 yet to meet with a single case of blight, or other disease, 
 or defective fruit. 
 
 The Le Conte pear roots with extreme ease, if kept 
 slightly moist while rooting, and grows off afterward with 
 great rapidity, frequently attaining a height of thirty feet 
 in seven years, with limbs twenty feet long bending to the 
 ground under their weight of delicious fruit, until such a 
 tree, fully fruited, resembles a weeping willow, so far as 
 its branches are concerned. The general shape of the tree 
 is that of a cone, and is very handsome. 
 
 It is of unexampled prolificacy, it being no uncommon 
 thing for a tree to bear from four to six bushels of fruit 
 at its first bearing, and at its fourth year to yield twenty 
 bushels of fine, marketable pears. 
 
 They ripen about the first to the middle of July, more 
 than a month before the earliest of all other pears, and 
 hence always "skim the cream" of the markets. Major 
 Varnadoe, a year or two ago, received ten dollars a bushel 
 
254 FLORIDA FRUITS — CHINESE SAND PEARS. 
 
 for his first shipment; the usual net price, however, is 
 from five dollars to six dollars a bushel. 
 
 It is a peculiar feature of this pear that it perfects not 
 only one crop in one season, but sometimes partially ma- 
 tures a second before the first is all marketed. 
 
 The pears are picked before they are fully ripe, and 
 then spread out on one blanket and covered by another. 
 This ripens them evenly and gives a rich, golden color, 
 which makes them as pleasing to the eye as they are to the 
 palate, for the Le Conte, be it known, is a fine-flavored, 
 juicy, aromatic fruit. 
 
 The tree has no "off" years," but gives continual crops 
 year after year. The original tree, in Liberty County, 
 Ga. , is the greatest bearing pear tree known ; has never 
 missed a crop, and has yielded at one picking thirty-nine 
 bushels of large, smooth, marketable pears. 
 
 Another thing that extremely enhances the value of this 
 
 remarkable fruit, in a commercial sense, is its unusual 
 
 keeping qualities. The Le Conte is one of the best, if 
 
 not the very best, shipping pear that the world has ever 
 
 produced, excepting only its own offspring, as we are 
 
 about to note. 
 
 kieffer's hybrid. 
 
 In the year 1868 Peter Kieffer, of Philadelphia, planted 
 a quantity of seeds of a Chinese sand pear in his garden. 
 One of the seedlings thus raised proved to be the bearer 
 of a new variety of pear, and one of exceeding merit in 
 every respect. This seedling commenced bearing in the 
 year 1873, five years from germination of the seed, and 
 has borne full crops every year since, the quantity steadily 
 increasing with the bearing surface of the tree. In the 
 fall of 1877 it yielded four bushels, the next eight, and so 
 up to the present season the yield has gone on steadily in- 
 creasing. 
 
CHINESE SAND PEAKS. 255 
 
 Wherever the Kieffer Hybrid has been exhibited it has 
 taken the first prize as the best blight-proof hybrid seed- 
 ling, and in the markets it always commands a higher 
 price than any others. The fruit is large, measuring from 
 ten to twelve inches around ; is double turbinate in shape, 
 pointed at both ends; flesh white, and remarkably firm 
 until it ripens, then it is juicy, rich, with a pleasant vinous 
 flavor, and of best quality. 
 
 It is a splendid keeper, and can be shipped to markets 
 a month or so distant, arriving in better order than when 
 it started, ripening on the way. It does not rot until very 
 ripe, and remains sound at the core to the very last. The 
 fruit is a rich yellow, tinged with red, and very attractive. 
 The tree is very ornamental, an early bearer, commencing 
 to fruit at two or three years, and is enormously productive 
 as it grows older. It is also a very strong grower ; young 
 trees planted in the spring often making a growth during 
 the summer of four to five feet. It grows well in any ordi- 
 nary soil, whether heavy clay or light sand, but does its 
 best on the latter, hence is peculiarly adapted to Florida. 
 The fruit commences to ripen in July, and continues 
 through November. 
 
 At the International Exhibition in Philadelphia, in 
 1876, the Centennial Commission gave to P. Kiefifer a 
 prize medal and certificate of award, for ''originating a 
 hybrid pear of remarkable excellence, between the pear 
 of culture and a Chinese sand pear, giving promise of a 
 new race of pears of great excellence." 
 
 garber's hybrid. 
 
 This is the best of many seedlings of the Chinese sand 
 pear, raised by Mr. J. B. Garber, of Pennsylvania. The 
 tree is fine, healthy, and vigorous, like all that spring from 
 this hardy source. The fruit is of good size, measuring 
 
256 FLORIDA FRUITS — CHINESE SAND PEARS. 
 
 nine inches around, and is much flatter and rounder than 
 the Le Conte or KiefFer. Its color is greenish-yellow when 
 ripe, with a red blush on one side ; stem is slender, of me- 
 dium length ; flesh firm, coarse-grained, juicy, with a pe- 
 culiar, pleasant flavor. It ripens well and evenly, and is 
 of excellent quality and a good shipper. Eipens in Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 cocklin's sha-lea. 
 
 This pear is the best of two thousand Chinese sand pear 
 seedlings, raised by E. H. Cocklin, of Pennsylvania, and 
 is not a "sport," but undoubtedly an accidental hybrid 
 between the above pear and a Bartlett tree, which grew 
 near that from which the seeds were obtained. 
 
 The seedling commenced to fruit in 1873, when five 
 years old, and has borne full crops every year since, bear- 
 ing in 1877 eight bushels of fine, marketable pears. The 
 fruit is remarkably handsome, smooth, high-colored, and 
 beautiful. The skin is yellow with a bright-red blush on 
 one side ; medium size, measuring ten inches around and 
 twelve inches lengthwise ; stem long, calyx small ; shape, 
 double turbinate; flesh white, crisp, firm, and of good 
 quality. 
 
 This pear, from its handsome shape, fine color, and other 
 good qualities, has already become a prime favorite in the 
 market, selling readily at six dollars per bushel when 
 pears of the older varieties are selling at one third that 
 price. The fruit begins to ripen in October and continues 
 through November, just when pears are scarce and high. 
 
 These three new-comers in the family of Chinese sand 
 pears, Kieffer's Hybrid, Garber's Hybrid, and Cocklin's 
 Sha-Lea, are destined to secure as firm a foothold in our 
 Southern pear orchards as their mother tree, the original 
 China sand or Le Conte pear has already done. Very few 
 
CHINESE SAND PEAES. 257 
 
 pears grown on any of these trees prove to be unfit for 
 market, but any that should be so could be readily utilized 
 by drying them, just as we have recommended the surplus 
 guavas to be treated. 
 
 In handling pears for market it must be borne in mind 
 that they are a delicate fruit, and require tender treatment, 
 a bruise being ruin. They should be picked when fully 
 matured, but before they are ripe, to insure safe carriage. 
 To hasten the ripening process they should be spread on 
 paper or blankets, and covered with the same, in a moist 
 air. To retard the ripening, keep the fruit uncovered in a 
 dry air, and as near 40° temperature as possible. In pack- 
 ing remember that pears absorb odors with great readiness, 
 and therefore always pack them in clean barrels or boxes. 
 Never use ''fruit baskets," they are not firm enough; 
 either pack in slat boxes or in barrels with plenty of holes 
 bored in them for ventilation. 
 
 Pears are not elastic like apples, therefore must not be 
 packed down so tightly. When the point of destination 
 is very distant, the sides, top, and bottom of box or barrel 
 should be lined with paper, straw, or some other soft, dry 
 material. 
 
 Separate the different sizes and qualities, just as with 
 oranges or lemons, and place them always on their blossom 
 ends. Pack just tight enough to keep the fruit from mov- 
 ing about. The French gardeners are justly celebrated 
 for their success in packing pears for distant markets, and 
 this is how they do it : 
 
 They pack their pears, carefully picked and handled, in 
 small boxes, covering the sides and bottom with dry moss, 
 or soft, dry paper, as Ave do oranges, and pack in layers, 
 the largest and primest specimens at the bottom, and fill 
 in the interstices with dry moss or paper. In this way 
 every pear is held firm in its place, and no one pear can 
 press another. 22 
 
258 FLORIDA FRUITS — FIGS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXVI. 
 
 FIGS. 
 
 This fruit is destined to become one of the staples of 
 Florida. It is of quick and easy growth, and particularly 
 adapted to both soil and climate ; but up to the present 
 time its culture has been carelessly conducted, and but 
 little pains have been taken by the nurserymen of the 
 State to introduce those varieties especially suited for com- 
 mercial purposes, namely, those that are light-colored, and 
 therefore the best when dried for market, and those that 
 that are superior as table fruit. 
 
 Gustav Eisen, of Fresno, California, tells us that the 
 following conditions are highly favorable to fig culture : 
 
 "1. Abundance of moisture in the soil before the figs 
 begin to ripen. 
 
 " 2. Good and perfect drainage at any and all times. 
 
 ' ' 3. The gradual drying of the soil when the fruit is 
 ripening. 
 
 " 4. Sufficient heat to insure sweetness in the figs. 
 
 ''5. Absence of any frost lower than 18° Fahr., though 
 figs can stand 12° if they are tolerably dormant. 
 
 '' 6. Absence of heavy rains during the maturing of the 
 fruit. 
 
 "Again, the following conditions are more or less injuri- 
 ous to fig trees, if the object is to procure good fruit for 
 drying or the table : 
 
 " 1. A wet soil, sour from stagnant water, during the 
 fruiting season. 
 
 "2. Cess-pools, sewers, and ditches in so close proximity 
 that the trees can send their roots to them. 
 
 * ' 3. Heavy and repeated showers of rain during the 
 
FIGS. 269 
 
 maturing of the fruit. Some figs are not much affected 
 by this ; some, however, will spoil, crack, and sour. 
 
 " If, with these conditions favorable, a proper site for the 
 orchard is selected, no great difficulty will be encountered 
 in setting out and caring for the trees. In planting, how- 
 ever, great care should be exercised in shading the roots 
 from the sun. and wind. Figs are more apt to get hurt 
 from exposure to sun and wind than almost any other fruit 
 tree, and if the roots once have become perfectly dried, it 
 is generally difficult to get the trees started. 
 
 " The proper distance apart to set the trees is dependent 
 upon circumstances. Heavy growing varieties should be 
 planted twenty-five to fifty feet apart ; if the former, every 
 other tree may be cut out when the trees grow too large. 
 In the meantime a profitable crop has been for years se- 
 cured from each. If set twenty-five feet away we believe 
 ten years will elapse before any necessary cutting has to 
 be done. 
 
 " The head of the fig tree should be started not over two 
 feet from the ground, and at that height the tree should 
 be allowed to branch out freely, thus to form a low, spread- 
 ing crown. On such low trees the fruit is easy to pick, 
 the stem is kept cool, while the crown of the tree receives 
 the maximum of sun. High-stemmed fruit trees are an 
 abomination and not profitable, if fruit is the object. We 
 do not refer now to fruit trees for shade or for avenues, as 
 such trees may be given any shape desired. 
 
 '^ The pruning of a fig orchard is a very light job, simply 
 because no regular pruning, as practiced and necessary for 
 other fruit trees, is here needed. Here and there a branch 
 may be cut out or a dead limb taken away, but no stopping 
 of branches is required, though it would not prove abso- 
 lutely detrimental to the tree. 
 
 "The sweet but deceptive expectation, that, when an 
 
260 FLORIDA FRUITS — FIGS. 
 
 orchard or vineyard once is planted, the owner may lay in 
 his easy chair and wait for the fruit to ripen without any 
 further trouble or labor, can alone be referred to the fig. 
 We know of no other fruit tree that needs so little care, 
 or, in fact, demands to be left alone as does the fig ; even 
 the constant plowing of the soil, so much needed in other 
 fruit plantations, is here even a disadvantage. Figs should 
 be left alone; keep the weeds away and nothing more. 
 One plowing is enough, provided the trees are in the proper 
 soil; two would injure the trees. The fig has any quantity 
 of surface roots, and if these are disturbed the trees will 
 suffer. Figs which are never plowed produce as fine fruit 
 as those cultivated with care. While other trees cry for 
 constant care, the fig trees beg to be left alone ; they are 
 fully able to care for themselves." 
 
 It is with the fig in its natural state much as it is with 
 guavas, the taste for each must be acquired, but when once 
 attained is very sirong. In Europe the people are trained 
 from childhood to like the fresh fig ; it is seen on the hotel 
 tables as a dessert fruit whenever it is in season, and fresh 
 or stewed, even more than dried, it forms an important 
 part of the food of the masses. 
 
 It is a mild laxative, and hence particularly wholesome 
 for a warm climate, and to this fact the inhabitants of 
 Southern Europe are fully alive. It should be the same 
 in America, and would be if more care were taken to place 
 the best sorts on the markets. 
 
 Wherever fresh figs are ofl^ered for sale in the United 
 States, the largest and coarsest kinds only are sought for, 
 and it is very amusing to those who know better, to see a 
 customer pass scornfully by a lot of fine, delicate-flavored, 
 but small fruit, and purchase a larger, more showy kind, 
 not one half so palatable or rich. 
 
 The people are not yet educated to a proper appreciation 
 
FIGS. 261 
 
 of figs, and it is the fault of the producers that this is the 
 case. The public are always ready to seize upon a good 
 article, when it is made known to them as such. So long 
 as the fruit growers exercise so little care and wisdom 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 have. 
 
 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, Flor- 
 ida and California— in fact, through all the length and 
 breadth of the former — where the 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, 
 oranges, citrons, 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 can not procure 
 enough material to keep them busy, except in the one 
 item of oranges, the others not yet being raised in suffi- 
 ciently large quantities. 
 
 For instance, this past year, at St. Augustine, Mr. S. B. 
 Vails, during the height of the fig season, preserved about 
 
2G2 FLORIDA FRUITS — FIGS. 
 
 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 ; thousands of bushels more could have been 
 sold in this one place alone, with great profit to the grow- 
 ers. It was the same with limes and 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 the most satisfactory way to start a fig orchard : plant 
 the cuttings deep just where they are to stay, for the fig 
 is much like the pine-apple with regard to its roots; the 
 latter object so strongly to transplanting, unless very care- 
 fully done and kept moist, that they are very likely to die, 
 or at least lie dormant for months or even years, while 
 new roots are forming alongside of them and outstripping 
 them in the race. 
 
 We heard not long since of a gentleman who set out 
 several fine young fig trees procured from a nursery ; the 
 trees did not die, they lived, but that was all they did do 
 for more than three years, and so disgusted was their owner 
 that he was on the point of digging them up and throwing 
 them away, when, happening to relate his experience to a 
 neighbor, the latter bade him let them be as they were. 
 
 ''I have often remarked," said he, "that almost invari- 
 ably a fig tree transplanted will lie comparatively dormant 
 for four years and then start out, grow rapidly, and bear 
 prolifically for years upon years. Wait a few months 
 longer; your four years are nearly up, and then you will 
 see." 
 
 So the fig owner waited and he did see. The condemned 
 trees suddenly awoke to life, and put on a vigorous growth. 
 In one season they gained as much bearing surface as could 
 
FIGS. 
 
 263 
 
 reasonably have been expected in three seasons, and the 
 following year, and every year thereafter, these awakened 
 trees bore heavy crops of fruit. 
 
 A cutting placed in permanent position, with the ground 
 properly prepared and suitable after-treatment given, will 
 outstrip a transplanted fig tree, as a general rule. 
 
 Wherever the future tree is to stand — and if there is 
 clay near the surface so much the better— a hole three feet 
 in diameter and two feet deep should be excavated, the 
 top soil thrown to one side, the subsoil to another ; then a 
 compost of muck, forest leaves, and stable or hen manure, 
 or some commercial fertilizer, should be thoroughly incor- 
 porated with the top soil and the hole filled in and tightly 
 packed with this mixture. If the compost is moist, as it 
 should be, the fig cutting may be thrust down, sloping, in 
 the center of the spot thus prepared, the earth packed 
 firmly around it (in this last lies the secret of successful 
 rooting), a mulch of leaves or grass placed around it, a 
 tall stick or two driven down alongside as a guard, and the 
 work is done. Should there be a long dry spell after 
 planting, then, but not otherwise, the cuttings should be 
 watered. 
 
 Before long, buds will develop and the young tree will 
 grow right along, beginning to bear in its second or third 
 year, and continuing to do so for a life-time or more. 
 
 The time is not far distant when our people will awake 
 to the true value of the fig, whether sliced with sugar and 
 cream as a table fruit, as a preserve, as a sweet pickle, or 
 as a dried or shipping fruit. 
 
 Wherever fresh figs are placed on sale in the Florida 
 cities and towns, they sell readily at from ten to twenty 
 cents a quart, and even if the local price should fall to 
 five cents a quart, there would be still a handsome profit 
 for the grower. 
 
264 FLORIDA FRUITS — FIGS. 
 
 The experiment of shipping fresh figs from Florida to 
 the Northern markets has already been made with eminent 
 success. They were sent in refrigerator cars, carefully 
 packed in quart boxes, and, having been picked just before 
 maturity, they ripened in transit, and arrived in perfect 
 order, bringing the splendid price of forty cents a quart, 
 when even at one half of that amount they would have 
 given a very large profit. 
 
 There is no doubt whatever that if good, sweet, ripe figs 
 are thus sent to the Northern cities in quantities, they will 
 soon be sought after as a dessert fruit ; they only need to 
 be known to become exceedingly popular, just as they are 
 in Europe. 
 
 The true Smyrna fig, the dried fig of commerce, has not 
 yet been introduced into Florida, although several impor- 
 tations of alleged cuttings have been made in California ; 
 upon fruiting, however, they were found not to bear the 
 true Smyrna fig. Recently it has been proven that the 
 agents of the importers were deceived in the cuttings ; the 
 true Smyrna fig tree or cuttings not being allowed to be 
 sent out of the country. Seeds from the imported figs 
 themselves will, however, germinate, and thence our sup- 
 ply must come. 
 
 The principal varieties of the fig now cultivated in 
 Florida are as follows: 
 
 ANGELIQUE, OR EARLY LEMON. 
 
 Small ; greenish yellow ; fine flavored ; early. 
 
 BRUNSWICK, OR MADONNA. 
 
 Very large ; violet ; good, and very productive. 
 
 BLACK ISCHIA. 
 
 Medium size ; bluish-black ; very good quality. 
 
FIGS. 265 
 
 BLUE GENOA. 
 
 Medium size ; bluish black ; very fair quality. 
 
 CELESTIAL. 
 
 Very reliable for orchard culture ; class fruit very early, 
 and gives large crops ; fruit medium size ; pale violet, and 
 very sweet. 
 
 BKOWN TURKEY. 
 
 This variety is also excellent for orchards ; fruit medium 
 size ; brown ; very sweet and delicious. 
 
 GREEN ISCHIA. 
 
 Fruit medium size; green, with crimson juice; very 
 good and prolific. 
 
 LEMON. 
 
 Very large ; yellow ; sweet and prolific. 
 
 WHITE GENOA. 
 
 Leaves smooth, not deeply lobed ; growth medium size. 
 Fig medium size, larger than Ischia ; skin very thin ; meat 
 finely grained and highly flavored. A fine and very valu- 
 able fig for drying. 
 
 WHITE SAN PEDRO, OR APPLE FIG. 
 
 Leaves not deeply cut, woolly. Tree a strong grower. 
 Fig very large, as large as a medium apple, the largest of 
 all figs ; skin rather thin ; highly flavored and sweet when 
 grown on drained soil. Very fine for table, but too large 
 to dry well. 
 
 WHITE ADRIATIC. 
 
 From Sicily, Italy. Enormous grower and bearer. Skin 
 very thin ; meat very sweet and highly flavored, and very 
 valuable for drying. As a table fig it is equally fine, but 
 is not as large as San Pedro. Should only be planted on 
 well-drained soil. 23 
 
266 FLORIDA FEUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 PEACHES* AND PLUMS. 
 
 Who does not love it, the luscious, juicy, fragrant peach ? 
 Why, the very mention of it, when it is not within our 
 reach, is enough to " make the mouth water" and the nos- 
 trils expand. in the futile hope of recalling the taste and 
 smell of past pleasures connected with that ''fruit of the 
 gods." 
 
