.^^i 
 
Class 
 
 Book__ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
IT TELLS ALL ABOUT THE INDUS- 
 TRIES OF THE STATE, ITS CLI- 
 MATE AND RESOURCES. 
 
 IVj'itten in Common Sense Language withont 
 ■paint or varnish^ 
 
 / 
 
 /, 
 
 BY 
 
 DJK. W. B. SHOBMAKBB 
 
 1887. 
 
 NEWVILL,B, PA., TIMES STEAM PRINT. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year t'i?7 by 
 
 Dr. W. B, Shoemaker, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Cougresa at v • Milton. D C 
 
 ALL KIGIITS RE&ERVED. 
 
 
Introduction. 
 
 Be it known to all the world and the rest of mankind, 
 that within the last few years, much has been said and 
 written about Florida, extolling this land of '-Sunshine and 
 Flowers. Many, if not all of these descriptions have some 
 truth in them, but much of it is so embellished, in such 
 glowing colors and only the bright side shown, that many 
 persons come to the conclusion at once that if they can only 
 get to this land of promise (by those interested) that sick- 
 uess and sorrow will never reach them and that labor and 
 trouble will vex them never more. 
 
 This little book has been written with a view to unde- 
 ceive such persons ; to take the glamor from these stories 
 and to show "Florida as it is" without paint or varnish, 
 that is the good and bad that has to be encountered in this 
 land, to show people what they must do here and how to 
 do it. 
 
 I do not propose to write a history or geography of the 
 State, but simply to state the facts as they would present 
 themselves to you were you to take a trip through the State 
 at this time. 
 
I will describe the manner of living, the t-tate of society, 
 the caltivation of the soil, (sand) clearing lands, draining 
 marshes, planting and cultivating orange groves, tropical 
 fruits, the kind of houses the people live in, the kind and 
 (juality of stock they raise, the game and fish they have, 
 the mosquitos and pests that are there — in fact I propose 
 that this little book, " Florida As It Is" shall be to the 
 reader a complete trip all over Florida at a very small cost; 
 that the same in'ormation in the usual way of traveling 
 would cost you hundreds of dollars and then you would 
 have no more accurate information and no more of it than 
 you will have after a careiul reading of this book. I have 
 also aimed to write the book in plain common sense lang- 
 uage so that any and every person can, and will understand 
 it. I have tried to avoid all personalities so as to give of- 
 feuse to none. 
 
 I have given the facts as they are without fear or favor. 
 I have had very little outside aid. The entire book is my 
 own observation and experience, being right on the ground 
 and I will only say, that after reading the book you will 
 know more about Florida, its ins and outs and pros and 
 cons, than nine-tenths of the people who have spent a season 
 there and in addition saved much money. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS, 
 
 Florida was aiscovered by Juan Ponce de Leon, 
 April 4th, 15 12. In 1539 it was explored and in 
 1565 a body of French Caivinists, who had estab- 
 lished a settlement three years previous, w^ere 
 driven out by the Spaniards — the latter held pos- 
 session until 1763, when it reverted to England by 
 session in 1781. The Spaniards regained posses- 
 sion of the country and two years later were con- 
 firmed in their possession by the peace of Versailles. 
 In 1820 Florida was ceded by Spain to the United 
 States, received a territorial constitution in 1833, 
 and was admitted into the Union as a State, March 
 3d, 1845. 
 
 Florida is located in the extreme Southern part 
 of the United States, between latitudes 24 and 31, 
 and longitude 80 and 88 West from Greenwich. 
 Its greatest length North and South is about 500 
 miles, and the longest line from East to West is 
 about 400 miles. The State is amorphous in shape- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 being neither round, oval, oblong or square. Its 
 area is about 60,000 square miles or about ihe size 
 of Penns} Ivania, New Jersey, Delaware, Connec- 
 ticut and Rhode Island all put together. 
 
 The State is bounded on the North by Georgia 
 and Alabama, on the west by Alabama and the 
 Gulf of Mexico, on the South by the Gulf of Mex- 
 ico and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 The State is divided into forty counties, and 
 the area or surface of the State is land and water. 
 The land mav be divided or classed as f^jllows : 
 
 High Pine, Flat Woods Pine, Scrub Pine, Gray 
 or Rolling Hammock, Low Hammock, Cypress, 
 Marsh and Swamp Lands. 
 
 The water may be and is divided into lakes, 
 rivers, creeks, springs, ponds and bay heads. 
 
 LAKES. 
 
 There are thousands of lakes in the State, rang- 
 ing in size from less than a quarter of an acre to 
 thousands of acres in extent. Lake Ocheechobee 
 alone, covers not less than hsilf a million of acres 
 of land. 
 
