St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-02-04

soil. This is too close, and people are
now setting them from 81 to p feet
apart. During the war this grove was
much neglected. or abused, so that at
the close Il person told me one could
have drawn every tree on a two-borse
wagon at one load. Since then it has
been cared for and has grown fast. The
annual crop is about 900 oranges TO Il
tree, or from 400, 900 to 6OO, 900 in all.
Col. Hart sells them very high. say from
three to six cents each. | understand
the grove. and it is easy to see that it
pays more than ten per cent. on that
amount. OF course he gets il high price
for his oranges, us every one that sees
them buys some, and if they don't come
next winter they send for ii barrel, for
| Florida oranges are much better than
McsSlna or Havana, and sell higher in
market. The average number allowed
! him to the tree dOes;mOt come near up
to the mark of some individual cases
\ tree on Little Lake George, three
years ago. bore 4.5OO oranges bv actual
count. and two Years ago il was fuller
than before. This wear Mrs. Stevens
at Weloka. five miles from here, sold
tle fruit from one tree for 800. Several
years ago the crop from one tree in the
I I al 1
for $40.
The orange tree has two enemies.
frost and the scale insect. During the
last three winters there have been no
freezes to d" amy great damage, nd
the "oran"e fever" has increased every
year, SO that while in other states real
estate has fallen ut least third in
value. here ii has doubled.
The David Clark left Palatka about
midnight, and arrived at Wclaka (whcre
we landcdD about tour \. VI. Welaka
(SignltNing il chain of lakes. and the
Indian name for the 81. Johns rivera
used 1" Ice an old Indian. and after
wards Il Spanish town. of considerable
Importance. being situated on the east
side of the river. opposite the mouth of
the Ocklawaha. There used to he Scv-
cr;'l stores and wharvc> here. and when
the war opened there were several hun
'iIcd barrels of crude tuIpcutinc piled
on one of them. bat the Rebels burned
In, all a.
hands of the Yankees The muon WAS
shining bright IL day. and having had
Il little coffee and u SanuNich before
leaving the boat, We started of. fnI Il
walk through the pine woods /" my
place. t"I five miles distant. where We
arrived about daylight. But the moon
Was y" bright that it wis hard +" tell
WHEN day light came.
N""dland j. situated on the flutlamh
peninsula. winch * formed hN the st.
Johns river on the west. Dumn'> creek
and take on HE east. The creek which
Is the outlet of the lake. cmptir> into
I'll, IlNcI about eight miles above Pa
laik;i. and i about ten miles long. and
very winding. The lake is about sin
teen miles long. making the peninsula
ah"ut twenty mics long and seven
wide. We aIc situated about five miles
The steamer Lollic Bay makes Il trip to
the lake once Il week. Steamers 90 bv
claka on the river every daN. SUP
pose that the highest point ON the
peninsula may he 100 feet above the
river. The surface is patty level near
the uVcr. but out here il i gently Ioll-
Ing. with numerous p"nd, of fresh water
full of black bass. and more or less
alligator>. Richardson found one about
eight feet long Friday in il pond one
fourth mile from ON house. and now
that ''gat"r" will not have any peace
TILL something happens To him.
The soil Is sandy and nearly all GOV
cred with Il heavy gInwth of the lonu
lraVed thard) pine. There is no under
brush III the forest, hut quite Il growth
of vine grass. which burns off every
year ST. that there are NOT Il great many
ii"wcl> in the woods. II has been very
dry here. and the fires came earlier
than usual. The night before We al
rived. pant OF my fence wis burned.
and the old stubs of trees continued to.
burn for several days. The first night
here il seemed rs if we were in New
"rk at least we could look ont and
see several hundred lights Occasion
ally the wind would dctatch a limb or
piece of bark on fire. and send il whiZ-
Eng away int" the darkness. scattering
Il train of sparks like sky-rocket
Last Sunday | went to church at Mrs.
Whites, onc-half mile distant. and
heard Il very good sermon from Mr..
Woodwork of Illinois. About twenty
fNe persons were present, not Us many
as usual. | find many settlers have
come Ill since left. two years ago. We
have Il butchers cart once il week. \
blacksmith shop has just been put up. a
readN-made clothing store and three gro
Gerry stores Nithin two miles. Schools
are partly supported by the county and
partly 10y the scholars. so that we can
have schools whenever we have the
children.
There are two ways of making an
orange grove. One is to plant the seeds
OF sweet oranges. and the tree very
often bears in seven Years. from the
seed. This is said to he about the ONLY
Snrl tnnf nrnlncnS tho S.ln,n LII e