 We have yet to meet with the first person who avows a 
 distaste for a fine, aromatic peach, and, strange to say, we 
 have met with but few more who could tell ' ' whence its 
 name or what's its name." 
 
 The botanical designation of the peach, Amygdalus Per- 
 sica, at once reveals its origin and the land of its nativity, 
 for to Persia do we owe this most popular fruit, and yet, 
 strange to say, in this, its native home, it was considered 
 unwholesome, and so was far from being the favorite it now 
 is with the civilized world. In point of fact, it really was 
 unwholesome in those days, just as it is now, where its due 
 care and cultivation are neglected or not understood, for 
 the peach is one of those aristocratic trees that object to 
 '' roughing it" through the world, and will not flourish as 
 it might if not intelligently waited upon by its owner. 
 
 Hence, in Media, that province of Persia to which we 
 owe our improved peach of to-day, the fruit seldom ripened, 
 the flesh was tough and indigestible, and the flavor bitter, 
 and all because its true character and requirements were 
 unknown. Just exactly as many a human heart has be- 
 come toughened and embittered from not being understood 
 and rightly treated by those about it. 
 
 ^Peaches — Originally published iu the Florida Agnculturist. 
 
PEACHES. 267 
 
 Columella tells us that when the peach was first intro- 
 duced into the Roman Empire from Media, during the 
 reign of the Emperor Claudius, it was possessed of ex- 
 tremely injurious qualities. 
 
 Somehow the Chinese, in the "good olden times," even 
 more than in the present, seemed to take hold of every 
 new plant or discovery with a zest that soon carried them 
 beyond the nations of Christendom, so it was with the 
 peach ; although a native of Persia, its first visit to foreign 
 lands and tlie first true appreciation it met with was on 
 Chinese soil, and there we find it flourishing and at home 
 almost as early as it was noted in its native land. Thence 
 it spread to Asiatic Turkey, where the natives regarded it 
 with deep veneration, and even connected various super- 
 stitions with the tree and its fruit, at least so Pliny and 
 other classical writers tell us. 
 
 That the peach was one of the " trees in the Garden of 
 Eden" there can be no doubt, and surely God could have 
 placed there, for the comfort of our first parents, no more 
 delicious fruit than this ; and perhaps it was for this rea- 
 son that after their fall it was withdrawn from the knowl- 
 edge of their descendants ; for, curiously enough, we find 
 no mention of the peach in the Bible, although its con- 
 gener, the almond, is mentioned even as far back as in the 
 time of Jacob, for we read that when preparing his gift 
 for the Governor of Egypt, he commanded his sons to 
 take "myrrh, nuts, and almonds," thus showing the high 
 esteem in which these three articles were held. And yet 
 again in the minute directions for making the golden can- 
 dlestick we find mentioned, among the chief ornaments, 
 the myrtle and almonds ; again and again the almond you 
 see, yet never once the peach; hence it is quite safe to 
 infer that to the Israelites the peach was an unknown 
 fruit, although the almond is so nearly identical with it. 
 
268 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 We have seen how the peach when first brought to Rome 
 bore unwholesome fruit, yet in a few years thereafter we 
 find it so vastly improved, by proper care and cultivation, 
 as to be highly valued by the Roman patricians, and re- 
 garded by them as one of their choicest luxuries, and as 
 such Italians still consider it. 
 
 From Italy the peach was carried to England about the 
 middle of the sixteenth century, and it is still cultivated 
 there as an exotic, as it must ever be, for the cool, moist 
 climate prohibits its general culture, and its fruit can only 
 be perfected when trained against sheltering walls or under 
 glass. Hence, in England, the peach is rarely seen except 
 on the tables of the wealthy. Even in France, whose cli- 
 mate is milder than that of England, it can only be occa- 
 sionally perfected in the extreme South without protec- 
 tion, and hence its cultivation is confined to gardens, and 
 the fruit, as in England, " tickles the palate" only of the 
 rich. 
 
 To the honor of the United States, be it said, that it is 
 the only country in the world where, either in ancient or 
 modern times, the peach has been cultivated in such quan- 
 tities as to be placed in the open market, and brought 
 within the reach of all. Here it is not only the wealthy, 
 as on the continent, but the poor, as well, who may feast, 
 at slight expense, on the most wholesome and delicious of 
 all fruits, and every year its cultivation is becoming more 
 and more extended, and its profusion in the markets greater 
 and greater. 
 
 Next to the United States, China raises more peaches 
 than any other one nation, but even there it is only the 
 rich who profit by them. The Chinese as a nation are 
 great gardeners, and originate much that is curious as well 
 as useful in this as well as in other arts. 
 
 Years ago, while still the Chinese were shutting them- 
 
PEACHES. 269 
 
 selves out from intercourse with other nations, we used to 
 read accounts by venturesome travelers of the wonderful 
 peaches raised in China; peaches of enormous size and 
 strange shapes, notably one that has latterly become 
 familiar to some of us, the flat or Pien-tau peach, and 
 another that is yet a stranger, the crooked peach. We 
 hope that some of our enterprising nurserymen may soon 
 get hold of the latter and introduce it to the residents of 
 Florida, for if it flourishes here as vigorously as its sister, 
 the Pien-tau, we could not in reason ask for any thing 
 better. 
 
 Heretofore, Florida, partly because it is a newly-settled 
 country, has not done much in the way of peach raising, 
 but the few who have had enterprise enough to plant and 
 cultivate a few trees have been amply repaid, and the re- 
 sult of such intelligent eflbrts is sufficient to justify the as- 
 sertion that when Floridians wake up to the fact that 
 "there's millions in it," then their State will easily step 
 forward into the first ranks as a peach grower ; for the 
 peach is a native of a mild climate ; severe winters chill 
 its life-blood, and late springs kill its delicate blossoms or 
 young fruit. Florida's mild winters are congenial to it, 
 and if we exercise proper care in the selection of varieties 
 we need have little if any fear of our crops being ' ' nipped 
 in the bud " by Jack Frost. 
 
 The peach, to do well, requires care and cultivation ; 
 but given these it will accommodate itself to almost any 
 soil, and, while preferring a clayey loam, will flourish in the 
 sand if the clay be three, four, or even five feet below it. 
 
 Of course with peaches, as with other fruits, not all va- 
 rieties are suited to all localities ; for each section of coun- 
 try there are certain kinds that do well while others will 
 not grow at all. Hence, it is a point of great importance 
 to ascertain just what kinds are best suited to our own 
 
270 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 special localities, and this point, for Florida, has been 
 pretty well worked out in the last few years. 
 
 Pre-eminent among those suited for the fruit growers of 
 Florida are the * 
 
 Pien-tau peach, or China flat peach. 
 
 The Honey peach, maturing fruit early in May, some- 
 times even in April. 
 
 Early Louise and China Cling are also early peaches, and 
 do well in Middle and South Florida, as also in North and 
 West Florida. 
 
 These are all vigorous growers, prolific bearers, and their 
 fruit is of exquisite flavor and fragrance. 
 
 Briggs' May and Wilder have succeeded excellently in 
 North and West Florida. 
 
 These are all "foreign varieties," but there are a few 
 native peaches, obtained from pits planted from Florida- 
 grown fruit, that are worthy of our best attention and 
 care. Among these are 
 
 Beaches Periodical, a strong, healthy growing tree, bear- 
 ing large, fine-flavored fruit from July to September — the 
 very months when other fruits are scarce, and our parched 
 throats crave their refreshing juices. 
 
 Goodbread peach, so named after its originator. It is me- 
 dium in size, and begins to ripen from May 15th to June 
 Isti A cling of the most exquisite flavor, bearing trans- 
 portation admirably, it is peculiarly suited to Florida fruit 
 growers. 
 
 Another is the May peach, ripening the last of May or 
 first of June ; and yet another, called the November, fur- 
 nishes ripe fruit of best quality in October and November. 
 These kinds are offered by one of our well-known nursery- 
 men, and another introduces to our notice the following, all 
 natives of Florida or Southern Texas : 
 
 Pennies^ Free, a large, fine-flavored peach, ripening in 
 July. 
 
271 
 
 PEACHES. 
 
 Bcnhrmn's Free, ako large and good, perfecting the mid- 
 
 ^^'oLmI' Favcn-iU, a large, yellow, juicy, July peacl, 
 Gableis Indian, a cling-stone of large s.ze, "Pe^-S -^" 
 in July, and with the peculiarity of purple or reddish flesh, 
 whence, we presume, its name of " Indian. 
 
 Thus we see that any fruit grower of Flonda may, by a 
 iudicious selection of varieties, secure a full supply of this 
 delicious fruit during at least seven months m the year 
 these months, too, covering a period when this fruit brmgs 
 almost fabulous prices in the cities north of us. 
 
 In short, we need here in Florida but to set out peach 
 orchards as we set out orange groves, and give them as 
 much attention, to obtain another source of income just as 
 generous and reliable as the much-vaunted golden fruit 
 fielding, t«o, a larger sum per aere ; for while one hundred 
 Tnd eight i« the largest number of orange trees permissible 
 to an acre, peach growers, plaeing their trees fifteen by fif- 
 teen feet, have space for one hundred and ninety-three 
 
 And now let us pass on to that most important consider- 
 ation, the proper care of the peach tree 
 
 Fi^st of all, in setting out the trees let the hole be we 1 
 spaded, raised in the center, with a hole for the tap-root 
 and large enough to admit of the roots being spread out as 
 nature Intended them to be ; do n't crowd them m a bunch 
 on one side or against the stem, that is a slovenly method, 
 and unworthy of an inteUigent being; they need to cover 
 all the ground they can to procure food enough for their 
 foster parent; then spread out the roots carefuUy and to 
 do this you must " stoop to conquer." Throw the earth 
 carefully upon them until the hole is half fiUed then rai^ 
 a bucket of water as high as you convenient y can and 
 pour half of it down around the stem ; this wUl pack the 
 
272 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 earth around the tender rootlets much better than the hand 
 could do it — you will see this by the way the soil washes 
 down — put on more earth and then pour on the rest of the 
 water, shaking the tree gently as it settles ; this done, scat- 
 ter a handful of salt around the base of the stem to keep 
 the borers away. Throw on more soil, tread it down firmly, 
 then a little more dry soil on top, loosely, and your work 
 is done. Even in dry weather the tree thus planted will 
 need no more care for three weeks at least. It takes time, 
 to be sure, but often time lost is time saved, and so it is 
 here, not only time saved but trees saved. 
 
 It is the nature of young peach trees to keep on growing 
 till late in the fall, and it is best, even in Florida, to check 
 this injudicious vigor by pinching off the young shoots and 
 ceasing to stir the soil. Bearing trees, in this respect, 
 should be treated differently; let them grow as late as 
 they will, it will do them no harm in this latitude, for the 
 latent fruit buds will consume all the extra sap caused by 
 cultivation. 
 
 In the last word, cultivation (conjointly with pruning), 
 lies the grand secret of success in peach raising ; from the 
 moment the buds begin to swell in the spring till the leaves 
 fall in the autumn, keep the soil around the tree so mellow 
 and free from weeds that you can at any time run your 
 hand right down into it and bring it up filled with loose 
 soil. 
 
 Cultivate at the beginning, cultivate at the middle, cul- 
 tivate at the end ; this, with due pruning, will secure a 
 fine crop of fine peaches, where, without these two things 
 conjoined, the same trees would produce tough, leathery, 
 unripened fruit. This latter is the usual condition of our 
 native Florida peaches, not because they are inherently 
 poor, but because their owners, like the ancient Medians, 
 do not understand their proper treatment. 
 
PEACHES. 273 
 
 Cultivation and pruning — pruning and cultivation ; these 
 are imperative elements of success in the peach orchard. 
 A very rich soil is not needed, in fact, it is apt to promote 
 branch growth at the expense of fruit, for every horticultu- 
 rist knows that great growth and fruit can not be expected 
 the same season. 
 
 The best fertilizer for the peach tree is made in the fol- 
 lowing proportions: Four bushels of leaf mold, or ham- 
 mock top soil ; one bushel of well rotted cow chips ; one 
 peck of unleached hard-wood ashes; and a quarter of a 
 peck of salt; these will give splendid results in growth 
 and fruit. 
 
 The tree requires yearly pruning, as the fruit is only 
 grown on wood of last season's growth, and a superfluous 
 branch, therefore, only takes so much wood away from the 
 working portions of the tree. 
 
 When set out it should be cut back to within two and a 
 half feet of the ground ; below this cut young shoots will 
 be produced, from which three should be selected to form 
 the main branches of the tree, all other shoots being 
 pinched oif ; the second year these three branches are cut 
 back one half their length, one shoot being allowed to 
 grow to continue the branch, and another to form a sec- 
 ondary branch, while a few bearing shoots are left to grow 
 from the older wood; the third season the six leading 
 branches are shortened one half, to obtain more bearing 
 shoots, and so the formation of the ''head" goes on for 
 five years, and then, thereafter all that is necessary is an- 
 nually to shorten in the older branches and trim out where 
 too thick. 
 
 As we have demonstrated, it is the want of this self- 
 same pruning and cultivation that has given the opportu- 
 nity for so many to declare that ' ' good peaches can not be 
 raised in Florida." Let those who have old peach trees 
 
274 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 take our advice and saw and cut and clip now at once, till 
 little is left but the trunk and three short branches at the 
 top ; then hoe away the weeds, and next spring give a dress- 
 ing of the fertilizer we have specified, and our word for it, 
 one or two years hence those old "worn-out" trees will 
 bear profusely, fine, ripe peaches, not leathery ones. 
 
 Summer pruning is best for bearing trees ; it forces out 
 new shoots for next season's bearing, while spring pruning 
 is better for young trees. 
 
 Peach trees, in fact all fruit trees, are a great deal like 
 children ; they need care and constant attention to con- 
 duct them safely "in the way they should go." 
 
 A good many persons, new to the business, appear to 
 think that all one has to do, to have a fine orchard and 
 large yearly crops of fruit, is to plant the trees and then 
 let them alone to struggle along as they best may. ^ But 
 this is an erroneous and fatal idea ; fruit trees have their 
 enemies in scores, and as their attacks produce disease, and 
 ultimately death, if not checked in time, it behooves the 
 fruit growers to be ever on the war-path. 
 
 The most deadly of the insect enemies of the peach tree 
 is the white worm, familiarly known as the "borer," which, 
 entering the trunk, usually below but sometimes above the 
 collar where the bark is soft, burrows into the very center 
 of the wood, if allowed, and destroys the tree by literally 
 "eating its heart out." 
 
 There are several ways of waging war on these burrow- 
 ers, and here are some of them : 
 
 When you observe a tree losing its usual thrifty appear- 
 ance, its leaves dropping or turning brown, you may be 
 pretty sure that a borer is "at the bottom of it," and if 
 you look closely on the ground, at the root of the tree, you 
 will notice a little pile of reddish sawdust. Seeing this 
 you may know at once that you are on the right trail, and 
 
PEACHES. 275 
 
 a look at the stem will disclose the tiny round hole through 
 which the would-be destroyer has entered. 
 
 Now, how to get at it is the question. If you have 
 been watching your trees as closely as you should have 
 done, it will not have had time to do more as yet than 
 burrow between the bark and the wood, and then its course 
 is easily traced under the bark by the eye, like the rise in 
 the ground made by a mole. Press with your finger-nail 
 along this furrow until the bark peels from beneath it; 
 this will tell you that the end of the burrow is reached, 
 then cut a slit that will lay open the bark, and the borer 
 will be at your mercy. 
 
 When it has entered too deeply into the wood for the 
 knife to reach it, a bit of slender wire thrust into the hole 
 and pushed along the burrow until it will go no further, in 
 other words, has reached the end, will effectually dispose 
 of the intruder. 
 
 Sometimes, however, the burrow has gone so far into 
 the tree that the winding tunnel can not be followed by the 
 wire, and then an ingenious device, the invention of a cel- 
 ebrated horticulturist, comes into service and rescues the 
 tree from death. This is nothing more than a little funnel- 
 shaped reservoir with a rubber tul)e, having a tiny nozzle 
 depending from it. The reservoir is filled with a solution 
 of tobacco or carbolic acid, then hung on a branch and 
 the nozzle inserted in the borer's hole ; the fluid flows slowly 
 down, and, following the windings of the tunnel, no mat- 
 ter how long or tortuous, ultimately meets the enemy and 
 destroys it. This result may be known by the fluid ceas- 
 ing to flow from the reservoir, showing that the tunnel is 
 completely occupied by the rescuing liquid. The fluid 
 does no harm to the tree, and a budding slip wrapped over 
 the hole will enable nature to repair damages very quickly. 
 
 And right here we will speak a word in favor of the 
 
276 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 much maligned woodpeckers. If the fruit grower only 
 knew how much solid, substantial aid these poor birds gave 
 him ill his war on the insects that attack his trees, he 
 would never allow one to be shot on his premises. In the 
 matter of this self-same borer, for instance, they always 
 seem to know just where to find it, and, if above ground, 
 rarely fail to rout it out and end its career of mischief 
 forever. 
 
 For one fruit he destroys the woodpecker saves fifty. 
 The borer deposits its eggs on the base of the trunk where 
 the bark is soft ; here it is hatched, and from this point 
 usually bores its way into the tree ; consequently, wherever 
 traces of borers are found, after routing out such as have 
 already effected a lodgment, it is a good plan to remove the 
 earth from around the collar, hunt for any cocoons that 
 may be hidden there, then fill in with fresh earth, a shov- 
 elful of ashes, and a little salt or lime. 
 
 Another way to exterminate this pest is, after dislodg- 
 ing those inside the tree, to swab the trunk from the lower 
 limbs to the upper roots with a wash of lime and sulphur, 
 then re-cover the roots with fresh earth and pour over them 
 a bucketful of water with a teaspoonful of carbolic acid 
 dissolved in it. 
 
 So much for remedies ; now for what is of much more 
 value, preventives — one ounce of which, as the proverb 
 truly tells us, is worth a pound of the former. It has 
 been observed that the peach trees in iron regions are very 
 seldom attacked by borers, they do n't like iron, evidently 
 not being in need of a tonic, and so when there is iron pres- 
 ent in the soil, there the peach trees flourish in the highest 
 perfection. 
 
 All stone fruits, let us mention here, are improved by 
 iron, either by a few nails driven in near the root, or by 
 blacksmith's cinders ; and as for the borers, if cinders can 
 
PEACHES. 277 
 
 not be had, all one has to do to keep these pests at a dis- 
 tance is to dissolve one pound of copperas in eight gallons 
 of water, and let the earth be well soaked with it close 
 around the stem of the tree : it is life to the tree and death 
 to the borer. 
 
 Another preventive is ashes and salt; another, and a 
 very effective one is to scrape away the earth and wrap 
 stiff brown paper around and below the collar, then re- 
 place the soil, and the wandering borer, searching for a 
 place whereon to lay its eggs, will pass on in disgust. 
 
 Another preventive, and an excellent one, too, is twice 
 each year, in the spring and late summer, to dash a bucket- 
 ful of scalding water on the base of the trunk, so that the 
 collar will get a liberal bath ; it won't hurt the tree in the 
 least, but it will kill the borer and its eggs ; the tree do n't 
 mind " getting into hot water," but the worm does. Trees 
 treated in this way grow with amazing thrift, and it will 
 pay the peach grower to procure a large iron kettle for 
 the express purpose of heating water in the orchard so 
 that every tree may be scalded thoroughly, especially so if 
 the hot water is made the medium for applying the cop- 
 peras solution as above ; this would be " killing two birds 
 with one stone." 
 
 In cases where the borer can not well be routed, or where 
 ants are injuring the tree, a piece of tow, or similar mate- 
 rial, dipped in a mixture of hog's lard and chloride of 
 lime, and tied low on the trees, will cause a speedy surren- 
 der of the invading forces ; they will evacuate the prem- 
 ises without stopping to demand the honors of war. 
 