 Lake Apopka covers not less than forty thous- 
 and acres East and West ; Tohopekaligas about 
 the same. There are very man}^ other lakes that 
 cover from ten to ten thousand acres, and some of 
 them much moi-e. Most of these lakes are very 
 deep and the water in them is clear and said to be 
 pure in nearly all of them. A great many of these 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 ]ake8, e.^pecially the smaller ones have nice slop- 
 ing banks, which, with the bottoms are sandy, and 
 perfectly safe to enter, or drive into the lakes in so 
 far as swamping is concerned, but it is always well 
 enough to go slow^ly when in the water, or you 
 may get beyond your depth before you are aware 
 of it ; many persons have lost their lives by ventur- 
 ing too L.r in places of this kind. 
 
 Some of the larger, and a few of the smaller 
 lakes and ponds have quick-sand holes. These 
 are specially to be avoided, for should you by ac- 
 cident or otherwise, get into one of these holes or 
 places, your chances for getting out would be very 
 slim indeed, unless help was right at hand. Some 
 of these lakes, both large and small, have what 
 they c^ll muck bottoms. This muck is njthuiu- 
 more or less than the accumulation of decayed 
 vegetable matter that has been accumulating for 
 ages : these when drained make the richest and 
 best vegetable and sugar-cane land in the State 
 and perhaps in the world, and here is where the 
 Disston Land and Drainage Company are making 
 their money. 
 
 RIVERS. 
 
 There are quite a number of rivers (so called) 
 in the State, the largest of which is the St. Johns. 
 The peculiarity of this river is that it flows North- 
 w^ard, while the entire State seems to fall off 
 toward the South, and eventually sinks into the 
 
8 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 Gulf of Mexico. Notwithstanding all this, the 
 current of this river is toward the North, This 
 river is navigable for more than two hundred miles, 
 and a very large class of steamers ply on it from 
 Jacksonville to Sanford, a distance of about two 
 hundred miles and make regular daily trips. 
 Smaller steamers run beyond Sanford, it being the 
 head of navigation ior large steamers before the 
 era of railroads in Florida. The St. Johns was 
 about the only highway on which travel was had, 
 and merchandise could be shipped from the sea- 
 board to the interior of the State. Some of the 
 other rivers of note are Suwanee, Appalachicola, 
 Oklockonee. Ancilla, Santa Fee, Withlacoochee, 
 Pease, Caloosahatchee, Kissmimee, Ocklawaha, 
 Indian and Wekiva. The most of these fivers or 
 waters are navigable for small steamers and are 
 thus utilized. There are other rivers or rather 
 kind of natural canals leading irom one lake to 
 another. Many of these are being dredged and 
 cleaned out so that small steam boats can run cut 
 of one lake into another, thus in many cases, mak- 
 ing water navigation from place to place for re- 
 member that very many of the larger lakes have 
 steamers on them, both for freight traffic and 
 pleasure. Nearly all streams that have any cur- 
 rent at all are called rivers. The streams in 
 Florida are nearly all sluggish, as for example 
 the St. Johns River is said to have only a fall of 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 six feet in two hundred miles, and were you to 
 travel on it you would probably say it had no cur- 
 rent at all. It is very crooked ; some of the bends 
 being so short that the larger steamers sometimes 
 have difhculty in getting through. I know of no 
 streams of any length in the State that have a cur- 
 rent of more than a mile in a half da}^. There are 
 also many waters here called rivers, that are noth- 
 ing more or less than arms of the Gulf or Atlantic, 
 extending inland as the Indian River. This river 
 is on the east coast and separated from the Atlan- 
 ic, by a strip of land, very narrow in places and 
 wider in other places. This water has no current, 
 its surface bein^ on a level with the Atlantic Ocean. 
 Said by some persons to be two feet higher than 
 the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 UNDERGROUND RIVERS AND SPPJNGS. 
 
 There seems to be and certainly is, underground 
 rivere here as" is proven by such large streams 
 l^ursting out of the ground as Silver Sprino-s. 
 This spring covers about four acres ot ground and 
 is from forty to sixty feet deep, and the run from 
 it is one of the principal sources of the Ocklawaha 
 River and good sized steamers come up the run 
 into the springs 
 
 Clay Springs is another of the same kind, only 
 not quite so large. Glen Cove, Euniak and many 
 others demonstrate the fact that there are many 
 underground streams in Florida. 
 
 Again streams of water and even lakes suddenly 
 
lo FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 disappear. 'Lake Levy, a body of water which, 
 when lull, covers about twelve hundred acres, has 
 been totally dry, the water disappearing in a few 
 days, and in one instance remaining so for several 
 years and nearly all the bottom was farmed in corn 
 and cotton. There was only a small river running 
 where the lake was and it disappeared about where 
 the centre of the lake was. This hole seemed to 
 fill up and the ground became covered with water 
 again. 
 
 This has occurred several times within tlie last 
 rifty years. The laxe is now tull of water and is 
 kwown as Lake Levy or Paines Prairie. No per_ 
 son knows how soon or when the bottom of the 
 lake will again fall out. 
 
