Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-02-08
WINTER IN FLORIDA.
Items from Orange Land The Great
F~reeze-Lifs in the southern Pine
yUnndS . H
To tic Press and Dakotataa.

Itens from Orange Land- The Great
F~reeZe-LIfa in the Southern Pine
Woods.
To Tic Press and Dakotafaa.
Chuluota, Florida, Jan. goth, 1SS6-A
long interval has elapsed in my cores
pondence, and letters arrive asking i'm
patiently why we do not begin to re-
port something of Florida. La this in
tervai there was a, good deal of work
done OF a different character from writ
ing up the country, such as building o
house. u%npacking our articles, buying
provisions and household articles and
settling down to housekeeping. On ar
irving here III family was domiciled
with that of my brother for two weeks.
During that time occurred the heavy
rains followed by the great freeze OF
January, 1886, lasting four days. The
weather was " to endure, in houses
built open and loose for ventilation and
hot weather; and it seemed colder than
it was. l actually had t o again put on
the fannels l lad laid aside, and button
up my coat. The thermometer here at
our place, on the four cold mornings
stood at "a, 26, 81 and 26 degrees above
zero; ana ice one-fourth of an inch
thick formed on puddles.
The first scare as to general destruc.
ION OF fruit was followed by greater
confidence. On the coolest morning ]
walked through the pine woods, follow
ing an old trail for q mile to an orange
grove where not q single box of oranges
had been gathered for shipment. 1t was
q sight not Don forgotten. A five acre
fenced field, closely surrounded by ma.
tive pine forests, and filed with rich
green orange trees bending under the
weight of their golden load. An old
vacant log house was surrounded by the
%tallest and most splendid trees each o.
which upheld eight or ten boxes of lu.
scious oranges; while farther away
were hundreds of younger trees coming
into bearing. The we'll ploweG
land and strong fence showed that the
nonresident proprietor had the place
well cared for, except as to marketing
his crops and receiving his profits, And
now it was perhaps all ruined. / triei
orange after orange, that had been ex
posed all night to that keen northwes'
wind direct from Dakota; the sand a
my feet had q frozen crust, but somehow
there was no frost IN the fruit, showing
some strange power of resisting tn,
freezing.
Frequent trips to that and othe
groves show that the fruit is unequal,
affected. Some sticks tight and Seems
perfectly sound and good, while som,
rots on the tree aud some drops to the
ground to rot. l daily BE-
trees under which the groun,
is covered by hundreds of the fines
looking oranges. Those chat are slight
ly affected show it now, three week
later, by thickened skins and less juic,
interior.
After the freeze there was great in
dustry shown in picking and rushing
the crop to the New York market. Th
small raisers about here get their DO
material at the mill close by, at a cost
about IA cents per box. They haul the
| .as;r loads Of boxed fruit to the steam
boat landing, Blk miles from my house
and it is shipped to New York via Jacl
s~onville, all the way by water, at a un
form rate of sixty cents per box. Thu
they have realized from S1.75 to So
per box clear and they ffeei well sattisSffe;
But now word has come that one of til
} last steamers was met at the port {
New York with orders that the cargo (
pitched into the Atlantic. OF the SOC
boxes thus thrown overheard, many
my neighbors had from 20 to 100 boxt
each to pay freight en-, and shipments
that direction have somehow sudden
ceased. They are still sending Orange
to Georgia and other places.
The older trees seem anhurt, while I'll
young trees and nursery stock seem
be mostly iniur cd. Yesterday / saw
. tall lemon tree with every leaf yello
. and withered, and the ground covers
with rotting lemons, while around
. stood the grand old orange trees, perle
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