The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1882-02-22


degrees below zero. BY the figures
above zero l do not promise safety if
tie sap is very active in the tree, or
if it is growing briskly. The author.
ity above quoted says that he has
seen trees as much affected from cold
at ninety miles south of Lake George
as he has at his home on the banks OF
the lake. He attributes this TO the
winter growth of the trees there, and
to their not entering the dormant
state of trees further north. But
while the frost is undoubtedly an
enemy TO be feared, it is also pro-
tector and a friend. AS cotton is
nearly worthless in tropical climates,
where it doesn't meet an annual death
from frost, so in Cuba, and elsewhere
in the West Indies, where there is
never a frost, and in North Africa
and Southern India, the orange is
a poor aud unmarketable thing, as
compared to that of Florida. Brazil
seems to have exactly the climate !;
but the Southern people who went
there after the war in 1865 and 1866,
have either come home or ceased to
raise oranges for market.
Spectators will say that all of the
land in Southern and Eastern Florida
is good for oranges; but while it is
to the interest OF the Savannah Flor
ida and Western Railway Company
10 invite immigration, it is to no ones
interest to provoke a return tide of
angry and disappointed settlers. All
of the land in the orange belt is not
good tor oranges; and yet so vast is
the State and so little even yet devel-
oped, that there is plenty OF good
land left.
The fact, cited in so many letters
of travellers and visitors, that one
grove may be Of tie intense green of
good health, and another look pale
yellow, and the owner complain Bit
terly of the "die~back" and "scale in
sect" may have various explanations.
Probably the man whose crop is as
sure as the four per cents on the
national bonds, may be one who
learned at school the meaning OF sim.
0r0bus labor, On3aio Uiaacit.' The
other, who is out OF pocket even on
his investment, will probably be the
one who has heard and believed
Call you have to do is to go to Flor
ida and plant your grove, and then
you do nothing but get your money
off the trees"
If, in the garden OF Eden, before
sin came, it was necessary to have
"a man to till the ground" it may be
taken as settled that the average
modern sinner has got work to do.
lis there any remedy for orange
sorrows, II one is willing to work ?''
asks an anxious correspondent. In
a great degree, yes. To escape the
frost, if it comes, avoid late culture
and tertilizing OF the grove. When
the tree is ready to stop and take Its
winters rest, by all means, lei it.
1t is the perpetual demand upon the
sap and the root functions which
makes the orange OF the tropics so
poor thing. In the States of Illin>
ois, Iowa and Western New York.
the tendency OF the apple and peach
Nurseries ito develop growth at
wrong seasons, under the stimula-
ton of few mild weeks, has been
much studied. The remedy there is
the sowing of crop OF oats, to take
up the moisture and check the ten
der, succulent growth of tie trees.
Sowing oats in our groves in the last
of October will do the same for the
orange. Then, in February, turn
them under with sharp steel plow,
and plow as shallow as possible.
Deep blowing will find the wide
spread feed roots of the orange, and
cut off the sources OF the summer
sap.
The "dieb&ck" is caused by excess
of water about the roots, and by pois-
onous soil. On nearly all OF the
"hard. pan" subsoil there is quick.
sand, which is SO overcharged with
water as TO flow OF itself. The Or
ange, not being an aquatic plant, will
not stand this. The "hard PAM
stratum is mingled with oxide OF
iron and sulphur. This might be the
basis OF good mineral springs; but
the orange is not person, and is
poisoned by it. These lands can be
improved by ditching, and the trees
can be set level with the surface and
soil placed about them. But the
best remedy is not to buy such land.
The owner who will not spade freely
should miss his customer.
A clay or mari subsoil is safe if