 Between Orange Lake and Micanop}', as; well 
 as in the neighborhood of Gainesville, there are 
 great holes in the earth. The bottom is far below 
 the surface of the lakes in the surrounding country. 
 Some of these holes or sinks are more than one 
 hundred feet deep, and several hundred feet in di- 
 ameter at the top, and are funnel shaped. Many 
 of them are perfectly dry, and have large trees 
 growing inside nearly to the bottom. The tops of 
 many of them does not reach as high as the surface 
 of the ground surrounding the hole. 
 
 Others of these holes are barren of trees and 
 there is water at the bottom. How deep this water 
 is, I had no means of fmding out and no person 
 could tell me anything about it. The fact is, the 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. ii 
 
 natives seem to be afraid of these places and do 
 not care to go near them. There is not even any 
 signs that cattle or stock of any kinds goes near 
 tlie holes, especially those that have water in them. 
 
 There are some natural curiosities in Florida, 
 and they are of such a nature that I know of no- 
 where else in the world that the same kind exist. 
 Take for instance this Silver Spring, which is a 
 veritable Niagara Falls, turned upside down, and 
 it the reader should ever visit Florida, do not fail 
 to see it, with its pure, clear pellucid waters, big 
 cat fish and other kinds offish, and where you can 
 drop a nickel or any other small coin or substance 
 and watch its descent until it strikes the bottom 
 from forty to sixty feet below you. The water is 
 so clear that you can see objects on the bottom 
 about as plainlv as if there was no water there at 
 all. 
 
 PONDS AND CREEKS. 
 
 Ponds are grass lakes, usually with mud or 
 muck bottoms, and are inhabited with fro^rs, alii- 
 gators and other things too numerous to mention. 
 Creeks are connections between sloughs or cypress 
 swamps, as Shingle Creek, near Kissimmee, or 
 Sweet Water Creek, near Bayard, in Duval county 
 and many others. 
 
 FISFI AND OYSTERS. 
 
 In nearly all of the waters of Florida tfiere are 
 abundance of Fish, Trout, (P>lack Bass), Straw- 
 berry Bass (Perch,) Blue and Mud Catfish, some 
 
12 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 of which are very large. They say there are oth- 
 er fish here also, such as Bream, Red Horse, 
 White Fish, Eels. &c. This may be, but I have 
 seen none of the latter. 
 
 There are a great mon\- oysters, both on the 
 Gulf and Atlantic Coasts of Plorida, but they are 
 very small and inferior in every way, to the 
 oysters farther North-East; there is no care taken 
 of these oyster beds, and it is said many of them 
 are being destroyed by wash from rivers and 
 streams, covering them up with sand and other 
 debris. These are called Coon Oysters, and cer- 
 tainly would not be relished bv the epicure or con- 
 connjisseur. 
 
 . ALLIGATORS. 
 
 There are thousands and millions of Allig;4tors 
 of all sizes from a few inches in length to almost 
 fifteen or more feet. There seems to be but one 
 species of alligators, and all the difference there is 
 in them is in size alone. They can, and do live 
 both in and out of the water. They are not dang- 
 erous except when wounded on their nests or hi- 
 bernating grounds are molested. A ten feet alli- 
 gator can crush a man's body with his jaws or kill 
 him with, a strike of his tail. 
 
 At mating time frequent fights occur between 
 the males At such times you can hear them hol- 
 low for miles. Their hollowing is something like 
 a mad bull. 
 
 They are a heavy, ugly and ungainly animal, 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 13 
 
 and are something after the shape of an enormous 
 Lizzard. They are web footed and their hind legs 
 are much longer than their front ones, and are at- 
 tached higher up or nearer the back than the front 
 ones and their legs are unproportionately close to- 
 gether. They swim slowly in the water — more 
 like floating than otherwise, and when swimming 
 or floating, their bodies are about one-third out of 
 the water. 
 
 Their movements on land are usually slow and 
 awkward, but when pursued or pursuing, they can, 
 and do travel as fast, or faster than a man can 
 walk, or even run for a short distance. They 
 move on land in very nearly a straight line. They 
 are so iormed that that they cannot make short 
 turns or curves when in motion on land. Notwith- 
 standing all this, you should not fool with them 
 when at rest, as they sometimes make very awk- 
 ward motions with their tails and jaws, and you 
 cannot always tell what kind of a move they may 
 make. There is some danger of being bitten or 
 receivinpf a stroke with their tail. 
 
 Their traveling on land is principally in the 
 night time or on dark cloudy days during a rain or 
 immediately after a shower, when they frequently 
 go from one lake or swamp to another. On fair, 
 warm and sunshmy days you can see thousands of 
 them basking on old logs and stumps on the banks 
 of the lakes something after the style of little turtles 
 in tlie mill-dams of the North. 
 
