FLORIDA FARMER AND FRUIT GROWER, MARCH 2, 1887. The Floria Farmer adn Fruit Grower, A. H. CURTISS, Editor. C. H. JONES & BROTHER, PUBLISHERS. Office Cor. Bay and Laura Sts. THE FLORIDA FARMER AND FRUIT GROWER is an eight page 48 column illustra- ted weekly newspaper, devoted to the Farm, Garden, Orchard and Household Economy, and to the promotion of the agricultural and industrial InterestsofFlorida. It is published every Wednesday. Terms of Subscription. For one year ........... 12.0 -For six months 1.0 Clubs of five to one address....-............... 7.50 With dally TIMES-UNION, one year ...... 11.00 With daily TIMES-UNION, six months 6.00 With WEEKLY TIMES. one year...... 2.75 a-Subscrlptions in all cases cash in ad- vance, and no paper continued after the expiration of the time paid for. The date on the printed label with which the papers are addressed is the date to which the subscrlp- tion is paid and is equivalent to a receipt for payment to that date; if the date is not changed immediately after a new payment, the subscriber will please notify us at once. CORRESPONDENCE solicited on all sub- jects pertaining to the topics dealt with in this paper. Writers may affix such signatures to their articles as they may choose, but must furnish the editor with their full name and address, not for publication but as a guarantee of good faith. Rejected communications can- not be returned. ADVERTISEeMIENTS inserted to a limited extent.. Rates furnished on application. REMITTANCES should be made by Check, Postal Note Money Order, or Registered Letter, to order of C. H. JONES & BRO., Jacksonville, Fal. TABLE OF CONTENTS. FIRsT PAGE-Kaflir Corn (Illustrated); Ex- periments with Forage; The Umbrella China Tree; Vinifera Grapes in Florida; Budding Peach on Plum; The Root-Knot Disease (lllstrated); China Berries as Feed; New Methods with Red Scale; A Prosperous Year Ahead. SEcoND PAGE-Tropical Fruits in Florida, Ventilated Crates: Peach Culture; Effects of Soil on Figs; Grafting Wax; Service of Hawks andu( Owls; Hints on Herborizing; Cooling Fruit; The Castor Bean. TmRD PAGE-Kainit; The Sugar Industry in Cuba; Ideas on House Building; Do Wood Fires Hurt Land; Sorghum with Oats and Corn; Values of Hay Crops; Economy of Man- ure. FouRTH PAGE-(Editoral); Progressive Ideas; The South Florida Exposition; A Voice from Old Tampa; The Farmers are Organizing; A Letter from California; Hints to Correspon- dents. FxrnH PAGE-(Edited by Helen Harcourt); Our Home Circle; The Family Friend; Correspon- dence; Our Young Folk's Corner. SzxT PAGE-Horse Breeding in Florida; Man- agement of a Jersey Cow; A Southern Cattle Barn; A Study of Red Ants; Georgia Agri- cultural Report; Feeding Young ChiclIena; Caocoochee. SBzVENTH PAGE-Farm Miscellany (Illustrated); SA Strange Testimony; Japanese Metal Work, etc. EIGTH PAGE-Florida News in Brief; Cattle in South Florida; Okeechobee Drainage; Weather Report; Reports of the Cotton, Tobacco and Orange Markets and of the Jack- sonville Wholesale and Retail Markets. PROGRESSIVE IDEAS. One of South Florida's advanced thinkers and progressive workers writes to us as follows: "If I had ever made public my ideas of what was lacking in the way of agri- cultural knowledge in this State, I should say that in making up our prospectus you had stolen or adopted my ideas in full. This being the case I shall take pleasure in aiding you to the best of my ability." We do not lay. claim to any ideas which have not been entertained by hundreds of others ip this State, but we may have been among the first to publicly advance such.Ljdeas. Twelve years ago we changed our condition from that of a Virginia farmer to that of a. Florida orange grower, our original idea being the one which has located hundreds in Florida, namely, speculation in real estate. From the first we believed thatbthe policy so vehemently advocated by the railroad and real estate men was a policy of inflation which could end only in collapse. They were captivating people with the beauties of- an iridescent soap bubble, the idea of an unlimited demand for one of the minor luxuries of life at prices sufficient to enable hundreds of *thousands of people to make the pro-. duction of that luxury their sole depen- dence for support, and that in the face of enormous competition. It was the policy of the transportation companies to encourage the production of bulky crops which must necessarily be shipped over their lines and to dis- courage the production of food crops, meat and fertilizers, in order that they might profit by the shipment of such freights into Florida. So great were the moneyed interests involved in the carrying out of this policy that no one dared raise a voice against it; to do so placed one in the light of an enemy of the State and sub- jected him to the penalty of excommuni- cation, Therefore it was that hundreds who believed this policy would result Disastrously, and who entertained posi- tive ideas as to the true policy, preferred to hold their peace rather than be held up to public contumely. of events has rendered the