Connecticut western news., 1876-03-17
The Sunny South.
LETTER NO. 3.

and ten miles south of Jacksonville, Thurs day afternoon, and after locating our quar- ters at the Mellonville house, strolled out to the large and beautiful orange grove of Dr. Spear, about l 1.2 miles from the vil- lage. This grove is perhaps not the largest in the state, but 1t is said to be the finest, the trees being nearly thirty years old. These trees are of full size, and are about as large as 6 medium black cherry tree, per haps twenty-five. feet high, the leaves quite closely resembling those of the cher ". They stand in this orchard about 20 feet apart. The season for gsthering&he oranges is from October to about the mid- dle of March, and we were fortunate in vis- iting this region at the most favorable time for witnessing grove when it is most at tractlye. The trees were all heavily laden with the large ripe fruit, and the ground beneath covered as thickly with wind fslls," (but which were really very good oranges, as that seen in the most thrifty apple orchards Tn the North in the fall of the year, with apples. The ground was lit eraliy strewn with them.
 An orange tree will commence bearing fruit at four or five years of age, and will live and grow constantly more and more productive till it arrives at great age. In. this orchard in Mellonville, not the least in- teresting feature was the fact that on all the trees, which, as we said above were heavily laden with fruit ripe sfor the harvest, we saw oranges in all stages of growth the bud, the flower, the green oranges varied in size and the fully ripe fruit. This was iD- deed strange sight, and we were led to look upon each individual tree as family and not entirely unlike one of the good old fashioned families of our fathers, in the days when score of juvenile responslbili- tiesswas accounted an honor instead of, as at the present day, burden. In one of those families were always found the bud (''that blessed baby, , the blossom (swest sixteen,) the half grown green fruit (the lad from seventeen to nineteen,) and the fully ripe oranges reminds one of the love ly maiden In her bridal array. The smile may be little awkward, but 1t is a correc one nevertheless.
 MT. l.. H. Tison, the gentleman in charge of the grove, informed us that about three hundred thousand oranges will be gathered from this grove this present sea- son The fruit is picked and shipped to all parts of the country, direct from the grove. The Judge purchased barrel of the finest oranges and had them shipped to Salisbury, where they will probably arrive before this letter is in print. We saw large number of lemon trees in this grove. and which were also heavily loaded with lemons, some of them larger than any we ever saw North. Like the orange, the lemon tree does not grow to 8 great height, but spreads out more than the orange. One lemon tree we saw would measure one hundred and fifty feet in circumference. A tree was pointed out which grew both oranges and lemons, and which was made to produce the two kinds of fruit by engrafting lemon scions into an orange tree.
 The general appearance of the country at Mellonville, the lsst regular station on
 
 part of the South visited by us. and we are informed by tourists who have travelled quite extensively oyer various other states, that 1t is substantially the same everywhere. viz, the very light gray soil, which closely resembles kind of plotting sand found in quarries in soms parts of the North, and everywhere in the unsettled portion of the country is seen the continuous forests of yellow pine timber. The business of saw ing and shipping to the North this yellow plne is one of the most important industries of the South. Nothing is SO good for bridge building as this timber, and the railways of the North are making extensive use of it for this purpose. On the peninsula of Florida, and along the Atlantic coast, the land is probably more fertile than in the interior, and that is certainly not saying very much. The alluvium has unquestionably given strength to the soil, ss the deposit of shells is said to be very deep.
 While on our way to the orange grove in Mellonville, we chanced to meet Mir. John Burrall, son of the late Porter Burrall. Mr. B. and the Judge recognized each other instantly, and pleasant chat was the re- suit. He (Mr. B. resides about three miles out of Mellonyille, and is pleasantly located amongst the orange groves.
 Our return trip on the St. Johns was very much like the journey up; the steady employment of watching for alligators, and the cruel amusement of seeing them jump and make all the haste compatible with their chronic habit of sluggishness, for the water, as the rife bullets pelted them or their backs and glanced off, was about al the business the average passenger required to while away the time. The day we re turned on the river was much warmer thar when we went up, and much larger mum Der of '''gators'' were caught mapping or the banks, or laid out on.a log in the warn sunshine.
 We spent our second Sunday in Palatka about seventy-five miles below Jackson vile. and came on to St. Augustine Mon day. St. Augustine is by far the most in teresting place in Florida, and no visitor t this state should pass it by without least
 call. It is the oldest city in the Unite States and the quaint style of architecture the narrow streets and other preserve marks of its ancient Spanish occupants, tc gether with the history with which almos everything of Spanish origin here is assoc
 ated, combine to make 1t especially intel esting. All the old Spanish residences ar constructed of coquina stone, conglome ration of small shell, and which Is found i
 large quantines on Anastasia island, a mil or two east of the city. This stone Is GOV
 erei with stucco and whitewashed, Yer