14 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 Their nests or hibernating grounds are formed 
 by themselves, where the water is rather shallow 
 or on a knoll or kind of island They collect all 
 manner of stuff, pieces of logs, sticks, brush, grass, 
 moss, pine knots and indeed nothing seems to come 
 amiss to them. This is all formed into a mass 
 with mud, muck and wild cabbage leaves and sand. 
 These nests when completed, rise several feet 
 above the surface of the water and are kind of 
 saucer shaped or scooped out on the top. Here 
 they deposit their eggs, and cover them, and 
 nature does the balance 
 
 The "gators" however do not leave this locality 
 during incubation, and here let me say it is rather 
 dangerous to examine these nests, or even ap- 
 proach them unless you are well armed and have 
 a steady nerve and well prepared to do battle, for 
 unless somebody has been there before you and 
 killed the "gators," you are sure to see them and 
 they will be upon you before you are aware if not 
 on your guard, and sometimes as many as a djzen 
 vj'iW approach you from different points and here 
 they are dangerous. If however you have a good 
 Winchester or some other good repeating rifle of 
 about forty-four calibre and are a good and true 
 shot, you need not have much to lear, for if you 
 kill one or two of them, the others will soon disap- 
 pear, and here let me say, the fatal spot to hit an 
 Alligator is right in the lower part ot the neck or 
 right behind the front leg, below the middle. You 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 can sometimes kill them by sijooting lliem in tin; 
 eye or through the bod}', but it is not a sure thing 
 
 The mouth of the ''o-ator" contains eighty-four 
 teeth. Forty in the lower and forty- four in the 
 upper jaws, and they are all canine or sharp point- 
 ed, and some of them in a big ''gator" are as much 
 as three inches long, and are very irregular, and 
 if one becomes broken nature replaces it. 
 
 The head of a ten foot "gator" is ju--t about the 
 size of an ordinar}' horse head. The jaws are full 
 length of the head. The condyles or hinges are 
 on the necK, so you see when he opens his mouth 
 the entire head is in two pieces as it werk. 
 Imagine a horse to be able open his mouth clear 
 up to his ears and you can have an idea of a 
 '•gator's" mouth. It is no trouble for a "gator" to 
 svNallow a good chunk oi a dog or a little nigger 
 at one swallow, both of which it is said, they are 
 very fond of. 
 
 The top or upper part of the head is very flat 
 and the bones are from a half to three-quarters of 
 an mch thick, hence you might about as well shoot 
 against a rock as against a "gator^s" head to kill 
 him. They feed on just about anything that comes 
 in their way. In many instances pine knots have 
 been found in their stomachs, worn as smooth as 
 glass. 
 
 DISSTON LAND AND DRAINAGE COM- 
 PANY. 
 
 The head quarters of the company is at Kissim- 
 
i6 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 mee City, a town of three or four years growth, 
 situated on the North shore of WestTohopekaliga. 
 The city now is said to have about twelve hundred 
 inhabitants. I think however if eight hundred 
 w^ere taken out of the town, but few would be left. 
 Tliis Disston Company was formed three or four 
 years ago. They built several steam and dredge 
 boats, and went to work to lower the lakes of East 
 and West Tohopekaliga bv opening a canal 
 through a kind of natural drain or water way into 
 Lake Ocheechob'ee. After their engineer corps 
 had surveyed and gone over the route, their report 
 seemed to show that there was a fall of some seven- 
 ty feet from the south end ol Lake Tohope- 
 kaliga to Punta Rassa on the Gulf Coast, and that 
 Tohopekaliga through the nalura) channel had a 
 fall of about one inch to the mile, which, by prop- 
 er canalling, «&c., could be increased by shorten- 
 ing the distance to at least three inches to the mile, 
 which would, by their calculation, drain and re- 
 claim about rive million acres of land. An ar- 
 rangement was made with the State that the com- 
 pany should have half of cdl the land in fee simple 
 that should be thus reclaimed. On these conditions 
 the company went to work, commencing at the 
 South end of Tohopekaliga and cut a canal some 
 three or four miles into Cypress Lake, and from 
 thence into Lake Kissimmee five or six miles. 
 This canal is wide and deep enough to allow a 
 <(()()(] sized st«'amboat to pass through. It was 
 
FLORIDx\ AS IT IS. 17 
 
 found as soon as the canal was opened, that the 
 water in Tohopekaliga would be drawn off to a 
 certain extent, though these canals are carried in- 
 to Ocheechobee through the Kissimmee River. 
 
 The next move was to cut a canal a distance of 
 
 about three miles, thereby connecting East and 
 
 West Tohopekaliga Lakes ; this was accomplished. 
 
