The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-03-05

fore. an cxtravagant estimnt" to make
thatif the increase during the past eish
nr nine yrsrs has been forty fold. tha
during the next ten years it will bc ten
fold. This estimate will sisc us twelve
,nillions boxes of oranges at the end o
tea years. Very respectfully,
CTAS ST. JoIN.
May ] ask yo,, To publish the following
rejoinder to Dir. Cro,h!'s coarse and un
truthful reply to my communicates
atove referred to:
After reading his letter it Was n,a me-
.rsary to he told that he MAS Il land spec
Fnator. Of a very pronounced type. The
eer.nnarks were too pain, there conll be
no mistake about it, md so it proves Il
he. On my arrival il Florida | lind this
man is well known. II not we'll loved. in
palatka as , III as,at Drayton Island. and
word cUmes down from the latter place
that the peculiar character 4 some OF
his land transactions does not commcn'!
Him 10 the favorable consideration of the
people of that locality, in fact it is quite
aulibly whispered, that they would
much prefer that his residence should
continue at l0l Wavcrly Place. rather
than at bra, ton Island
The one question Of supreme imp"r
tance to all producers of oranges, "Will
Florida oranges keep any length of
time" he settles at g an'lfor all time,
by his simple Il Y if properly
handled and shipped.
In my letter Of January 95th, re-
marked that the keeping qualities Of the
orange depend entirely upon the tent
perature and atmospheric conditions,
during the formation and growth to ma
tnrity oi the fruit.
Let u. see who is correct. The season
Of 1881 was one of excessive ,iruuth and
high temperature. The season OF 1sS'
was one Of excessive rains AMI low tenn
peratnrr.
Fruit in 1874. Tender, sweet. juicy
and luscious, the finest and best ever
saw anywhere. bat with no keeping
m,alitles whatever. commercially speak
ing worthless.
Fruit in 1885. Hard, sour and vastly
inferior in texture, in flavor and rich
ness to any Florida oranges grown in my
day. but with better keeping qualities
than ever before known; commercially
speaking, valuable.
| offer as proof; In fall Of 1881, Max
field & Co. received 2s0 boxes of oranges
from Vail & Palmer, of Orange Bend
for which they received an average OF
ten cents box in the city of New York
Harris fruit saw oilere'Iat same house
badly decayed, at seventy-five cents
box, only ten days of the trees. NJ,
own fruit lost in reracking, eight DAYS
of the trees, over thirty per cent. Rnrk
halter & Co. sold three hundred boNe'
for thirty dollars and the purchaser LOST
money at that.
In fall of 1881 nobody that have
heard Of. has lost any fruit t" speak OF
saw some of my own fruit. last Thurs
day, shipped from Palatka January "a
now in perfect conditi i'm. Same ia!
saw thousands of boxes in New YORK
and all sound. In fact. ! think this mat
Crosby tells the truth, when he says n
has fruit picked before the fr''zo 'hat
in mrfect condition; IN fact ''''''h u
can proye that fruit, his incln't"d k''I
better this year than it was ever Know
TO before, but when he talks OF recelSln
ten boxes OF oranges from l'rayteh i
land. picked since tho ec2e, n"bo'
that | have seen in PaIA or from d
far up the river as Fort "-., S believes
word of it any more than oey ''''"'
that Florida only produces seven "'''
each hundred oranges "ronelme1 III 'n
great nation"
This man Crosby sncer5 at what Ii
terms .'this wonderful prodution. All
sneeripgly of the idea that seven "
appes Oh, of one hundred would '-dn'
the mark. s.
Please remember that this seven out ,
hundred are his own figuring, and CO.
seouently. as false as al his calculation
and are proven to he false by his ow
figures.
Can this he plain Mr.. Crosby, the Ian
speculator Of Drayton Island, or is
Raron Munchausen come again:
His own figures are. for last year.
follows;