St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-03-01
Florida State Fair.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Feb. IA, '7S.

my stay in Florida, l concluded tina
the time of the State Fair would be the
best for all purposes. So yesterday
morning went aboard the "Spit-fire,
and arrived at Jacksonville at eight P
NJ, having stopped at Palatka some foul
hours. 1 found the city quite full
Some visitors from the North for theil
health, and many coming to the State
Fair. This forenoon found Mr.. E, F
Brown at Mr.. C. L. Robinson's. In the
afternoon, with my friends Drew an6
Vincent, we went aboard the s'Flora,
and were soon at the grounds. These
are situated about one and one-hali
miles east of the city, down the river
on the "Shell road" They have quite
large field fenced in, and near the
centre is quite large building for the
exhibition of fruits, vegetables, flowers,
tools, needle-work, ETC., etc.
As you enter the main entrance, the
first object that attracts your attention
is the exhibition from Alachua county.
On table somewhat pyramidical in
form, and in size about IOx24 feet, is
piled in profusion, oranges of all kinds,
the smaller being worthy of prize
lemons, lines, shaddocks, all of the
citrus family, Indian relics, samples of
timber, etc. First the Uranium of a
Logger-head turtle found on the Suwan-
ne river; section of peach tree, thirty
years old and ten inches in diameter.
COuntah, or Indian arrow-root section
OF sweet gum tree, fifteen inches in
diameter; section of live oak tree,
twenty three inches in diameter. Sweet
potatoes weighing three pounds; rye
in the bundle, six feet high rutabaga
turnips quite large; deer skin six feet
long; map of Alachua county with a
picture of the ''largest and oldest orange
tree in Florida, near Waldo, measures
eight and one-half feet at base, thirty
seven feet high, and has nine thousand
sweet oranges upon it.n Several sam
pies of rust-proof oats barley, peanuts,
leaf tobacco, large horse-tooth corn,
green peas; lettuce heads one foot in
diameter; Strawberries, very large; cit
rons weighing five lbs. not citron mel
Ions, but the citron of commerce, that
grows upon a tree; forty very large
oranges arranged in a square, each
weighing about twelve ounces; pyra-
mids of oranges, punches of oranges,
rows of oranges, heaps of oranges.
Sicily lemons, also the native Florida
lemon which has about the same rela-
ton to the common lemon, that the
sour or wild orange has to the sweet
grange. There were plenty of cabbages
weighing fifteen lbs. limb of a citrop
tree with ripe fruit, green fruit, and
blossoms, all at once. There was quite
an exhibition of oranges raised by a
gentleman who planted his first tree
when he was sixty-five years old. Wild
blackberry wine arrow-root starch 4;
several samples of cane sugar made in
kettles, and having the appearance of
our stirred maple sugar. There were
several samples of wild grape wine and
scuppernong grape wine, and by repre-
senting myself as the reporter of a
newspaper, l persuaded the owner to
let me sample it, and if am any judge
it was very good.
think there is money in the grape
and wine business here unless people
prefer the sO-called champagne made
in New York, to the juice of the grape.
There was quite lot of sour orange
preserves, marmalade, ETC., on exhibit
ton; land l notice that folks here are
beginning to make considerable use of
the wild fruit, that few years ago was
left to decay on the ground by the
thousand bushels y pecan nuts, raised
from seed planted since the war; whor-
tie berries, wild 1 suppose y ornament
ed gourd or gumbs, sometimes used for
dish cloths one stuffed weasel pump
kins l2x19 inches in diameter. Alachua
is an Indian word meaning jug; and
they had an Indian jug dug from some
of the mounds in the county of that
name; a petrified mammoth bone, as
heavy as stone, found near Newmans-
vile; section of hickory, Ia inches in
diameter; tomatoes in bloom banan-
mas; brick FLORIDA brick are apt to
crumble, on account of too much sand.
l expect, but these were quite hard y
section of Pride of India tree, about two
feet in diameter, some very nice Sea
Island cotton, and other things too
numerous to mention.
A little farther along in the centre of
the building was a miscellaneous coll
lection of fruit, from all over the state.
First l noticed "best twelve lemons, u
largest about 12x15 inches in circum-
ference, The best quart of Strawberries
was raised in Jacksonville, several of
them were as much as four inches In
diameter, and of course made ones
mouth water. Next came lot of Sicily
lemons, very large, ''grown on pine
land in fernando county tree is ten
years old, and has fruit all the year
around except mid-winter; has 800 to
l,uo a year, nearly seedless." Shad-
dock, Or grape fruit from same county,