6
FLORIDA LEADS.
A Number of Valuable and Inte
resting Truths.
The editor of the Arcadia Champion
has compiled a column of interesting
facts in regard to this state, which we
quote for the information of our read
ers:
“Florida has the lowest death rate
of any State, in spite of the fact that
many incurable invalids are brought
here to die.
The finest grade of tobacco is raised
in this State and sells for 70 cents per
pound. The city of Tampa alone
makes more Havana cigars than the
island of Cuba, and one-third of that
brand made in the world.
Florida grows the famous Sea Island
cotton that sells at 30 cents per pound
10 cents.
Florida is the only State in the
Union where stock cattle do not die
of starvation unless fed in winter. Cat
tle die of old age in this State if they
escape the butcher long enough.
On account of proximity to large
city Northern markets Florida has no
rival as the winter garden of the United
States. The vegetable shipments
amount to millions yearly, but might
easily be greatly increased.
No other State in the Union pro
duces Florida oranges. Others may
grow oranges but they cannot compete
with the Florida seedling when proper
ly ripened and marketed.
Eighteen counties, out of our 46,
grow oranges and other citrus fruits
and the output for this year is given
approximately as 3,465,300 boxes.
Florida phosphates are famous the
world over. Many millions are invest
ed in our phosphate lands and they are
making millions more for the owners.
Florida has the oldest city in the
Union, St. Augustine, and will, when
completed, have the only railroad into
the Gulf of Mexico which will connect
the island on which one of our largest
cities, Key West, is located, with the
mainland. This East Coast Extension
will be completed early in 1907.
The climate of Florida is th.e most
equable of that of any State. We have no
blizzards, no cyclones, no earthquakes,
and no violent changes of temperature.
No sunstrokes in summer, no freezing
in winter.
The earliest frost in Tampa for the
last sixteen years was November 28th,
in 1903, and the latest killing frost
occurred March 9th, in 1892.
The average velocity of the wind for
the same sixteen years, during Decem
ber, was six miles per hour. Mean, or
normal temperature for December, 61.
Florida has a population of less than
600,000. The land of the State, if equal
ly divided among the inhabitant's, would
give each about 57 acres, and the per
capita wealth of each one of the 600,-
000 is put down at $377.00. Nobody
is abjectly poor in Florida. Many are
rich, but the must of us are comfort
ably well to do.
’Florida has 46 counties thirty of
which are dry, with only 16 yet to
vote into the temperance column. Sev
eral counties within the last year have
held wet and dry elections and the
contagion is spreading. The day is not
far distant when Florida will be a tem
perance State.
The Merits Of Mulching.
A writer, in the Country gentlemen,
recommends mulching instead of cul
tivating. We can endorse all that he
says and add that in Florida, during
our long hot summers, it is even more
beneficial than at the north.
The merits of mulching are as yet
but little understood. Between mulch
ing and cultivating, I should nearly
always choose mulching, provided the
material necessary for that purpose
were present. In the case of a tree,
I 'should without exception, prefer
the mulch. With bush fruits it is the
same. The capabilities of the black
berry and the raspberry will never be
known until they have been grown
under a heavy mulch. The abundance,
plumpness and juiciness of the ber
ries will be a revelation. But the dif
ficulty and cost of procuring mulch
ing material set a limit to this form
of plant feeding. Mulching has be
come popularized chiefly through its
universal application to strawberries,
but its benefits to all other forms of
growth have not been widely tested.
In this article I wish especially to
speak of the mulching of young trees
and shrubs in the yard and where it
is not possible to cultivate them. No
form of young tree life will grow
fast and vigorously in a sod. The sod
itself is a drain upon the soil both as
regarding its moisture and its fertili
ty. It intercepts the rain and the
plant food that the water makes avail
able. The tree will usually make but
a weak and feeble growth, and it con
dition will invite the attacks of insect
enemies, who are always on the alert
for helpless victims.
It is of course impossible to culti
vate where there is a permanent sod.
The thing to do, then, is to mulch. If
it be in the fall, apply coarse manure
in a circle four or five feet in diameter.
In the spring, in order that the yard
may look neat and smooth, the coat .*
er parts may be removed and replaced
with cut lawn grass during the sum
mer. This treatment will stimulate
the tree into a rapid growth which
will soon give it a root system that
will make it independent of surround
ings.
A mulch is the very best thing to
employ in case it becomes necessary
to water a tree or plant. Watering
in hot, dry weather often does more
harm than good. A crust is formed,
the water does not soak in far until
it is all evaporated, and the crust con
tinues to drain the soil moisture that
would otherwise have been left in it.
All these evil effects are avoided if
a mulch is used. Pour the water on
the mulch and it will go through, and
all soak gradually into the soil, which
is cool and protected from the sun.
No crust can form, and the plant or
tree gets the full benefit of the water
applied.
Although I have not tested it on a
large scale, I have proved to my full
satisfaction, in the case of quite a
number of orchard trees, that mulch
ing is superior to cultivation, and
much cheaper. Not only that but cul
tivation is a great exhauster of hu
mus, and that element must be con
stantly renewed, either by turning un
der cover crops or by manure.
