Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-02-24
Letter From Florida.
Jacksonville. Feb. 10.

Jdc6SOnUlLte, REQ. ~.
EDITOR MONITOR,-Two months
ago we left our friends and the ma
tive hills of good old Vermont for
our little home in Jacksonville, on
the banks of the st. Johns, and al
though we have letters from our
friends telling us of the mild winter
and how we missed it by going away
from home, we wish to say to them
we have no desire to return just yet.
We don't like your la grippe, but will
try and come back with the robins in
the spring. We found our houses
and yards a little out of order, but
the paint brush and hoe soon put
them in order. Since we got them
righted we have had nothing to do but
see the sights and enjoy a Florida
climate which is too fine for me to
attempt to describe. Letters from
abler pens to northern journals TEEN
with descriptions of the beauties Of
this wonderful land; still the half
has never been told. To see is to
know. To be transported from the
North in midwinter, where people are
shivering IN their furs, to a land
of sunshine and flowers, is trans
formation scene long to be remem-
bered. Fancy cannot paint a more
lovely picture than a winter home in
this beautiful cline. 1t is February
as | write, but were the almanac not
at hand we would be likely to date
our letter June or July. Lilies, hy-
acinths, geraniums, iaponicas and
roses in an endless variety adorn the
yards of the most humble cottages,
while the woods and fields are liter
ally filled with wild flowers. The
wild rose, the sweet bay, the magno-
liza and the jassamne fill the air with
their perfume, and intoXicate the
eye with their beauty. Then last,
but not least, we have the beautiful
evergreen orange trees, laden with
their golden fruit so refreshing to
the palate and so pleasant to look
upon. Who, from grandsire to grand
son has not felt the fascination of
this wonderful fruit? For centuries in
all countries and among all people,
the orange has held sway as king
among fruits. This tree is the only
one in the world that bears at once
upon its branches ripe fruit, green
fruit and snow-white blossoms. The
birthplace of this wonderful tree is
said to have been in India, and the
wild orange trees in Florida sprung
from seeds given the Indians by their
Spanish conquerors some three hun
dred years ago. The age to which
an orange tree will live is still a ques-
ton. There are said to be orange
trees in COrdova, a Moorish seat of
splendor, over 700 years old, still
bearing and showing no signs as yet
of retiring from business, but it is
no idle assertion to say that the own
er of a good orange grove will never
live to see his trees too old to bear or
yield him a good income.
No doubt some of your readers
have heard of Florida's famous tree
that has borne ten thousand oranges
in one single year-oranges so fine
in form and flavor that they have
been sold for 81, 40 per hundred on
the tree-netting an income of S24O
from this one tree. This may read
like a snake story, but it is no story
at all, but an actual orange truth.
Do YOU wonder, in the face of the
above facts, that good orange groves
and good orange lands bring fabulous
prices, considering it is the only place
in the United States where they can
by grown to perfection, California to
the contrary?
There are thousands of people at
the North suffering from rheumatism,
catarrh and pulmonary troubles,
doomed to early graves, who could,
no doubt, prolong their lives through
many blissful years by making a per-
manent home among the orange
groves of Florida. This genial cli-
mate gives renewed vigor to the
weak. solace to the aged and hope to
the consumptive, and our only regret
is that all our friends at home who
are lowering over radiators and reg
listers can not be here with us to
breathe the balmy air and enjoy this
southern sunshine. But even here,
in this land of paradise, death reigns
over life. The tabled spring that
Ponce De Leon sought to discover
the use of, whose waters would re-
tain perpetual youth, has never been
found, and sooner or later, we must
all cross the river, but we hope for a
fairer land. III. +. II.
SHADELAND.- We call our attention to
the ad. of Messrs. Powell Bros, whose
stock has become so well known through
out America that no argument is needed
to convince one desiring choice animals
of any breed, of the wisdom of visiting
their establishment before making Sc
lection. They feel justified in saying
that their experience as breeders and i'm
norters. their facilities, low rates of