Although this only semi-tropical portion of the United States is just now being penetrated by a railroad, its lands are already becoming very valuable for fruit-growing purposes, and command from ten to fifty dollars per acre; while to clear them in readiness for setting out fruit trees costs about forty dollars per acre more, so that the would-be grower must be prepared to spend nearly one hundred dollars per acre on his land before his orange, lemon, or lime grove, his alligator-pear, mango, or guava orchard, or his pineapple field, or "pine patch," as it is apt to be called, can be started. Then at least as much more money, and in some cases several times as much, must be expended on nursery stock, fertilizer, and labor before any returns can be expected. So, you see, fruit-growing is a business that requires capital to start it, the same as any other. I should say that no one could hope to make fruit-growing profitable, and place it on such a footing that it would yield him an income for the rest of his life, without an investment of at least $5000. People have succeeded in making bearing groves for much less money; but they obtained their land for little or nothing, cleared it themselves, lived for years poorly housed, fed, and clad, and worked like slaves. Even he who has the means necessary to make a grove must have enough more to support him until his trees come into bearing, or else be able to earn a living while waiting for that time to arrive. As I have already said, the fruit-grower may do this by raising vegetables between his rows of trees. By so doing he will not only gain a speedy return from his land, but his trees will be benefited by the constant working and fertilization of the soil. Better than vegetables, however, because more profitable, and directly in the line of fruit-growing, are strawberries. As I write, in January, the first strawberries are coming in, and are being readily sold at sixty cents per quart even here in Florida. [Illustration: A PRUNE-TREE FARM.] After the would-be fruit-grower has secured land and provided himself with the means for making his grove or orchard, there are a few cast-iron rules that he must learn and follow in order to insure success. The most important of these is that no fruit tree will attain a thrifty growth without constant attention and an ample provision of both food and water. Young nursery stock should be at least two years old before being transplanted, and when set out they should never be placed less than twenty feet apart. The little trees should be set in well-mellowed soil, to the exact depth that they attained in the nursery. They should be given plenty of water to start with, trimmed of all their leaves, and the earth should be packed solidly about their roots. After this be careful not to give them too much water; just enough to keep the earth about them damp is sufficient.