LETTERS FROM FLORIDA.


woman would not rest long uutil-alone, if itnmust be
-she had brought some order out of this confusion,
some beauty out of this decay! I know I should for-
get fatigue and suffering in the great pleasure of
working'out such transformation.
 Do not think that Florida is full of deserted vil-
lages and moss-grown orange-groves. Some of the old
villages still remain unoccupied, and are rapidly losing
all semblance of anything that was probably once the
homes of refined and wealthy people; but Northern
enterprise and activity are improving and' building
up most of these waste places, and it will not be many
years before these will become habitable, comfortable
dwellings-if not stately mansions-and well-culti-
vated and productive orange-grove.
 "But an effort to reclaim such old, half-dead trees
as you have told, of seems preposterous. I should pre-
fer to grub up such unsightly objects, plant a young
grove, and possess my soul in patience till they came
to maturity."
 That, begging your pardon,.proves your ignorance


as regards orange-culture.
only one year's skillful la
have jumped to the same
when I first saw some of
gnarled and unsightly, wit
old age"; but since then I
unpromising, rejuvenated.
tured, grows more and mor
after it first commences bh


 You have been told how
bor was repaid. I should
conclusion that you have
the long-neglected groves,
;h no promise of "a green
have seen trees much more
The orange, when well nur-
e remunerative every year
caring, quite down to old


age; and even when neglected and abused for several