Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1894-12-13
Attended by a Sudden Shower
at Bloomland.
ORANGES RlPENING RIGHT ALONG
Where the CoIored Peoples
Lot Is a Happy One.
Better Ofrin Florida Than Their Brethren
IN PennsyIvania--well Educated and
Generally Thrirty--A suggestion for
Some Peninsula Vessel Owner.


was welcome; it would not be easy TO
surcharge with moisture this sandy
soil, but it was characterized, from the
standpoint of new conner, by its sud-
denness. If | might venture to gem
eralize from two months experience !
should say that Florida rains are
usually ushercd in 10y most elaborate
md deliberate preparation. Heretofore,
within the two months aforesaid, 1t has
taken week or so to get ready TO rain.
During this preparatory week storm
clouds will roll up and scurry to
and fro, distant lightning will flash
through the evening sky, frogs
will croak, halos encircle the moon,
smoke descend to the ground-and
when the whole round of signs has
pf~ved misleading and you have given
uplooking for rain the drops begin to
fall. But the Thanksgiving rain came
with only one day of preparation and
your humble servant who was out in n
boat on the lake, preparing to fish, got
most thoroughly drenched. But we |
1ished little, nevertheless, though |
only succeed in hooking leather-bacll |
turtle and lost him before could land
him.
This is great country for turtles.
The leather back abuunds in the water
you can see dozens of their black
shouts sometimes when the lake is
calm, while the land brings forth with
equal abundance a disreputable looking
turtle known us gopher" which
burrows under ground like the moleI-
which we have not here-and is about
as big nuisance to the horticulburist.
These turtles, leather backs and
gophers, average from 8 to 10 inches in
length and both are cdible-tu those
VIII fancy turtles. There is another
turtle, this agouti, whose habitat is the
alter but who is sometimes found on
dry land. The agouti is larger, growing
to length If 10 or IA inches, and as
handsome as the gopher is ugly. Clearly
and inotfensive, he is a We y aristocrat
among turtles. Both the animal and
his shell are beautifully marked. The
agouti Furthermore makes palatabe
dish and his shell, cleaned and polished,
is quite ornamental. To clean the shell
place it near an ant-hill; these tiny
scavengers will soon denude it of every
adhering particle Of flesh.
Oranges are ripening right along now
and are being picked, packed and
shipped as suits the growers necessity
or convenience. Unlike peaches, orange
picking is not urgent, except where the
grower is in hurry for money. Ii not
picked to-day they can be picked to-
morrow; il not this week, the next will
do as well; if not picked in December
they may be left on the tree till March
without much risk of deterioration ex.
ceptiug liability to possible frost. This
is very accommodating on the part of
In hn al
eliminating grower to market his fruit
to advantage. A near ncighbor of ours
held her last years crop back till April
of this year and realized big prices by
doing so, though this might not always
happen. This neighbor, by the way,
lives with her son-only their two
selves, no help or servants-in a house
the building and furnishing of which
cost her, she tells us, over $4,000.
With all this luxury about her she is
accustomed, besides doing her cooking,
washing and other housework, to 90
into field and grove anu labor as hard
as u man. .....
The November weather has been, on
the whole, quite genial. The minimum
temperature was 35o, on the morning of
the 18th, and there was frost ON that
date on the northern side OF the lake
but not particle here; our immunity
being attributable to "water protection. u
The next lowest was 43o, on the morn.
ing of the 18th. The highest tempera.
ture | noticed during November was
T3o, of course in the shade; the usua
range being about zoo, at midday and
55o to 60o at night.
employed a colored man to do some
blowing for Inc this week, that being
the only farm work have encounteret
thus far which felt inclined to shirk
! have done little blowing, but
didn't like it a bit. This colored maj
rejoices, or otherwise, in the somewha
incongruous name of Ida Book. Ron
Mechanic; that is the way he spelled i
out for me. His father was slave to al
Irishman in North Carolina, which &C
counts for the McClamb part. Ida is
full.blooded negro of 81 years, quit
ordinary in appearance, but his dictio
surprised me by its grammatical correct
ness, and | found, on conversing wit
him, that he Is educated and intelligent
He has taught school and he tells III
that his wife is likewise a regularl
qualified teacher. He owns IL litti
place of his own, with young orang
grove on IL, near Eustis, and Is evidentl
both industrious and thrifty. Frol
him l learned that the c0lored schoo
hereabout are very good, that nearly u
the colored people can read and writ
and that there is a growing interc
among especially the younger ones
educational progress. 1t is needless
add that Ida Book Rout McClamb BIT
not found the southern negroes lot s
deplnrable as we have often heard
depicted by Republican campaign or
tors who know nothing about it. I'll
IA negro in Florida is better off and bettt
treated than are his brethren in Repu
~ lican Pennsylvania.
In country where oats grow wi
and corn yields two crops a yearit seen
strange to see farmers depending on Il
VIZ North and West for horse feed, but SUI
IA is the case here. Practically eyeryboc
buys his feed and, between transport
ton charges and dealers profits, pa
rousing prices for it. Grain Is selling
Eustis, by retail, at the following rate
this weeks quotations Wheat, 81.
per 100 lbs; corn, $3.50 per sack OF /
N lbs. oats, $2.l5 per sack OF 1875 ID
" ground feed, II mixture oil the thr6
SI.SO per 100 lbs. Would 1t not be
good speculation for some pcninsul
NJ vessel owner to freight schooner wi
grain. for Florida! He could sail
the St. Johns as far rs Palatka al
doubtless dispose of his cargo to exc,
lent advantage either there or at JAG
sonville. If he preferred to send it
10 Eustis, the railroad rate from JAG
sonville would be 20 cents and fro