inflationists considerably more modest in their manners and.less aggressive in their methods. The men of plain and prac- tical, common-sense ideas are coming for- ward now and their voices are begin- ning to be heard in the land. And when they hear each other talk they are sur- - prised to find their sentiments so much alike, and one thinks, like our friend in South Florida, that another has "stolen or adopted" his ideas. We would not express sentiments which we do not sincerely believe in, and we do not care to combat a prevail- ing sentiment. Therefore until within a year past we have been silent "as to questions of agricultural policy. The sentiment we announced at the outstart we believe to be in accord with the underlying sentiment of the people, and the expressions of approval which we have received from every quarter of the State fully sustain us in our original t position. In assuming an aggressive attitude to- wards all who are deceiving and robbing the people under whatever guise, espe- cially towards those who have played the wolf in sheep's clothing, we feel confident of public support. By open support we need harlly say that the people will serve themselves best. We have been careful from the out- start to keep out of the old ruts of con- ventional thought. We gave notice at the beginning that we were not to be muzzled, bribed or browbeaten, but that we were going to pursue a free and in- dependent course, which we certainly- shall do. If we chance to give any of our personal friends an occasional rap they will please consider it an editorial rap, indicating .that in our editorial opinion their attitude toward the public might be changed with advantage to the producing classes, whose interests we have singly in view. * THE SOUTH FLORIDA EXHIBITION. (CONTINUED FROM LAST NUMBER.) Resuming our account of the South Florida Exhibition at the point where we left off, we find ourselves emerging from Sumter county's space .into the quarter-section of the building which Hernando county undertook to filland did fill well, as is attested by the fact that she obtained the award for the best general county exhibit. Yet we were told by Senator. Mann that 150 boxes of Hernando's exhibits went astray. But for this misfortune, the room could hardly have been spared for the large and beautiful rustic pavilion which oc- cupied the centre of the space. It was designed by Mr. Cash M. Thomas, the commissioner for the county, who like- wise executed the gorgeous oil paintings of Hernando, the Land of Plenty. The other representatives of Hernando county were Mr. L. R. Eichemlaub, Mr. W. A. Jackson, and Mr. B. D. Benway and wife. Besides citrus fruits, which were not properly represented up to the time of our leaving, owing to the cause we have mentioned, the exhibits of Her- nando county included a ge'neralfline of farm products and home manufactures.. The oats were most conspicuous and ;most creditable. There were stalks of oats 74 feet high which grew on cow- penned pine land, others 7 feet high which "grew on unfertilized hammock soil, producing from 20 to 50 bushels to the acre; oats threshed, -in the sheaf, and used profusely for decoration. There were some specimens of .wheat of infe- rior quality said to have come from South American seed and to have pro- -duced .15 bushels on j acre of land. There were also exhibits of Sea Island cotton, tobacco, rice, conch peas, peanuts, sugar cane, German and pearl .millets. Besides such raw products of the soil we noticed silk cocoons and raw silk, cigars, arrowroot starch, sugar, syrup, wines, orange vinegar and pickled oysters, the latter being from the excel- lent oyster beds of Crystal river, the source of the so-called Cedar Keys oysters. -There were also an exhibit of amateur art, palmetto work, bread and cakes; also an assortment of sponges, of which a very fine quality is found off the Hernando coast, shells and other marine curiosities; also a collection of woods and marls. The exhibit of this county was more varied than that of any other. The ex- hibits of special excellence, which might safely be placed in competition with the same lines of. exhibits from other coun- ties or States were oats, sugar cane and its products, oysters and sponges, and probably citrus fruits might be added. VOLUSIA COUNTY'S EXHIBIT. As at New Orleans so at Orlando Mr. John Anderson was among the foremost of exhibitors.. If Ormond-on-the-Halifax does not get sufficiently advertised it is not by fault of Mr. Anderson. He had a most beautiful exhibit of citrus -fruits ,But times have changed. The logic in the centre of the main building, in- respond with him. 68 eluding some of the curious species which are niore ornamental than useful. The myrtle-leafed orange with very small leaves and red fruit-the latter having a bitter sweet flavor; the spice orange with red and very tart fruit re- sembling the mandarin in foliage; the little oblong kumquat; these with the mandarins and tangerines arranged on plates, in baskets and festoons produced a beautiful effect. Mr. Anderson showed us a hardy