 The "yellows" is another and much-dreaded enemy of 
 the peach, and in many sections of the North it has spread 
 like an epidemic over whole tracts of country, sweeping 
 out of existence thousands of trees in a single season ; for- 
 tunately, we see but little of this fatal disease in the South, 
 still it is well to be fore-armed. 
 
278 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 The question ' ' What is the yellows ? " can not yet be 
 answered without a shadow of doubt, but the prevalent be- 
 lief is that it is a disease caused by a minute fungus growth, 
 and is analogous to the fatal " blight" in pear trees, which 
 is without question caused by a fungus so minute as to re- 
 quire a high-power microscope to detect its presence. , 
 
 Sulphur and lime are deadly foes of all fungoid growth, 
 and a w^ash of these two combined will help the tree at- 
 tacked by yellows. 
 
 A most excellent remedy also is to wash the trees with a 
 solution of quassia. One pound of chips, costing about 
 twelve cents, is boiled and reboiled until eight gallons 
 of the solution are obtained ; this, poured around the 
 trunk and sprayed with a hand -pump over the foliage 
 will effect a wonderful change in the most forlorn-looking 
 trees. This quassia solution will also banish the green fly 
 and other troublesome insects. 
 
 Nearly eighty years ago Dr. Darwin suggested that very 
 solution of copperas or sulphate of iron, which we have 
 already mentioned, as a remedy for the yellows, and for 
 the gummy secretions so common in fruit trees, and in the 
 year 1840 a scientific farmer in France was so highly suc- 
 cessful in using this remedy that the Academy awarded him 
 a medal as a public benefactor. 
 
 But here, as with the borers, preventives are better than 
 remedies. The yellows is hereditary among peach trees 
 just as surely as insanity and consumption are among men ; 
 therefore, be careful that your peach trees come from 
 healthy stock and are budded with healthy buds. One 
 tree affected with the yellows will, if not cut down and 
 burned as soon as the trouble is detected, communicate the 
 disease to the whole orchard ; so it behooves the peach 
 grower to be watchful. 
 
 A horticulturist who has had many years' experience 
 
PEACHES. 279 
 
 with curl-leaf in the peach orchard, asserts that there is 
 but one cause for this malformation of the leaves (a fun- 
 goid growth), and that is, that the bark of the tree is too 
 close, and -fits so tightly that the sap can not circulate 
 freely, and hence the leaves are not properly nourished. 
 He recommends an up-and-down cut through the bark of 
 the trunk and main branches with a sharp knife, and de- 
 clares that in a few days after this is done all signs of curl- 
 leaf will disappear from all the younger leaves, and appear 
 no more. If the tree is watched carefully, and the bark 
 split when needed, curl-leaf will be prevented. Another 
 remedy is to wash the trunk and branches with lime. 
 
 Standing still, very slow, or very rapid growth are as- 
 signed as the cause of tight bark, and consequent curl- 
 leaf. 
 
 By observing these simple directions for the care and 
 fertilizing of peach trees, the most veritable novice may 
 have a fine, thrifty, and paying orchard, and we trust 
 that a few years hence Florida will be as celebrated for 
 her early peaches as she is now for her delicious oranges. 
 Here is a sample of what has been, and can be done 
 again, in this line of industry. 
 
 In Chambers County, Ala., near the Georgia line, is the 
 largest peach orchard in the world, embracing two hundred 
 and fifty acres of this luscious fruit, of which over eighty 
 thousand dollars w^orth have already been sold. It is 
 owned and cultivated by Mr. John Paruell, brother of 
 the leader of the Irish Land League. Some twelve years 
 ago he bought an old worn-out cotton plantation, and con- 
 verted it into one immense peach orchard ; his fruit is al- 
 ways the first in the market, bringing almost fabulous 
 prices. 
 
 Mr. Parnell is coining an immense fortune out of his 
 jieach orchard, and there is no reason why Florida can not 
 do as well as Alabama in the cultivation of this fruit. 
 
280 FLORIDA FRUITS — PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 
 As to the budding of the peach tree, which is the only 
 certain way of obtaining sure results, it should be done in 
 the same manner as has already been described in Chapter 
 IV, pages 42 an<d 43 ; therefore it is not necessary to repeat 
 them here. Suffice it to say, that when peach buds are in- 
 serted in peach stocks, the latter should be yearlings only, 
 although those two years old will often do well ; our na- 
 tive varieties of wild, rapid-growing plum trees, however, 
 are by many preferred for stock for peach budding. In 
 Bryan County, Ga., is an orchard containing two hun- 
 dred trees thus budded as an experiment, and the results 
 have been extremely gratifying, fine crops of superior 
 fruit being gathered yearly from the trees. 
 
 In conclusion we would add a word of caution to all in- 
 tending to set out peach trees, in particular, not to delay 
 beyond the early part of February at the latest, as the 
 trees take but a short period of rest, growing late and 
 starting early, so that there is but brief time during which 
 it is quite safe to transplant them ; we have, however, seen 
 trees set out in March do well, but it is a greater risk. 
 
 PLUMS. 
 
 The plum tree likes plenty of water, hence moist (but 
 not wet) lands are best adapted to its growth. It does 
 well in sandy soil, but better if there be clay near the 
 surface. 
 
 For years back the plum, like the pear, has been subject 
 to the attacks of a special enemy that has well-nigh ruined 
 the business of their culture as market fruits; with the 
 pear it was the *' blight," with the plum an insect, the 
 curculio. 
 
 But just as a new race of pears has been found to resist 
 the "blight," so has there been found, for the South, es- 
 pecially, a new race of plums proof against curculio; these 
 
PLUMS. 281 
 
 are the several varieties of the improved Chickasaw type, 
 as follows: 
 
 CUMBERLAND. 
 
 Large, yellow, juicy, sweet, and very good. Matures in 
 September. 
 
 DE CAEADUEC. 
 
 Medium, round, yellow, with brown red cheek; juicy, 
 sweet, and of fine flavor; a remarkably fine plum. Ripens 
 early in June. 
 
 WILD GOOSE. 
 
 Large, somewhat oblong; bright vermilion red; juicy, 
 sweet, good quality ; a cling-stone ; a very showy and fine 
 market fruit, and a prolifisc bearer ; the most profitable of 
 all the Chickasaw type. 
 
 HATTIE. 
 
 Medium, round, bright red; very sweet and of good 
 quality. Follows the Wild Goose in maturity. 
 
 Newman's. 
 
 Medium, bright red, round ; a cling-stone ; quality good. 
 Ripens early in July. 
 
 All of these plums named above should be picked as 
 soon as they commence to color, and ripened in the house, 
 where, in three days' time, they will acquire a brilliant 
 color. If left on the tree too long the fruit drops, and 
 never attains the quality of that which is house-ripened. 
 This gradual ripening allows these varieties to carry per- 
 fectly to distant markets. 
 
 PEACH-LEAVED, OR KANAWHA. 
 
 Medium, oblong, bright vermilion ; juicy, fine-flavored ; 
 
 quality very good. Ripens in September. Although it 
 
 begins to color in July it is not fit to use until it ripens 
 
 upon the tree, two months later. 
 
 24 
 
282 FLORIDA FRUITS— PEACHES AND PLUMS. 
 JAPAN MEDLAR, OR JAPAN PLUM. 
 
 This valuable fruit is generally known in Florida under 
 the latter title, which is an entire misnomer. There is a 
 true Japan plum, but it is not an evergreen as is the 
 Japan medlar. 
 
 This tree is not only a very ornamental one, with large, 
 evergreen leaves, but it is destined to become one of the 
 leading fruits of Florida. It has been introduced into Cal- 
 ifornia, but rarely fruits there, as the early blossoms are 
 almost invariably nipped by severe frosts. 
 
 In Florida the fruit matures without danger of loss, and 
 wherever the orange tree flourishes there the so-called Japan 
 plum flourishes also. It grows slowly at first, but after 
 the first three years increases in size more rapidly, and by 
 its eighth year frequently attains a height of twelve or 
 fourteen feet, and is covered with fruit and bloom ; the 
 ultimate height of the Loquat is about twenty feet. 
 
 The fruit ripens from January to March, and is of good 
 quality, sub-acid, and a general favorite; excellent pre- 
 serves are made of it, and as for its jelly, it has no supe- 
 rior among the many jellies offered for sale in the markets. 
 
 The fruit, resembling an ordinary plum in size and 
 shape, carries as well, and in fact better than the peach. 
 It has been shipped to the Northern markets in perfect 
 order, selling there from twenty-five to forty cents a quart 
 basket. In the Florida local markets it sells readily at 
 twenty-five to fifty cents a quart. 
 
 The tree, if well cared for, commences to bear in its 
 fifth year, and when covered with bloom fills the air with 
 a delicious fragrance. 
 
 Another fruit destined to be of great value is 
 
 kelsey's japan plum. 
 This remarkable plum was imported from Japan in 1871 
 
PLUMS. 283 
 
 by the late John Kelsey, of Berkeley, Cal., whose name 
 has been given to the fruit as a just tribute to the memory 
 of one of California's pioneer leaders in horticulture. The 
 following points of excellence are claimed for it : 
 
 1. Its wonderful productiveness is unsurpassed by any 
 other plum, either native or foreign. 
 
 2. It comes into bearing at the age of two to three 
 years, blossoms appearing frequently on yearling trees. 
 
 3. The fruit is of very large size, being from seven to 
 nine inches in circumference, and specimens weighing six 
 and a half ounces each ; it has a remarkably small pit. 
 
 4. It is very attractive in appearance, being of a rich 
 yellow, nearly overspread with bright red, with a lovely 
 bloom. It is heart-shaped ; it ripens from first to last of 
 September. 
 
 5. It is of excellent quality, melting, rich, and juicy; 
 its large size renders the paring of the fruit as practicable 
 as the peach, whicfh is quite a novelty, and it excels all 
 other plums for canning. 
 
 As a dried fruit it is destined to take the lead, equal to, 
 if not surpassing, the best dried prunes. Experiments re- 
 sulted in yielding nineteen and a half pounds of dried 
 fruit to the one hundred pounds of fresh fruit. In text- 
 ure it is firm and meaty, and it possesses superior qualities 
 for shipping to long distances ; it remains solid longer than 
 any other variety. 
 
284 FLORIDA FRUITS — ^JAPANESE PERSIMIVION. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 JAPANESE PERSIMMON, OR DATE PLUM. 
 
 Among the fruits quite recently introduced into Florida, 
 and indeed into the United States, is the Diospyros kaki, or 
 Japanese persimmon. Wherever it has been tried — and 
 many are now scattered all over the State — it has done 
 well; even the imported trees have given a satisfactory 
 account of themselves, and now that ovir nurserymen have 
 succeeded in propagating it on seedlings of the wild per- 
 simmon stock that grows luxuriantly on pine land and 
 hammock alike, we may look for still better results. Its 
 successful culture and great profit to the grower is fully 
 established, and henceforth the Japanese persimmon will 
 rank as one of Florida's favorite fruits. 
 
 In Japan it is considered the choicest and most popular 
 of all the many fruits of that favored country. 
 
 There are several varieties, some conical in shape, some 
 round, and they do not at all resemble in any respect the 
 typical ''persimmon" of our own land. 
 
 The fruit of the finer varieties is of a beautiful yellow 
 or red color, and measures from three to four inches in 
 height, and from eight to nine inches in circumference; 
 of seeds, it has from five to seven, of a small size. The 
 fruit ripens from September to March, and its flavor 
 is so delicious that it is readily understood why it is 
 so great a favorite in Japan, w^here its different varieties 
 have been so carefully crossed and recrossed that it has 
 become to that country what the apple is to the United 
 States. 
 
 The dried fruit is as palatable as the fresh, is fully the 
 equal of the fig, and can be kept a long time ; moreover, 
 
JAPANESE PERSIMMON. 285 
 
 the Japanese persimmon, or date plum, as it is often more 
 properly called, is a fine shipping fruit, and will bear trans- 
 portation safely to great distances. 
 
 The tree is highly ornamental; leaves dark, glossy 
 green ; shape symmetrical ; it is a very prolific bearer, is 
 as hardy as a pear tree, and fruits sooner. The seedling 
 tree bears in about ten years, but is apt to ''sport," or 
 not bear fruit at all, and hence is not desirable because 
 not reliable. Budded trees fruit in from one to three years ; 
 they prefer a light, sandy soil, are not aflTected by curculio, 
 grow to a large size, and attain the age of a hundred years 
 while losing none of their vigor. 
 
 A number of varieties have been introduced into the 
 United States, and of these there are two principal divis- 
 ions, one of which is large, round, and shaped like a Green- 
 ing apple. The flesh of this variety resembles that of the 
 pear or apple, and is eaten in the same way ; it is unsur- 
 passed for the table, and considered equal to the peach and 
 pear. Its color is a rich, golden hue, and the flesh "juicy, 
 vinous, and firm." This variety should be inclosed in a 
 tight cask for a few days after picking to render it perfect. 
 The other variety is oblong, like a " Minie ball" in shape ; 
 *'it is soft, sweet, and custard-like, is eaten with a spoon, 
 and with cream and sugar is one of the most delicious fruits 
 that is known." 
 
 The fruit of this variety attains a very large size, and, 
 owing to the large amount of saccharine matter it con- 
 tains, is the sort usually dried and prepared like figs for 
 market ; in this form it is sold as sweetmeats in Japan. 
 
 Professor W. E. Griffis, the author of "The Mikado's 
 Empire," tells us : 
 
 "As regards the value of the Japanese persimmon there 
 can be but one opinion ; the tree itself is one of the hand- 
 somest of fruit trees, and in the fall, with its golden-hued 
 
286 FLORIDA FRUITS JAPANESE PERSIMMON. 
 
 fruit hanging to the branches after the leaves have fallen, 
 forms a beautiful and striking picture in a landscape. As 
 to the fruit itself, it is nutritious, palatable, and to a high 
 degree charged with those chemical ingredients which give 
 most fruits their value in preserving the health and puri- 
 fying the blood. This fact is insisted on by the Japanese 
 doctors, some of whom I have known to cure their patients 
 by a * persimmon cure,' like that of the ' grape cure ' of 
 Southern Europe." 
 
 The following are the best varieties so far introduced 
 into the United States, and for sale by our principal Flor- 
 ida nurserymen : 
 
 TANEASHI, OR SEEDLESS. 
 
 Very fine, large, oblong ; flesh soft ; color dark red, with 
 black spots. 
 
 IMPERIAL. 
 
 Shaped like an acorn or "Minie ball;" very large, with 
 dark stripes on the surface; flesh soft when ripe, sweet 
 and fine. 
 
 ROYAL. 
 
 Nearly round ; pale yellow ; large size ; early. Ripens on 
 tree ; good for drying. 
 
 AMONG. 
 
 Large, round, a little flattened ; orange color. 
 
 MINOKAKI. 
 
 Very large, oblong, pointed ; highly colored ; often with- 
 out seeds. 
 
 HYAKAME. 
 
 Largest known, and of the very best quality. 
 
 MIKADO. 
 
 Flat like a tomato ; medium sized ; bright yellow ; flesh 
 solid. 
 
JAPANESE PERSIMMON. 287 
 
 TAIKOU. 
 
 Eound ; pale or greenish yellow ; fair size. 
 
 NIHON. 
 
 Slightly oblong ; yellowish red ; black spots on the sur- 
 face and in the flesh ; flesh solid. Very early. 
 
 DIAMIO. 
 
 Slightly oblong ; reddish, with dark point ; medium size ; 
 flesh soft. 
 
 DIE-DIE MA WELL. 
 
 Large and round, with slight point at apex. 
 
 HAYCHUYA. 
 
 Large, oblong ; rich color ; one of the best. 
 
288 FLORIDA FIIUITS — EVAPORATING FRUITS. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXIX. 
 
 EVAPORATING FRUITS. 
 
 Our work on "Florida Fruits" would not be complete 
 without a reference to a comparatively new industry, which 
 is destined to be a revelation of wealth to the fruit and 
 vegetable growers, not alone of Florida and the United 
 States, but of all countries ; a revelation of wealth on the 
 principle that a '' penny saved is a penny earned." 
 
 Wherever fruit or truck is raised for market there is 
 sure to be a waste of unsalable produce, which could be 
 utilized for home use if there was not "too much of a 
 good thing," which, however, there is, and so a great deal 
 spoils and is lost. Another thing, in many places, espe- 
 cially in newly-settled States like Florida, it is very diffi- 
 cult, if not impossible, to get perishable produce to market 
 in good condition, hence, people living in these localities 
 are cautious about raising such products. But modern 
 invention has swept away this heretofore serious drawback. 
 The farmer or fruit grower may now plant what he will, 
 gather as he will, and then quietly place the result of his 
 labor in such shape as shall assure him a large and sure 
 profit, without the possibility of loss, no matter how far 
 he may be from the great markets, nor how slow his means 
 of transportation. Nay, more ; he may prepare his pro- 
 duce and j^ack it away to await the highest market prices, 
 instead of being obliged to place it on sale when the field 
 is already overoccupied. Neither is the produce thus res- 
 cued from waste and low prices in poor demand ; on the 
 contrary, the supply will scarce be able to keep pace with 
 it. If the article supplied be the best of its sort, a good 
 price and ready sale is always sure. The recent invention 
 
EVAPORATING FRUITS. 289 
 
 which has brought so great a boon, not only to the pro- 
 ducer but to the consumer, is that of the evaporation of 
 fruits and vegetables. To be sure, they were evaporated 
 years ago and placed on the market with a great /wrore, but 
 the principle then employed was totally incorrect, and the 
 result correspondingly disappointing to all concerned. The 
 fruit offered was really cooked and then dried, and not 
 genuinely evaporated at all. The trays were placed one 
 above the other in a box or chamber ; the hot vapor or 
 steam from below was augmented by the moisture from 
 the contents of the lower trays, and the result was that 
 the fruit swelled just as though it had been cooked, the 
 delicate membranous cells burst asunder, and the starch 
 they contained, instead of being converted into grape- 
 sugar or glucose, acidified, and thus both the sweetness 
 and the flavor of the fruit, which is an essential oil held 
 prisoner by these same little cells, dissipated, and conse- 
 quently the whole character of the fruit was changed. 
 The salt had lost its savor, hence, evaporated fruits took 
 no hold on public favor, and those who had invested in 
 expensive driers soon abandoned their use, the universal 
 verdict being that " it did not pay." And yet all felt that 
 there existed a satisfactory solution of the vexed question 
 of perfect evaporation, and within the last few years it 
 has been solved completely by the invention of the ''Amer- 
 ican Fruit Drier," by Dr. Ryder. 
 
 He set aside, from the beginning, the erroneous idea 
 upon which the vertical evaporators were constructed, that 
 ''evaporated produce should be retained and finished in a 
 humid atmosphere, entering at the point of greatest hu- 
 midity and finishing at the point of greatest heat." Water 
 in dried fruit means decay, acetous fermentation, and con- 
 sequent loss of sweetness and flavor. This theory had 
 failed lamentably in practice, so Dr. Kyder adopted the 
 
 25 
 
290 FLORIDA FRUITS — EVAPORATING FRUITS. 
 
 opposite as the true method, and the result of his patient 
 investigation is what the writer, after careful study and 
 observation, fears not to pronounce the ne plus ultra of an 
 evaporator. 
 
 No one, even though blindfolded, can taste or smell a 
 slice of fruit or vegetable evaporated by the "American" 
 without at once distinguishing the name of the crude ar- 
 ticle. So perfectly is the flavor preserved, no mistake can 
 be made about it ; and here is just the difference of prod- 
 uct between the old vertical method and vapor bath and 
 the "American's" inclined flue and "hot-air cure," a dif- 
 ference that is just as noticeable to the eye in color and 
 handsome appearance as it is to the palate in quality. 
 
 So, you see, that there is a right and a wrong way of 
 evaporating fruits and vegetables, and it was the misfor- 
 tune of the wrong method coming first under notice that 
 for a time threw the w^hole business of evaporating the 
 products of the soil into the shade. 
 
 In the past, as a rule, dried fruits have been literally 
 "flat, stale, and unprofitable ;" but now, under Dr. Ryder's 
 common-sense method, evaporated fruits are rapidly com- 
 ing into public favor, and there they will stay. 
 