When I set a tree, l mulch it with
coarse manure, grass, straw, chips or
rubbish of any kind, with the result
that the tree grows right along re
gardless of droughts, and arrives at
bearing size much sooner than trees
that are supposed to be cultivated
but as a matter of fact are only, re
membered at irregular vlmes. Once
applied, the mulch ; s there for the
season and demands no further at
tention.
' I will not enter here into all the ad-
THE E LORI DA AGRICULTURIST.
vantages claimed for the mulching
system over that of cultivation, but
will say that if I were starting a com
mercial orchard I should most cer
tainly adopt the mulching system. If
the ground were already in sod, I
should not break it up, but set at once,
mulching around the trees heavily
enough to smother all growth of vege
tation. If, however, the ground were
not in sod, I should mulch the trees
and then cultivate the middles, des
troying weeds and laying up a store of
humus by sowing and turning under
leguminous crops until the trees were
of bearing age. I should then sow
with grass, mow often enough to keep
down rank growth, and place all or
part of the cuttings, according to
quantity, around the trees. The vigor
of the grass must be maintained at
a pitch that will insure a heavy cut
ting for mulching, and, if necessary,
I should top-dress with stable manure
or commercial fertilizers. Growth un
der the tree would be partly subdued
by heading them so low that the low
er limbs, in the case of spreading
varieties, when burdened with a crop,
would rest upon . the ground. Then,
with spraying and judicious thinning,
Ishould expect to have an orchard
that would give maximum returns
with a minimum outlay, and that
would have no off years, except when
the inclemency of the season made
bearing impossible.
How Plants Become Mixed.
A correspondent of the Galveston
News has anew theory of the method
by which plants become mixed. He
cites some items from his own experi
ence which seem to bear out his con
clusions. But there is so much evi
dence which is directly opposed to his
theory that we must be excused from
endorsing it, in fact we feel inclined to
dispute it positively. We shall be very
glad to hear from our readers who
have had experience, as to their views
on this question.
I see in a recent issue of the News
that Mrs. R. R. Richardson, of Meeker,
Ok., asks: “Can any one tell how po
tatoes mix without blooming?” This
is a question that can be easily settled,
although there are different theories.
Many claim grain of all kinds, cotton
and vegetables all mix from the pollen.
Others claim they mix from growing
together, but neither is the case, as I
think I will be able to prove. My
proof will be from an experiment that
thoroughly convinces me and my
neighbors who watched the result of my
experiment. Some years ago I enlarg
ed my garden and the land I took in
was where a fence had stood for many
years and was very rich, and gourds
had been growing in said fence corners.
It so happened that we planted squash
es where the gourds grew the year be
fore, and the result was disastrous to
our choice squash, for it was bitter and
tasted like a gourd. There was not
a gourd grown in or anywhere near our
garden, so I naturally concluded that
our squash mixed with the gourd
from being planted on the land where
gourds grew the year before. Not
being satisfied with this theory, I
was determined to give it an impartial
practical test, so the next year we
planted a few of these squashes, to
gether with seed of other squashes,
side by side, on land where our beans
grew the year before, and the result
was the squash from the seed of the
bitter or mixed squash was bitter and
the other seed produced sweet squash.
My experience doesn’t stop with the
squash, for as I have stated, I was de
termined to give it a fair and impartial
test. I planted yellow and white corn
alternately on land where cotton grew
the year before, planting eight rows of
white and eight rows of yellow, all
through, and did the same on a small
piece of land where white corn grew
the year before, and the result thor
oughly convinced mie, for the corn
that I planted on the cotton stubble
land was not mixed; eight rows were
white and eight rows were yellow all
through; but not so with the small
patch of about two acres that I planted
on the corn stubble. The yellow corn
was mixed, but the white corn was not
mixed, and white corn grew there the
year before.
I put cotton and sweet potatoes to
the same test, and the result was the
same. Broom corn and sorghum will
mix from planting after each other.
Oats and wheat will not mix by planting
after each other, but will mix by plant
ing different wheat where wheat grew
the year before, and the same with
oats. We often see fields of wheat
mixed; also oats, rye, barley and other
grain. I wiljl not impose on your
accommodating editor by giving the
result of my experiments on the sub
ject, but suffice it to say that all vege
tation mixes in like manner. We all
know that fruit of all kinds grows
together in the same orchard without
mixing. This ought to prove that
the pollen has nothing to do with it.
To be convinced on that line, suppose
you do as I did —dig up a fruit tree,
either peach, apple, pear, plum or any
other fruit, and plant in same place a
different peach where the one you dug
up grew, and the same with apple,
pear, etc. You wall find that you have
a mixture of the fruit that formerly
grew there, together with the kind
planted. Understand that different
kinds of peach mix with each other, and
all other fruits likewise.
I look for some theorist to contra
dict my explanation as to how this mix
ture takes place, but I wish to say
plainly that all the theories and specu
lation on this subject that can be
brought against my own test cannot
convince me against what I have learn-
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