lime which he says was not affected by the freeze of '86, and Hart's Tardiff orange which even in the middle of February was not yet fully ripe. He informed us that the orange growers of the Halifax region had decided upon the varieties best suited for marketing at certain sea- sons. Thus, the best orange for mar- keting in October is found to-be the Pride of Malta (a sweet orange like the Sweet Seville): in November the Non- pareil and Washington Navel are the best for marketing; in December, the Mandarin and Homosassa; in January and February, the Jaffa, Starke's Seed- less and Homosassa; in March such of the fruit of tle foregoing as has not been gathered may be put into market; and .in April and May the Tardiff is in proper condition. According to this calendar the orange market may be supplied from the Flor- ida groves during eight months, pro- vided the growers do not yield to the fear of frost. Mr. Anderson is one of the unterrified, but he claims that hi 3 section is especially favored in this re- spec The prospective managers of the prospective Sub-Tropical Exposition may count on Mr. Anderson's assistance, and it will be no small assistance, either. BREVARD COUNTY'S EXHIBIT. Midway of one side of the building, opposite the Halifax river exhibit, and separated from the latter by Sumter's exquisitely packed oranges, we found a tempting array of Brevard county's characteristic products. These were at- tended by those veteran orange grow- ers of the Indian River, Mr. A. L. Hatch, Major C. B. Magruder and Dr. G. W. Holmes. Mr. Hatch showed us with justifiable pride his boxes of typical Indian River oranges packed with the utmost unifor- mity. Thenthere was a fine array of pine. apples, a fruit which ought to have been sent. in quantity from Monroe county, as well as cocoanuts, sapodillas, tamarinds, banaans, anonas, etC. Of the citrus fruits in the Brevard ex- hibit, aside from oranges, the most no. ticeable were the huge bergamots, cit- rons of paradise, and grape fruit. There were Sicily and French lemons, and what was called the "sweet lemon." This was said to be insipid in flavor; out- wardly it resembled an abruptly pointed tangerine orange. Mr. Hatch also show- ed us a fruit much resembling a com- mon orange which he called a "sweet lime. It seems that the citrus species have such a way of simulating each other, by [hybridization doubtless, that an ex- pert could not distinguish some of them apart if they were mixed together in a basket. When our personal opinion of any citrus fruit other than a lemon is called for, we like to be furnished a sharp knife; but when called upon again to sample such lemons as we were twice treated to, we shall ask for what the homceopathists term a "thousandth di- lution." Aside from the county exhibits we noticed several things of special interest to orange growers. Mr. Paine, of Jack sonville, had a patent- process for pre- serving oranges in a fresh condition for months after picking. Mr. Thos. Hiatt, of Leesburg, had an automatic orange sizer of extremely ingenious construc- tion which distributes spherical fruit with the utmost exactness accord- ing to the sizes required for packing in standard numbers. We would like to write twice as much as we have of this grand Exhibition, but we must terminate our narrative here, without even entering the two buildings devoted to the arts and manufactures of Orange county. We will simply say in conclusion that we felt trebly repaid for the time we devoted to this exhibition. first in the enjoyment it afforded us, sec- ond in the instruction derived from it, and third in meeting a large number of Florida's most progressive farmers and fruit growers. * OF INTEREST TO FRUIT GROWERS. We are requested by Mr. H. E. Van Deman, Chief of the Division of Pomol ogy of the Department of Agriculture at Washington, to ask "all who are in- terested in the growing of fruits to send their addresses upon postal cards" to to him. Mr. Van Deman wishes to place himself in communication with all the fruit-growers of the land and it cannot fail to be of advantage to them to cor- THE FARMERS ARE ORGANIZING A Western mmn came here looking for --- a home, and feeling as though he would And now a note of progress comes sell his black prarie for just enough from the populous shores of Manatee to bring him to Florida, and-to pay off river. Manatee county, by the way, is his mortgage! (So they do have the ugly beginning to feel herself too big for a things even in od's country" ) Welland single county, and there is a strong warehouses full of Western corn and probability of division at no distant day. hay his prairie rose fifty per cent. in his It is a great burden for the people of the estimation, and he went home to fut in Manatee river to travel forty miles by a big corn crop. I think he made a mistake. That wagon or on horseback to the court mortgage back there in Kansas tells house, and there are other localities still an ugly tale on corn and wheat. Be- more remote from the county seat. sides, Florida is not the ugly Southern State that is