 In many cases the producer who uses the best evaporator 
 (and we can truly say, having the welfare of our felloAV 
 fruit grower at heart, that this is the "American Drier or 
 Pneumatic Evaporator"), will find that it will pay better 
 to convert all his produce into the evaporated article for 
 market than to ship it in its original state. The saving in 
 crates, in hauling, in handling, in freight, and in loss by 
 decay in transit — very important items to the Floridian — 
 would greatly augment the profits of the crop, besides 
 being perfectly safe. 
 
 The demand for evaporated fruits and vegetables will, 
 for years to come, fall far short of the supply, where the 
 
EVAPORATING FRUITS. 291 
 
 supply is of the best quality. People are finding out of 
 late that they are not only very wholesome but that they 
 are cheaper than canned fruits. To prove this one need 
 only buy a can of any sort and its equivalent in cost in 
 the best evaporated fruits, place the latter in water for 
 eight or ten hours (which should always be done previous 
 to stewing slowly), and then try to put it in the empty 
 can ; the result will be a revelation most damaging to the 
 canned article. 
 
 The truth is that every agricultural family ought to own 
 one of these evaporators ; one of the smaller sizes will suf- 
 fice to save many and many a dollar's worth of good, 
 wholesome food that must otherwise be wasted ; and this 
 is particularly so in Florida, where, during the heat of the 
 summer months, fruits and vegetables are apt to be scarce. 
 The farmer who owns one of these improved evaporators 
 — and the number is daily increasing, for there is no farm 
 implement that will pay its cost so quickly or so often in a 
 season — the farmer, we say, who owns one of these can, 
 during the season of plenty, dry all his surplus peas, beans, 
 sweet-corn, tomatoes, potatoes, both sweet and Irish, tur- 
 nips, beets, cabbages, egg-plant, or onions; it needs only 
 then to tie them up in paper or close muslin bags to '' bar 
 out" insects, and when needed for use to soak them for a 
 few hours and cook slowly. It is no light thing, as every 
 householder knows, to have fresh vegetables on hand at 
 all seasons. In this one respect alone, apart from all com- 
 mercial considerations, we can not over-estimate the value 
 of these money and labor savers. 
 
 And the same is true of fruits ; in the season of plenty, 
 blackberries, strawberries, mulberries, huckleberries, plums, 
 peaches, pears, pine-apples, guavas, may be preserved for 
 future use with the greatest ease, and without the expense 
 of glass jars, cans, or sugar. 
 
292 FLORIDA FRUITS — EVAPORATING FRUITS. 
 
 In one season the ordinary farmer, curing for home con- 
 sumption only, can save double the cost of this busy little 
 worker, which has yet another popular qualification : it is 
 cheap, far cheaper than the vertical machines, which really 
 destroy the fruit rather than preserve it. 
 
 There is a No. 6 size that will dry three bushels a day, 
 weighs two hundred pounds, and costs twenty-five dollars ; 
 then there is a No. 1 which evaporates six to eight bushels 
 a day, weighs three hundred and fifty pounds, and costs 
 fifty dollars. Three larger sizes are made, designed for 
 more extensive work : No. 2, costing seventy-five dollars, 
 cures from twelve to fifteen bushels a day ; No. 3 costs one 
 hundred and seventy-five dollars, and evaporates forty-five 
 bushels; No. 4, which weighs a ton, and swallows one 
 hundred and ten bushels, costs three hundred and fifty 
 dollars ; and No. 5, made only to order, costing four hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars, and eating up one hundred and fifty 
 bushels at a day's meal. 
 
 And still further to facilitate matters, these same manu- 
 facturers, called, by the way, "The American Manufac- 
 turing Company of Waynesborough, Penn.," place on the 
 market a "Parer, Corer, and Slicer," which performs its 
 triple work at one time, and costs only a dollar and a half; 
 and an "Improved Rotary Knife Peach Parer," same 
 price ; also a ' ' Peach Peeling Spoon " for twenty cents. 
 Thus is evaporating made easy. 
 
 Any one who chooses to send to this company for the 
 catalogue of their fruit drier, will learn a great deal to 
 arouse his attention and interest in a subject that grows in 
 importance as one looks into it ; and we will further add, 
 that with every drier full and money-making instructions 
 are sent. 
 
 We have elsewhere referred to the great profit of raising 
 the guava, our Florida apple, as it may well be called. 
 
EVAPORATING FRUITS. 293 
 
 The subject of jelly-making is, as we have seen, one of im- 
 mense moment ; but not every one is able to command the 
 needful labor to place his fruit in thi« salable form, and so 
 there is a great deal of waste as things are at present, but 
 need be no more, for, with even one of the small evapo- 
 rators, all the loss may be made gain ; besides that, the out- 
 lay of work, time and capital are much less than in jelly- 
 making. 
 
 We believe that the drying of guavas for home use and 
 the Northern markets will, within a few years, become one 
 of Florida's great industries. Pare and slice the larger 
 specimens, halve the smaller ones and then lay them in the 
 warm embrace of the "American;" then pack them in 
 neat, two-pound paper boxes, such as are made for such 
 uses, and ship them off, forty boxes to the crate. 
 
 That there will be a large and increasing demand, once 
 guavas in this shape are put upon the Northern markets, 
 there is no doubt whatever, although, like all new things, 
 its introduction may be slow. 
 
 Guava jelly is popular, but its expense puts it beyond 
 the reach of the masses. Let them see guavas evaporated 
 ready at their hand to stew for the table, or to convert it 
 into jelly if they like, and we of Florida will have our 
 hands full to keep up with the demand, for you know Flor- 
 ida alone can supply this fruit, so herein there can be no 
 competition. 
 
 The Florida grower, even though far removed from 
 '' rapid transit," has a bonanza in this one industry alone, 
 which is light, clean, pleasant, easily learned, can be car- 
 ried on, nay must be, under shelter, and requires very lit- 
 tle capital. 
 
 All this applies also to pine-apples, Le Conte and Kieffer 
 pears, peaches, figs, etc. 
 
294 FLORIDA FRUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXX. 
 
 ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 This present chapter may truthfully claim to be, in point 
 of time, the "latest edition of Florida Fruits," being, as 
 the reader will observe, made up of the tangled odds and 
 ends of information, experience, and observation, that 
 have been gathered together from out-of-the-way corners, 
 here and there, during the few months that have elapsed 
 since the main part of the work was sent to press. 
 
 After a battle has been fought, a great undertaking ac- 
 complished, it is an easy matter to look calmly out over 
 the field and point out how this or that might have been 
 better or more easily done. 
 
 It is very much the same with such a work as now lies 
 before us. In gazing backward over what has been accom- 
 plished, when the stress and anxiety of the actual labor is 
 over, and the pen almost ready to lie down and rest after 
 its miles of patient travel, we can see here and there points 
 of possible improvement, not so much sins of omission as 
 the opportunity to seize, before it is too late, upon the odds 
 and ends that have come into view since the previous pages 
 were written. 
 
 First of all, let us see what lessons have been taught 
 us by 
 
 THE FREEZE OF JANUARY, 1886. 
 
 The days and nights, inclusive, of the 9th to the 13th of 
 January, 1886, will never be forgotten by any dw^eller in 
 bonnie Florida at that disastrous time. Little did any one 
 realize what was in store for him when, on the 9th, Fri- 
 day, the United States Signal Officer at Jacksonville tel- 
 egraphed all over the State that a ''cold wave" was on its 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 295 
 
 way southward, and that Florida would feel its first breath 
 that night. 
 
 The warning was significant enough to set some men to 
 work hauling wood and piling it among their trees, and 
 making ready for cordons of fire around their groves to 
 the north and west, whence came our ordinary cold 
 winds. 
 
 All Friday morning it rained a heavy down-pour; this, 
 too, had been predicted by the weather prophets; and 
 early in the night the first cold breath of the coming en- 
 emy reached us — and such a breath as it was ! All night 
 the bitter northwest wind blew and howled and whistled 
 in every nook and corner, and our people, growing hourly 
 more fully alive to what might possibly be the outcome, 
 were too anxious to rest or to sleep, and yet it was too cold 
 to do aught but to lie still under what, for Florida, was a 
 mountain of coverings, until daylight should come, and 
 with it, perchance, relief. But not so; it came indeed, 
 but brought with it no hope of better things, rather the 
 certainty of worse to come ; as yet we had felt but a light 
 touch of the Ice King's hand. 
 
 The leaden heavens gave no sign of cheer, and the cold, 
 fierce wind continued to howl and shriek as if in derision 
 of the puny efforts of mortals to snatch their property from 
 its icy grasp. The huge fires kept burning day and night 
 were useless to arrest or change the fiat that had gone 
 forth. This was no " ordinary frost," whose cold hand 
 could be held in check by human devices, but one of those 
 rare, all-powerful strokes of the elements that teach us now 
 and again our own insignificance. 
 
 During the afternoon of Saturday, the 10th, the sky par- 
 tially cleared, and the sun tried to struggle through the 
 clouds and send down his rays to warm his shivering friends ; 
 but it was of no use. The clouds gathered again, the gale 
 
296 FLORIDA FrjTITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 howled as fiercely as ever, sifting into every corner of 
 dwellings ill-prepared for visitors from the arctic zones, 
 and, strange to record, now and henceforth to the end, the 
 worst of its work was done with the wind sweeping up 
 from the southwest; and it was such a gale, this that came 
 from our usually warm quarter, so pitiless, so bitter cold, 
 as no Floridian had ever faced before, nor is likely to ever 
 again on his native soil. 
 
 Long before sunset ice began to form. In ordinary 
 storms the wind lulls as the sun sinks, but this was no or- 
 dinary storm, neither "rule, rhyme, nor reason" dictated 
 its course or actions. 
 
 Another night, and what a fearful one it was, in-doors 
 and out! neither hope nor comfort, physical or mental. 
 Out in the groves, here and there, men flitted about large 
 fires, desperately fighting to the last, hopeless now of sav- 
 ing the orange crop remaining on the trees, and feeling 
 that they would be thankful if they could save the trees 
 themselves. In-doors water was freezing, not a thin skim 
 of ice, but strong ice that had to be broken with a hammer. 
 
 Not for fifty years had Florida seen the equal of this 
 bitter storm ; it was the longest, the saddest night, that of 
 the 10th of January, 1886, that her present population 
 had ever met. 
 
 Morning dawned : ice, an inch or more in thickness, cov- 
 ered all shallow, standing water ; every thing that could 
 freeze was frozen, in-doors and out of doors — the hearts of 
 Florida's people also ! Ah ! those were times that tried 
 men's souls, times when they could only stand aside and 
 look on in desperate silence at the wholesale destruction 
 of the property they had toiled for years to accumulate. 
 For, note this fact, when the morning of the 11th dawned, 
 with the thermometer nowhere in the State higher than 20°, 
 and in most sections still lower, all the way down to 15°, 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 297 
 
 with the oranges on the trees frozen solid, the leaves 
 curlijcl and frozen so stiff that they crumpled in the hand 
 like sheets of ice, the despairing fear, in many cases, be- 
 lief, went out among the people that the trees also were 
 killed. The one, the crop, was a loss of one year, but the 
 other, the tree, one that many years could not replace. 
 
 Add to this depressing fear of total loss and ruin, the 
 fact that the biting wind was pitilessly sifting into the 
 houses, and that all through the day, on that bitter Sun- 
 day, water froze solid even within a foot or two of the 
 stoves; that grown persons were blue and shivering, and 
 children crying with the cold, and the pandemonium that 
 had so suddenly swept down upon sunny Florida may be 
 faintly pictured. 
 
 Every one knew that all the injury had been already 
 done that was possible, and in dull, despairing apathy set- 
 tled down to a knowledge of heavy loss ; only the oldei' and 
 most experienced growers held fast to the belief that the 
 bearing trees were not injured, the majority were too dazed 
 to be capable of reason or of hope. 
 
 Sunday night, Monday, Monday night, came and went, 
 and still the bitter wind howled, and the temperature con- 
 tinued lower than ever before known since 1835, when 
 every bearing tree in the State (not so many by thousands 
 then as now) was killed to the ground. By noon of Tues- 
 day, the 13th, the wind veered around to the eastward, 
 and then every one drew a long breath, for east winds in 
 the winter time, in Florida, always mean milder weather. 
 Before night it was evident that the terrible " dark days of 
 January, 1886," were over, and that now it only remained 
 for people and trees to thaw out and reveal the full extent 
 of the damage done. This could not be done all at once ; 
 some of the destruction was self-evident on the instant; 
 that the oranges, lemons, limes, were frozen on the trees, 
 
298 FLORIDA FRUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 and that their leaves were 'stiff, that the lemon and lime 
 trees were, in nearly all cases, killed to the ground,. that 
 bananas, pine-apples, guavas were also generally destroyed ; 
 all these things showed at once. 
 
 Then, as the days and weeks rolled on, and the beautiful 
 Florida climate resumed the even tenor of its way, little 
 by little it began to be realized that the worst that had 
 been feared, the loss of the great staple, the orange trees 
 themselves, was mercifully spared her heavily stricken 
 people. 
 
 In many cases even the large bearing trees were seriously 
 injured, a few killed to the ground, but these were excep- 
 tional, and due either to unduly exposed locations or to 
 the fact of the trees being in active or very recent growth, 
 a condition which every one knows is always detrimental 
 to a tree at the approach of cold weather. 
 
 The freeze extended over the whole State, even the 
 most southern sections feeling its influence. There was 
 ice in Monroe County and beyond it ; Key West saw it ; 
 even Cuba awoke to the possibility, nay, reality, of a gen- 
 uine freeze, the first in her history. The wonder is that 
 the orange tree throughout the State was not universally 
 killed, since the temperature was as severe and the cold 
 more protracted than during the famous " freeze of 1835," 
 which did kill them all. 
 
 There was a reason for their wonderful escape, however. 
 It is a matter of record that the coldest temperature of 
 the Florida winters occurs between December 20th and. 
 January 15th, and the weather for several weeks prior to 
 the Ice King's harvest was emphatically of this description, 
 thus checking the flow of the sap in the trees and putting 
 them to sleep as it were, and in excellent condition to meet 
 the advancing though unsuspected enemy. 
 
 Another reason why more damage was not done lay in 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 299 
 
 the fact that the weather, both during the freeze and for 
 some days after, was cloudy, and the moderation of tem- 
 perature very gradual instead of sudden. 
 
 In many cases not only were the older orange trees un- 
 injured, except to the extent of shedding their leaves, but 
 young trees in grove and nursery escaped damage. The 
 writer even had tender, dormant buds, that were exposed 
 to the full extent of cold and wind, buds set in young 
 nursery (grape fruit) stock, yet they passed through it 
 unharmed, and are now in strong, vigorous growth ; but 
 other buds, side by side with these, on lemon and lime 
 stock, were killed, together with their foster parents. 
 
 Right here is one of the lessons of the freeze. Another 
 is, to cease cultivating the trees early in the season and 
 check the flow of the sap, so that the leaves may rest, and 
 the sap already in the body of the tree may fulfill its mis- 
 sion and form into the tissues that build it up. 
 
 Not, understand, that we at all anticipate another such 
 frosty visitation; that is not likely for fifty or more years 
 to come, but that every tree needs rest, and during every 
 winter there may come "cold snaps" that would injure 
 young, tender growth, while it would not in the least affect 
 a dormant tree. 
 
 That the freeze of the past winter will eventually prove 
 to have been a ' ' blessing in disguise " we are well assured. 
 For one thing it has proved, that the orange tree will stand 
 uninjured a much lower temperature than even its best 
 and most familiar friends supposed possible, and the result 
 is that Florida to-day, with her groves full of vigorous 
 growth, and oranges half grown, with her young trees 
 making a thrifty growth also, with energy and hope once 
 more triumphant, Florida is to-day, we repeat, as profit- 
 able a field as ever for orange culture, with the added as- 
 surance that she did not have before, that the tree is very 
 
800 FLORIDA FRUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 hardy, and will withstand a temperature of 15° or even 
 lower, while the fruit continues uninjured unless the tem- 
 perature falls below 26°, which is an exceedingly rare oc- 
 currence. And even if the fruit was frozen once in eight 
 or ten years, we could stand it ; but it need not be frozen 
 at all, even with the temperature at 20°, for all we have 
 to do, on the first suspicion of danger, is to gather and 
 bury the fruit in dry sand, and then market it at leisure, as 
 we have already mentioned on page 134. 
 
 A few wise men thus saved their crop this present season, 
 and at this present writing are reaping the result in per- 
 fectly ripe, sound oranges, that sell readily at from three 
 to five dollars a hundred. 
 
 No, there is no ground whatever for discouragement of 
 orange culture; on the contrary, well - located, healthy 
 groves are actually more valuable now than before the 
 great freeze, because their value and hardiness are placed 
 on a surer basis ; we knoiu what we before only believed, 
 because we could not know. 
 
 But the most important lesson of all those that our re- 
 cent unexpected experience has taught us is this : 
 
 Diversify production ! To employ a homely but signifi- 
 cant phrase, "■ Do n't put all your eggs in one basket;" then 
 if your basket gets ujoset before it reaches market there is 
 something else left to fall back upon for support. 
 
 Floridians needed a shaking up, and a pushing out of 
 the one groove which was filled up with oranges, nothing 
 but oranges. Our soil and climate are as well adapted to 
 many, very many other fruits as they are to oranges and 
 the citrus family. Then why give our whole attention to 
 the one only? 
 
 If our people had paid as much attention in the past as 
 they will do in the future to figs, peaches, pears, plums, 
 grapes, apricots, pecans, walnuts, strawberries, and black- 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 301 
 
 berries, they would have felt the loss of the orange crop 
 but lightly. 
 
 Already this great lesson has gone home, and other 
 Florida fruits than the citrus are being largely set out all 
 over the State. Right ! diversify production and prosper. 
 
 THE REFUSE OF THE ORANGE CROP. 
 
 In every grove, whether large or small, there must nec- 
 essarily be hundreds or thousands of oranges not fit to ship 
 or to sell in their original shape ; some of these are blown 
 from the trees by high winds ; others are thorn -pricked or 
 punctured by birds; others drop from drought or over- 
 loaded trees. 
 
 We have frequently seen the ground actually yellow with 
 fallen fruit, left to lie under the tree, an utter wicked waste 
 of one of the most valuable fruits we have. And what 
 we have seen, others have seen every where over the State, 
 a deliberate throwing away of thousands of dollars, for 
 every one of those dropped oranges could be utilized, and 
 a great industry developed for the good of the people at 
 home and abroad. 
 
 We refer to the manufacture of orange wine ; we would 
 not advocate the making of any intoxicating beverage — far 
 from it; but certainly pure orange wine does not come 
 under this heading. It is true that such drinks are some- 
 times disguised with so-called "orange wine," and sold un- 
 lawfully as such, but this is not an argument against the 
 manufacture of pure, honest orange Avine. The manner of 
 making it is simple ; any one can do it and do it well by 
 following the recipes given in this work, and the result 
 will be just so much profit added to the crop ; there need 
 not be an orange lost. 
 
 And this is not all ; the use of surplus oranges for wine 
 would serve to steady the price and value of the fruit. If 
 
302 FLORIDA FRUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 there came a glut in the market, and prices fell, , they 
 could be kept at home, and the wine made from them 
 would ultimately bring more profit than the oranges would 
 have done if shipped. 
 
 As to the value and superiority of sweet (or sour) or- 
 ange wine, here is what a prominent dealer has to say 
 about it, and he speaks " as one having authority": 
 
 " It is the best tonic, medical or otherwise, that can be 
 taken into the human system. It is nourishing, of agree- 
 able flavor, and, what is more, a perfectly pure native 
 wine. Every body knows what recuperative power there 
 is in luscious, ripe oranges, and as no j)art of the fruit is 
 used in the manufacture of the wine but the pulp of per- 
 fectly ripe oranges, and none of the wine bottled from the 
 casks until it is at least three years old, it is easy to see 
 that the wine made from Florida oranges will, at no dis- 
 tant day, outrival any of the imported still wines. In 
 taste it is marvelously palatable, and I am told that it is 
 the cleanest wine in the market to-day, there being but 
 8.64 per cent of absolute alcohol, and slightly over 5 per 
 cent of sugar. Florida, filled with orange presses, will 
 outrival the famous vineyards of France and Italy in 
 time, for the manufacturers of this splendid wine are 
 pushing ahead with new and improved machinery, are 
 setting out countless orchards of the f)recious fruit, and 
 investing thousands of dollars in the enterprise which they 
 are satisfied will soon become one of the greatest industries 
 of the country. The supply is now in no wise equal to the 
 demand." 
 
