Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-01-10

(. neutrality-suspicious. OF Gazette and journal
BLooMLAND, FLA, Jan. L. Any |
stranger who may have struck Florida
withinithe past two or three days might
well have asked himself if he hadn't
missed connection and landed in Mani
toba. We have been frozen out here in
this sunny land-frozen with ven
I geance. The wires have, no DOUBT, told
I you the story in general way before
] this, but one must be on the ground to
J appreciate the extent and meaning of
! this cold wave gone astray.
4 ALI Florida went to bed in apprehen-
sion last Thursday night, to awake
! Friday morning millions of dollars
poorer. From the meagre information
at hand at this writing learn that the
4 whole ungathered orange crop, aggregat-
ing probably 100000 boxes, is totally
gone, and that the trees themselves, in
many instances, have been killed out
right or damaged beyond recovery. If
the freeze is as general as reported, the
pineapple plantations of the extreme
southeastern and southwestern countie
may be added to the disastrous total.
Nothing approaching it has been known
hereabout since the memorable freeze of
1886.
Just think of there at Eustis, half
way down the peninsula, the thermome-
ter went down to 1S0 on Friday night
and to 22o on Saturday night! And there
was ice an inch thick in tubs and water
barrels and grass margining lake shores
was fringed with icicles that did not thaw
out till noon. But for the high wind
there would have been ice on the lakes
themselves-lakes fringed with groves
laden with ripened, yellow oranges,
frozen hard as balls of wood.
In this section very little of the orange
crop had been picked, the growers
generally preferring to hold their fruit
for better prices.
Had the weather gone on as usual much
of this fruit would have been left on
the trees till March or April. In past
winters there has been. little risk, this
far south, in thus holding oranges for
the spring market, but this time the
venture has involved the total destruc-
ton of this years crop at least. How
far the trees have been affected remains
to be seen, but it is apparent to every
one that the average orange tree is not
built to stand such a blast and come
through unscathed, Some growers here
entertain hopes that the trees will escape
with the loss of their tendcrer twigs,
others are apprehensive that the freeze
will unfit them for bearing for year Of
more, knocking out next years crop as
well as this, if it has not already, as il
1886, killed many Of the trees down tc
the ground.
1t is like failure of the peach cror
in Delaware, but worse, not only as tc
the amount involved, but more espe
cially because so many Floridians ar,
orange growers exclusively, and wher
That crop is gone all is gone. Hundred
raise practically nothing else, not evel
potatoes for their own tables nor proven
der for their horses.
In my own little garden l have ha,
unpleasant, but in some degree instruc
tive, opportunity to observe the effect o
the freeze on vegetables. Friday nigh
killed radishes, beans, tomatoes and egg
plants, generally, and badly nippe
lettuce and peas. Saturday night fin
ished the lettuce and knocked out mos
of my cabbage plants. Strangel
enough few tomato plants, perhap
one out of so, survived both frosts, as di
also larger proportion of cabbage an
egg-plants. Some of the peas also seer
70 be still alive but rather shaky. Youn
onions appear to have largely escaped
while my Strawberries do not look an
the worse fer the ordeal. As for IN
little grove, a pessimistic neighbor, on
of those Jobs comforter fellows ma
meets in every community, kindly +,
marked yesterday that he wouldn't Civ
two cents for the trees. But they al
not for sale at that price Just yet.
Some of my Wilmington star. gain
friends may be interested in hearing
stars visible here that are never seen
Delaware, respondent among the
Campus, the brightest gem Of Il
southern hemisphere, which yields on
to Sirius in lustre. Campus is at Ii
best now near midnight, when he Q
tains an altitude of about 10 degree
Earlier in the evening another iii
magnitude star, Achernar, skins 1
southern horizon, rising to a height
about A degrees. Two or three mont
from now | expect to see the upF
half of the Southern cross, but hard
think l am far enough south to glimr
the brightest star IN that consolidate
JUDGE