 Then the Kissimmee River was next cleaned 
 
 out, dredged and shortened, thus opening a water 
 
 navigation for steamers and other boats into Lake 
 
 Ocheechobee. This lake seems to have no natural 
 
 outlet, but near the South end of it and about four 
 
 miles westward, is Lake Hickpochee, which is the 
 
 head water of the Caloosahatchee River. To 
 
 work, the company went and cut a canal from 
 
 Ocheechobee into this lake and then opened and 
 
 dredged the last named river, which runs through 
 
 Lake Flirt, and thus completed the water route 
 
 to Punta Rassa on San Carlos Bay on the Gull of 
 
 Mexico. This, however did not seem to lower the 
 
 water in Ocheechobee very much. They are now 
 
 trying to drain this latter lake into the St. Lucie 
 
 Sound on the Ath'intic coast, thus necessitating the 
 
 cutting of a canal through swamps and other lands, 
 
 a distance of some thirty miles. A part of this 
 
 work is done, but it will be sometime before it is 
 
 completed. And what effect it will have w^hen 
 
 completed is yet to be determined. One thing 
 
 however is a fixed fact, the company have opened 
 
 water communication from Kissimmee Citj^ to the 
 
i8 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 Gulf, and steamers and sail boats are making 
 trips between these poinds and they have lowered 
 the waters in both the Tohopekaliga Lakes, about 
 live feet tl\us reclaiming. The company claims 
 about two and a half million acres. I think 
 the claims are too large, but be this as it may, there 
 are thousands of acres of as good land as there is 
 in Florida under cultivation to-day that was two 
 years ago covered with water, and thousands of 
 acres more are being prepared t) plant sugar cane 
 and vegetables. Should this company fail to re- 
 claim any more land, they have already done a 
 grand work, both for the State and themselves. 
 HIGH PINE LANDS. 
 
 Now the reader must not understand that any of 
 the lands in Florida are very much elevated above 
 the level of the ocean or large lakes. Take the 
 State throughout and it is flat — very flat, more so 
 than in Kansas, but still there are elevations and 
 depressions, none of which exceed a very few 
 hundred feet. I suppose the elevations about cor- 
 respond with the depressions. 
 
 The term '-High Pine Lands," as well as the 
 other descriptive terms used, are relative terms and 
 used more to designate the kind and quality of the 
 land than its elevation, "High Pine" Land would 
 be just as well designated, and perhaps better by 
 calling it dry pine land, and that is just what it is. 
 This land is among the highest in the State The 
 best quality of this land is covered with a growth 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 19 
 
 oi large yellow pine trees, some of which are 
 curly pine, and very valuable. The trees are 
 nearly all large, some ot them as much as two and 
 a half and three feet across the stump and from 
 fifty to seventy-five feet without a limb. When 
 sawed into timber, it is worth t'rom thirteen to 
 twenty-two dollars per thousand feet at the mill, 
 and the curly pine is worth irom forty to fifty dol- 
 lars per thousand when sawed into lumber at the 
 mill This kind of land you will usually find in 
 tlie neighborhood of deep lakes with sand bottoms 
 and rather high, sloping banks — the trees growing 
 nearly to the water's edge. 
 
 Occasionally in the high pine lands, you will 
 find here and there a scrubby live oak. The un- 
 dergrowth is wild oats. This is a kind of rou^h 
 grass that grows tall and not at all thickly on the 
 ground. It is not good for much. Stock will eat 
 it when they can get nothing else. 
 
 There is very little Bramble or Palmetto on this 
 kind of land, hence it is easily cleared and pre- 
 pared for cultivation and when it is well fertilized 
 will produce melons, beans, cucumbers, corn, 
 and sweet potatoes,- and makes excellent orani^e 
 land. Many prefer this kind of land for oranges 
 and all the semi-tropical fruits ; pmrticularly those 
 of the citrus family, for the reason that it costs less 
 to clean up and prepare for a crop. The timber, 
 if at all within the reach of a mill, will much more 
 than pay for the clearing and planting of a grove, 
 
20 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 while the cost of clearing Hammock lands will 
 more than pay for fertilizer to bring a grove mto 
 bearing. 
 
 Agam orange trees on high pine land are not 
 subject to "'Die Back" or foot rot. This disease is 
 said to be caused by the tap root of the trees strik- 
 ing the water or hard pan, which the}' are al- 
 most certain to do in low lands. The soil, it soil 
 it may be called, is nearly all pure sand — white on 
 top — after removing the top, it is of a yellowish 
 color, and the yellower the sand is the better the 
 land is said to be. 
 
 SCRUB PINE OR BLACK JACK LAND. 
 
 This kind of land is partially covered with 
 scrubby pines, a kind of dwarf oak called Black 
 Jack, a few scraggy, little live oaks and kind of 
 thorny, rough bramble. This kind of land in my 
 judgement, is of such a nature that it never can be 
 utiHzed for anything. The soil is white sand from 
 top to bottom, and I guess the more a man owned 
 the poorer he would be. 
 
