The herald., 1895-03-29

LOCAL FIELD Of COMMERCE
The General Produce Markets
Very Quiet
NO CHANGE IN QUOTATIONS
Orange Picking Suspended on Account
of Rain
s.
General Business in the Produce Market
NO CHANGE IN QUOTATIONS
General Business in the Produce Market
Exceedingly Quiet - The Real
Estate Transfers

Orange picking has been stopped by
che rain. and it will be several days be-
fore the orchards dry out sufficiently to
resume. This, however, will cause no
inconvenience or loss, as there is plenty
of fruit on hand to fill all orders, and
the oranges on the trees will be improved
by the moisture. The weather for some
days past has been rather warm, which
has has had tendency to bleach out and
tighten the color of the fruit. Growers
say that the rain will correct this, and
that the fruit will not only be darker in
color, but hrmer and better for the
wetting. All of which will help out
and for which the growers are truly
thankful. At the rooms OF the Fruit EX
change, Secretary kmbal stated that
nothing new had been received from the
brokers in the Eastern markets, but that
the Exchange was standing firm and re-
fusing to ship on consignment, and
would continue to do so.
little trick OF the trade has Just been
ascertained. A large firm in Chicago
which has been patroniZing the Fruit EX
change to some extent, has been caught
by the lower quotations OF the commits
sion men. OF course the cheaper fruit is
not up to the standard of the exchange,
but u gorgeous label in many colors, like
charity covers a multitude of imperfec-
tions, and while the firm does not di-
rectly advertise the fruit as being from
the Exchange, the deception goes, and
an increased profit to the dealer is the
result.
Shortly after the freeze in Florida the
Chicago Record sent a special representa-
tive, William E. Curtis, to make a thor
ough Investigation and report to that pa
per- This has been DONE and the Record
of the 18th prints the letter from William
T.. Curtis, from which the following ex-
tracts are made:
sit is difficult to estimate the extent of
the damage with any accuracy. but it was
much greater than the average Floridan
is willing to admit 1t is impossible, for
example, to place valuation upon the
hundreds OF thousands of beautiful TO-
liage plants which have been cultivated
foi years to beautify the landscape around
the hotels and the private residences
There are some sixty varieties OF the
PALM natural and cultivated, which in
certain parts of the state have been
brought to a high degree OF per iection;
but almost every one that stood in the
open air on the night OF the December
freeze is as yellow as a cornstalk in Novem-
Der; and while the trunks and roots of
many of them may retain life, it will re-
quire the growth of several seasons to re-
store their beauty.
/" The same remarks apply to the flower
ing plants, both the wild and the cult
waited, which were so profuse and luXuri-
ant, and which gave the state its name.
They are all as dead as the Dust OF Adam
and the vines that cover the trellises and
the piaZzas, and cling to the chimneys
and walls with such picturesque effects
they are all dead too. In fact the esthet-
les have found Florida dismal place this
winter. Nature has worn garb OF straw
color instead OF her usual green. But the
cheerful Floridan finds some compensation
in every catastrophe, and will tell you OF
the enormous value to iloriculturists OF
the knowledge that certain plants will en-
dure a temperature OF 10 above zero and
survive.
'Of the orange crop about one-half or
5, ,000 600 boxes, had already been gathered
and shipped TO market. Of the remainder
very little was saved. You can hear peo-
pie talk of four-lifths, or three-fourths or
seven -eighths OF crop, but actual expert
ence has demonstrated that there was not
enough good fruit left on the trees to pay
for picking, and those who shipped frozen
oranges north found that it did not pay,
The dealers came back at them for express
charges, and the regulations of some
hitherto highly esteemed planters were
seriously damaged. Here and there a
sheltered tree escaped the blizzard. Jack
Frost played some strange pranks, and
nearly every farmer has yarn to tell
about plants and trees on his place that
escaped destruction in Il miraculous man
ner. Everything will hereafter be dated
from this freeze in Florida instead of from
the birth of Christ. 1t was an epoch, like
the Chicago fire.
1.-The more serious and uncertain ques-
tion is the extent of the permanent dam
age to the orange orchards, While there
is great deal of speculation on the sub
ject, and wide range of opinion, it will
not be possible to determine it with any
accuracy until the blossoms fall and the
fruit begins to form later in the spring.
1t may be safely asserted as a general
proposition that all OF the young trees.
those that have been planted within two
and many that have been planted within
three years are dead, and Will have to be
replaced. This will be very heavy loss
perhaps SO, 900, 00O-for it represents not
only the labor, the cost of seedlings and
the interest upon the investment but the
total value of the fruit thai might have
been gathered from them during the next
three or four years. 1t is perhaps no eX-
aggeration to say that one-third of the
orange trees standing in the state at the
time OF the frost Were under three years
of age, and were thus utterly ruined.
The damage to the other trees, as |
have said, has not yet been developed,
and those that were exposed to the wind
have probably pcrished. The sap froze
in them and split the limbs and trunks.
Some OF those that were believed to be
badly damaged are showing signs of life,
but their productive capacity has GER
tainly been impaired, if they ever bear
again. Many orchards are entirely ruined.
II met an old orange grower at the
hotel last night. He lives down on the
Indian river, and has just made an eX-
tended journey through that section,
looking after real estate bargains, for
many discouraged farmers are willing to
sell out. He says that in that the most
favored part OF the state about 40 per
cent of the old trees are permanently
ruined, and might as well be cut down.
About 10 per cent more have been SO bad
ly frosted that they will bear nothing for
year or two, but when the new branches
come out they will probably recover their
capacity. He estimates that the orange
crop in Florida during the next three
> years will average in quantity about one
half that OF 1898, but at the same time
+ prices will undoubtedly be BETTER owing
to the scarcity of the fruit SO its value
will probably reach 70 per cent OF the
normal amount. even with California
ii competition. He is of the opinion that
the actual loss this year on oranges alone
approached S4 900, 900; that is from 5, ,000,-
600 to 5000, 900 boxes OF frozen fruit at 75
cents box At the same time he sug-
gests that in Florida farmers are very
much more fortunate than their friends
in Nebraska, who lost many more mill
ions in drought smitten corn. and adds
by way of comparison. that while the
Nebraska farmer has to starve or accept
charity food, the men who have lost their
bar m fish