The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-01-31
Ehe Ae1all aud S0eW9~
ARP ON ORANGES.
Some Growers Make Money-Others Do
Not-One Man Declares That the
Climate is Worth 500 an Acre.
but Says the Soil is no
Good
1Atlanta Constitution.

TAtlanta Constitution.
Some portions Of west Florida are
still in the piney woods and very loHe-
some. Travelling overland found the
habitatioDs several miles apart on the
main road, but was told that the little
grass-covered roads that branched eff
right and left led to somebody's house,
where clever people lived and cultivated
orange trees for living.
''This is a great country" said a
settler, "where the climate IS wortA
800 an acre and the land amt worth
darn. 1t is risky for Il Insn to die here
and be buried for there is not enough
virtuein the soil to make him rise ny hen
Gabriel blows his horn"
at seems to produce fine oranges" "
said I.
"Yes," said he, ''but what's oranges?
The more oranges he has get the poorer
he is. The price mas got dowa to about
20 cents a hundred on the tree, and ne
can't keep up his grove for that
That man was !. pessin,ist, and there
are thousands Of them. / found Alr.
Starr packing :. 500 boxes Of his own
crop and he said that his net profit
would be 60 cents a box, and that
would pay him we'll on his investment.
He is an optimiSt AID IS increasing
his acreage every year. { found Slr.
Robinson near Lerard with 20, 900 trees
aud ne is entirely content with his
business. His twenty acres OF bearing
trees have paid all the expenses Of in
creasing his acreage:.and all will be bear
ing in two years more. Like every
other trade or calling more depends on
the man than on the business. Mr..
Sampson has shipped thirty carloads Of
lemons and is getting rich. But I see
many neglected groves and some that
have been abandoned. You can tell
the thrift and iudustryof a man by bis
orange grove. Then there are hundreds
of groves that belong to people who
live away off, aud have got tired. They
get some poor fellow to live in the little
shanty and look after things, and he,
perhaps, was born tired. The other
day We came to where the rood foi ked
and not knowing which to take we
drove to a dirty little house not far
away tor direction. Take the right
hand" said big, gray-bearded man
with q newspa per III bis hand. Il have
to tell somebody that most every day"
'You might put upa signboard," said
l. "ard that would save you :he
trouble" ''Then they wouldent drive
down here to AK me-" said be, land l
wouldn't get chance TO see 'em. No,
won't put up 20 board, for l like to
see folks once in while, specially wo-
men," The poor old man was living
there alone watching a grove.
With constant care and attention
there is still big money il growing
oranges and always will be. It is a
simple business and is easy aud attrac-
tive. Many citizens ado to it in .
small and prof;able'w by growing
lemons. lines, grape fruit, shaddocks,
guavas, inaogoeS, peentos, c1mgust
oranges and other tropical fruits. have
seen acres Of casava. from which tapioca
is made. The peentoos, when ripened
on the tree, are said to be the most
delicious of all peaches. The trees are
now in bloom. Strawberries are just
coming into market. The gardens are
supplying US with ali kinds Of veget-
ables. The woods have been burned
off and thousands Of acres of low bush
palmetto killed, leaving their great
roots piled across each other in pro:nls-
cuous confusion. They look like great
snakes with alligator scales on them,
but, of course, they are not killed and
will soon sDrout again and cover the
earth with their fan shaped leaves.
Iwent out in the country to see the
fruits and flowers Of an old lady who
lives in primitive simplicity and loves
Florida and her humble home and
cultivates tropical plants for the pleas
ure it gives her and gives those who
visit her. I cannot give the botanical
names as she gave them to me, but she
had more curious plants than I ever
saw before. There was the date palm
and thistle hemp and camphor tree
and eucalyptus that I remember and
there was an oleander in bloom that
was nearly foot in diameter, and there
were cactus vines running over the |
house and tea plants and coffee plants |
and many curious things that l never
saw before. As for olea uders, they are
common enough everywhere, AID some
on the sidewalks in Clear Water are
twenty feet high, and are now putting
on their beautiful garments. The fora
of Florida is so easily grown that most