 LOW OR FLAT WOODS PINE LAND. 
 This is called second class pine land. It has a 
 good deal of pine timber on it, also Live Oak 
 and sometimes a little Water Oak, not usually 
 heavy timbered, and the timber is not of as good 
 quality as that on the high pine land. It has 
 much more white or sap wood than the other or 
 high pine. It does not grow so large as the other 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 21 
 
 and it is a rarity to see a curly pine on this kind of 
 land. This has an undergrowth of scrub. (Hog) 
 and saw Palmetto, sometimes of pretty dense 
 growth and is hard to clear and grub and when it 
 is prepared for cultivation is pretty good for veget- 
 ables, grapes, guavas and strawberries. It is 
 very poor land for oranges, or indeed any of the 
 citrus family. It will do for pine apples and ban- 
 anas. The soil is a blackish mold, (Irom decayed) 
 vegetation,) for half an inch or so on top, then 
 white sand for ten to fifteen or more inches, when 
 you get to a kind of brownish quick sand that is 
 usually from a few inches to several feet in thick- 
 ness. Under this is a kind of a hard pan which 
 seems to separate or divide the surface water from 
 that below. This hard pan seems to be formed of 
 very line, grayish sand, and is almost impervious 
 to water and very hard and usually about a foot 
 thick. To get water at all fit to drink, you must 
 go below this stratum. 
 
 Remember to raise crops on this land, you mus^ 
 fertilize and that heavily and constantly. We may 
 as well say it here as elsewhere that fertilizing is 
 the key note to all the vegetables and fruits raised 
 in Florida with perhaps one exception, and that is 
 sweet potatoes and a little of it does not hurt them 
 I)y any means. 
 
 HAMMOCK LANDS. 
 Are of two kinds, rolling or high and fiat or low 
 Hammock. This word Hammock seems to be pe- 
 
22 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 culiar to Florida. The word originally meant a 
 solid mass of turf, considerably elevated above the 
 surrounding earth, then spelled Hommock, or 
 Hummock, then the Indians called any little 
 hillock, or small eminence of a rather conical form, 
 whether covered with trees or not, a Hommock, 
 but now the people of Florida call any piece of land 
 whether high or low, that produces hard-wood 
 trees, such as oak, hickory, ash, magnolia, &c.. 
 Hammock lands and the original Hammock is now^ 
 called reclaimed marsh land. This will enable the 
 reader to fairly or properly understand what is 
 meant by Hammock lands. All land on which 
 hard wood predominate, w^hether high or low, are 
 called Hammock land, and all lands on which pine 
 predominates, are called pine lands. 
 
 ROLLING OR GRAY HAMMOCK 
 Land is usually covered with a heavy growth of 
 timber, such as oak, hickory, magnolia and all the 
 hard w^oods that grow in the State. The under- 
 growth of palmetto, green briars, devils staff; (a 
 kind of prickly ash) and other bramble is very hard 
 to clear and get in shape for cultivation, and costs 
 a great amount of outlay, but wdien once got into 
 shape, produces well and with fertilizer can be 
 made to produce immense crops of vegetables and 
 strawberries. This is also the best of orancre land 
 provided it is high enough above the w^ater level. 
 FLAT HAMMOCKS 
 Are much lower than the other kind, and have a 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 23 
 
 much denser growth both timber, and undergrowth 
 Ihan the former, consequent!}' are much harder to 
 clear off and prepare for cultivation, but when 
 brought under cultivation are among the best lands 
 in the State, and if an}* land in the State will pro- 
 duce crops without being fertilized, this kind of 
 land will, and this produces much better by being- 
 fertilized. On this land you can raise vegetables 
 of all kinds that will grow here, provided the bugs, 
 VARMINTS, and insects let them alone. In abun- 
 dance you can also raise lemons, grapes, guavas, 
 pine apples, bananas, and many other of the semi- 
 tropical fruits and berries. 
 
 Orange trees, as a general thing, do not do well 
 on flat hammock, except where wild orange stocks 
 are used, which can be, and are frequently budded 
 with sweet orange buds and do well. 
 
 The famous '-Bishop and Harris" Grove on 
 Orange Lake in Levy County, was sta«rted in this 
 way, than which there is none better in the State, 
 but this is the exception rather than the rule. 
 
 SWAMP LANDS. 
 
 These are almost useless and are not susceptible 
 .>f reclamation, being very low and thickly set with 
 . cypress trees and other w^ater plants, vines and 
 trees. There is thousands of acres in some of these 
 swamps, into which the foot of man has never trod, 
 i^md never will, or if he attempts it, the chances of 
 his ever again getting out are all against him. En- 
 ormous alligators, venemous snakes, reptiles. 
 
24 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 poisonous insects and dangerous wild animals are 
 there. 
 