 THE ORANGE PEEL. 
 
 This is another point that has not yet received the con- 
 sideration it deserves. 
 
 In Europe the orange rinds are carefully gathered up 
 and sold to the marmalade manufacturers, and New York 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 303 
 
 is now entering upon a steadily increasing import business 
 in orange peels, because the home supply does not even 
 begin to fill the demand. It is not used here as in Eu- 
 rope, for making marmalade, but as a basis for medicinal 
 preparations, tonics, orange bitters, syrups, and confections. 
 The imported peel brings from ten to twelve cents a pound, 
 and has no import duty to pay. 
 
 This may seem a small item, but it is such items that 
 make up the sum total of domestic economy ; save all the 
 clean orange peels, dry and sell them, and there will be 
 more money in our pockets and less sent out of the 
 country. 
 
 Note how the importation is increasing : In 1877, five 
 thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven dollars was sent 
 to Europe to pay for orange peels ; in 1881, the latest date 
 we have been able to obtain, the same small item of ' ' waste 
 peel" cost us over twelve thousand dollars. It has doubt- 
 less more than doubled now, and Florida might just as well 
 keep this money at home, since it would be all clear gain, 
 re€[uiring no outlay. 
 
 SUMMER ORANGES. 
 
 There are a few varieties of late oranges (Hart's Tardiff 
 is one) that will hold their fruit well into the summer sea- 
 son, and such fruit is always at a premium, because it 
 comes in when the market is empty of oranges. But there 
 is a method practiced in Mexico by which any ordinary 
 tree may be made to bear summer oranges. 
 
 When the trees bloom at the usual season, a brush made 
 of stiff* leaves or twigs is used to Avhip off* the blossoms, 
 one and all ; none must be left to set fruit. The trees, be- 
 ing strong, healthy, and in vigorous growth, resent this 
 unmerited whipping, and at once set out to repair damages 
 and make good their loss. 
 
304 FLORIDA FRUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 The result is, that in June or July the trees are again 
 in full bloom, and this time the fruit is allowed to set; as 
 it ripens in about a year or a little less, a fine crop of sum- 
 mer oranges is produced, worth double or treble the ordi- 
 nary crop. 
 
 Perseverance for three or four years will give the trees 
 thus treated a confirmed habit of blooming at the desired 
 time, and thus summer oranges are secured without fur- 
 ther trouble. 
 
 PEARS ON QUINCE STOCK. 
 
 Beware of these ; they are not suited for Florida's soil 
 or climate, for, as a rule, the quince itself is a failure over 
 fully three fourths of the State. Not only so, but the 
 Chinese sand pears, whose hybrids, the Le Conte, Kieffer, 
 and others we have mentioned in our foregoing pages, are 
 a failure upon quince stock. 
 
 Mr. William Parry, of the Pomona Nurseries, Parry, 
 N. J., whose experience with these pears is probably 
 greater than that of any other person, is very emphatic 
 in his statement that the quince is poisonous to all and 
 every admixture of the Chinese pears ; the American Agri- 
 culturist also confirms this statement, which is undoubtedly 
 correct, and should be more widely known than it is. It 
 should also be noted as a fact, that if buds be taken from 
 a pear (Chinese) on quince stock and worked on a pear 
 stock, the trees raised therefrom will be stunted and sickly. 
 
 Mr. Parry mentions an orchard of five thousand trees, 
 three thousand on pear stock the remainder on quince ; at 
 the end of the first year only one in a thousand of those 
 on pear stock needed replanting, while out of the two 
 thousand trees on quince two hundred had to be replaced ; 
 the next year as many more, and all that were left were 
 stunted and sickly. The same pears on pear stock, or on 
 their own roots, are strong and thrifty. 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 305 
 
 The writer's own experience confirms the point in ques- 
 tion ; four trees of the Le Conte variety on quince stock 
 have ahnost stood still on our own grounds, while cuttings 
 from other trees on pear stock, although three years 
 younger, have far outstripped the former in size and vigor. 
 
 "sun-scald." 
 
 Of all the ills that trees are heir to there is none more 
 universal than those which are directly due to a cause that 
 need never exist at all. This is the exposure of the trunks 
 of fruit trees to the scorching effects of the afternoon sun 
 on the south and southwest. If the bark is not actually 
 killed and the sap soured on that side of the tree, it is 
 almost certain to become hide-bound, and to act as a liga- 
 ture on the delicate sap-cells beneath it. 
 
 In cutting across the trunk of an orange tree, for in- 
 stance, the difference of the rings showing the annual 
 growth of the wood is very perceptible, those that were 
 on the south and southwest sides of the tree being much 
 thinner than the same rings on the opposite side. 
 
 We have seen fruit growers set out trees from the nurs- 
 eries where they have been well shaded all their short lives 
 by low limbs and close planting, trim them bare, and thus 
 leave them out in the open ground, exposed to the full 
 strength of the sun, which beats down all day long on the 
 young, tender bark. 
 
 Now, is this good treatment or good judgment? Those 
 who pursue this course are answered, bye and bye, in trees 
 stunted, diseased, or dead, and then they wonder what is 
 the matter, and, if the trees were purchased, blame the 
 seller for the fault that lies at their own door, in full sight, 
 if they would but open their eyes and look. Never set 
 out a tree of any kind and leave it standing with a bare 
 trunk. 
 
 26 
 
306 FLORIDA P^KUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 Go over young groves or orchards or single trees that 
 are dead or stunted, and in every case almost you will find 
 the bark scalded and peeling off on the south and south- 
 west sides. And where the tree has vitality enough to 
 drag on its weary existence, the presence of this "sun- 
 scald" will be found a standing invitation to borers and 
 wood-lice to enter and put in their death-dealing work. 
 
 So you see it will pay to protect the delicate stems 
 of your trees. How ? It is very easily done, and quickly. 
 The long, gray moss of the hammocks is excellent for 
 wrapping around the trunks ; just as good and more con- 
 venient for many are newspapers lightly tied. Either of 
 these will last for months, and should be kept in place all 
 the year around, until the trunks are well shaded by over- 
 hanging limbs. 
 
 SPECIALTIES IN BUDDING. 
 
 While Chapter IV of this volume deals in thorough de- 
 tail with the several methods of budding and grafting, yet 
 there are some few trees and plants which require especial 
 care as to the mode and time of propagating by these 
 methods. One of these, which is now attracting great and 
 deserved attention, is the 
 
 JAPANESE PERSIMMON. 
 
 Sin,ce the introduction of this valuable fruit into our 
 country the idea has generally prevailed that its propaga- 
 tion upon our native stock is very difficult and uncertain. 
 Now, the truth is exactly contrary, if one only knows how 
 to set about it. 
 
 The trouble was at first, that orange growers especially, 
 being more accustomed to budding than to grafting, nat- 
 urally tried to apply the same process to the Japan persim- 
 mon, forgetting, or being ignorant of an old rule in horti- 
 culture, that trees having thick bark should be propagated 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 307 
 
 by grafting, and that any tree that is prolific in throwing 
 up suckers may be root grafted, and also grown from cut- 
 tings. 
 
 Consequently, "eye buds" failed, a fact that was ren- 
 dered extremely aggravating by the abundance of native 
 wild stock, and the value of the Japan persimmon. But 
 now that experience has taught us the needed lesson it is 
 all easy enough. 
 
 First of all about the native stocks. Small trees are 
 best, with the stock not more than a quarter to half an 
 inch in diameter at the point of union, and to get good 
 stocks of this size they should be grown from the seed in 
 nursery rows. 
 
 The persimmon in its wild state is naturally almost des- 
 titute of fine, fibrous roots, and it is a difficult matter to 
 transplant the proper size satisfactorily. The best and 
 quickest way, therefore, to get good strong Jai)an persim- 
 mons is to drop the seed of the native sort in January in 
 shallow drills about three inches apart, the rows being 
 three feet apart. Do not have the soil very rich or cultivate 
 the young seedlings very freely ; the native persimmon is a 
 strong, vigorous grower, and your object now is to regulate 
 it, so that by the time it is one year old, and sufficiently 
 matured to graft, the stock will not be larger than that 
 named above, for, if it exceeds half an inch in diameter 
 before being grafted, it is almost worthless, a proper union 
 being well-nigh hopeless. Grafts on one-year-old stock 
 that have not been transplanted will make a growth of 
 from three to six feet the first year. 
 
 It is, however, as advantageous to transplant the per- 
 simmon twice, that is, once from the seed-bed to another 
 bed, and thence to the orchard, as it is to the orange, and 
 for the same reason, to promote the formation of fibrous 
 roots. Root pruning, by thrusting down a sharp spade 
 
308 FLORIDA FRUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. 
 
 pretty close to the stem, will serve the same purpose, a 
 very important one, for trees that are to be moved. 
 
 And now as to the grafting process. First, take notice 
 that the buds of the Japan persimmon begin to swell in 
 February, a week or two sooner than those of the native, 
 and therefore the scions must be cut that much earlier, at 
 the first sign given by the moving sap, and laid away in a 
 cool place, covered with moss or earth, to await the move- 
 ments of the native stock. 
 
 The best method of grafting this fruit is the "whip" 
 graft, as it is the most convenient. (For details of process 
 see page 47.) The earth should be removed from the 
 crown of the stock deep enough to allow the point of 
 union to be entirely covered when it is replaced. The 
 scion should be about three inches long, and only one bud 
 left above the ground ; after it is in place wrap strips of 
 waxed cloth tightly around the union of stock and scion, 
 overlapping the folds so as to insure it against the entrance 
 of water. 
 
 There is another method of propagating the Japan per- 
 simmon, much easier and more simple, though the trees 
 thus obtained are rather longer in bearing fruit than those 
 grafted. This is by cuttings, taken as other cuttings 
 should be, when the tree is in a dormant state, although 
 they can, by extra care, be made to strike root at any 
 time ; the cuttings root readily, and it is a curious thing 
 that this simple fact is not generally known. 
 
 GRAFTING THE GRAPE. 
 
 The grape is one of the easiest plants to graft, and the 
 best time to insert the graft is in the latter part of the 
 winter season, when both stock and scion are dormant. By 
 the following simple process, the common wild Florida 
 grape vine may be employed as stock for any of the finer 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 309 
 
 varieties, a use for which their vigorous growth especially 
 adapts them : 
 
 Cut off the stock just below the surface, then split it 
 with a chisel or knife-blade, and insert a wedge-shaped 
 scion, pushing it down into the cleft as far as possible, not 
 less than one or two inches; be careful that the bark 
 touches on the outside. 
 
 Another method is to cut oiF the stock as before, square 
 and smooth; then with an auger bore a hole about two 
 inches deep, and perpendicular; get a scion that will just 
 fit this hole, and push it down firmly to the bottom ; make 
 sure that it goes down all the way, and in order to do this 
 the safest plan is to measure the exact depth on a slender 
 stick, then lay this against the scion, and mark its height. 
 Then proceed as in other grafting ; wrap the point of union 
 with prepared strips, and mound up the earth over it. 
 
 TO HAVE EARLY ORANGE BUDS. 
 
 It is of great advantage to be able to put in orange buds 
 early in the season, but, as a rule, this is impossible until 
 June, because only the current season's grow^th is available 
 for scions, and none of it is sufficiently matured earlier in 
 the season. By experiments, however, it has been found 
 that buds of the citrus family may be successfully '' win- 
 tered," just as other buds frequently are. 
 
 Select, as late in the season as possible, exactly the same 
 kind of buds as you would if going to use them immedi- 
 ately. Make a trench in a shed, or under some shelter 
 where the ground will not become wet, and line the bot- 
 tom with leaves — palmetto answers the purpose better 
 than any other — lay the bud sticks on these, not piled 
 thick or on top of each other ; then another layer of leaves, 
 more buds, and more leaves; the top layer should be 
 leaves, and earth cover the whole. 
 
310 FLORIDA FKUITS — ODDS AND ENDS. * 
 
 lu the spring, when the sap begins to move in the stock, 
 all you have to do is to bring out your buds and go to 
 work; they will "take" as readily as if just taken from 
 the tree in May or June, and a clear gain of at least three 
 months is the result. 
 
 Another point in propagating oranges not generally 
 known is, that they wdll root from cuttings and make good 
 trees. It is claimed that they root more readily if the 
 cutting is set with the small end down ; and this also of 
 lemons, but we will not vouch for the truth of this claim, 
 although we know that it is true of some others than the 
 citrus family. 
 
 SHELLAC COATING. 
 
 The coating of shellac, recommended on page 86, for 
 application to cuts or wounds made in trimming trees, is 
 prepared as follows: 
 
 Dissolve in one quart of alcohol as much gum shellac 
 as will make a liquid of the consistency of paint ; apply 
 with a common painter's brush. Keep it in a wide-mouthed 
 bottle or jar, well corked, and have it always ready for use. 
 
 REMEDIES FOR MILDEW, APHIS, AND RED SPIDER. 
 
 One quarter of an ounce of sulphide of potassium to 
 one gallon water ; apply with a syringe or fountain pump. 
 This substance is cheap and easily applied, and the effect 
 upon the above enemies of the fruit and vegetable grower 
 is almost magical. Grape vines, cucumbers, melons, plum, 
 and peach trees, in short every plant attacked, requires 
 only one to three sprinklings to be completely cleared of its 
 enemies. 
 
 ANOTHER REMEDY FOR MILDEW AND GRAPE ROT. 
 
 Four pounds of bluestone (copperas) to fifty gallons of 
 water, or, on a smaller scale, one ounce of bluestone to 
 
ODDS AND ENDS. 811 
 
 six gallons of water. Sprinkle the foliage copiously once 
 a week as long as the rainy season continues (these dis- 
 eases being caused by an excess of moisture on the foli- 
 age). If mildew and rot have already developed before 
 this treatment is begun, and threaten loss of leaves or 
 fruit, a ten-per-cent solution of common whitewash applied 
 in the same way will arrest their progress. 
 
 DURABLE LABELS FOR FRUIT TREES. 
 
 The need of some better and more lasting label than the 
 usual w^ooden one, with the name penciled or printed, for 
 marking trees in nursery and grove has long been sorely 
 felt by the horticulturist; such labels are far from satis- 
 factory, the name being almost invariably faded or w^ashed 
 out in a few months. A tree label, cheap, easily obtained, 
 and indelible, has been eagerly sought for, and here it is : 
 
 Get pieces of sheet zinc, the older and more corroded 
 the better, cut them in strips about an inch wide at one 
 end, tapering to a slender point at the other, and six to 
 eight inches long ; then, with a soft, ordinary lead-pencil, 
 write on the wider end the name or number of your tree 
 or bud, with date or any other data desired; wind the 
 slender end of the strip around the stem or trunk. It will 
 unwind of itself as the tree grows, hence never cuts into 
 the bark. The older the label is the more distinct the 
 marks will be, the lead acting chemically on the zinc ; the 
 lettering, plain enough even at first, soon becomes outlined 
 with a fine flour-like substance, and then turns purple. 
 
 This label will last as long as the tree, only needing 
 occasional transfer to a new place, as the stem it clasped 
 at first grows too large for it. The comfort and profit of 
 such a label will be acknowledged by every fruit grower. 
 
 New tin, scratched upon with a sharp awl, answers 
 nearly as well as the zinc, but will not last as long. 
 
312 FLORIDA FKUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS — ORANGES. 
 
 Orange Wine, No. 1. Take perfectly ripe, sweet oranges, 
 the riper the better, as then the saccharine matter is en- 
 tirely developed ; peel and cut into halves across the cells ; 
 cut over a tub so as not to lose any juice, and squeeze both 
 halves hard before dropping in the tub. When the tub is 
 full put the whole mass through a wine-press, which must 
 be so close that none of the seeds can escape into the mash, 
 as they would give the wine a bitter taste. To each gal- 
 lon of juice add one pound of granulated or loaf-sugar, 
 and to each gallon of this mixed juice add one quart of 
 pure water. Put the whole in a barrel, leaving a space 
 of about five gallons for expansion of the wine during 
 fermentation. 
 
 Orange wine has to undergo the lower fermentation, as 
 by the upper fermentation all the volatile matter and the 
 aroma would escape. The barrel must be closed air-tight, 
 and a fermenting tube adjusted ; the fermentation is very 
 vigorous for the first few days, and the barrel must be 
 closely watched to prevent its bursting. The fermentation 
 subsides gradually after a few days, then the wine has to 
 be racked off" and the lees can be filtered ; the fermenting 
 tube must be adjusted again to the new barrel, to remain 
 until the fermentation shall have ceased entirely. Rack 
 the wine off again in about six weeks after the latter pe- 
 riod, and in a month after this second racking it will be 
 fit for market, as there is no second or ''spring" fermenta- 
 tion, as with grape wines. 
 
 Orange Wine, No. 2. Ninety sweet oranges, thirty-two 
 pounds of lump sugar ; break sugar in small pieces and 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 313 
 
 put it in a dry, sweet, nine-gallon cask, place the latter 
 where it is to remain. Have ready close to the cask two 
 large pans or small tubs, put the orange peels, pared thin, 
 into one, and into the other the pulp, after the juice has 
 been squeezed from it ; strain the juice carefully and put it 
 in the cask, then pour one and a half gallons of water on 
 both peels and pulp ; let it stand for twenty-four hours, 
 then strain into the cask ; add more water to peels and 
 pulp, next day strain into cask. Repeat this process until 
 the cask is filled, which should take just seven days to ac- 
 complish, the w^ater being properly proportioned to this 
 end, and the contents of the cask being stirred each day. 
 On the third day, after the cask is full, it may be securely 
 bunged down. 
 
 This is a very simple and easy method, and if directions 
 are followed the wine can not fail to be excellent. It 
 should be bottled in eight months, and will be fit for use 
 twelve months after making. 
 
 Orange Wine, No. 3. Juice of sweet oranges and water, 
 equal parts ; to every gallon add three pounds of raw" 
 Florida sugar ; place in tight barrel, filled, with a bent 
 tube from the closed bung-hole to a pail of water. When 
 the gas bubbles cease to show^ in the water, close the bar- 
 rel ; leave it undisturbed for four months, then bottle and 
 cork tight. This makes a very fine wine that will keep 
 well in wood or glass. 
 
 Orange wine is of an amber color, tastes like dry Hock, 
 but always retains a decided aroma of the orange. 
 
 Twelve hundred sour, or fifteen hundred sweet oranges, 
 will make forty-five gallons of wine at from three to six 
 dollars per gallon, and ten gallons of vinegar at twenty- 
 five cents per gallon, wholesale. 
 
 Orange Vinegar. To the cakes which are left in the 
 presses, after making wine, add molasses and water, ac- 
 
 27 
 
314 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 cording to judgment ; let it stand until vinegar is formed, 
 then strain and bottle or place in casks. 
 
 Orange Marmalade, No. 1. Forty sour oranges; peel 
 and set pulp aside till next day ; soak peels in water (rain 
 water preferred) for twenty-four hours, changing the water 
 four times ; then boil peels in a porcelain-lined kettle till 
 tender, changing water three times, using boiling water 
 each time, and keeping the last used water for use as fol- 
 lows : Take out the peels, drain and spread out on a flat 
 dish or waiter; put into the kettle the orange pulp, squeez- 
 ing each piece in the hand ; add three pints of the water 
 saved from the peels, and boil for one hour. While this 
 is boiling scrape off all the white from the peels, then shred 
 or chop the yellow portion into fine pieces ; next, strain 
 the contents of the kettle several times till it is as clear as 
 amber (there should be about seven and a half pints of 
 juice, if there is not, add enough of the water the peels 
 were boiled in to make up the difference). To this quan- 
 tity of juice add ten pounds of white sugar ; let it come 
 to a boil, then add the shredded peels, about five pints ; 
 let it boil all together for about one hour and a quarter, 
 or until it begins to jelly. 
 
