The Florida agriculturist., 1884-12-10
Keep Within Your Means.

Ihree-tOurthS OF the dlSSappOlntmentS |
which comes to those who undertake Or
ange culture in Florida come of the in
nate propensity of mankind to over-reach !
themselves in their efforts. OF those |
who have engaged in the industry the
great majority have twice as big load
as they can carry. The strain upon their
strength and their means arising from
this source brings unsatisfactory results,
disappointment and finally sale to some
one with less experience or more money
Florida is peopled with cosmopolitan
population. They come from every State
in the Union, and from almost every civ
ilized country OF the globe. Not one iii
a hundred has ever had any experience
in or previous training for the business.
They are all novices, and of the greenest
sort. They have been accustomed to
large landed estates. Their lives have
i been spent il, States where forty acre
farm was considered insignificant, OIL
| where mans claim to consideration
j was based n2op nlantatiop II huSdred,
or ranch of thousands of acres They
/ hear of the fabulous values of some OF
the little in area, but big in figures,
] groves of Florida, and they reason that
! if five or ten acre grove is worth from
| five to hundred thousand dollars, why
not put out a hundred or a five hundred
acre grove and become a millionaire at
once. theoretically this sounds plaus-
| ible, and the work does not seem much
| more laborious than the clearing of
similar number of acres OF Northern
timber land and planting it to crops and
tending it for similar number of years.
No greater fallacy can be conceived,
and we wish that every man who comes
to Florida could be made to understand
this at the outset, and by some process
of mental reduction underrate his own
powers and the reach of his own re-
sources. He could correct such mis-
take and expand further on with infinite
ly better grace and qualification to him
self than he will acknowledge his mis-
take in the opposite direction when the
truth is forced upon him. AS it is, he
comes here with thousand or two of
dollars. For the first time in his life he
sees orange groves. He becomes infat-
uated. He learns of the fabulous income
from this grove or that, and his fancies
run away with him. He purchases |
hundred and sixty acres of land, and de-
termines to clear off ground and put out
twenty-five acres in trees the first year
and add twenty-five to it each coming
year until he has it all covered with or !
ange trees. He cannot and will not un-
understand that he is incapable of as
much or as hard labor here as in his old |
home. He does not take into account |
the enervating effect of steady and con-
tinuous summer heat. Neither can he |
realize that the help to be had here is
unreliable and unintelligent, and needs
to be constantly watched and as con-
stantly directed. By the time his land /
is paid for, house built, team and tools I
purchased and he is ready to go to work
his money is we'll nigh spent, and fore
bodings haunt him when he ought to be !,
asleep. But he has set out with pur-
pose and will not turn back. He keeps /
at work, and if he meets with no reverses I
and does not overtax his strength and
make himself sick the end of the first !
year sees him with thrifty young grove
of ten acres. It's area never increases.
He has worked off his team and spent
his money. The problem of living for
his family confronts him, and he is
obliged to work for wages for his neigh
Dor. He is fortunate if he has trade,
because it will bring him better wages.
But while he is working for bread his
little trees turn yellow, wood lice attack
them at the roots, and before he is aware
of it irreparable injury is done. A few
trees about his house where the children
play and where the chickens run thrive
and do well. The others will not grow,
because they do not receive the care and
nourishment they need. About the third
or fourth year, if he is an apt scholar