 Many of these swamps are trackless, pathless — 
 wilderness in every sense of the word, as for ex- 
 ample the Big Cypress Swamp in Monroe county, 
 which covers not less than seven hundred thous- 
 and acres of territory in nearly a solid body. This, 
 however is the largest cypress swamp in the State. 
 There are, however, thousands of cypress and 
 other swamps in the State that cover from one to 
 ten thousand and more acres each, and many of 
 them just as impenetrable as the B\^ Cypress 
 Swamp. 
 
 THE CYPRESS TREE 
 
 Has some peculiarities that seem to entitle it to a 
 particular description. It seems to stand alone 
 among the trees, particularly in that. It is always 
 found in clusters and very few, if any other trees 
 will grow, or do grow where the cypress has once 
 taken hold. Sometimes you will find a few cab- 
 bage, palmettos and it may be a scraggy live oak 
 in the edge of a cypress clump or swamp. The 
 tree seems to belong to the fir or pine family in that 
 its leaves or foliage is of that nature. It is neither 
 a deciduous nor yet an evergreen, yet its foliage 
 js green almost the entire year. It pushes out new 
 foliage each year and the old one remains on until 
 the new starts. So the tree presents the appear- 
 ance of being clipped (so to say) once a year. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 25 
 
 These trees all grow or have their roots in the 
 water, and the peculiarity of their formation is that 
 their roots or knees, as they are called here, are 
 very much the larger part 01 them. The tap, or 
 main root is said to be as far under the water as the 
 top extends above it. The base of the tree for the first 
 eight or ten feet after it leaves the water, is cone 
 shaped, then it grows up straigjht and presents a 
 beautiful appearance, having but few limbs or 
 boughs and putting on a nice umbrella shaped top. 
 
 These trees usually grow from fifty to a hun- 
 dred feet in height. A cypress tree that is one 
 foot in diameter, ten feet from the surface of the 
 water, is perhaps from six to ten feet in diameter 
 at the surface of the water. The roots or knees 
 seem to widen out, locking and interlocking and 
 overlapping each other, thus forming a complete 
 net work of the biggest kind of stumps and roots, 
 covering acres and acres, and in many cases miles 
 and miles of territory. 
 
 The trees may be cut ofl. They make good 
 lumber, shingles and posts. The stumps and roots 
 remain and as time seems to have no effect on them 
 so far as decay is concerned, they still remain and 
 become almost as hard as iron, hence the utter im- 
 possibihty of utiHzing these swamps, even if they 
 could be drained, which is, as a general thing 
 about as impossible as to get rid of the stumps and 
 roots, there being no place into which they can be 
 drained* 
 
26 FLORID V AS IT IS. 
 
 These swamps are well defined and are usually 
 found in the pine regions. Hardly ever find a 
 Cypress swamp and Hammock land adjoining. 
 They do not seem to have any affinit}- for each 
 other. 
 
 A beautiful sight is a Cypress swamp. The 
 green foliage of the trees all covered with gray 
 moss, and it hanging from the limbs of the trees 
 in long festoons, and they waving in the breeze 
 and the sparkling water underneath, and the mos- 
 quitos buzzing, the alligators bellowing, tae frogs 
 croaking and the parokeets chattering. It is a 
 sight and scene once seen and heard will never be 
 forgotten. 
 
 THE COUNTRY AT LARGE. 
 
 The general appearance of the country is rather 
 fiat It I"^ fl\t, and to the eyes of a Northern 
 man or Northern people, presents rather a sorry 
 and desolate appearance. (I now speak of the 
 country away from the towns and cities), and 
 about the first question that is asked is, "\yhat do 
 you do or what can you raise here to make a liv- 
 ing, and what have you to back up your country?" 
 and about a hundred more of the same sort. 
 
 We see no grass, no grain ol any kind gro win o-. 
 The groves we pass seem to be set in nothing but 
 pure sand, and that of the sandiest kind ; not even 
 a stone or rock of any kind to vary the monotony. 
 The road we are travelling on is nothing but sand 
 
 n 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 27 
 
 and that irom a few inches to a foot deep. 
 The horses step in the loose sand every step to 
 their pasterns, and the wheels of the carnage sink 
 into the sand about as deeply as do the horses feet 
 If you drive faster than the walk, the wheels carry 
 the sand around and soon your clothes, shoes and 
 the carriage are full of sand, and when you arrive 
 at your journey's end and examine yourself, you 
 will find that you are pretty well covered with sand 
 yourself. About now you will begin to tind out 
 that there is something besides sand in tlie soil, for 
 instead of shaking and brushing it ot^', you will 
 rind that it takes soap, water and labor, or rubbing 
 to get the stuff off you, especially off your body. 
 This substance, which is mixed with sand along 
 with fertilizer and climate, makes the soil produc- 
 tive. The soil on top looks very much alike in 
 the pine lands — simply white sand on top for a few 
 inches, then it becomes of a yellowish color, ex- 
 cept in the scrub pine or black jack lands, where 
 the sand is white, I reckon to the bottom. 
 
