St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-04-13

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wonderful growth and progress.
One of the first questions that occur
to NOrtherner on looking over Florida
is this: Is not this orange raising bust
ness likely to be largely overdone ?
This is a fair question. Millions of
orange trees have been set out the past
year and millions more will be set next
year. Probably 1887 will see a thou
sand boxes of oranges raised where a
hundred were raised in 1880. 1t would
seem that prices must rule lower.
Many expect to see oranges sell on the
tree for one cent or less, instead of
from one and a-half cents to three, as
the past year.
To all this the orange enthusiast and
also the land agent says: This is the
same story we have heard for the past
five or ten years, and notwithstanding
the great Increase of groves and fruit,
the price of Florida oranges has con
stantly increased, and the business can
not be Overdone for the following rea-
sons First, the orange belt of land
where the orange can be successfully
raised, is limited to portion of FlOrl-
da and the lower part of California.
Second, the country is rapidly increas-
ing in population, increasing the de
mand faster than it can be supplied.
Third, there is no orange in the world
equal to the best grown in this state,
and the demand for the best is never
over-supplied in any production.
When doctors disagree, who shall
decide 2 The reader pays his money
and takes his choice. l did not intend
to write an essay on orange culture,
but simply to report what have seen
and heard.
The orange Is not the only fruit rails
ed in Florida. Very many other fruits
and most kinds of vegetables can be
successfully produced. The winter and
early spring seems to be the season for
raising vegetables here. We have had
on the table since we have been in
Florida, lettuce, string beans, new po-
tatOes, turnips, Strawberries and black
berries. We picked fine ripe black
berries by the roadside March 80, and
ate delicious ripe mulberries the same
day off tree which was thirty feet
high. In the same grove with orange
trees we found eleven varieties OF
grapes, peaches, Japan plums and ba-
nanas. Many cOlOred men make liv-
ing by raising garden truck for mar
ket, and some white farmers make q
good thing the same way. Some of the
railways from the interior run two veg
etable trains each week to tide water
at Jacksonville or Palatka, where ship.
ment is made to Northern cities. | an
disappointed in not seeing more flow.
ers IN Florida, but presume it is yet toe
early to see this state in its beauty.
The flow of travel is now Northward
1t tarries here longer than usual by
reason of the shocking weather you
have INDUCED in up there through tn,
month of March. Residents here insis
that the cold weather there has affected
the thermometer here in correspond.
ing degree. Certain it is that we hav,
found but one or two days when winter
clothing has been uncomfortable, anC
but two unpleasant days in four weeks
There was IA soaking rain over a gOOC
part of eastern Florida March 25tl
and another April lst which did vas
deal of good. The greatest amount o
rain falls here after the first of June.
The man who said that the Floridiar
lived on bananas in the summer and OIL
Yankees in the winter, had evidentl,
travelled in Florida. People don't d,
business here for their health 1t is ;
very expensive state to travel in, anC
, one gets the least for his money of an,
place | know of on the continent. Tn,
) hotels charge from three to four and a
: half dollars day. This may not b,
higher than the best hotels at til,
North but one gets no such accOmmO
: datiOns or fare in Florida as he gets il
the North. Some boarding houses tax
transient people at two dollars or tw
and a-half a day, but the accommoda
, tiOns they afford are simply abomina
) BILE. 1t does no good to demonstrate o
2 complain. There is such rush o
; travel here that ones room is bette
than his company and the hotel clerI
acts as though he thought he was do
5 ing very gracious act if he allows yo
4 to eat hash at his table and sleep a
e any cabin (they call them cottages i
t Florida) he may designate within a IA
. dius of half mile of the dining room
f This all comes of course from the fac
( of the supply not being equal to tn
, demand, and time will bring a remedy
but it is very uncomfortable and an
= noying now all the same.
b High prices are not confined to tn
+, hotels. They are as contagious as tn
= smallpox. Even oranges are highC
;, in Florida than in Boston yet a co
# ored boy had the cheek to ask me te
t cents to-day for Boston Journal thu
: retails in New England for two cent
/, But the high prices are not the Onl
: drawback to travel in Florida. Every
# thing is done back-handed and at
e disadvantage, so it takes longer to d
o the same thing. There is a good de-
d of red tape and delay about ticket o
it fees and railway stations and steam