The morning news., 1899-03-13
THE FREEZE IN FLORIDA.
Mr.. j. c. Cnusey Thinks 1t VIII BE
Many Years Before the state Re-

covers.
Mr.. J. c. Causey Of the firm Of John
staum & Sons, produce commission mer-
chants of Baltimore, has been visiting
Maj. G. NJ. Ryals. Mr.. Causey has just
returned from a trip through Florida.
which was made in the interests of his
house, and embraced the entire state.
He was asked yesterday to give his i'm
pressions of the state of the fruit and veg
etable industries in Florida and the dam
age that has been done them by the cold
of this season. the damage" said Mr.
Causey. lis almost inestimable. No one
can tell either its amount or the length
OF time 1t will probably continue. Not
only have the growers suffered heavy
financial loss, but the intense cold and
killing frosts of the last few years have
discouraged them and induced them TO
abandon the orange industry to a very
large extent The last freeze was the
straw that broke the cameTs back"
The orange trees north of Leesburg
have all been killed to the ground, and
those that were not banked, that is, pro-
tected by earth thrown up around the
trunk of the tree, are completely dead.
Those that were banked will put out
shoots this spring and next year will prob
ably bear a small crop of fruit. The trees
on many of the groves had been well taxi
en- care of since the freeze of 1895, and this
season gave every promes of a full crop.
It is their destruction now, happening af-
ter the expenditure of time, money and
labor during four years, that has caused
the growers to become discouraged, and
many of them TO cease the cultivation Of
their groves"
''On the peninsula around ST. Peters
burg and in Manatee county the trees
are uninjured and will produce a full
crop this season. over the rest of the
state the crop will be failure. Had the
crop reached perfection and been market
ed it would have been worth at least s2,
600 600. This amount of money has GER
tainly been lost, and when the prospective
profits on the trees, through the fifty
years of an orange trees life, are en-
braced in the estimate, it is scarcely possl-
BILE to obtain a conception of the extent
of the demage. Most of the growers north
of Micanopy will attempt again 10 bring
their groves into bearing but many of
them i'm this section of the orange belt
say that they will never cultivate their
groves again"
''The damage to the vegetable crop was
about as complete" continued Mr.. eau
sey, everything north of Tampa having
been killed by the freeze. The cabbage
crop, on account of the poor prices that
have obtained for the past two years,
was very light anyhow and the cold de-
stroyed what there was OF It, Some small
shipments of cabbage have been made to
the Northern markets. but the stock was
light, not well headed and of poor quail
ity The potatoes were rotted in the
ground by the heavy rains that preceded
the freeze I'd that completed the de-
struction. Tomato plants were killed in
the beds and in the fields The crops Of
lettuce and eggplant were destroyed
Mr. Causey was asked what had been
the effects of the freeze of last week, and
replied that while the damage was con-
siderable, it, of course, did not compare
with that done by the blizzard. New
crops had been planted in the place Of
those destroyed and these were nipped and
retarded Tomatoes had been planted from
the seed in the fields, and these plants
had Just shown themselves above the
ground and were killed. Beans were also
just coming up, but these were covered
when the farmers learned that the cold
wave was on it's way. The crop will be
reduced by the covering and uncovering
of the plants
''The loss of the tomato crop, which the
last freeze rendered almost complete, is
probably the most severe blow that the
farmers in Florida have suffered. In that
state the crop is of great Importance, the
tomatoes are exceptionally fine and always
command good prices. In my opinion"
Mr.. Causey concluded, ''the fruit and veg
etable growers have received a setback
this year, from which il will take them
many years to recover"