The Florida Farmer and Fruit Grower kindly says:

"If this should come to the notice of Mr. Meehan we hope he will give his opinion on these points through his Gardeners' Monthly. In questions involving the practical application of physiological botany to horticulture, there is no higher authority in America".

The subject may be explained by the following extract:

"It is a rare sight to see orange groves in blossom at this season of the year. The present prolific crop of blooms at this season is a source of surprise to even the oldest inhabitants. It is surely a novel sight to most of us to see the groves in as full bloom as we have been accustomed heretofore of seeing them in February and March. As the prospects heretofore for a good crop of oranges have been very poor, we all look upon these July blooms as a great blessing, and the orange grower is once more made happy. We see no reason now why we cannot expect as large a crop this year as during any preceding season. The blooms are large and healthy looking, very abundant and where they have dropped the little oranges are sticking and growing nicely. The second crop will doubtless be late in ripening, but then we may expect better prices for them".

The Editor regrets that he cannot offer an explanation with that precision which only actual experience among the orange trees would warrant.

We can only offer analogies: If a horse-chestnut tree which has its central (flower) bud tolerably well matured by August, has its leaves wholly destroyed by fire, as we often see them on city streets, the buds do not wait till spring to open but open at once. The trees are in full bloom in September.

If a branch of a pear tree, which is forming its flower buds for next year, in August have all its leaves eaten off by caterpillars, as sometimes happens, that branch will be in full flower in September and October.

In many places in the north the pear and apple are liable to be attacked in July and August with a rusty fungus known as leaf blight. In some seasons the leaf blight is so bad that nearly all the leaves fall. In these cases the trees put out the blossoms that would have otherwise remained dormant. Leaf buds also push into growth.

The inference from all these cases is that the tree has not had all the benefit from its summer foliage that it ought to have, and it tries to repair damages by hurrying into leaf again, and the flower buds push, of course, as well as the leaf buds.

It is no sign of a " mild autumn," as so many-writers aver, that trees make a second growth of leaves and flower, but a sign that the first crop of leaves had been injured before they had fully accomplished their work.

Most likely some such law may be traced at work in the orange trees. But that is a question of fact, which only experience among them would settle. Here our second crop of fruits never come to anything. We know of no reason why they might not mature if the season were long enough.

If the season is long enough in Florida, the oranges may ripen and be quite as good as the regular ones. The matter is worth watching closely. It is from these exceptional occurrences that we learn the most.