The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-01
FLORIDA.


An Encouraging Outlook for Its de-
duces No Real Dets imcnt Large
Orange Crop in Prospect.
From the Boston Herald, Aug. PAL
Mr.. VIM. j. Vinegar. President of the
F;-st National Bank of Palatka, Fla.
who is in town for a few days. accom-
panied 10y Mr.. Harry G.. Payne, also of
the hank, gives an account of the con-
dition Of things in Florida which will he
interesting to many here who are con
cerned in the development of that state.
Mr.. Vinegar says that when the great
freeze" of last winter occurred, nearly
every body thought that Florida had re-
ceived a disastrous setback. But few
months had put IA very different face on
atfairs, and now it looked as if the freeze
would tnrn out, like many other mis-
haps, to have been blessing in disguise,
a real advantage, to the state as show
ing just how Florida stood. After the
freeze things looked pretty melancholy.
The orange trees stood biackened, with
nearly all the crop that remained un-
that the trees might be crippled for
years. But with the spring came un-
usaily abundant rains, and the trees put
out n surprising strength of new growth,
recovering entirely what had been lost.
The aspect of the country was now re.
ally beautiful, in spite OF the effort nee
essary to make new growth, the trees
were handsomely laden with the golden
fruit, those which were in bearing before
Il L.
usual amount, and the thousands of new
trees coming into bearing tho first time
would make up the difference, SO that il
looked AS If this seas on crop, ins tead of
being comparatively of no account,
would he up to what last years would
have been had the freeze not occurred.
To be sure, it was not pleasant thing
for orange raiser5 to see their fruit frozen
solid on the trees, and if il were likely
to occur right along they would be dis
couraSed, of course. But there had not
been any thing like that cold spell for
about fifty years, and it would not likely
To happen again for many years to come.
But 1t would teach orange growers to be
on their guard against 1t. One precau.
ton which had been shown to he desir-
able was the planting of .yindbreaks for
the orange groves. Those groves which
had b-'en thus protected had suffered the
estSt. htft icNcI-u orange
would take the hint and shelter their
plantations with belts of rapidly grow
ing trees of dense habit to the windward.
The freeze had also been of al vantage
III demonstrating the varieties of orange
trees which would best stand against the
cold, so that the main dependence might
be placed on them. For instance, the
mandarins had been nearly all destroyed,
while the tangerines, which resemble
tl...sa
the regular o. ange trees.
Another, and n very great benefit
which has resulted, has been to turn the
attention Of the people very fOrcibIy to
the desirability of diversifying their |
crops, instead of putting all their eggs
IN one basket, Just u disaster to the |
wheat crop had performed similar SER
vice for the people of Kansas. Hitherto |
oranges had been almost the sole de-
pendence of the greater number of agri-
culturists. When that crop failed their |
prospects for the year were wholly !
blighted; whereas, if they raised other !
things also, they would come out all |
right. People had done well with or
anges, but they should not make them |
their sole resource. In Florida, the |
raising of "A great diversity of tropical |
and sub-tropicai fruit was possible, with |
profit. Some of these, which grew i'm great |
were now WHOLLY IL,
simply because no effort had been made |
to develop a market for them in the |
North. Figs. for instance, were now |
allowed to rot on the ground, although !
in the North hardly any body knew what /
a fresh liz was, and they could he easily /
transported, while canned figs made n /
most delicious thing for the table. There
was IA line opportunity for investors in es
tabiisbments for the canning of fruits
III
alone would be large, for canned goods
are now brought in very large guam
titles from the North.
Florida, like the West, was deeply in
debted to Boston capital for what it had
done for her, particularly in railroad
building. The two Boston railways had
been the making Of the state. First came
the South Florida as pioneer, and it had
been the means of developing out of a
wilderness what was now one of the
most populous and thrifty sections of
the state, building up local traffic, both
in passengers and freight, that must he
highly profitable. Lately has come the
Florida Southern, with a trunk line over
300 miles long and a splendid land grant |
OF 3,oOO,O 600 acres also Boston enter
prise, running through some of the best
lands in the state, and following the lay
OF the land where the population will /
naturally gather for s,lubrious condi- |
tions and productive soil.
These two roads, said Mr.. Vinegar,
had changed the railroad situation of |
Florida with their wide.awake business |
methods and run 10y pratical railroad .
men. Paying their bills promptly, run
ming trains on time and giving good ac-
comodations, their example had stirred
up the old lines from their slouchy ways |
of doing things. The South Florida was
now changing from narrow to standard |
gauge. which would give through freight /
and Pullman car connections from the |
North tn Tampa Bay, which was now /
the regular mail route In Havana, ma I
king connection with swift steamers. !
Ii was likely that the Florida Southern !
would also change to standard yauye /