The sun., 1895-03-03


Mt work tho grove soon reached such II statc OF
perfection that there was nothing more than the
routine. work Il, lie done. But The, thousand
acres of Wild land presented n boundless field.
There were trees u cut down, underbrush to
clear away, roots 10 dig up and burn, and fences
to he built. The boys did all this Chcerfully.
and when IL was done they went out with chains
and levels and stakes and other surveyors
things and snrreieI the land and marked II
with the stakes. and laid OUT roads through H..
Even this was not all. After the roads were
i.arkcd out they leyclled them. ard hauled clay
i~Jm u claypit ON tho place ana 11adc them hard,
and dug cutters OF the sides. When thcy were
done the land WAS laid ont. ns tie ne!ghbOrs mo-
etrcs. ten, ana twenty acres. Tie Wild land be-
Ire the boys touched H. was worth 50 an acre;
their labor made II worth at least $50 an acre.
All this was not done In n day. several years
bad passed since the two Englshmen bought
tho property. and some, OF tho larger boys
young incn. The nc!rhbors nnd the townspeoplo
might stu be Wondering ut smith and Johe $ .
tremenaons family OF boys anu the work .nsy ui,
ing and gone out tO shoot qitlls. The simmons
land nd yyins the thousand,acre TRACT That the
pnviouSly over the wire renee at the we'll
dressed boys. 50 different in every way from
himself. Joe is u cracker boy, native Or south
Florida, an ndmlrer Of the Linnd- trimmed
COwhoy hat ana the shurt-sternined pipe, but
he ha ap d" ttmse ,s rrmiry %i ShLSwGmeis s nnii
or CuriDslty led him up to the wire ience, and as
he stocd leani Ing aHninSt post puflng MS littie
~ plough drawn by u mule thnE was Inclined
to le ugly. About every third step the mule
made violent protest about something and the
English boy was afraid of him.
sand spurs in his tail said Joe when the
boy was close beside HIM.
That was the trouble, but the young English
man did not like the idea OF going close enough
10 the mule to take them ont. lie looked care
fully up and down the field to see whether any
body was IN sight and, seeing no one, invited Joe
To crawl between the wires and get him ont Of
trouble. joe did sO and witt few words to the
mule the animal WAS quieted.
= M awfully obliged TO you" said the Eng
lishmnn, but don't stay in here. Mr.. Smith
would raise the deuce with me If he saw me
talking To you"
WHAT fer = Joe asked, with another puff at
his pipe. He had lew words to waste.
lie doesn't allow US To have anything to do
with th., Americans" the Engiishnian replied,
ss. sIr ons M M the SSa Srs ,n Rnpa wnS
cans will take advantage of us, ho says. and
cheat us wherever they can, 20 he makes us
kind. I'm sure"
Joe began to be very much amused at this,
but nothing could make linn show any emotion
in his face. he took three or four short putis.
and asked:
Then 1t was the Englishman who was amused.
"Waees!, he LAUGHED %R2 @ you Thin think we're we're
one. Why, young fellow. we all pay big stake
to stay here. Didn't you know this was "a
schoOly We're here to learn the orange bust
samc tGsy H would in any other % sahoo @ We're
not working for wages, but just to learn the
business"
y" H"w much might you be pnyin TO learn the
the business Z" Joe asked, 50 much interested
now that he almost allowed himself to show II
orange ] business was a revelation M to o him. He
had learcd 1t himself in all its branches before
ho was ten years old, and when he plough.d
a dollar and half a day.
"A hundred and twenty pounds a year is the
regular price" the Englshman replied. but
equal to about 5000 of your money"
Tho cracker boy WAS too shrewd to frighten
further
He bided his time and put in . few skiiful hints
whenever he liked The Englishman snapped
at the bait and they made an appointment.
of orange ran S culture: % % You know know told yon that
t!.ey don't allow Us to have anything 10 do with
the Americans and they wouldn't let me go with
The result OF Joe Slmmonss shooting expedi-
tions with his English friend was complete
unfolding OF the plans which Smith and Jones
their Florida property. The details did not all
come out at once, because the boy did rot know
them all but his story gave clue TO the neigh
bors. whch they followed up until the mystery
smith and jones and Thompson were three
young Englishmen. who knew from their cwn cN-
perience how ove.crowdcd is every occupation in
England. and what II rush there is for promising
openings in the colonies. Being able to COM
mand II few thousand pounds among them, they
set out deliberately to take advantage OF this
rush for TAR countries. and chose Florida tor
their operations not to make money directly
1" 81 OF t6sr MeV to
trymen b. pretending 10 teach their sons how
- grow wealthy. 1t was scheme that re.
quircd time for its development, and they
took plenty of time. Thompson, being the best
talker of the three. was selected to remain in
England and do he advertising and what might
be called the ropine in. while smith and Jones
emgrated TO Florida and devoted year or two
10 learning, something about the business.
Neither OF them had ever seen All orange tree
except under glass: but they went direct to the
heart of the orange country, in Orange county
two years they knew as much about orange
trees and fertilizers and Florida soils as any one
in the State. and were ready to begin on their
ii was absolutely necessary for tho carrying
out of the plan 10 have prosperous look ing
highly profitable. TO Ret this at II low price
smith and Jones went further south in the State
and took time 10 make n selection, finding at
length the grove that they bought, well away
from n town, with good SOL under the trees, and
This last was indispensable. because the plan
included not only teaching English ''gei.ta-
mems sons" the noble art Of orange culture for
u consideration. but also selling them small
tracts OF land at high prices on which the boys
could go into business for themselves. The
would not do 10 let the boys associate with the
natives, or they would soon learn that they were
throwing away their money.
NO expense was spared to make the place look
attractive and profit able. The boys must bc
made 20 believe that the orange business Is i'm
mensey profitable, or they would not induce
their parents To buy land for them. They must
send rosy accounts home. and be we'll satisfied.
Smith and Jones understood the art of pctting
and forcing orange trees They knew that the
average yield Of two boxes to the tree could be
forced up to ten boxes. sometimes fifteen boxes,
by highly expensive fertilization, out of all pro-
portion to the returns But the cost was of no
account as long ns the trees could he made to
appear very profitable. They were working for
appearances. and doing all their own work be-
cause II WAS dangerous 10 encourage the pres
ence OF natives. who might talk too much.
As soon as the trees were forced up 10
The proper point and the house made ready
for boardors tho trap wag ready 10 bait and
set. An exhaustive pamphlet had been written
In Florida and printed In England under ThomI-
sons supervision showing wealthy English
fathers how quickly their sons might acquire
fortunes by going into the orange business: aud
Thompson, who had hucn utilizing the time by
telling his acquaintances, OF the wonderful sue
cess OF Smig h and JOuef, began his active opera
tons. His first public step was to print an at
tractive little advertisement Ike this in all the
widely circulated English newspapers:
LrLORlDA.-- Britnnvle, Phosphate CO.-ERgiish Col.
ony.- GenTlemons sons taught orange ana fruit
culture generally by MeSsrS, smith and Jones Terms
moderate, Write for pamphlet TO ar, J. THOMPSON,
stOnrhuTst, BDvIGgton, Sussex.
Within few weeks this brought a number Of
Inquiries. and Thompson not Only mailed his
m I.tg trealv rAIia1 u Iarh