not self-supporting. The The communities on the Manatee river teamboats com down the Mississippi contain excellent materials for one or loaded with flour and meal. and bacon. more Farmers' Clubs, and we are glad to The commission housesitn Memphis and know that one has already been organiz- New Orleans are piled ceiling high with ed. We hope to hear from it from Western produce, to all be distributed ed. We hope to hear from it from month through the .cotton, belt.. -But, things are to month, and to have something of its .changing there, and they will cha.ige proceedings occasionally for publication, here. In our next number will be found a Mississippi has her agricultural col- second er fom the Dunedin Horti lege and her Dr. Phares. She has Ber- second paper from the Dunedin Horti mudagrass, dairies where ten yAars ego cultural Society. the scrub stock did not average as good The idea advanced below of holding as the wire glass stock of Florida. This meetings in gardens .or groves is an ex- is encouragement for Florida. Speaking of stock, I believe there are cellent one. With Mother Earth beneath great "possibilities" in our scrub stock. one's feet and with crops, implements I believe it will prove easier and cheaper and live stock around one, there is an to breed them up than to try to import opportunity for object lessons which very extensively. The razor back has come in for his share of male.liction. I cannot be enjoyed otherwise. want to see war made on the little thin Another advantage of farm meetings boned, pop-eyed runts that you see paw- is that they will be let alone by the rail- ing the sand around every herd of cows road agents. These gentlemen can bring in the woods. I believe if the matter in r all its serious and far reaching couse- themselves to associate with farm- quence was brought home to their own- ers for a few hours in gas-lit halls in ers these scrawny lordships would soon order to carry out their purposes, but be relegated to more peaceful and useful they are not going where they are likely lives, or I might say deaths. By the way, I bought a little cow out to catch the aroma of the barn-yard. of a pen where ten or fifteen were milked The following from the Manatee River once a day to obtain two quarts of milk., Advocate has the ring of the true metal: She now gives nearly five quarts a day Upon inquiry among our practical on a ration of three quarts of bran and farmers and gardeners, we hear. of one of cotton seed meal. No great re- several crop which one and another suits, it is true, but if you could see the haseveral rop which ied a nd remunerative diminutive udder of the subject of the Some will give their experience in the experiment you would consider the raising of one thing and others of an- achievement astonishing. Now if I other, and taken all together a pretty could substitute some product of my good practical experience is shown, place or of Florida for the bran and cot- which if generally understood would ton seed meal, my milk would come advance our farmers and gardeners, and cheaper. o give them the necessary knowledge to This b-ings me to the forage question successfully shape their workings. A lamglad you are going in for progress prosperous community is composed of and reform on the hay and grain ques- individuals who are prosperous in their tion, and I look to see much light thrown several callings; and as our community upon the subject through your columns. depends largely upon the successful I call for special reports on forage crops, cultivation of the soil, it stands us in and will in time follow the golden rul hand to take advantage of all the prac- and give your readers my results with tical knowledge within our reach. yellow mUlo maize and Kaffir corn In other parts of our country much Yoursfor forage. advance has been obtained through, and BAYVIEW, Feb. 21, 18L7. by the means of a Farmers' Club, one Feb 21 whose whole aim has been the earnest study of the cultivation of the soil A LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA. through all of the branches in which it is divided. An association of practical An Unprejudiced Account of workers who are willing to meet togetheros AngelesRegion once a monih, to both teach from their .the Los AngelesRegion. past experience, and to learn from the Through the courtesy of Mr A. L. experience of others, with no side issues Through the courtesy of Mr. A. L. to present and distract from the object Duncan, of Dunedin, Hillsborough in. view, cannot help but be of the great- county, we are permitted to publish the est imAportance not only' to the farm- following letter written to him by a lead- ers themselves, but to the whole comrn- in itizen of Watertown, Wisconsin, munity. To this end it is proposed to organize who has been spending the winter in a Farmers' Club, having for its object Southern California : . social intercourse and the acquisition of MY DEAR SIR-I am in receipt of your knowledge; meeting once a month to kind favor of January 25, in which you consult upon work to be done and discuss