The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1881-02-04
miscellaneous.
THE SUNNY SOUTH.
A Trip to Florida.
ICONCLUDED.I

There area number oforangc groves in thi
one belonging to Col Hart. He has abou
700 trees on about acres, which yield hin
an income annually from $12 900 to $4,000
The following figures will give you an idet
of the orange business in this county in 1879
No of groves, 1888; bearing trees, 3S,098
blooming and coming into bloom and small
trees in nurseries, 263,446; yield in 1879
5,010,73 oranges. This is only in one coun
ty, and not superior to any other These
numbers were compiled by the Lake George
Fruit Growers Association. The most care
full judges estimate that the increase in the
yield of oranges in 1880 will be at least 25 pei
cent. The demand for budded trees exceeded
the supply. / was shown one tree on Col
Harris place that bore last year 5000 oranges
and the Colonel kept careful account of the
income from this tree. 1t brought him over
800. / noticed in a paper DR.. Whiteford
sent me, that $4,000 oranges were picked
from two trees this season.
There are $10000,000 invested in orange
groves now, with room for $4,000 900 more
The Florida orange is superior to any i'm
ported, and commands SO per box more. II
is estimated that 100000 oranges were
shipped from the State in 1879.
went to Florida to see if the stories had
heard of the orange business were true, and
what | saw exceeded anything / had heard OF
or anticipated There is one gentleman
Parson Thomas) who has small grove few
miles below Palatka-less than half an acre
IA trees and he picked over 1907 600
oranges last season, which he sold for S., 300
1made the acquaintance of q gentleman, Mr.
B. F. McGraw, from Washington, who has a
grove at Buffalo Bluff He kindly rendered
my wife and me the Inequalities of his home
in Florida. He had about so bearing trees,
from which he picked in 1879, $4,000 oranges
which he sold for $4,000. He told me he got
as high as seven dollars per box for some OF
them-125 to $50 to the box. He shipped TO
Washington where his son assorted, re-
wrapped them, and sold them to the hotels
and restaurants, thereby evading the mid.
die mantle curse to the producer in Flori-
da From what / could CLEAN by observa-
ton and conversing with intelligent persons
think Florida much better place for a
poor man than this State. Any man that
can scrape together 1000, if he goes to Flor
ida and plants out and clears ten acres OF
land, every acre of orange trees, when they
come into full bearing (say 10 years. will be
worth 81 900 per acre. 1t does not take ten
years for them to bear, but takes that long
to come into full bearing. A budded tree
five years old can be bought for 80 cents, and
will commence to bear in three years after
planting The question will arise, what is
one to do while the orange trees are coming
onp All that is necessary there, as elsewhere
is elbow grease. Trucking, raising early vege-
tables for the Northern markets, is profitable
All kinds or our gBrden produce are grown
to perfection. Strawberries are very profita.
BILE; so are sweet potatoes, cabbage and wat.
er melons. l saw them weighing rs lbs
The climate is enervating and the poorer
natives termed Crackers" will not do mucr
work. They can get living easier. They
gather the moss which hangs on the live oaks
in immense quantities and find ready sale
for it. 1t is used for mattresses, carriage
cushions, pillows, &c. Then there is plant
growing wild in the woods, called Vanilla
| 1t is used for flavoring tobacco. Numbers O
the poor whites and blacks do nothing els,
but gather this and moss. They can get fish
all the year round, and game s plentiful, sucl
as bear, deer, wild turkeys and partridges.-
They have patch of sweet potatoes Thes,
with hominy and bacon, constitute thei
living. Very few of them will take til,
trouble to plant and attend to I'm orang,
grove. 1t is generally supposed that it is i'm
possible to work in summer in Florida
This is a mistake, as / worked all day, help
ing Mr.. McGraw to set out sweet potato
plants, and did not find it as hot as / hav
experienced here in the harvest field.
There is not 30 much to do in the summe
months. saw nothing in the vegetable lin
growing except sweet potatoes, the other
being all gone months before; and although
they can be had in succession nearly ever,
month in the year, few seem to take advan
tage of it. In fact they do nothing but wha
is positively necessary. If a flower or an,
kind of fruit will not take root and flourisl
without care and nursing 1t ia not tried tn
second time AS an illustration of what
poor man can do there / will simply cite til
case of two brothers named White, who wer
neighbors of Mr.. McGraw at Buffalo Bluff
They went to Florida In 1878, from Selma
Alabama with very little means, and as the
had, prior to the war, both been In mercaI
tile business, they had never done day
work of manual labor They were, Judge
from As to 80 years old. They had cleare
up about 20 acres of land and planted GU
300 orange trees. Each had place. On
of them had about 400 bearing trees, fror
which he picked last year $4,000 oranges
which he sold for $500. This was all done il
seven years. He has refused $4,000 for hi
place. They had maintained themselves, be
fore the orange trees bore, by trucking, an
from patch Of about 10 acres had made fror
$500 to $500 annually. Now this grove wi
increase in bearing every year, and by til
time 1t is twelve years old will Weld 200, 90
oranges or from 81, 900 to $4,000 annually =
There is no trouble to obtain living, pre-
vided one settles near transportation, and a
ter the orange grove gets to bearing, har
work or farming can be dispensed with. TIL
trees ofcourse need attention. They have t