The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-12
FLORIDA ORANGE GROVES.
Largely Owned by NOn-Residents
who Employ Permanent RESIDENT

Largely Owned by Non-Residents.
who Employ Permanent Residents
Lake Maitland Fla, Sept 1O.-In consid-
ering the remarkable manner in which the
people Of this state have passed through
a severe crisis following the great freeze,
one very important element of their sue
cess has been largely overlooked; and
that is the fact that very many groves are
| owned by non-residents, or persons who
simply have winter homes here. All this
class of property owners are not depend
| emit upon their orange groves for a sup
port. Most of them hold their groves eth
| er in connection with winter homes or
| for the mere pleasure of ownership. There
are some few, however, who hold them as
| voluntary investments and for the sole
purpose of making money out of the orange
| crop.
Another class OF owners is that which
| involuntarily came into possession of or
ange groves by the foreclosure of past
due mortgages. OF this class the Travel
ers' Insurance Company, the Standard
Oil Company and well known home and
| foreign loan companies are prominent
| The Bradley Fertilizer Company has some
investments of this kind in this county
including the famous Bradley Grove"
| near AlJdInOnlS
When money used to be loaned readily
on orange grove property it was consider
| ed safe investment, and in some cases
| the loans were too large, and when the
property finally came into the hands Of
| the holder Of the mortgage 1t was worth
less than the amount loaned, while In
| few cases It was worthless. There are to-
| day many men in Florida that loaned
money recklessy in days of prosperity
| who now have a half dozen almost worth
| less groves on their hands because OF the
| freeze, and but few of these groves are
being properly cared for at this time. Peo-
| Pile came here without sufficient means to
| bring a grove into bearing after planting
it. and mortgage was the only means OF
| temporary relief, and in many cases
| foreclosure followed.
When the big freeze came 1t democrat
lied the picking, packing and shipping
part Of the orange business, and sent
away large number of men engaged In
| those departments. There had been
steady increase in the business for sew
eral years and that winter there were
more and better packing houses in the
| state than ever before, some of the new
ones being quite extensive and fitted up
with all the modern appliances for the
rapid handling of big crop. To the own
| ers Of these packing houses the freeze
was a severe blow, as nearly all OF this
kind of property is stin idle and will be
for year or two.
To grove owners resident here and de-
pending to some extent upon the orange
crop for a support, the loss was not so
heavy, as they have been able to utilize
their land in growing other crops, both
for family use and for sale Then a large
majority of these people are In some way
connected with the care of groves belong
ing TO non-residents, and this service
brings them in sure and timely monthly
income. 1t Is this fact that has enabled
Florida to pull through her recent calam-
ity The number of nonresident owners
is very large, and as they are constantly
sending ready cash here to pay for plow-
ing, fertilizing and caring for their groves,
there has been no lack OF work and pay
for good portion OF our permanent pop
ulation
To give an idea Of the extent OF this
nonresident and iwinter-resldent grove
ownership, let me put before the readers
of the Morning News the names of some
Of this class here in Maitland. Banker
Huugerford of Chester, Conn; Banker
Hall OF Ishpeming, Mich; Bishop Whipple
of Fairbanks, Mimi; Mr. Brunson OF OHIO;
Mrs. Woodward of New York; Mr.. THURS
ton Of ST. Paul, Mimi; Mrs. Boynton OF
Boston, Mass. Banker Hall of Chicago;
Mr.. Dominick OF New York; DR.. Haskell
of Jacksonville; Or. Kingsley of New Jer-
sey; Mr.. Willett OF England; Rev. DR..
Kedney of Minnesota; Mr.. Foss OF Maine;
Mr.. Poor of Massachusetts; all have WIN
ter homes as well as groves 10
be cared for. Bankers Sprague and
Clark OF Boston. the Shaler Bros. of Con-
necticut, Mr. Vail and Mr.. Strong and
Mr.. Adams Of New York. Mr.. Beall OF
Maryland, Rev DR. Little of Virginia,
the Chattahoochee National Bank of Co
lumbus Ga; Prof Scomp of Tennessee,
the MeBrayers Of Kentucky, the Tray