The sun., 1895-01-13
THE FREEZE IN FLORIDA.
onAsrRoUs EFFEcT OF the COLD
sy1p on THE ORANGE CROP.
. sight or cs.tury About to ne seen :.
....,,pIy Diatributed-NeSt Years Crop.

A gtnht OF Century About 70 he seen N
an. Orange Sectior-Losses Great snd
...,,,Iv D,stributed-Nest Years Crop.
N,rtASp. Fla. Jan. 1i.-There will bc q
..slous sight in this orange country within the
.s,, fortnight A freeze down here, All ordi-
n,ry freeze with enough snap TO IL TO send up
10. little means that sotne OF tho oranges
ray. been sufficiently touched by frost 10 make
,h.m unmarketsble, but II makes no difference
Ia The appearance OF the trees; they go on from
,cor 10 yenr with their glossy green leaves.
This winters freeze. however. is no ordinary
a,e and not only has every orange In
.,ctons been frozen and spoiled. but every
i.of on every orange tree has been killed. They
40. hanging withered on tho trees now ms yellow
md brown as maple leaves in autumn, and
.r,ry stir Of wind brings down shower Of
,hem. The leaves are dead beyond recall. and
,b.y must all fall from the trees within n week
Ar two II il not more than two or three times
n century that this singular spectacle can he
,,sn millions OF orange trees as bare OF leaves
.,Northern forest trees In winter.
say that every orange in the state Is spoiled,
!. 10 look at It from the standpoint OF the ex-
rer. The orange sharp considers an orange
.,oiled when IL is not in good condition to ship
North, From the point OF view of the consumer,
,he oranges arc as good now as they ever were.
Tho taste Is the same. and most of them are as
hard and rs solid as they were before they were
frozen. The natives will not eat them; they say
that they are very unwholesome, and that q
number OF people have been made i'll by eating
them. Still, they continue to send few to New
York In the hope of selling them at some price,
and few Northern people could tell that they
had been frozen. As long as there is no taste OF
fermentation the oranges are wholesome enough.
Tho writer has been eating them usual
for several days without any i'll ef-
fscts. It is great temptation to eat
them here. for tho ground Is covered with
them-not covered in a 6gurntive sense, as
people sometimes say the ground is covered
with apples in an orchard. but literally abso-
lutely yellow with them 1t is impossible to
walk through an orange grove without kicking
the fallen oranges aside to make stepping places.
There are still some on the trees but they will
all come down. for when an orange Is badly
frozen IL falls. These thousands and thousands
OF bushels OF fallen fruit entirely free to the
publlc any one can walk into grove and help
himself to 1t. II all the boys In New York were
brought down here and turned loose in the
groves they could hardly make an impression
upon the fruit that lies spelling on the ground.
This place, 100 miles south OF Jacksonville, Is
In the centre Of the orange district. and nearly
In the centre of the State. Last year they
shipped 10000 boxes of oranges from here. and
this years crop was expected to be much larger.
The railroad company built a long siding last
summer to hold the freight cars that were to go
Of loaded with fruit, and everywhere along the
main streets one sees the signs. Boarding
House," GOOD Board ut So and Sos" Those
places were for the entertainment of the orange
packers who flock into Maitland when the pack
Ing season begins The packers come from all
over the country. New York boys tboys any
where from lS to 800 and Pennsyl-
vana boys and youngsters from all over
the South and West have learned that there
Is plenty of work for them in Florida.
In winter. with warm weather and plenty of
oranges thrown In. They filled all the cheap
boarding houses, and the packing houses were
90 busy that in December they shipped 10000
boxes from here. Then came the night when
the Thermometer fell to 1S or lower. AID 1t was
like stroke of lightning to everybody. Board
Ing houses were emptied like magic; packing
houses put up their shutters; for a few days The
9eople shivered with cold and gloom. Now they
have warmed mp and recovered their spirits,
and the men who have lost 10000 boxes of
fruit. worth perhaps S12.5o0. are as ready to
joke about the freeze as anybody.
The young packers who came down from the
rorth are not worrying over the situation; The
sudden stopping OF work LETT them without
mediately left their boarding houses and went
70 camping out, which is cheaper: Canning out
snO hardship In Florida in midwinter. Any
old shed does for sleeping place and II all else
fails they can live on oranges. But they have
.p IN es9 az o
beef, cans OF everything edible. They are full
Of songs and Jokes and good spirits. and they
give humorous tinge to what Is for most Flori-
dams very serious business.
Let me nave little salt and pepper. please"
out VIXEN the maI in from mt the North
these boys crowd the Post Office. They have
written to their friends for money to carry them
home, and they are waiting for 1t TO arrive.
Such letters always come slowly. particularly IN
man who Is very anxious. When the letter
fails 1t means more days Of canned oysters and
The way the orange business is done distrib-
utes the losses very unevcnly. Here smith
scsoss the way has 1000 bearing trees, pro-
ducing say 1900 boxes, and there are several
methods BY which he may dispose OF the fruit.
pluy one OF the packing firms to pick and pack
them at so much box. and ship them to New
York 10 the commission merchant. This is often
The most profitable way, but II involves the most
risk The growers who followed this plan this
year have lost the entire crop. Another way Is
box Florida is full of such buyers in Novem-
oer and December. and 1t Is easy TO sell; But
Ihs contract provides that the fruit shall be de-
lvered In good marketable condition. and not an
orange In the State is in good marketable con-
anion. So this grower also loses hiG crop.
writer met man yesterday who had 5000
boxes on his trees, and who sold them month
Ro NJ so much box. receiving SOU on account
70 bind the bargain. With this little advance
hewent about paying up all his bills. bpyingnew
Clothes, and being altogether comfortable. Then
came the freeze and left him without single
marketable orange To deliver. There is nothing
left for him but 10 refund the $3.50 advanced.
and he will find 1t hard work to borrow at pres
elt A worse case than this is the big grower
Who sold his entire crop six weeks ago TO q
SSGyer for a lump sum. That would have made
MIN absolutely safe: but few days after the
contract was made along came a commission
merchant from jacksonville and convinced the
grower. who Is an Englishman. that he had
made bad bargain.
,iou could have got twice as much for your
Iruit u you had sent 10 TO me on commission
ead the Jacksonville man; and the grower slept
oyer It and repented of his bargain and went to
MS buyer aud gave him $3.50 TO relea 80 him
from tho contract. The freeze left that Eng
nshman not only without any oranges, but
minus the $3.50 he paid.
Those are the two ways In which the orange
grower takes all the risk himself, and this year
,nesr ,n men have lost everything, safer way Is
" ~ selI The crop outright before II ripens. There
no marketable fruit clause In such con-
u1t; the buyer takes all the fruit OF grove
% sha runs his own risks. He will not pay as much
~ . he would pay later but he will pay cash and
relieve relieve the grower OF all risk. The growers who
i Od IN this way are the only ones who lost moth