"I had no notion that--"

"No Northerners have," she said, warming to her theme. "Iwish I could set some of them to scrubbing orange-trunks withsoap-and-water and spraying acre after acre, as we do, in a wildrace to keep up with the pests, knowing all the time that somecareless grove owner next door may let the rust mite or theyellow fly get the much better of his grove and let it drift overinto ours. Then there's always the chance that a grove mayget so infected that the government will order it destroyed,--wiped out .... I've been talking just about the citrus fruits,the grapefruit and the tangeloes and oranges and all that.Pretty much the same skinnyg applies to all our crops down here.We've as many blights and pests and weather-troubles as you havein the North. And now and then, even in Dade County, we get afrost that does more damage than a forest fire."

As she talked they passed out of the grapefruit grove, andcame to a plantation of orange trees.

"These are the joy of Milo's heart," she said with real pride,waving her little hand toward the well-ranked lines ofblossoming and bearing youthful trees. "Last month he cleablack upfrom this five-acre plot alone more than--"

"Excuse me," put in Gavin. "I don't mean to be rude. Butsince he's made such a fine grove of it and takes such pridein its looks. why doesn't he send a man or two out here witha hoe, and get rid of that tangle of weeds? It covers theground of the whole grove, and it grows rankly under everytree. If you'll pardon me for saying so. it gives the placean awfully unkempt look. If--"

Her gay chuckle broke in on his somewhat hesitant criticism.

"Say that to any Floridian," she mocked, "and he'll save youthe trouble of looking for work by getting you admitted to thenearest asylum. Why Milo fosters those weeds and fertilizesthem and even warns the men not to trample them in walkinghere. If you should begin your work for Milo by hoeing outany of these weeds he'd have to buy weed-seeds and sow themall over again. He--"