 Orange Marmalade, No. 2. Of oranges and sugar allow 
 pound for pound. Pare half the oranges and cut the rind 
 into shreds ; boil in three waters until tender, and set aside ; 
 grate the rind of the remaining oranges, take off and 
 throw away every bit of the white inner skin ; quarter all 
 the oranges, and take out the seeds, chop or cut them into 
 small pieces ; drain all the juice that will come away with- 
 out pressing them over the sugar ; heat this, stirring until 
 the sugar is dissolved, adding a very little water if the 
 oranges are not very juicy ; boil and skim five or six min- 
 utes ; put in the boiled shreds and cook ten minutes, then 
 the chopped fruit and grated peel, and boil twenty minutes 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 315 
 
 longer. When cold put into small jars, tied up, with blad- 
 der or paper next the fruit, and cloths dipped in wax 
 over all. 
 
 Preserved Orange Peel. Weigh the oranges whole, and 
 allow pound for pound ; peel the fruit, and cut the rinds 
 into narrow shreds ; boil until tender, changing the water 
 twice, and replenishing with hot each time. Squeeze the 
 orange juice through a strainer over the sugar, let this 
 heat to a boil ; put in the shreds and boil twenty minutes. 
 
 Orange Jelly. One pint of water, two ounces of gela- 
 tine, half a pound of loaf-sugar, ten oranges, and one 
 lemon. Put water, gelatine, 'sugar, rind of one orange, 
 and rind of half a lemon into a sauce-pan together, and 
 stir over the fire until the gelatine is dissolved ; remove 
 the scum ; then add juice of lemon and oranges sufficient 
 to make one pint ; stir together until on the point of boil- 
 ing, then strain through a jelly bag or fine sieve, and v/hen 
 nearly cold place in a mold previously wetted. 
 
 Preserved Oranges. Take small oranges, and rather 
 more than their weight in white sugar; slightly grate 
 the fruit, and score round and round with a knife, but 
 not very deep ; put the oranges in cold water for three 
 days, changing the water two or three times a day ; tie 
 them up in a cloth, boil them till they are soft enough for 
 the head of a pin to penetrate the skin. While they are 
 boiling place the sugar on the fire, with rather more than 
 half a pint of sugar to each pound ; let it boil for a min- 
 ute or two, then strain it through muslin ; do not put the 
 oranges into the syrup until it jellies and is of a yellow 
 color ; try the syrup by putting some to cool, it must not 
 be too stiff"; the syrup need not cover the oranges, but 
 they must be turned so that each part is thoroughly done. 
 
 Orange Cream. One and a half ounces of gelatine, one 
 lemon, six large oranges, sugar to taste, half a pint of 
 
316 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 good cream; squeeze juice from oranges and lemon, strain 
 and put in sauce-pan with gelatine, and enough water to 
 make juice up to one and a half pints ; rub the sugar on 
 the orange and lemon rind, add to it the other materials, 
 and boil for about ten minutes ; then strain through jelly 
 bag, and, when cold, beat up with it half a pint of thick 
 cream, then pour into wet mold. 
 
 Orange Tincture. Peel off the yellow part of the rind 
 very thin, and cover it with alcohol in a tightly-corked 
 bottle ; when the tincture is bright yellow pour off into 
 another bottle for use in flavoring puddings, custards, 
 cakes, etc. 
 
 How Ormige Wine is made in Sicily. Boil the peels of 
 forty oranges in ten quarts of water until the water tastes 
 strongly of the peels ; add twelve quarts of orange juice 
 and thirty-six quarts of sugar. When cold pour into a 
 barrel ; leave the bung out during the fermentation, which 
 lasts forty days, and keep the barrel bung full, then close 
 the barrel and let the wine settle for two months. Two 
 days before bottling add a small handful of orange flowers 
 to give fragrance to the wine. Orange wine improves 
 with age, and acquires the taste of the Malvaria of the 
 Madeira. It bears transportation well ; it competes with 
 curacoa and other alcoholic, aromatic beverages of South- 
 ern France and Italy. 
 
 Sour Orange Wine. To five gallons of water add one 
 half gallon of juice and fifteen pounds brown sugar ; put 
 the sugar and water together, let it come to a boil, when 
 cool add the juice. Let it stand open till fermentation 
 ceases, then stop tight. It may be bottled after it has 
 remained in barrel about six months. This makes an 
 excellent wine, and if the receipt is followed it will be a 
 success. 
 
 Sour Orange Wine, No. 2. To one gallon of juice add 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 317 
 
 three gallons of water, and to every gallon of the mixture 
 add three pounds of sugar ; put into a barrel and let it 
 stand until fermentation ceases, which will be from six 
 weeks to two months ; keep the bung covered with a thin 
 cloth. After fermentation ceases it is better to draw off 
 the wine into other barrels, then stop up the bung tight 
 and keep it in a cool place. 
 
 Sweet orange wine is made in the same way, except that 
 you use equal parts of juice and water with three pounds 
 of sugar to every gallon of mixture. Of course the juice 
 must be well strained before the sugar is added. 
 
 Orange Champagne. The following is the recipe : One 
 gallon sour orange juice, three gallons rain-water, seven 
 pounds white sugar. Put into a keg, and each day add a 
 little fresh juice until effervescence ceases. After standing 
 about eight days, or when it becomes perfectly clear, bottle 
 and cork tightly ; secure the corks with string or wire and 
 set aside for use. 
 
 Sour Orange Preserves. Either grate or pare off the 
 outside rind of the fruit, cut in half and take out the 
 seed ; sprinkle liberally with salt and let it stand twenty- 
 four hours ; wash off the salt thoroughly and boil in soda- 
 water, allowing a good handful of soda to two gallons of 
 water. Then scald in clear water until the rind can be 
 pierced with a straw. Allow one pound of sugar to every 
 pound of fruit, and a pint of water to every pound of 
 sugar. Boil the syrup until it begins to thicken, then add 
 the fruit and boil until clear. When the fruit is cooked 
 enough, if the syrup is not thick enough, continue to boil 
 after the fruit has been removed. Change the clear water 
 two or three times after boiling in the soda-water, before 
 putting the fruit into the syrup. 
 
 Sweet Orange Preserves. Grate off the outside rind, cut 
 in half and take out the seed ; after this put the fruit in a 
 
318 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE TIIEM. 
 
 weak brine and let it stay for twelve hours, then rinse it 
 in cold water ; put it into a kettle, cover it with cold water 
 and let it come to a boil ; repeat this several times until 
 the bitter taste is destroyed. Just as soon as the water 
 begins to boil change it for other water. Allow one pound 
 of sugar to a pound of fruit, and one pint of water to 
 every pound of sugar. Boil the fruit until it is clear, and 
 after it is taken up, if the syrup is not thick enough, con- 
 tinue to boil. 
 
 Orange- Flower Candy as made in Sicily. Soak one pound 
 of orange-flower leaves in water twenty-four hours ; pour 
 off this water, and, adding fresh water, boil to a good con- 
 sistency ; sprinkle well with cold water ; spread on cloth, 
 and sift over the mass two pounds of powdered sugar. 
 Spread out on dishes and place in the shade for a week 
 that the sugar may be thoroughly absorbed. Dry the 
 candy in the sun or fruit drier and serve on sheets of 
 white paper. 
 
 Orange Blossoms Utilized. Place sheets or any suitable 
 article under the trees at night to catch the falling blos- 
 soms ; in the morning before the dew is off gather up all 
 that have fallen and put in a three-cornered bag — flannel 
 that has been washed is best. As soon as possible pour 
 over these boiling syrup, made of the best sugar, but rather 
 thin ; hang up the bag to drain and leave it out all day ; 
 take out the scalded flowers and save them. Repeat the 
 process of fresh flowers for three mornings, using the same 
 syrup; then bottle for use as a delightful beverage, with 
 water added. The flowers that have been scalded can be 
 used by placing them in thin muslin bags between layers 
 of butter; the butter can be used in cakes, sauces, or any 
 way that flavored butter may be wanted. 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 319 
 
 LEMONS. 
 
 Lemon Tincture is made exactly the same as orange tinc- 
 ture, given above. 
 
 Pickled Lemons. Cut the lemons in quarters, not en- 
 tirely apart, and put a teaspoonful of salt in each one ; 
 put them where they will dry either in the hot sun or by 
 the stove ; when they are dried so that they are black and 
 look good for nothing, prepare the vinegar with cloves, 
 cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger-root, onion, and a little mustard 
 seed, and pour it boiling hot over the lemons ; keep a year 
 before using. They are quite equal to the West India 
 limes. They require more vinegar than other pickles, as 
 the lemons will swell out to their natural size. 
 
 Lemon Jelly, for Layer CaJx. Two cups of sugar, yolks 
 of three eggs, juice of two lemons. Cook till thickened 
 by setting in boiling water, and then add the well-beaten 
 whites of three eggs ; spread between layers of cake. 
 
 Lemon Cream. One pint of cream or new milk, yolks 
 of two eggs, four ounces of white sugar, one large or two 
 small lemons, and one ounce of gelatine. Put the cream 
 into a sauce-pan with the sugar, lemon peel, and gelatine, 
 and simmer over a gentle fire for ten minutes, stirring all 
 the time ; then strain into a jug, add the well-beaten yolks 
 of two eggs, and put the jug into a pot of boiling water ; 
 stir the mixture one way until it thickens, but do not al- 
 low it to boil ; take ofi' and stu- till nearly cold ; strain the 
 lemon juice and stir in gradually till well mixed, then pour 
 into a well-oiled mold. 
 
 Preserved Levnon Peel is made according to recipe given 
 for orange peel, or as follows : Make a thick syrup of 
 white sugar, chop tliick lemon peels very fine, and boil in 
 the syrup ten minutes ; put in glass tumblers and paste 
 paper over ; a teaspoonful of this conserve gives a delicious 
 flavor to cakes, puddings, etc. 
 
320 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE TIIEM. 
 
 Lemon Syrup. Squeeze lemons, and strain juice care- 
 fully; then place in a broad, open dish, and add all the 
 granulated sugar it will dissolve ; let it stand for several 
 days, and stir and add sugar occasionally till it will take 
 up no more ; then bottle and seal closely ; keep in a dark 
 place and cool as possible. A tablespoonful to a tumbler 
 of water makes a refreshing summer drink. 
 
 Nourishing Lemonade. Pint and a half of boiling water, 
 juice of four lemons, rinds of two, and half j^int of sherry, 
 four eggs, and six ounces of white sugar. Pare the lemon 
 rinds thinly, put it in a jug with the sugar, and pour on 
 the boiling water ; let it cool, then strain it, add the wine, 
 lemon juice, and well-beaten eggs, also strained, and the 
 beverage will be ready for use. If desired, the sherry and 
 water may be omitted and milk put in their place. 
 
 Lemon Butter. One and a half cups of white sugar, 
 whites of three eggs, yolk of one, grated rind, and juice 
 of one and a half or two small lemons ; boil gently twenty 
 minutes, stirring all the time. Nice for tarts or to be eaten 
 as preserves. 
 
 Lemons for Malaria. An Italian physician gives the 
 following directions for preparing a remedy for malaria, 
 which may be worth trying, as it is said to have proved 
 efficacious when quinine has given no relief: Cut up a 
 lemon, peel and pulp, in thin slices, and boil it in a pint 
 and a half of water until it is reduced to half a pint; 
 strain through a linen cloth, squeezing the remains of the 
 boiled lemon, and set it aside until cold. The entire liquid 
 is taken fasting. 
 
 LIMES. 
 
 Limes for Pickling, for Shipping to distant Markets. 
 They should be a bright yellow when picked, which 
 should be done carefully. Place in tight barrels or casks 
 the same day they are picked, and cover at once with a 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 321 
 
 brine as salt only as sea-water ; then head up tight, and 
 change water two or three times. Limes prepared in this 
 way are ready for use at any time, either as pickles or pre- 
 serves, by first freshening in clear water and then follow- 
 ing other recipes. 
 
 Pickled Limes are prepared exactly according to recipe 
 given for pickled lemons, and are equally good. 
 
 Preserved Limes. If the limes have been previously 
 kept in brine, freshen by soaking in several waters ; then 
 proceed as follows, same as if just picked : Take out the 
 seeds and place in cold water for twenty-four hours, chang- 
 ing the water several times ; boil until tender, in water to 
 which a little soda has been added ; soak again in water 
 for twenty-four hours, changing water as before ; the limes 
 are now ready to preserve. To each pound of fruit take 
 two pounds of white sugar and three pints of water; 
 make a syrup first, drop the fruit into it, and cook long 
 enough to become thoroughly heated through ; place limes 
 in jars set in hot water, boil the syrup down a little and 
 turn over them. Seal up the same as any other preserves. 
 
 CITRONS. 
 
 To Dry for Home or Market. Pick the fruit when green, 
 just as it comes to maturit)^; cut into four or six pieces; 
 soak in clear water twenty-four hours, changing it several 
 times, boil half an hour in water containing a little alum, 
 and a few handfuls of green grass (Guinea preferred), or 
 the leaves of the citron tree ; pour this ofi*, and boil half 
 an hour in thin syrup ; then weigh the citron and add an 
 equal weight of white sugar to the syrup ; dip the citron 
 into the latter two or three times, dry in the sun one day, 
 the second day fill the cavities of the citron with the syrup, 
 and continue to expose to the sun until thoroughly dry. 
 This makes an excellent article for commerce, being of 
 
6ZZ FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 superior quality to that sold usually in the stores. If you 
 have a fruit drier so much the better. 
 
 Preserved Citron. Never use ripe citron in any shape, 
 it will not dry nor make a good preserve. Take green 
 citron, full grown but young and tender, cut into four 
 pieces, and take out pulp and seeds ; lay the citron in salt 
 and water for twenty-four hours, take it out and scald it 
 two or three times until the bitter is extracted ; then make 
 a moderately thick syrup, and boil the citron in it gently 
 until clear and translucent ; then flavor syrup with lemon 
 juice, all-spice berries, stick cinnamon, and root ginger. 
 
 Grape Fruit, or Pomola. This fruit is used only in its 
 original state, eaten as an orange, or prepared for the table 
 by carefully removing all the inner membranous skin and 
 seeds, and then sugaring the fruit an hour or two before 
 sending to table. The inner skins part readily from the 
 pulp, which is very juicy, and great care should be taken 
 not to leave any of the former clinging to the pulp, as it 
 is very bitter ; properly prepared there it no fruit more 
 refreshing than the pomola. The juice also makes a very 
 pleasant drink, prepared the same as lemon- or lime-ade. 
 
 TO PREPARE CITRONS FOR SHIPMENT. 
 
 There are two methods of preparing the citrons when 
 it is desired to ship them to a factory for purposes of pre- 
 serving or evaporation. 
 
 No. 1. Gather the fruit carefully, cutting the stem as 
 you would an orange or lemon ; place it in a basket lined 
 with moss, paper, or some other soft material, as it is im- 
 portant not to bruise the skin. See that all possible blem- 
 ishes, as of insects or dust, are cleaned off with a brush or 
 a sponge dipped in cold water ; spread them out for several 
 days. 
 
 Sort the citrous into two classes ; those that are large, 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 
 
 323 
 
 plump, and free from blemish are to be marked "first 
 class ;" inferior ones are " second class." Wrap the citrons 
 in paper, and pack carefully in boxes, strongly made but 
 smooth inside, between two and three hundred in a box. 
 
 No. 2. Cut the fruit into halves or quarters, then pack 
 it in casks with a sprinkling of salt ; then fill the casks 
 with sea-water or its artificial counterpart. In twenty 
 days open the casks, take out the fruit, and remove the 
 pulp with a spoon ; repack, and fill up again with sea- 
 water, to which a little salt has been added. Lay the cask 
 on its side with the bung open, that the gas may escape, 
 and keep it thus until ready to ship. 
 
 Commercial Candied Citron. Cut the fruit into halves 
 or quarters, according to its size, put it in a tub or cask 
 of brine, having first cleaned out the pulp, and leave it 
 for a month ; then renew the salt water, and let the citron 
 lie in it for four or five months, or as much longer as you 
 choose ; this long process is necessary to eliminate the bit- 
 ter principle from the rind, which it is otherwise impossible 
 to remove entirely. 
 
 Next, boil the fruit in fresh water until a fork will eas- 
 ily pass through it ; it usually takes about an hour and a 
 half to reach this point. Then put it in cold, fresh water, 
 to remain there for at least twenty-four hours, when it will 
 have turned to that light green color which we have 
 learned to associate with candied citron. 
 
 The next step is to drain the fruit, place it in earthen 
 jars, and pour over it hot syrup of white sugar at twenty 
 degrees sacchrometer ; cover it entirely, and let it stand 
 for three weeks, but the syrup must be poured ofi* twice a 
 week, boiled, skimmed, and more sugar added each time 
 until the syrup is a little thicker than it was at the first boil- 
 ing ; turn it back over the fruit at boiling point. The three 
 weeks elapsed, put the citron in a vessel containing the 
 
324 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 syrup, with all the sugar it can dissolve ; let it boil for ten 
 minutes ; and then for twenty-four hours keep it near the 
 boiling point without letting it reach it, then boil it again 
 until no more sugar can be taken up. 
 
 The proportion of sugar absorbed in this process is about 
 eighty pounds to one hundred of the citron rinds. The 
 boiling completed, the rinds are spread on wire netting and 
 dried, either in the sun, or, which is a far superior method, 
 in an evaporator. The writer's experience proves the 
 American Fruit Drier to be especially adapted to this 
 process. 
 
 PINE-APPLES. 
 
 Pine-apple and Tapioca Pudding. Soak a teacupful of 
 tapioca in a pint of water for two or three hours ; then 
 add one quart of milk, two beaten eggs, two thirds of a 
 cup of sugar, a little salt, and a tablespoonful of butter ; 
 bake in a buttered dish, stirring occasionally at first ; when 
 done it must be quite stiff; turn on to a platter and pour 
 over a pint of canned pine-apple, or uncooked pine-apple, 
 previously cut into little dice; sprinkle with sugar, and 
 cover tightly for an hour or two before using. Serve 
 cold. 
 
 Pine-apple Oiampagne, or ^^ Chichi" The latter is the 
 proper title of this delicious and favorite drink of tropical 
 countries ; it is a Spanish name, and pronounced as if 
 spelled chee-chee. Over the peelings of tAVO small pine- 
 apples pour one quart of boiling water ; allow it to steep 
 until cold, then sweeten to taste, strain and bottle, corking 
 tight; tie down the cork and place the bottle on its side; 
 if placed in a warm place it will be ripe in twenty-four 
 hours. A small piece of ginger placed in each bottle will 
 improve the flavor. The whole pine-apple, chopped, can 
 be used if desired. 
 
 Pine - appleade. Boil the pine-apple or skins; allow 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 325 
 
 liquid to cool, then strain ; add lemon or lime juice, and 
 sweeten to taste. 
 
 Recipes for making a preserve or for candying pine- 
 apples being found in all cook-books, we will not repeat 
 them here. 
 
 GUAVAS. 
 
 Guava Jelly. This is a jelly that has a world-wide repu- 
 tation, although the Havana article, so familiar to the 
 public, is really no jelly at all, but the fruit stewed down 
 to a smooth mass— a marmalade, in fact. True guava 
 jelly, as made by the following recipe, is as clear and 
 beautiful as crab-apple or quince jelly, and varies in color 
 from a pale amber to a light claret, according to the varie- 
 ties of the fruit : 
 
 Either the parings or the whole fruit (ripe, but not too 
 ripe) cut up, may be used. It is a good plan, when par- 
 ing guavas for the table (like peaches eaten with sugar and 
 cream) , to put the skins into a small kettle, with also the 
 centers of the fruit containing a majority of the seeds, and 
 make jelly of them, a few glasses at a time, as the guava 
 jellies best in small quantities. Put just enough water 
 in the kettle to keep the fruit from burning before the 
 juices are extracted. Let it boil for an hour or more, 
 until well cooked, then strain through a rather coarse 
 bag ; do not squeeze it at all, or if you do, strain it again 
 through a fine cloth ; measure the juice, let it boil a few 
 moments, then add granulated sugar, one and a half meas- 
 ures to each one of the juice, also the juice of one or two 
 lemons ; skim carefully, watch closely, and the moment it 
 ropes, or falls in large drops, remove and place in glasses. 
 Guava Paste. Take twelve pounds of guavas, not 
 peeled, to eight pounds of white sugar ; reduce the sugar 
 with water to a syrup clear and ready to sugar. Boil the 
 guavas until they are thoroughly softened, then pass them 
 
326 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 through a sieve and boil again until they are at the right 
 point to harden, when the hot syrup is added. Test the 
 mixture by droj)ping it in cold water ; if it solidifies it is 
 ready for the boxes or cups. 
 