ask me to give my views in regard to what is most profitable and practical to the climate and fruit growing interest of undertake. Southern California. SIt is proposed to hold monthly meet- Iwill say atthe outstart that my re- ings at the residences or gardens of port cannot be very favorable, but it is members of the club, and in pursuance due to this country to say that the claim of this plan the first meeting will be is made that this winter is the coldest, held at the hammock garden of Dr. E. driest and most unhealty ever known. E. Johnson on the Pine Level road, on I first visited Riverside, which is one Tuesday, the 15th of February, at 10 of the most important fruit growing o'clock a. m. sections of the State. The tract is two miles wide by fifteen miles long, and is A VOICE FROM OLD TAMPA. brought into the highest state of cultiva- tion by irrigation. This entire tract is Another Advocate of the New covered with vineyards and groves of SoFalls into Line. range, lemon, apricot and peach, mostly Agriculture Falls into Line. in bearing. They are very beautifully Editor Farmer and .Rit-Grower: and tastefully laid out with streets and I hail with great pleasure the initial avenues, numbers Of your-or speaking: for the This region was a desert before irriga- farmers, I should say our-new journal, tion. It looks like very rich land and I like its tone-and spirit. I hope it will there is no difference in it at a depth of become the organ of the earnest and pro- thirty feet from the surface. Land, gressive Florida farmers, and by them where it can be reached by water, brings made the medium of exchange of new from $250 to $500 per acre. Then there ideas and results. For myself, I never is the expense of side flumes and ditches walk over an enterprising neighbor's to the purchaser. place without obtaining new methods Then the cost of water is $10 per acre and results, to say nothing of fresh reso- and upward yearly, according to the lution and encouragement. amount used. I was surprised when I It is not always from the big places, saw that they were using fertilizers. Do- either, where money and men are plenty, mestic manures from sheep ranches that I learn the most. There is a wide found ready sale at $5 and $6 for a com- field for experiment in this peculiar State mon wagon-box full. of ours. We haven't gotten as far along Budded orange trees three to four feet yet as a State agricultural experiment high bring $1.50 to $2.50 each according station, and therefore it behooves the to number wanted. I find the oranges farmers themselves to organize for mu- here of good size and bright color, and tual help. There are little experiences in the trees well loaded, but no sweet or- new crops, seeds, trees and farm con- ahges, not even the Navel, are ripe yet trivances, which would be helpful and they tell me, and yet they have been saving to your neighbors. Let us have shipping them for the last tour weeks. them. Let those farmers' clubs be or- The burghers tell me that from 80 to ganized, and let their secretaries be men 40 per cent. of the oranges here are handy with the pen. Farmers are the frozen. The first week I was here there most written at class of men. Let us was a frost every night. I saw ice from now write to each other through the one-fourth to one-half an inch thick in FLORIDA FARMER AND FRUIT-GROWER, the streets here. The real estate men We are especially pleased down this said the temperature was as low 25 de- way that you have set out to develop a grees. Making the usual allowance for more substantial basis for the prosper- the statements of real estate men and it ity of the State, than the flimsy and must have been quite cool to say the rather gaudy structure reared by the least. I went to San Diego and stayed real estate men. There is a Florida of a week, came back to Riverside and the imagination, and there is a Florida stayed another week, and there was a of sand and Palmetto. Some of us have light frost every night. been attracted by the former, but are I interviewed a party who had a 10- now here to make a living out of the acre grove well protected by tall ever- latter. green trees around the lot, which was a We believe it can be done, but how ? great protection, saving his oranges and The orange is a success. The lemon will lemons from freezing. I noticed he had soon be extensively cultivated. But a small patch of nursery trees killed to oranges for a steady thing are the ground. This happened, they said, rather thin diet, and they do not the 1st of November. (Flowers were in buy as much as they did during the bloom in the open fields in Wisconsin at era of high prices. We want to raise that time). I expressed surprise at this more to eat. Nine-tenths of the horses and the reply was that they feared April in South Florida "eat their heads off" the most. Six months of frost in a trop every year. I ical climate Labor is high ; common laborers $2 per- day. Carpenters, $3 to $5 Living is high; not much of a house for less than $25 per mon h; soft coal from $12 to $18, according to locality ; wood, equally as high. Tley cla m that a crop is worth " $250 per acre, re dy for the pickers, in any kind of fruits, but these figures are: probably the very highest. Now, as to climate, I hardly know what to say. To feel the warm bright sunshine day after da3, and to see the clear skies, we naturally think it must be very healthy, but such is not the case (at least not his season). There is plen- ty of malaria here: We have found ty-. phoid fever very bad at Riverside, San Diego and Los Angeles. I had a friend, in San Diego who boarded at a place. where they had six cases of typhoid fever and one death before he found it out. -(He.got up .and dusted then). They had one death from it at Riverside whi'e I was .there. At Pomona they have an epidemic of scarlet fever and have closed the schools. They fear the causes irrigation and going so long without rain. The water is very bad. If we could only get cistern water it would be a treat. But there is not much rain water, as may-be supposed when I state that yesterday the first rain occurred since February 7 of last year. My wife and- self have had terrible colds and coughs and t e find the same complaint with all the tourists. The doctors say it is a kind of epidemic an'd we will soon get acolimat- ed. We hope so. I find that any lands in these valleys that can be reached by water are worth $250 to $500 per acre As to Los Ange- les, it is given over to speculators entire- ly. Fruit culture here is of no wrore ac count. Groves and vineyards are cut up into 50x160 town lots. I was told to-day by a man tha' has lived in Cali. fornia 82 years, a large part of the time here, that there is more land platted in and around Los Angeles than is con- tained in Lonidon and all its suburbs. Los ANGELES, Cal., Feb. 7, 1887. Hints to Correspondents. The readers of the FLORIDA FARMER AND FRUIT-GROWER are respectfully in- vited to contribute to its columns articles and notes on all subjects pertaining to the farm, garden, orchard and house- hold affairs. The range of topics whicbh- will be discussed in this journal may be gathered from the subjoined table, which may serve to suggest what might other- wise escape attention: FARM MANAGEMENT. Clearing land, draining land, crops for new land, succession of crops, inte,-sive farming, treatment of different soils,. resting land, soilfig vs. pasturing, cow- penning, green manuring. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, poultry--Breeds, feed, diseases, treat- ment. , SPECIAL FERTILIZERS., Cotton seed, 'cotton seed meal, barn- yard mnuaure, guano, ground bone, su- per-phosphate, gypsum, .lime, kainit, ashes, marl, muck, leaf mould, com- posts. FORAGE CROPS. Bermuda grass, crab grass, Para grass Guinea grass, Terrell -grass, orchard grass, red-top grass, Johnson grass, Texms blue grass, pearl millet, German mi let, 'millo maize, kaffir corn, teosinte, sorg- hum, fodder corn,- cow peas, desmodi- um, Mexican clover, lespedeza, alfalfa, melilotus.I STAPLE CROPS. Corn, oats, rye, wheat-Varieties, yield per acre, soil and season, difficul- ties encountered, general treatment. Cotton-Long and bhort Staple-Plant- ing and culture, marketing crop, man- agement of sped, products from the seed. Sngar Cane and Sorghum-Varieties, culture, making syrup and sugar, condi- tion of market. Tobacco-Varieties, history ixi Florida,. recent experiences, seed, culture manu- facture. FRUITS. Citrus Fruits-Comparison of varie ties, hardiness and productiveness, meth- ods of propagation, methods of planting and culture comparative effects of fer- tilizers, marketing of fruit, preservation of fruit wine and other products. Peach, pear, fig, persimmon, Japan plum, Kelsey plum, native plum, mul- berry, quince, apricot, guava, :banana, pineapple sapodilla, mango, avocada, pear, cocoanut, pecan, English walnut, almond, pomegranate, olive, grape, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry-Va- rieties, their characteristics, effects of soil, weather, etc., best methods of culture. FLOWER GARDEN. Plants adapted to this climate, out- door culture, management of green- house. NATIVE TREES AND HERBS. Planting trees for ornament or utility, the burning over of forest lands, the lumber and turpentine industries, the tanning industry, phenomena of plant life, weeds and noxious plants. N. B.-Specimens may be sent to the editor for identification. Information is desired respecting 'popular names and uses. We do not desire letters written mere- ly in praise of special localities unless claims to favor are based on the products or productiveness of the soil. Articles of an animated or vivacious style are de- sirable by way of variety, but practical statements and descriptions should be concise and as much to the point as pos- sible. All communications for the editorial department should be addressed to EDITOR FARMER AND FRUIT-GEOWER. [From the Citra New Era.] We have received the first number of the FLORIDA FAREMR. AAD FuUIT-GROW- ER, published at Jacksonville., It is an elegant publication and deserves to suo- ceed, and we trust it will. *"