Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-02-05
ELI PERKINS IN FLORIDA.

an sbo,,t Raising OrangeS-Bdn0nas en-
So..,heru Florfda-Insects and Reptiles.
rsrecial Correspondence of the Chicago Tri-
bune.i
FLORIDA, JAN 30.-Orange trees grow
in the sand. All Florida is bed of white
sand enriched by phospates. These phos-
pilates are in the shape of decayed ami
NAL matter. The sand is specked with
shells, the occupants of which have died
and gone to enrich the soil. So an orange
grove is set out in a sand bed. Fifty
trees are set to the acre, which gives each
tree about thirty three feet. Late orange
raisers are setting thirty-five trees to the
acre. The tree commences to bear when
eight years old; and keeps increasing, as
far as any one knows, forever. The age
of an orange tree IS not known. They
continue to bear and grow Tor no one
knows how long. l saw trees forty years
old. They were forty feet high, eighteen
inches through and bore 1O,0O0 oranges.
Col. Hart. of Palatka, told me that he
had sold 5000 worth OF oranges IN one
season from one of these fine old trees.
An orange grove has to be cultivated
constantly. 1t is narrowed and cow-peas
are sown in the spring. In the fall the
cow-peas are turned under to fertllize the
soil. | believe there are now orange
trees enough in Florida, when fully
grown, to supply the world with oranges.
Oranges commence ripening in Decem-
Der, and ripen all along till March. 1t is
delightful crop for farmer to raise,
because he has plenty of time to har-
vest it.
This is the way they harvest oranges:
They are cut off the trees with shears.
and sorted by rolling them down right
angled triangle open at the bottom. The
little ones go through the opening first,
and the very largest ones roll clear to the
end of the trough Then they are rolled
up IN paper. boxed up, and sent to New
York-freight fifty cents a box. A box
holds from 100 to $50 oranges.
A tree will bear from 200 to 5000
oranges. Trees pay from S. to 5000 apiece
annually. A tree paying 5000 of course
would be q phenomenal tree, very old,
and splendidly cared for. Col. Hart told
me he realized $l75 from one tree. Groves
produce from $50 to $500 an acre, accord
inc to age and cultivation. An orange
grove Of twenty acres will sell for s4O,-
900. There is much money made IN the
cultivation of oranges, but much patience
and skill are required Many northern
men have failed, because they simply set
out the trees and then go away and leave
them. They have to be constantly at
tended to. They are not sure "bonan
"a" and really only the patien', skill
full and palnstaking get rich in their Gull
tlvation.
Good sweet oranges in Florida are worth
from 81 to 81 per hundred. Boys all over
Florida peddle small, delicious oranges
two for five cents. The small, sour Val
enciennes oranges, which sell in Chicago
thirteen for % cents, would not be eaten
in Florida. Some groves in Florida, well
kept up and well fortified, produce large.
sweet oran ges, which sell on the ground
for 81 per hundred. Such oranges would
be sold for 81 in Chicago.
The Mandarin orange, new variety in
Florida, is the highest priced. They are
worth SIS per hundred in Florida. They
are very sweet. They are called the kid
glove orange, because a lady can peel
them without soiling her glove. They
grow on small trees, seldom producing
over 200 to tree The Tanzarin orange
is produced by ENGRAVING the Mandarin
onto the native orange-tree. The fruit is
about the same. Both come from dwarf
trees.
Orange and pineapple trees can stand
good frost. Freezing kills them, but
good frost is a benefit. 1t kills the in
Sects. So the best pineapple groves and
orange-mroves in Florida are along the
tropical belt
The banana, on the contrary, is purely
tropical plant. 1t will stand no more
frost than corn. At Palatka visited
Col Harris fifty acre orange grove. 1t is
along the st. Johns river. Next to the
water he has several hundred banana
trees. They had been touched with the
frost. but still the punches of bananas
were ripe. A ripe banana picked from
the tree is truly delicious. When the
frost cuts down the banana it sprouts
again from the roots; and in twelve
months you will see another stalk, fifteen
feet high, bearing one big bunch of ban
anas. Tho loot remains forever.
Bananas spring up from the same root
each year, bear one bunch of fruit and
die But during the summer little
"suckers' shoot up about five feet high.
When the parent stalk dies these little
suckers take their places. Bananas
grow in south Florida, where there IS no
frost, and are profitable crop. The old
banana stalk, after the fruit is plucked,
is as good as green corn stalks to
feed cattle with. The future will
see many bananas raised in southern
Florida.
One phenomenal feature of the st.
Johns river is the variety of fish and
reptiles in it, The water from Jackson
vile for about 100 miles up is about half
salt Shad run all wlnter-for winter in
Florida IS summer in Connecticut. At
TocoiI caught twenty pound catfish
q regular Illinois river catfish; and find
the muddy bottom of the ST. Johns is
the natural home Of this fish. This is
the first time | ever fished for fresh
water fish in salt water and caught them.
There is probably more animal and veg
etable life on the St. Johns than in any
other locality out of the African jungles.
In the hot summer the buzz of insects
sounds like the carding-room in cotton
factory The air is filled with sound
from unknown sources. Sit on the grass,
and Thousand insects crawl over you.
The frogs croak in winter, and summer,
too. Worms wriggle up through the
ground: grubs, lizards, centipedes, and
snakes crawl on the surface; insects buzz
in the lower air; birds sing in the trees;