Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-11-28
this pretty place, the tourists Il will


call ourselves tourists" for this trip,
go out into a lowland and also wood
land (pine predominates) which is con-
tinuous until within half or quarter
Of mile Of Mr.. Thomasson's residence.
Between "Six Mile Creek" and our
destination, distance Of about miles,
we came in sight Of one residence, and
it was about quarter Of mile off the
road. From the buggy we could see
the Florida razor back" hogs, all
brands, moving about over the woodland
and roofing among the palmetto BUSH
es. The palmetto, from which South
Carolina get its nickname, grows all
over Florida in great abundance.
We could also see from the buggy
that there are much turpentine interests
in the section through which we pass
ed There were thousands Of trees that
had been boxed and peeled, 30 that
the sap and rosin would be ready for
the stills when it was wanted by the
operators. The boxes or troughs are
cut with an axe made especially for the
purpose, and are about3 or inches deep,
and about two inches wide at the bot
tom. We also saw large coal kiln,
where they were preparing to make
charcoal for the local blacksmiths. l
heard the sound Of an axe on this
beautiful Sunday morning, and asked
what it meant. I received the reply,
promptly from Mr.. Thomasson. He
said: "Oh! that Is Seventh Day Ad-
ventist; he kept Sunday yesterday"
In passing to the next item might
say that Sunday is the hunting day for
the sports of this section, including
Tampa, and when one goes outside the
city limits, he can hear guns popping
away almost like sham battle. Peo-
pie in this county who have to work all
week, don't see no harm in shootin' on
Sunday"
Now, I will come to the part that
may prove interesting to THE ENoU1-
RER's readers in York. AS we drove
up, we saw Mr.. John Thomasson sitting
on the front piazza of his residence
eating oranges. I, for my part, was
little surprised at this, for, being a
greenhorn, I didn't think one who
raised oranges would care to eat them
very extensively. "How many do you
eat a day." I asked, and he said,
"Oh, two and sometimes three dozen
a day. No matter how many one eats,
they do not injure him; but they are
good for an appetizer. Help yourself!"
1 accepted the invitation and ate a
few which were on top Of g. basket In
the front porch.
After we had put the horse in the
stable and had sat down awhile, we
accepted an invitation from Mr.. Thom-
asson to go out and see one Of his or
ange groves. At this season the fruit
is ripe and beautiful. The oranges on
the trees looked like gold shining in
the sun. There were about 80 trees in
this grove and about rs Of them were
full of fruit. Mr.. Thomasson says
that there are about 300 or $50 boxes
of oranges in this grove. When we
were fairly into the grove, we received
another invitation to ''help yourselves.
We did so with much delicacy (O
After we had taken in this grove, we
strolled back to the house, and found
Mr.. M. L. Thomasson, who had just come
in from a ride over the place. When
he saw me he said: did you bring me
an ENQUIRER? How are you" told
him that THE ENQUIRER hadn't arrived
when I left Tampa, and I didn't get It.
He said, "Well, why didn't you bring
the last one you received. I haven't
seen it?"
Mr.. Thomasson, Sr., Mrs. Thomasson
and their little daughter, arrived from
Yorkville last week, and expect to spend
a two months visit with Mr.. John
It. Thomasson and Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph
Hamel. Mr.. Hamel is the owner Of a
fine orange grove and lives about half
a mile from Mr.. Thomasson.
At the suggestion Of Mr.. John Thom-
asson, we went over to one of his other
groves and here we found one Of the
prettiest sights in Florida. The trees
were heavily loaded with fruit, so much
so that some of them had to have props
under almost all the large limbs. I
was informed that some Of the trees
had as many as fifteen boxes Of fruit
on them, so one can see from this that
they were loaded down.
Orange trees have to be cultivated
lust as much as does cotton. In the
spring the grove is plowed and fertil-
lied, and this is repeated in June when
it gets it's last plowing.
I asked Mr.. Thomasson how he man
aged to keep the cold out in winter.
There is no occasion for an orange
grove to freeze If the proprietor Is
careful" said he; "now last winter I
fired this grove three times. Firing
a grove simply means that I put fires
among the trees so as to give them an
artificial warmth. I saved all my
trees"
It having reached the hour of IL m,
we decided to go back to the house,
a mile distant, where, on arriving, we
found an excellent dinner awaiting US.
Mrs. Thomasson had prepared 1t In
such a manner as is only known to the
South Carolina housekeeper, where the
best of everything comes from.
We are both under many obligations
to Mrs. Thomasson and to Messrs. M.
L. and John T. Thomasson, for the de-
lightful and instructive visit we spent
with them Such a trip as this is not
easily forgotten. Leaving our kind
friends about o'clock we drove back
to Tampa, meeting no one on the way
until within six miles of the city. Hav-
ing taken up more space than had in
tended, will close for this time. Hop
ing this may interest the many readers,
I am very truly, REG M. GRIsT.
SOUTHERN WEALTH IN CoTToN.-The
South's cotton crop this year will be
worth from s45O,OOOOOO to $5O0.0OO,0O0,