 Spiced Guavas — Canned Guavas are prepared according 
 to usual recipes for spiced and canned fruits. 
 
 BANANAS. 
 
 Fried Bananas. Peel and slice the fruit, sprinkle with 
 salt, dip them in thin batter and fry in butter. Serve im- 
 mediately. 
 
 Frozen Banana Pudding. Make an ice-cream of two quarts 
 of cream, one of milk, and one pound of white sugar ; stir 
 this well together and freeze hard enough to put into a 
 mold ; line the top of the mold with slices of banana 
 about an inch apart, then a layer of ice-cream, then an- 
 other layer of bananas and a little pounded sweet almonds, 
 then ice-cream, and so on until the mold is full ; cover it 
 with a cloth, put on the tin cover tightly, and pack it in 
 salt and ice for three or four hours. 
 
 Bananas sliced across make a pleasant addition to a dish 
 of grape fruit. 
 
 STRAWBERRIES. 
 
 Strawberry Syrup and Strawberry Preserves. One gallon 
 of capped strawberries will weigh six pounds when gath- 
 ered fresh, and allowed to lie lightly without being mashed. 
 For this quantity take one pound of best white sugar, 
 either granulated or crushed loaf. In a china bowl put a 
 layer of strawberries and a layer of sugar alternately, 
 until all the sugar has been put in. Let them remain so 
 for three or four hours to extract all the juice ; then with 
 a skimmer dip up all the berries, and lay them on a col- 
 ander to drain, without mashing them. When all the 
 juice is drained from them strain it through a coarse linen 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 327 
 
 towel or piece of flannel ; then to every pint of juice put 
 one pound of best white sugar. Put the juice and sugar 
 into a stone jar, set the jar into an iron pot of cold water. 
 Set the pot over the fire ; let it boil, stirring it occasionally 
 to dissolve the sugar ; skim the froth off. When all the 
 sugar is dissolved and the froth ceases to rise, take it off, 
 let it cool, put it into bottles, cork tightly, and set them 
 in a cool place. This syrup makes a delightful flavoring 
 for ice-cream, and with the addition of a little lemon juice 
 or vinegar and water makes an agreeable summer bever- 
 age. After all the juice has been drained from the straw- 
 berries they will weigh two pounds less than they did at 
 first. Take then their reduced weight in crushed loaf 
 sugar, and put a layer of the berries and a layer of sugar ; 
 put them in a stone jar, set the jar in a pot of cold water, 
 set the pot over a brisk fire, and let the fruit boil until 
 perfectly tender and transparent. Stir gently at first so 
 as to dissolve the sugar without breaking the berries. The 
 preserves require more cooking than the syrup. Strawber- 
 ries preserved by this recipe keep much longer than when 
 prepared in the usual way. If you wish the color of the 
 strawberries to be bright, do not let pewter or tin come 
 near them during the process of preserving, for either 
 turns the color dull directly. 
 
 OLIVES. 
 
 Methods of Preparing Olives. In Italy the olives are 
 prepared for the table in three ways. First, pickled green ; 
 second, pickled ripe; and third, dried when ripe. Tlio 
 green olives are picked before they commence to change 
 from the green color, and placed in a strong solution of 
 lime to take out the oily substance, and are then conserved 
 in water saturated with salt. The oil is taken from ripe 
 olives bv the use of salt instead of lime. The olives for 
 
328 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 drying are fully ripe, dried in the sun, or in an evaporator, 
 packed tight in a jar with aromatic herbs to flavor the 
 fruit. Oil is then turned over the fruit to exclude the 
 air, but none is allowed to sink to the bottom of the jar, 
 as it might become rancid. 
 
 Pickled Olives. In Spain the green fruits for pickles are 
 allowed to reach full size, but yet be green and hard, and 
 are handled by a slow and a quick process. By the slow pro- 
 cess the freshly picked olives are placed in fresh water, which 
 must be changed daily for a fortnight ; the water must be 
 drawn off and promptly replaced, leaving the fruit ex- 
 posed to the air no more than possible. At first the water 
 will be very bitter, but the bitter will decrease daily. The 
 taste must determine the time required. When sufficiently 
 soaked the olive must be placed in a pickle containing one 
 volume of salt to fourteen of water. They may be kept 
 in clean, well-soaked tubs without any repugnant flavor- 
 ing, a layer of olive twigs and leaves being placed at the 
 bottom to prevent injury from pressure, and another on 
 the top, weighted down and covered with the pickle. They 
 will be ready for bottling in four months. 
 
 By the quick process a solution of two volumes of caus- 
 tic soda and fourteen volumes of water is prepared and 
 turned over the fruit. After remaining in soak an hour 
 the olives must be sampled by cutting a few open to ascer- 
 tain how far the solution has penetrated. The depth may 
 be noticed by the color, and should not exceed one half 
 the thickness of the pulp; when the proper depth is 
 reached, the solution must be immediately drawn off* and 
 replaced quickly by fresh water, changing it three or four 
 times, and leaving the last water on twenty-four hours. 
 Brine, as for the slow process, is prepared, and the olives 
 placed in it ; by this process the olives will be ready for 
 use in thirty days. 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 329 
 
 Preserved in Oil. Ripe olives are preserved in oil by- 
 steeping them in oil, without other preparation, and sea- 
 soned with fennel, coriander, salt, and pepper. 
 
 GRAPES. 
 
 Wild Grape Wine. The small wild grape, that grows 
 wild in such luxuriance in the Florida hammocks, makes 
 an excellent wine, as follows : Mash the grapes in a large 
 tub or bowl, and let them stand until there are signs of 
 fermentation setting in, then strain the juice by dripping 
 through a flannel bag. To three quarts of juice add one 
 quart of water and three pounds of light brown sugar. 
 Put it away in a demijohn in a moderately warm place, 
 and tie up the mouth of the demijohn closely with a piece 
 of thin muslin. Do not cork until fermentation is com- 
 plete. 
 
 Domestic Grape Wine. Put twenty pounds of ripe grapes 
 in a stone jar, and pour on them six quarts of boiling 
 water; as soon as the water is cool enough squeeze the 
 grapes with the hand ; cover the jar with a cloth and let 
 it stand for three days, then press out the juice and add 
 ten pounds of crushed sugar. After it has stood for a 
 week skim, strain, and bottle it, corking loosely; when 
 the fermentation is complete strain it again and bottle it, 
 corking tightly. Lay the bottles on their side in a cool 
 place. 
 
 How to Keep Grapes. Take full bunches, ripe and per- 
 fect ; cut the stem off smooth and seal by dipping it in hot 
 sealing-wax ; let them lie one day to make sure they are 
 perfectly sealed, if not, they will shrivel. If they are all 
 right, pack them in a box in layers, with dry saw-dust or 
 sand ; make the box as air-tight as possible. By this method 
 they will keep for months in perfect condition. 
 
 28 
 
330 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 FIGS. 
 
 To Dry Figs. Gather the figs when the skins begin to crack 
 (which is a sign of maturity, and that the fruit contains 
 the largest amount of saccharine matter); make a strong 
 lye of oak ashes or common cooking soda dissolved in hot 
 water ; quickly dip the figs (in a wire basket) into the hot 
 liquid, and remove immediately; expose to the air for a 
 minute or two and repeat the dipping. If the lye is hot 
 and strong enough the color of the fig will immediately 
 change, the dark varieties to a bright green, and the pale 
 colored to a pale green. Place the figs upon trays made 
 of wooden slabs, and expose to the sun, taking care not to 
 allow the dew to fall upon them. After a few days they 
 are ready to be put away in small wooden boxes, first put- 
 ting a layer of spice, laurel, or bay leaves at the bottom, 
 and another at the top ; put the lid on tight to keep insects 
 out. Figs placed in a dry room will keep a long time. 
 An evaporator, either purchased or such a one as is de- 
 scribed in the chapter on guavas, will greatly facilitate the 
 drying process ; but great care must be taken not to give 
 too much heat. So soon as the figs show signs of secreting 
 syrup, too much heat has been applied, and they will make 
 only an inferior article. The fruit should be turned fre- 
 quently in drying, and it is advisable to lightly press the 
 fruit with the hand in order to flatten it. The light col- 
 ored varieties are preferred for drying, although some of 
 the dark-skinned, especially the Brown Turkey, make a 
 very good article. 
 
 Pickled Figs. Pick the fruit with the stems left on, it 
 must be matured but not very soft; place it in a jar, 
 sprinkle the layers with salt, in the proportion of a half 
 pound to a peck of figs; pour on boiling water to cover, 
 and let it stand twelve hours ; then put the fruit in a col- 
 
HOW TO USE FLORIDA FRUITS. 331 
 
 ander, and rinse with clear, cold water. Fill jars with the 
 figs; take strong vinegar, add a quarter of a pound of 
 sugar to each quart ; boil, and pour the hot vinegar over 
 the fruit. In filling the jars with the fruit, cinnamon bark, 
 cloves, and any other spices desired should be scattered 
 through it. 
 
 Fig Pie. A delicate dessert. For each pie chop half a 
 pound of figs (dried or fresh) ver}^ fine, and cook them up 
 with a cup of cold water, or part cider or brandy and part 
 water ; when the figs are soft and smooth, let cool, and add 
 the yolk of an egg, put in crust and bake ; make a me- 
 ringue of the white of the eggs beaten stiff", with two 
 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar beaten in it ; flavor with 
 vanilla. As soon as the crust is done draw the pie to the 
 oven door (don't take it out), spread this on top, and let 
 it set for a minute or two, not longer. 
 
 Fig Pudding. Three quarters pound of grated bread, 
 half pound figs, six ounces suet, six ounces brown sugar, 
 one teacupful of milk, and grate a little nutmeg ; chop figs 
 and suet together, then mix in the bread, sugar, and milk, 
 and lastly, one egg well beaten. Boil in a mold four 
 hours; serve hot with sweet sauce. 
 
 Fig Candy. One pound sugar, three quarters of a pint 
 of water, and set over a slow fire ; when done, add a few 
 drops of vinegar and a lump of sugar, and pour into jars 
 in which slices of dried figs have been laid. 
 
 Fig Jam. Peel when entirely ripe, and boil a few mo- 
 ments until quite soft ; strain through a colander or coarse 
 sieve ; add one half their weight in white sugar, and boil 
 to the desired consistency. Flavor with lemon, pine-apple, 
 or any thing preferred. This is a very delicate and deli- 
 cious sweetmeat, and could be made a profitable article of 
 commerce. 
 
 Fig Jelly. Take fully ripe figs, peel carefully, put into 
 
332 FLORIDA FRUITS — HOW TO USE THEM. 
 
 a porcelain or preserving kettle, and add water enough to 
 cover the fruit. Boil about twenty minutes, then strain, 
 add sugar, say half a pound to each pint of fig juice, and 
 boil again, from ten to twenty minutes, until it jellies. 
 
 Cakes of Figs, similar to those mentioned in the Bible, 
 are made by slowly stewing peeled ripe figs to a smooth 
 pulp in a porcelain kettle, adding a little sugar and fla- 
 voring matter, and stirring the mass constantly while cook- 
 ing. When thoroughly done, and reduced to a smooth, 
 thick pulp, free from lumps, pour into shallow pans or 
 fancifully shaped molds, and dry slowly in stove or evap- 
 orator. When fully dry wrap each cake in paper, and 
 store away in a dry place. These cakes may be broken up 
 and stewed for the dessert, or eaten from the hand like 
 dried figs or dates. 
 
 The fresh fig, as gathered from the tree, is a favorite 
 dish, cut and sugared, and eaten with cream. It is also 
 much used as an ordinary stewed fruit. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Acre, Number of Trees to 75 
 
 Age Attained by Olives 201 
 
 Age of Orange Trees 10 
 
 America, Orange introduced by Spaniards into 12 
 
 " Orange Not a Native of 12 
 
 Analysis of the Orange 89 
 
 Antiquity of Grafting 44, 45 
 
 Ants as Enemies to Seedlings 32 
 
 Aphis, Remedy for 310 
 
 Ariky, from Sap of Cocoa-nut 224 
 
 Avacado, or Alligator Pear 239, 240 
 
 " Description of Fruit 240 
 
 « Description of Tree 239 
 
 " Not Tropical, but Semi-tropical 240 
 
 " Value of Fruit 240 
 
 '* Varieties 240 
 
 A Vast Field for Experiment 240 
 
 Banana Pudding, Frozen 326 
 
 Bananas, Best Location for 183, 184 
 
 " Fried 326 
 
 Fruiting Period 184, 185 
 
 " Hart's Choice, Horse 185 
 
 " How to Plant 184 
 
 « Suckers from 186 
 
 Value of 182, 183 
 
 « Will Not Endure Cold 183 
 
 " • with Grape Fruit 326 
 
 Barren Trees, How to Treat 147-149 
 
 Beauty of an Orange Grove 9 
 
 Beginning, Recent, of Orange Culture 12-15 
 
 Birds, To Protect Fruit from 247, 248 
 
 Blackberries, " a Blessing Overlooked " 198 
 
 « Distance ; Cultivation 199, 200 
 
 " Indigenous to Florida 1 98 
 
 « Proper Soil for 199 
 
 (333) 
 
334 INDEX. 
 
 Bonner's Patent Compost 92-95 
 
 " Borers," How to Destroy 274-270 
 
 Bud, Cocoa-nut, Various Uses of 225, 226 
 
 Budded Trees or Seedlings? 62-65 
 
 Budding Nursery Seedlings 30 
 
 Budding, Requirements for 38-41 
 
 Budding, Science of. 87-39 
 
 Budding, Shield 42-44 
 
 Bud " Pen " Not Recommended 41, 42 
 
 Buds, How to Select 41 
 
 Buds, To Secure Early Orange 309, 310 
 
 Buds, Wrapping the 39, 40 
 
 Bug, Blood-red Lady, a Friend 103 
 
 Bug, Euthoctha galeator, Enemy 105 
 
 Bug, Leaf-footed Plant, Enemy 104 
 
 Bug, Mealy, Enemy 103 
 
 Bug, Twice-stabbed Lady, a Friend 102 
 
 Butterfly, Orange Puppy, Enemy . .• 104 
 
 Buying One's Own Experience 15 
 
 Chestnut, Japan, Best 214 
 
 Profitable to Raise 214 
 
 Chickasaw Plum, Type 280, 281 
 
 Cisterns, Capacity of 151 
 
 Citron, Commercial, Candied 323, 324 
 
 " Orange, Lemoti 165 
 
 " Preserved 322 
 
 To Prepare for Shipment 322, 323 
 
 Value of 164, 165 
 
 Citrons, To Dry 321, 322 
 
 Cocoa-nut, Coir, for Cordage, stuffing Mats, Brooms, etc.231,232 
 
 •* Drinking Bout of the Miirquesans 231 
 
 " Jelly and Milk, when H;ilf-ripe 229 
 
 " " Legal Tender " in the Maldive Islands 229 
 
 " Medicinal Uses in Earliest Stage 229 
 
 " Oil Compressed from 230 
 
 Oil, Uses of 230, 231 
 
 Uses of the Shell 231 
 
 Oocoa-palin, A Lover of Sea Air 217 
 
 *' Beacon to Mariners 217 
 
 *' Bearing Age ..>.... 233 
 
INDEX. ^^^ 
 
 Cocoa-palm, Birthplace Unknown 21^6 
 
 Black Beetle, an Enemy ^"^ 
 
 u " Bread " from the Stem 224 
 
 «« Cement Made from Juices 226 
 
 99c 997 
 
 «' Cloth from the Leaves ^^^' ^^' 
 
 99« 
 « Cradles from the Leaves ^^" 
 
 « Description of Stem 
 
 Dipse : " Palm Wine " of the Ancients 224 
 
 « Distance Apart 
 
 Good Soil, Salt Air ^J^ 
 
 Habits and Value of the Roots ." ; ' 
 
 Height ; As Lightning Rods '^'^^'919 
 
 " ']''^f'^ "■■";;::;;::::232;233 
 
 " m Florida 
 
 Legend of Discovery by Botteh Rajah, Ceylon. 219-221 
 
 ° 997_99Q 
 
 Oars, Sails, Mats, etc 233 
 
 «' Planting the ' 
 
 « Profits of a Cocoa-nut Walk ^'^ ' 
 
 Rats Destructive to ^^*' ^^^ 
 
 Sandwich Island Laws Regarding 218 
 
 Sugar, Toddy, Yeast, Vinegar 225 
 
 To Prevent Rats from Ascending the Palm . .235-237 
 
 Usefulness and Beauty 2 
 
 «« Value to Islands of the Pacific Ocean 219 
 
 Wide Geographical Range 218, 219 
 
 ^ , -D ^^^„ » 92-95 
 
 Compost, " Bonner's Process ^^ 
 
 Heaps, Value of ^- 
 
 How to Make ^^ "^ 
 
 Condition of Stock and Scion ' 
 
 Cord for Measuring ^^ 
 
 Cordova, Old Orange Tree at ' • * 
 
 Cost of Clearmg Land ^^ 
 
 Cost to Fence with Rails ^^ 
 
 Cost to Plow 78-80 
 
 Cultivation in Grove 152-158 
 
 Culture of the Lemon 130-132 
 
 Curing Oranges and Lemons 108 109 
 
 ^^^-^^^^' * ■ '. 30oi 801 
 
 Diversify Production ^^ 
 
 Drainage 
 
336 INDEX. 
 
 Drought Never Affects Olives 202 
 
 Dry Hammock Land 32 
 
 Early Bearing, To Command 148 
 
 Enemies, Cocoa-palm 234-237 
 
 Eucalyptus Tree, Preventive of Scale Insect 149, 150 
 
 Evaporating Fruits, etc 288-293 
 
 Evaporating Guavas 292, 293 
 
 Evaporator, "American," Superiority of 289-292 
 
 " Home-made 177, 178 
 
 " Value to a Family 291 
 
 Fertilizer, China-berry Tree as a 149 
 
 Fertilizers 88-97 
 
 Fertilize, "When to 97 
 
 Fertilizing Bearing Trees 97 
 
 Fertilizing Young Trees 96, 97 
 
 Fig Candy - 331 
 
 " Jam 331 
 
 " Jelly 331, 332 
 
 " Pie 331 
 
 " Pudding 331 
 
 Figs 258-265 
 
 " Adapted to Florida 258 
 
 " Cakes of 332 
 
 " Care in Transplanting 259 
 
 " Commercial Value of 263, 264 
 
 " Conditions Injurious to 258, 259 
 
 " Distance Apart, Forming the Head, and Pruning 259 
 
 " Fresh 332 
 
 " How Esteemed in Europe 260 
 
 " How to Plant Cuttings 263 
 
 " Kinds to Plant 261 
 
 " Little Cultivation Eequired 260 
 
 » Pickled 380, 331 
 
 " Eequisites of Successful Culture 258 
 
 « To Dry 330 
 
 *' Trees Started from Cuttings Fruit Quicker than Rooted 
 
 Ones 262 
 
 « Value of the Fruit 260, 261 
 
 " Varieties Tested in Florida 264, 265 
 
 Florida a Field for Experiment 240 
 
INDEX. 337 
 
 "Florida Fruit Exchange " 134 
 
 Florida Moss 29 
 
 Foliage Affected by Rust Mites 121 
 
 Freeze of January, 1886 294-301 
 
 Freeze of January, 1886, Extent of. 298 
 
 "Freeze, The," "A Blessing in Disguise ". . . : 299-301 
 
 Frost, Reasons for Injury from 298, 299 
 
 Frost, Mulching with Regard to 83 
 
 Fruit Drier, American 289-292 
 
 Grafting and Budding almost Identical 37 
 
 " by Inarching 46, 47 
 
 " Clay, How to Prepare 48 
 
 Cleft 49 
 
 « Crown 49, 60 
 
 ** Japanese Persimmon 306-309 
 
 « Several Methods of 46-51 
 
 « « Side " and " Ring " 50, 51 
 
 « Wax 40,41 
 
 Whip 47, 48 
 
 Grafts, To Remove Wraps from 50 
 
 Grape Fruit 166 
 
 Grape Fruit, How to Eat 322 
 
 Grape Grafting 308, 309 
 
 Grape Mildew, Remedy 310 
 
 Grape Rot, Remedy 310 
 
 Grapes, Bullace, Most Reliable , 241 
 
 " " Bearing Capacity 244 
 
 " " Distance Apart 242 
 
 ** " How to Layer 241,242 
 
 « " To Prevent Bleeding 243, 244 
 
 " " Training and Pruning 242, 243 
 
 " Concord, Delaware, Clinton, Diana, Hartford Pro- 
 lific, Goethe, Wilder, Mrs. McClure, Peter Wylie, 
 
