The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-02-23

Pines are planted close together two
set up through the patch, four to five
feet apart, six or eight feet high, and SO
arranged that a light covering made OF
lath, thin board or frames covered with
burlaps, in sections easy to handle, can
be laid upon them at once inclosing the
entire lot, while other frames are set up
at the sides, thus completely covering
them and protecting them fully. In
many cases, where the owner is rich
enough to make this extensive protec-
tlon-and ffve-acre patch costs consid-
cradle to protect this way-huge fires
! are built around the Enclosure or field, in
such manner that the smoke will drift
over the pines, and thus protect them.
Early vegetable growers, or truckers"
guard their patches of vegetables in
this manner, as it is too costly to pro-
tect by covering method. Bonfires seem
the best and cheapest protection, how
ever, for oranges and vegetables, and is
most practiced.
| Most of the damage done to orange
trees from the frost is the splitting that
comes afterward, when the suns hot
rays fall upon the wood. Just before
this last cold wave the weather had
been warm; the trees We're putting forth
new wood, and the sap was we'll up into
the branches. This was a bad feature,
for a cold snap would materially injure
them, much more so than If the previ-
Gus weather had been uniformly cold
keeping the growth dormant. Luckily
this cold wave had dissipated most of its
force when it struck this state. A few
thousand dollars for replanting, etc.,
will pay all damages it caused. At this
point the temperature was twenty nine
degrees, and ice formed; at Ocala, Or
lando and other interior contigu ous
points in that section, twenty-nine to
thirty degrees; at Tampa, thirty de-
grees; at Manatee river sections, thirty
four degrees; at Jupiter, thirty-two, and
at Miami, ,thirty-five degrees Thus it
is seen that the cold was so slight in the
orange and pineapple sections that, with
the ample warnings that were sent, few
groves or pineapple fields suffered.
Young growth was cut off in many
groves, and many fields of tender vege-
tables were cut down, but on the whole
the loss waslght
In the main orange section hardly
tree is reported to have been hurt to any
extent; the pineapple growers say that
their places are all right, and only the
truck growers report any losses, On
the east coast below Jupiter nothing
was harmed.
Years ago the growing of oranges and
other tropical fruits in this state was
conducted in a haphazard manner, and
the cold waves were looked upon as
bugbears, rather than realities. The
frost line so-called. below which no
damaging frost was supposed ever to
come, was placed according to the
claims of each community. Thus the
Palatka people, on the st. Johns, fifty
seven miles south Of here, claimed it as
their property. Orlando declared that
the only genuine "double-and-twist"
frost line was in that neighborhood.
Other southern points made the same
claims; the purchaser of a grove was
informed of them all, and had to study
it out at his leisure. The big freeze.
however, showed that there was no
frost line" but that eternal vigilance
was the price of good and valuable
groves, as was the case with planting
industries in other sections of the coun-
try Since then the orange-growers
have learned WISDOM and now the pro-
lection Of grove is looked after as
much as it's fertilizing. The result IS
that the orange groves of the state are
in fine condition, bear good crops, and
the owners now realize better profits
and have a much more valuable proper
y-Jacksonville Special in the New
York Tribune.