IN THE winter of 1882 I planted some seeds of the ordinary sweet orange, and when the young trees from these seeds were large enough I budded up a number of them with several e finest varieties, and amongst some Satsumas of several trees of each of these ies which were transplanted to my rchard at the same time, none but itsumas are now living - all the oth-er have been killed by the cold. These Satsumas, however, have gone through all the freezes that have prevailed since they were planted without suffering any material damage ; they have been bearing for several years past, and are not entirely without fruit this year, although the severe freezes of March 3d and 16th froze peach trees half way to the ground within thirty feet of them.

All of these Satsumas bore heavily last year, and one of them, which now has a breadth of top of fourteen feet, had a crop on it that any buyer would have been glad to estimate as low as a box and a half.

We must bear in mind that where the buds are inserted at a height of from one to two feet from the ground (as is often practiced) and the bare trunk of the tree is left exposed to full force of sun and cold, that the budded tree can in such cases be no hardier than the stock upon which it is inserted.

Many people who have Satsumas that have been budded in this improper manner complain that they are not particularly hardy ; but if the buds have been inserted close to the ground, so that only the Satsuma stock is exposed, and then after being planted, if this stock is allowed to cover itself with its own growth (as it will do in short order if the lower branches are not cut off as they appear) they will soon be in shape to stand very severe cold ; and, as above stated, the Satsumas on my place (budded, and allowed to grow as above described) have so far stood it nobly, while in the case of the numerous other varieties budded in the same manner and at the same time, not a single one lives to tell the tale.

Another point in relation to the Satsumas is that they do much better when budded on sweet stock than they do when worked on sour stock. A very forcible demonstration of this can be seen on the grounds of Major O. P. Rooks, at Fruitland Park, Florida, where orchard trees of this variety, budded on both sweet and sour stocks, are growing side by side ; those on sweet stocks are far ahead in the essential points of size, vigor and productiveness.

The Satsuma is an early ripening variety, and is in good eating condition long before the majority of the Florida grown varieties become palatable, and while it may not score as many points (according to any prescribed scale) as some other varieties that ripen later, yet I think it will compare favorably with any that ripen at the same time, which is the only just comparison. In this northern section of the state I am confident it is more valuable than any other variety that we can grow, for it must be borne in mind that in addition to the requisite hardiness of the tree, the orange to be profitably grown here must be an early sort, so that it can be shipped before there is danger of its freezing on the trees.

With due respect to the advice of my friend, Rev. Lyman Phelps, which he says he has a hundred times written to his friends, "You do not want more than half a dozen Satsumas," I will say that I have for several years past wanted more, and planted more than that number annually, and last winter I set out about four hundred of them.

It may be that the Satsuma is better suited to this northern section of the state than to south Florida, and that it makes a more vigorous growth here than there, although this does not seem reasonable; but at all events fifteen by fifteen feet is none too much room to give them here, and at that distance the trees will with good attention touch each other on all sides in six to eight years after being planted.

The freezes of last March were the most destructive of anything I have ever seen in this section: peach trees in many instances lost more than half their tops ; Japan persimmons in some cases were frozen to the the ground ; leaves of oak trees turned brown and seared as if touched by fire, and in some cases the trees were killed outright; pear trees were nipped back considerably ; and Satsuma oranges in nursery suffered more or less in common with other trees, and had their young growth pinched off, but Satsumas three years old or more, in orchard, showed actually less damage than peaches, pears, Japan persimmons or oak trees, and, as before stated, are now holding fruit. Of the four hundred trees that were planted in orchard in February (previous to the freezes) not five per cent. were hurt at all. All those whose Satsuma oranges have come through the past freezes in as good condition as mine have cannot but have a good opinion of this variety.

I do not believe that this variety will extend the orange growing section into the central states, but I am sure that in northern Florida, as well as in southern Georgia and throughout the gulf coast region of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, it will prove to be a very valuable variety, and especially useful for its early ripening and hardiness. G. L. Taber.

Glen St. Marv, Fla.