St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-02-18
Letter from Florida.
WOODLAND. FLA. Jan. IS1Ci

WOODLAND. Fla. Jan. 1876.
I" the EditoI' Of the Cdiedonjan
One day last week Richardson and
mNsclt started of for Il trip to Dunn's
Lake and some orange groves situated
thereon. Teams are very scarce her,
and We used the means of locomotioll
furnished 10y nature We first passed
by Mr. JarNiS'>. whose homestead ad-
JOINS mInc. and called in to see his
place. and the ''Floating island" He
has quite Il little grove started. besides
some peach trees: and quite a lot of
grape vines. Immediately north of his
house l. Lake brrnaid. fine sheet ot
water two miles long and one half mil.
wide. surrounded 10y pine woods. that
reach to the waters edge.
! Between the house and lake is a little
p"md, circular i'll foIm and perhaps sixty
feet in diameter. In this pond is the
floating island -oblong in form. being
about ten feet one WAY and perhaps
eighteen the other. 1t is covered with
Il growth of small trees. bushes and
vines. Some of the trees are twelve
feet high. II l. generally against one
bank or the other. ;.ccol,linr a> the
wind blows. When The wind changes.
the bushes act a. Il sail tor this new
KIND of ship. and away il "ur> to the.
opposite side. Mr. Jarl is takes Il Great
deal of pride i'll showing it t" visitors.
and altogether it is quite culiu>ity.
From here we proceeded in nearly Il
straight line t" the S;iW midi landing ON
DunnS Lake. Il distance of two and
onc-half miles. After waiting awhile,
the 'L"llic Boy" came up the lake. but
did not stop at the landing. 50 We con
cluded that our goods were not ON
board. accordingly we footed it to Mr.
llutchln>on'S. two miles farther south
He calls his place "Oakwood." ON
account of the number of hickory and
white oak trees thcreahnut>: and Il
post office hy that name has been cs-
tahli>hcd here. He WAS born in
liavcrhill. y. H.. cmigIatcd to Georgia
when Young. and came here since the
war. He believes in seedlings. nhat
l. orange trees raised from the seed of
sweet oranges rather than sour >tumpS
bmddrd. He showed some very fine
trees six and seven Ncal< from the seed
I I.,t in, Il.
the fruit will improve every time il is
planted. He called our attention to IA
lemon tIcc that had no less than ,OOO
lemons on il ais" citroh bushes with
fruit on them six inches in diameter.
and :" heavy that it pulled the branch
to the earth and rested there II, has
Il tree now -four Years old that has borne
two Years. He has quite an income
from raising orange trees and selling
them at tuur Years of age. for four or
| five dollars each. He brought his step
ladder and invited me to climb up and
| pick some of the large oranges near the
top of the tree, and see what kind of
| fruit he raised. which invitation | was
not slow III accepting.
Next south of him. but adjoining his
place. is Pcrry'S grove. and beyond that
/ Ncwh"ld'S. The two first are made on
| tranSplamtcd groves. but Newbolds is
| from IL wild or sour grove. He first
began here nine Years ago. and in order
to make room for his little house. cut
down 30 orange trees. He then began
to cut of the tops of the trees and set
sweet buds into the shoots that came
up from the stumpS. He now has about
600 trees in hearing. and several hun
dred more coming on. besides having
sold several hundred budded trees. He
estimates his crop this wear to be 10000
oranges, and is now selling them for
S2:5 per thousand. | offered him S2j
for thousand to he taken by March
lst. which he refused. but would ac-
cept the offer if ! would take them now.
He expects that by that time there will
he Il greater demand and consequently
| Il nlpncl price. some D1 the tIIllt was
dropping of, and he was then at work
in his boat house on the wharf making
them into wine. which he thenght would
be better than champagne.
In the north end of the grove in some
low ground. is Il strong sulphur spring.
and in the lake about II rod from the
shore. is another one. both quite strong
! Most of the trees are situated on Ham
mock land" about fifteen feet higher
than the surface of the lake. The space
not occupied 10y orange trees WAS orig
inallv covered by live and water oaks
hay and magnolia trees. and some cab
hagr. palmetto or palm trees. few
wears ago there came up an immense
quantity of Young sour trees. which ht
gave away. but as the demand for them
increased he sold them for ten "l
twenty cents each. He took us through
the grounds and showed us the different