Delaware gazette and state journal., 1895-12-19
y aszeue and Journal

epeciaicorrespondenc Of Gazette and journal
Bloomland, Fla, Dec. i'll have
been down to Orlando, looking at pine
apple sheds. Orlando, the county scat
of Orange, is % miles southeast of that
remarkable railway centre, Tavares.
and Tavares is five mile tramp, chiefly
through pine forest, from Bloomand,
consequently had to turn out rathcr
early to make the a. m. train. 1t
was cool, for Florida, 43 degrees, but
the thermometer seemed on the up
grade and, in spasm Of misplaced con-
tdence. l set out without an overcoat.
1t still makes me shiver to think what
followed. The Wilmington attorney in
seersuckers at the Chicago convention
came no nearer freezing than l did last
Thursday at Orlando. | saw the
Thermometer drop to 33 degrees and
thin ice form in exposed situations
metropolis of Central Florida. Not
much to shiver about, some reader may
say. But wait until you have spent a
year in Florida.
| had one fellow passenger in the
comfortable jackson a. Sharp car
about all the cars | have seen in
Florida came from these we'll known
Wilmington workshops. He hailed
from Michigan, en- route for the Vic
toria colony with carload of potatoes
for planting, and he talked of sticking
these tubers into the ground instanter
and rushing new potatoes into the
Northern markets about the first of
February. When he looked around the
next morning on the frozen vines of
the fall crop, he may have had reason
to talk differently. | have thought
since what hard luck it would be to
bring 400 bushels of potatoes down
from Michigan to get frosted in Florida
Victoria colony is settlement of
Hollanders and Swedes about 12 miles
from Tavares. There are 30 families
now domiciled there and talk of enough
more coming to warrant the erection
OF l5O houses during the approaching
winter and spring. The location is
low, fertile and marshy and extensive
drainage operations are in progress and
contemplated.
found Orlando very pretty town
of 5000 inhabitants, with main
street that would do credit to Jackson
vile. The street itself is faced with
hard clay, well rounded in the centre
and looking as smooth and durable as
asphalt. For nearly half mile on
each side this street is lined with
handsome and well-stocked stores,
hotels, offices and other adjuncts or a
large and prosperous city, while the
sidewalks on which these buildings
front beat any | have seen this side of
Berlin. They are made of concrete and
are simply superb. Down the centre
of the street and out into the suburbs
runs disused street railway. sit
broke up two companies and then was
abandoned" | was told. l further
learned that ''Orlando is not what il
used to be before the freeze - that
there were 5000 inhabitants there two
years ago, but the destruction of the
orange groves and other things had
caused the population to drop to its
present figure.
1t seems strange that men whose
orange groves had been frozen out
should turn their attention to pine.
apple culture, but such is the case at
Orlando. Within a radius of five miles
from the heart of the city there are %
acres of pineries and this area is being
rapidly extended. 1t aoesn sound very
big to speak of % acres, but it must
be remembered that "pine' culture is
an infant industry at Orlando and one
that requires capital to conduct. For
all these pineries must be "shedded''
and most of thesplants had to be i'm
ported from the Azores or Honolulu. A
considerable consignment of plants
from the latter place has Just been re-
ceived by one of the leading growers,
who has already six acres in the
ground.
In company with Mr.. James Mott, a
genial nurseryran whose name is
known all over Florida and not un-
known IN lower Delaware, | visited
van Houten's pinery, Il short distance
out OF town. Here | found nearly five
acres IN one enclosure, under cover.
The pinery is surrounded on three sides
by tight board fence eight feet hiph.
and on the fourth side by wire netting.
This is all rooted in by what are, | la
lieve, known to lumbermen as roofina
laths; strips Ii feet long, 3 inches wide
and one inch thick, laid three inches
apart. 1t is a novel sight to stand
within such an enclosure and look
down the long rows of pineapple beds
for the first time. Most Of the plants
are smooth Cayennes and many Of
them stand over three feet high. with
trunks four inches thick at the ground
Nearly all OF these large plants were
Killed down by the freezes of last winter
and have made their astonishing growth
since. But, as Mr.. Van Houten has
sold over $40, worth of suckers. for
planting, from his pinery, he doesn't
feel very bad over the years record
His last years crop of fruit-Smooth
Cayennes-netted him as nigh as m
cents apiece in New York and ayeragcd
but little below that figure. This
means that he grows pineappcs which
cannot be sold for much if nny. less
than 30 cents apiece al retail The
tendency at Orlando is TO tho almost
exclusive planting Of these hiph grads
pines which taste too much Of silver
as yet. to often find their way TO tbe
table Of the laboring man.
The cost of pinery such as this i |
computed at s., 600 per acre, exclusive
Of the ground. The plants, .. 60o 10
the acre at % cents apiece. foot nm
s., 250; the shedding costs about s3ln
per acre, and the balance goes for FER.
tilizers and labor. One would fhinl,
this shedding inadequate protection
against a temperature of 33 deprees
put the pineapple seems, like the orapoa
hardier than has been popularity Am.
posed, and the contents Of a small and |
much less amply protected pinery which |
| saw under that temperature Lnf,ra
sunrise OF Friday did not annear ~ ~
injured, though this could hardIy t,a
determined with certainty tiII iatnr II
was a temperature that knncked ont
bananas and the less hardy yegetabJos
and curled up some Of the tender lnavcs
OF the young orange sprouts.
N one point | feel solid after that
cold day in orlando If pineau5lts '"u aan
be successfully grown there f6ey can