Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-06-13
Charming Sketch of Farm
Life in Florida.
LIKE A LOOK AT SUSSEX COUNTY
Corn Prospects and the Wa
termelon Crop.
Paynter Frames Mammoth Productions
Well Known There--A Tremendous
Crash Of Thundsr-Brief Wow of the
Southern crsss--The "Judge's" feu
Picture. of Life in Florida.


and tfsir stumps hidden by tasseled
'qsrn OF luxuriant cow-peas, roObing
The prospect Of most of its old:time
sdb.tropical setting. A remembrance
Of the ohenomenal winter fingers about
a few groves across the lake that have
escaped the ak and saw and stand
brown patches on the landscape, look
ing like bits Of January stuck inhar-
ANONYMOUSLY into the green of June.
Equally inharmonious and conspicuous
are thee large frOzen-out eucalyptus
trees nearly as tail as the dark green
pines which form q neighboring back
around for their sere and leatless skele-
tons. Close at hand young sprouts Of
reViving life might be detected on both |
eucalyptus and orange, but it will be |
months yet before this new green be- |
comes feature in the distant view.
Itnght be bit of Sussex county,
rather than Florida, on which ! look
because of the corntelds and the pines,
The cornfield Is stranger here, but it
generally looks well and vigorous,
| although the ears are not so plenty and
| large as usually seen in New Castle
county, and the stalks stand only one to
the hill. The planting of field of
corn here is simple matter, while the
baclt.uching labor of thinning corn is
avoided altogether. Il speak i'll the
| present tense, though this corn was
really planted in February and March.l
There Is no preliminary fertllizing and
preparation Of the soil, except in new
ground; most of the corn being grown
in orange groves where the trees have
been cut off close to the grouAd before
or since the planting. The land having
been fortified and cultivated for years
in connection with orange culture, was
generally in pretty good shape except
for weeds. Between each two rows OF
orange trees, or stumps, burrows were
run, one way only, three or four feet
apart In these burrows one grain of
corn was dropped every four feet or SO
and covered with the foot. AT least 10
out Of every 90 grains germinated and
grew, the replanting being mere tritie.
When the young corn was foot high,
or thereabout, such of it as needed
stimulating was given little fertilizer
in the hill. The cultivator was run
occasionally, one way only, to keep
down weeds and stir the soil in dry
, weather. Cut worms have been rather
Troublesome; they are fought by busting
the silk and tassels with sulphur, sui
plate of potash or sand. This is corn
culture in Florida.
Watermelnns are being shipped now
and the crop is extra large this year.
haven't the figures al hand, but my
recollection of the railway estimate for
, this season is upward of 1000 car loads.
There are two names that are household
words with growers of this fruit all
over the land-Girardeau of Florida and
+ Paynter Frame of Delaware-and
, Frames Jumbo melon especially ia Fas
/ familiarly and favorably known mere as
in Sussex county.
Though it has been hot and dry for
the past week-my thermometer touched
1919, the maximum thus far, early thi:
afterIoon.-yet the rainy season, more
! correctly | should say, from myi owr
3, experience, the showery season, APPEAR
/, to have opened. In fact it opened! will
/, the irst week in May, month ahead
OF schedule time. ! have been asked
= whether the thunder and lightning ar
) worse here than in Deiaware so far a
$ they have gone | should say they ar,
g about the same. There has been on
exceptional blast, but that might hav
= happened anywhere. 1t was just thre
i weeks ago to-day when, without tn
! usual premonition of lightning flash
!. the stroke being so narrowly Localized
e behind me that saw nothing of 1t, ther
came a crash Of thunder that was
= revelation TO me Of the possibilities o
y noise. 1t sounded as though the cart
;. was being torn to smash under me ant
It the house being crushed down into th
n hole. Well, | didn't have to say 'tha
If must have struck close by" for
IL realized instantly that ii had struc
right here, 1t had spllnterea pine tire
>, within rs feet of the house. Such al
. appalling crash | never want 10 hea
j. again. And yet, strange to say,
+, didn't wake the blbyl The little felloN
I. slumhered on undisturbed, although q
:, other times we find it necessary to wal
q on tiptoe and speak in whispers to avoi
- arousing him.
If Incidental to that opening week {
the showery season have another thin
to record-noyel at least to me-a morr
ing and IN evening rainbow on the san
day. both well defined and accompanie
Q. by secondary or shadowy bows.
at One effect of last winters freezes b;
~ been to force century plants premi
+ turely into bloom. There are at lea
II. hall dozen in this neighborhood til,
have recently sent up flower stalks to
RS height of Is or 20 feet-they woul
Z probably have been double that beigt
ie If they had not "prematured" -crownC
i, With short transverse branches an
!. flower buds. Anent the rather wild
ut spread notion that these agaves r
quire 100 years to develop, am tol
j. that it is no: uncommon in this china
'e for century plant to bloom when $ {
H. 10 years old. When it has doomed
dies; that is the last of it.
Our lake was consecrated last Sunda
by the immersion Of two converts to Il
al Campbellite faith; Mr.. and Mrs. Kin
va of Fort Mason. Fort Mason is tw
70 miles above Eustis. A dozen years az
~ IL was booming settlement. Locate
~ near the ruins OF fortilication datin
m back TO the Seminole war, Fort Maso
became Il railway terminus and pr
81 ceeded to spread itself. Mr.. King bui
ay big barn of hotel there, at Il cost {
ck $4,000; three or four stores were rusht
r ss up and dwelling sites We're IN deman
MS Then came the founding Of Eustis an
tho extension of the railroad thlther, an
Fort Mason collapsed. Its inhabitan
moved on, the deserted stores purnt
down and the big hotel fell into innocl
DIS GUS desuetude. When | visited II
place, the hotel and its furniture We
N, being offered for $500, while the fe
remaining dwellings were vacant
e. tenanted by negroes. since then u
proprietor is reported 10 have effected
,o sale NJ some figure and now anhoune'
NV his intention to visit his aged iathel
in Iowa; a somewhat startling announc
al nent from man who himself looks