 Benckman's 246, 247 
 
 « How to keep 329 
 
 " Kept for Months 249 
 
 « Other Varieties for Florida 247 
 
 " Picking and Packing 248, 249 
 
 « Protection from Birds 247, 248 
 
 " Remedies for Leaf-rollers 248 
 
 29 
 
338 INDEX. 
 
 Grapes, Scuppernong 244, 245 
 
 " Tender-pulp, Pedee 245 
 
 " Thomas, Flowers 245 
 
 Grape Wine, Domestic 329 
 
 Wild 329 
 
 Grove, How to Lay Out 70, 71 
 
 How to Set Trees 74,75 
 
 Guava, Common, Value 179, 180 
 
 " Common, Varieties 180, 181 
 
 Hardy, Cattley 181 
 
 " Hardy, Chinese 182 
 
 Jelly 325 
 
 Paste (Commercial " Jelly ") 325, 326 
 
 Guavas, About Evaporating 177, 178 
 
 " Bear in Eighteen Months 1 78 
 
 Evaporating 292, 293 
 
 " Time of Blooming 182 
 
 " Winter Protection for 179, 180 
 
 Hammock Lands 54 
 
 Hammocks, How to Clear 55, 56 
 
 Hard-pan or Clay 33 
 
 *' High Prices " of Bearing Groves 17 
 
 How to Cultivate 76-80 
 
 How to Plant Trees 70-75 
 
 How to Succeed 18, 19 
 
 Humus must be in the Soil 89, 90 
 
 Importance of Good Seed 27, 28 
 
 Importance of Good Stock 27 
 
 Insect Enemies 98-106 
 
 Insect Enemies of the Peach 274-277 
 
 Insect Friends 102, 103 
 
 Insect Leaf-rollers 248 
 
 Insect Kemedies 106-109 
 
 Italy, Production of Lemons 147 
 
 Japan Medlar, or Plum 282 
 
 Japanese Persimmon, Propagated by Cuttings 308 
 
 " " Seedlings Sport 285 
 
 « '« Stock for Grafting 307 
 
 " " Tree and Fruit.... 285,286 
 
 « " Time to Graft 308 
 
INDEX. 339 
 
 Japanese Persimmon, Value 284, 285 
 
 " " Varieties 285-287 
 
 " " " Whip " Graft Preferred 308 
 
 Japan Plum, Kelsey's 282, 283 
 
 Labels for Fruit Trees 332 
 
 Ladder for Gathering Fruit 129 
 
 Land, Hammock, How to Clear 55, 56 
 
 Pine, Best for Nursery 32, 33 
 
 « Pine, How to Clear 57-60 
 
 " Pine or Hammock 54-57 
 
 Lands, Low, for a Grove 52, 53 
 
 Laying Out a Nursery 33, 34 
 
 Leaf-rollers, Eemedy against 248 
 
 Leaves of the Cocoa-nut 226 
 
 « Cloth from Cocoa-nut 226, 227 
 
 " Cocoa-nut, Various Uses 227-229 
 
 Lemonade for Invalids 320 
 
 Lemon Culture 162-158 
 
 " Cream 319 
 
 « Culture, Why so Recent 154, 155 
 
 " Eureka 158 
 
 " Jelly (for Cake) 319 
 
 " Kinds in Demand 157, 158 
 
 " Less Hardy than Orange 153, 154 
 
 " Napoleon, August, Belair, Premium 160 
 
 " Peel, Preserved 319 
 
 " Seedlings Not Desirable 154 
 
 ♦' Soil for 153 
 
 Syrup 320 
 
 «' Tincture 319 
 
 " Villa Franca, Lemon of, Genoa, Sicily, French's 
 
 Seedling, Bijou, Variegated 159 
 
 Lemons, Curing for Shipment 165 
 
 " First Crops Coarse 166 
 
 " for Malaria 320 
 
 Large, Not Salable 156, 157 
 
 Not to be Pruned 162, 153 
 
 Pickled 319 
 
 " What Stock to Bud on 156 
 
 Limes 161-164 
 
340 INDEX. 
 
 Limes, for Pickling to Ship to Distant Markets 320, 321 
 
 " How to Cure for Shipping 162, 163 
 
 " Pickled 321 
 
 " Preserved 321 
 
 " Tahiti, Florida, Sweet, Persian • 164 
 
 Value of. 161-163 
 
 Will Not Bear Cold 161, 162 
 
 Locate Near Transportation 60 
 
 *' Making " an Orange Grove 15-17 
 
 Mango, Description, Tree, and Fruit 238 
 
 " Dodol, Largest Variety.. 239 
 
 " Florida Markets at present Key West and New Or- 
 leans 239 
 
 " Fruit Will Not Stand Shipping 239 
 
 «' Highly Esteemed in India 239 
 
 " Rising into Prominence for South Florida 238 
 
 « Soil, High and Sandy 239 
 
 " Usually True from Seed 238 
 
 '« Will Not Bear Frost 239 
 
 Manufactory of Citric Acid 163 
 
 Manure, Stable 96, 96 
 
 Mealy-bug 103 
 
 Measures, Boxes, One Acre, Cistern 150 
 
 " Plants and Trees to Acre 150 
 
 " Preventive, against Mites 123 
 
 Measuring-cord, How to Make 151 
 
 Medlar, Japan 282 
 
 Mites, Attack followed by Rust 113, 114 
 
 Mites, Influence of Soil on 122, 123 
 
 How Spread Abroad 120, 121 
 
 " Peculiar to Citrus Fruits 121 
 
 Prefer Half-shade 118 
 
 Mite Rust, Description of 114-117 
 
 " Numerical Abundance 117 
 
 Remedies 125-127 
 
 Mulching, Methods of 84, 85 
 
 Orange Trees 81-85 
 
 Seeds 29, 30 
 
 Nursery, How to Lay Out 33, 34 
 
 " To Select Ground for a 32, 33 
 
LNDEX. 341 
 
 Nursery, Value of a Home 36 
 
 Nut Trees, English Walnut 213 
 
 " Japan Chestnut 213 
 
 " Pecans 207-213 
 
 " Soil Best for 213 
 
 « White Walnut 213 
 
 Nuts Will Become One of Florida's Leading Productions 213 
 
 Oil, Cocoa-nut, Uses of 230, 231 
 
 Olive, Description, History 201 
 
 " Distance of Trees in Orchard , 204 
 
 " Ease of Propagation 203, 204 
 
 " Great Age Attained by the 201 
 
 " Imported into United States 203 
 
 " Introduced in California 202 
 
 " Method of Gathering 205 
 
 Oil Very Profitable 202, 203 
 
 " Preparing Them for Oil , 205, 206 
 
 Qualities of Oil 205, 206 
 
 ♦' Kich Land Not Needed 203 
 
 " Successfully Fruited in Florida 201 
 
 " Varieties of the .206, 207 
 
 " When to Gather Fruit 204 
 
 Olives, Methods of Preparing 327, 328 
 
 " Pickled 328 
 
 " Preserved in Oil 329 
 
 Orange, Beach's No. 1 135 
 
 " Beach's No. 2, Charley Brown, St. Michael, Beach's 
 
 No. 3, Homosassa 136 
 
 « Boxes and Paper 132, 133 
 
 " Buds Preserved for Months 309, 310 
 
 " Champagne 317 
 
 " Cream 315, 316 
 
 " Flower Candy 318 
 
 " Groves, Great Value of 17, 18 
 
 " Groves, How to Cultivate 76-80 
 
 ** Growing a Business 16-18 
 
 " How to Fertilize 88-97 
 
 Jelly 315 
 
 " Magnum Bonum, Nonpariel, Navel, Tangierine 137 
 
 " Mandarin, China, Moragne's Tangierine, Bijou 138 
 
342 INDEX. 
 
 Orange Marmalade, No. 1 314 
 
 Marmalade No 2 314 
 
 Not Indigenous to America 12 
 
 Oldest Florida Trees but Babies 15 
 
 Peel 302, 303 
 
 Peel, Preserved 315 
 
 Philip's Bitter-sweet, Maltese Blood 141 
 
 Preserved 315 
 
 Satsuma, Spice, Acis, Beach's No. 5, Hart's Tardiff . . 1 40 
 
 Sour, Preserves 317 
 
 Sweet, Preserves 317, 318 
 
 Temperature it Will Stand 299, 300 
 
 Tincture 316 
 
 Trees, How to Prune 86-87 
 
 Vinegar 313, 314 
 
 Wild 12, 13 
 
 Wine, as Made in Sicily 316 
 
 Wine, Medicinal Value of , 302 
 
 Wine, No. 1 312 
 
 Wine, No. 2 312 
 
 Wine, No. 3 313 
 
 Wine, Sour, No. 1 316 
 
 Wine, Sour, No. 2 316, 317 
 
 Orange Blossoms Utilized 318 
 
 Oranges, Best Varieties 136-141 
 
 " Bright versus Eusty 106, 122 
 
 Curing for Shipment 130-132 
 
 " Discoloration or " Rust " 110, 111 
 
 How to Gather 128-130 
 
 « How to Utilize the Eefuse 301-303 
 
 " Preserved for Months 134 
 
 " Sorting and Packing 132, 133 
 
 « Summer, How to Have 303, 304 
 
 Original Home of the Orange 11 
 
 *' Overproduction," Fallacy of. 142-147 
 
 Packing Oranges Away in Sand-pit 134 
 
 Pageny Sugar from Cocoa-nut Sap 225 
 
 Palm Wine from Cocoa-nut Tree 224 
 
 Parnell's Great Peach Orchard 279 
 
 Peach, History of the 266-269 
 
INDEX. 343 
 
 Peaches Adapted to Florida 269-271 
 
 Peaches, Best Fertilizer for 273 
 
 Budded on Plum Stock 280 
 
 Curl-leaf in 278, 279 
 
 *' How to Destroy the Borer 274-276 
 
 How to Prune 273,274 
 
 * Late Growth of Bearing Trees 272 
 
 Number to the Acre, and How to Plant 271, 272 
 
 " Thorough Cultivation Required 272 
 
 " Seven Months of the Year 271 
 
 " Value of Peach Orchards 271 
 
 When to Set Out 280 
 
 " Worst Enemy, the Borer, 274 
 
 " Yellows "in 277, 278 
 
 Pears, Blight-proof 251 
 
 Chinese Sand Pear Race 250-252 
 
 " Chinese Sand, Quince Stock Poisonous to 304, 305 
 
 " Description of Kieffer's Hybrid 255 
 
 « « Cocklin's Sha-Lea 256 
 
 Garber's Hybrid 255, 256 
 
 " Grows from Cuttings 253 
 
 " Handling and Packing 257 
 
 History of Kieffer's Hybrid 254, 255 
 
 Le Conte, Origin 252, 253 
 
 " Proper Soil for Chinese 251 
 
 '• Time of Ripening and Picking 253,, 254 
 
 " Unexampled Prolificacy 253 
 
 Pecans Adapted to Florida 207 
 
 Best Months for Planting 209 
 
 " Better, but Not Necessary, to Plant Nuts in Field. .208 
 
 " Fallacies Concerning 207, 208 
 
 " in Nursery, When to Set Out 208 
 
 Need No Cultivation 209 
 
 " Oldest Bearing Orchard in Florida, Blackwater, 
 
 Santa Rosa County 210 
 
 ♦' Oldest Orchard on Record in America 210 
 
 " One Enemy, the Borer 211 
 
 " Orchard as Permanent Pasture 209 
 
 " Protection on Setting Out 209 
 
 « Rich Soil Not Required 208 
 
344 INDEX. 
 
 Pecans, Varieties in Mr. Brown's Orchard, Santa Rosa 
 
 County, Florida 212 
 
 " This Orchard Abandoned for Twenty Years without 
 
 Injury 212, 213 
 
 " Yield and Value 210 
 
 Pen Budding, Against 41, 42 
 
 Persimmon, Description of Tree and Fruit 284, 285 
 
 " Japanese 284-287 
 
 Value to Florida , 284 
 
 Varieties of 286-287 
 
 Pine-appleade 324, 325 
 
 Pine-apple and Tapioca Pudding 324 
 
 " Champagne 324 
 
 Pine-apples 167-176 
 
 " Care in Handling and Packing 175 
 
 How Propagated 168, 169 
 
 " How to Cultivate 171 
 
 " How to Root Plants 169, 170 
 
 " in its Wild State 176 
 
 Proper Soil for 167, 168 
 
 " Shelter from Excessive Rains 1 76 
 
 " Spanish, Sugar-loaf, Egyptian Queen, Cayenne. 173, 174 
 
 « To Control Fruiting of 175 
 
 « To Prepare Ground for 170, 171 
 
 " Winter Protection for 172, 173 
 
 Planting Trees in Grove 74, 75 
 
 " Nursery Seedlings 35, 36 
 
 Plants and Trees to an Acre 150 
 
 Plant, Where to 52-61 
 
 Plowing in Grove Injurious 77, 78 
 
 Plums, Chickasaw Ripened Indoors 281 
 
 " Varieties of Chickasaw, 281 
 
 " Chickasaw Type, Free from Curculio 280, 281 
 
 " Japan, Value, Time of Ripening 282 
 
 " Kelsey's Japan 282 
 
 « " " Points of Value 283 
 
 Moist Land for 280 
 
 Pomola, or Grape Fruit 166 
 
 Preparation of Lemons for Market 155 
 
 Preparing Land for Grove 70 
 
INDEX. 345 
 
 Preventives for Borers 276, 277 
 
 Prices of Orange Trees 68, 69 
 
 Protection by Forest Trees 55, 56 
 
 Protection of Fruit from Birds 247, 248 
 
 Protection, Water 60, 61 
 
 Pruned, Lemons Not to be 152, 153 
 
 Pruning Orange Trees 85-87 
 
 Easpberries Worthy of Trial 200 
 
 Eats in Cocoa-nut Palms 234, 235 
 
 Eemedies, Die-back 108, 109 
 
 " for Enemies of the Peach 274-279 
 
 " for Eats in Cocoa-nut Palms 235-237 
 
 " Lichens, Smut, Honey-dew 108 
 
 " Mealy-bug 108 
 
 " Orange-puppy 108 
 
 " Scale insect 106, 107 
 
 Eemedy for Aphis 310 
 
 " Grape-rot 310, 311 
 
 « Mildew 310 
 
 Eemoval of Trees from Nursery to Grove 73, 74 
 
 Boots of Cocoa-nut and Uses 222 
 
 " Tap, Cutting Beneficial 209 
 
 Eust Mite 110-127 
 
 Eust, Proof of Cause 111-114 
 
 " Eings on Oranges 118 
 
 «' Eusty" Oranges 110, 111 
 
 Sand, Packing Oranges in 134 
 
 Scale Insect, How Introduced 98, 99 
 
 Scale Insects, Enemies of 102, 103 
 
 Scale, Mussel-shell 100, 101 
 
 " White 101 
 
 Scions, How to Choose 41 
 
 Seed-beds, to Lay Out 30 
 
 Seedlings Eaten by Ants 32 
 
 " How to Set Out 35, 36 
 
 " Less Valuable than Budded Trees 62-65 
 
 Shelter for 31 
 
 When to Bud 36 
 
 Seeds, How to Select and Plant 27-31 
 
 " Lost by Overwatering 29 
 
346 INDEX. 
 
 Seeds, To Separate from Pulp 30 
 
 Shaddock, Mammoth Blood 165, 166 
 
 Shelter for Orange Trees 55, 56 
 
 Shellac Coating for Tree-wounds 310 
 
 Sheets of Iron for Cocoa-palms 235, 236 
 
 Sheets of Zinc and Tin for Cocoa-palms 236, 237 
 
 Shield Budding 42-44 
 
 Site for a Nursery 32, 33 
 
 Skill Kequired in Grafting 46 
 
 Soil Suited for Oranges 54 
 
 Sour Stock from Hammocks 65, 66 
 
 Spider, Ked, Remedy for 310 
 
 Stable Manure, How to Save 95, 96 
 
 Stems, Boat Made from Cocoa-nut 223 
 
 Stock and Scion ... 38 
 
 Stock, Importance of Good 27 
 
 Stocks for Budding 66-68 
 
 Strawberries, Best Fertilizer for 195, 196 
 
 " " Best Fruit, Best Prices " ■ 197 
 
 •' Best Season to Plant 195 
 
 " Care in Setting Out 192-194 
 
 « Cultivation of 191 
 
 « Examples of Profits 188, 189 
 
 Laying Off the Ground for 190, 191 
 
 Mulch for 192 
 
 « New Beds Not Needed Yearly 195 
 
 «' Number to Acre 198 
 
 « One of Florida's Great Crops 187, 188 
 
 «' Picking and Packing 198 
 
 «« Preparing the Ground 191 
 
 " Proper Location for 190 
 
 « Rapid Transit for 187, 188 
 
 «' Shelter During Summer 194, 195 
 
 System of Planting 190, 191 
 
 Varieties Best Suited 196, 197 
 
 Strawberry Syrup and Preserve 326, 327 
 
 Successful Orange Growers 19-25 
 
 Sun-scald, How to Avoid 305, 306 
 
 Snri, Juice of Cocoa-nut Bud 225 
 
 Tap-roots, Beneficial to Cut 209 
 
INDEX. 347 
 
 « Toddy," Sweet Juice of Cocoa-nut Bud 225 
 
 Transplanting from Nursery 68 
 
 Transportation Facilities 60 
 
 Travels of the Orange 11 
 
 Trees, Care in Removing 73, 74 
 
 ** Distance Apart 71-73 
 
 " Size to Purchase 68, 69 
 
 Value of a Home Nursery 36 
 
 " an Orange Tree 25 
 
 " Orange Groves 18-26 
 
 •' Orange Groves, Rapid Increase in 22-26 
 
 the Art of Grafting 45, 46 
 
 Varieties of Oranges 135-141 
 
 Vegetable Marrow, or Avacado 239, 240 
 
 Walnut, Distance Apart 213 
 
 " English 213 
 
 " White or Butternut 213 
 
 Washes, Rust Mite 125-127 
 
 •' Scale Insect, No. 1 106 
 
 « " No. 2 107 
 
 « « No. 3 107 
 
 " " No. 4 107 
 
 Water Protection 60 
 
 Water-Supply 33 
 
 Waxed Strips, Superiority of 40 
 
 Weather, Influence on Rust 119 
 
 When to Graft 45 
 
 Where to Plant Orange Trees 52-61 
 
 Who Will Succeed as a Grower 18, 19 
 
 Wild Orange Trees 12, 13 
 
 Wood of Cocoa-nut called " Porcupine Wood " 224 
 
 Woodpecker, a Word for the 275, 276 
 
 Worm, Pecan, Good Remedy 211 
 
 "Yellows " in Peach Trees 277, 278