 In the Hammocks, the sand is of a dark color on 
 the top for several inches and sometimes for sever- 
 al feet, then usually quick sand underneath except 
 in the lower Hammocks, which are usually covered 
 for several inches on top with vegetable mold. In 
 some places this vegetable mold is several feet 
 thick ; under this is sand. In all the low lands at 
 a certain depth from the surface — some places 
 deeper than others, is a kind of dividing line or 
 
28 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 hard pan that seems to divide the water. That 
 above is brackish and not fit for use unless it be 
 first boiled and strained, but when you penetrate 
 or dig through this hard pan, and either pipe or 
 curb out the wild or surface water, you obtain 
 water that can be drank and used for cooking pur- 
 pose and those persons who like it, say it is good 
 and wholesome — to me it is warm and tasteless. 
 
 The water business in more senses than one, is 
 the worst drawback Florid? has to contend with. 
 The soil i^s ot such a nature that brick or cemented 
 cisterns in the ground are nearly an impossibility. 
 The only remedy is to have large tanks made of 
 Cypress wood and catch rain water, then if you 
 are where ice can be had, vou can manage to get 
 along, provided you can keep the wiggletails cut 
 of your tank. 
 
 THE EVERGLADES. 
 
 There is a vast scope of country lying in the South- 
 ern part of the State, principally in Monroe and 
 Dade counties. It is a kind of marsh — the most of 
 it is covered with water. It is a kind of net work 
 of rivers la'^es and ponds, lagoons and bay heads 
 where the ground rises above the water. It pro- 
 duces the rankest kind of tropical and semi-tropi- 
 cal vegetation, cane brakes and saw grass of im- 
 mense growth are there, and were you to become 
 lost in the brakes or entangled in the saw grass, 
 you w^ould in all probability die right there. The 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 29 
 
 most of Florida's cultivated truits grow there in a 
 wild state. The Mango or Mangrove grov^'b v^ild 
 and can be eat, though not very palatable. The 
 land seems to be highest along the coast and some 
 few people live down there and eke out an existence 
 by hunting, fishing, trying to cultivate the cocoa- 
 nut and tame the Mangrove. 
 
 The Disston Land and Drainage Company are 
 working on the JNorth end of the Glades and they 
 think if they can succeed in draining Ocheechobee 
 Lake and low^ering the water from six to ten feet 
 that quite a large portion of the Everglades can be 
 cultivated. This, no doubt would be the case, 
 could the drainao;e be made. The bottoms of the 
 lakes, rivers, ponds, &c., of the Glades are com- 
 posed of decayed vegetable matter that has been 
 accumulating for thousands of years, but in my 
 judgment a company that should undertake to en- 
 large the borders of the State of New Jersey by 
 undertaking to drain the Atlantic Ocean, would be' 
 about as successful as this company w^ill be in 
 draining the Everglades of Florida. 
 
 MARSH LAND. 
 
 These are sometimes called swamp lands, but 
 there is about the same difference between Cypress 
 swamps and Marsh land as there is between the 
 poorest Scrub Pine land and the richest Hammocks 
 The Marshes are a kind of low^ prairie or shallow 
 bay head, extending or running out from the lakes 
 
30 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 in the low country. They are partly covered with 
 water during the greater part of the } ear and whol- 
 ly covered in a v\ et time. The}' receive and retain 
 all the wash from the higher lands, and there is 
 always a rank growth of vegetable matter on and 
 surrounding them, v\hich decays and thus enriches 
 them. This growth and decay has been going on 
 for ages, until now there is many feet deep of this 
 deposited in them. 
 
 This is the kind of land that first attracted the at- 
 tention of the Disston Land and Drainage Com- 
 pany. 
 
 When these Marshes are drained and brought 
 under cultivation, they are among the very best 
 lands in the State, if not in the world for raising 
 sugarcane and all kinds of veget?ibles, and it is 
 said that Irish potatoes do very well if planted in 
 January or Februar}' on these lands. Thousands 
 and thousands of acres of these Marshes have been 
 reclaimed within the last three years, on which 
 there is now grooving sugar cane, cabbage and all 
 kinds of vegetables that can be grow^n in this cli- 
 mate. 
 
 In some cases orange trees have been planted on 
 land thus reclaimed, and so far they seem to grow 
 and do well. How^ they will do w^hen the tap root 
 reaches the w^ater level is yet to be seen. Any 
 and all trees that have no tap root, such as lemon, 
 guava, peach, &c., do well on reclaimed Marsh 
 land. Bananas do first rate, but pine apples not so 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 31 
 
 well as they require a sand}' soil. The beaut}' of 
 these lands are that they, and they alone will pro- 
 duce crops for an indefinite length of time without 
 fertilizer, and indeed, this reclaimed Marsh land 
 when hauled out and spread on pine land, acts as 
 a fertilizer itself. As before stated, many thous- 
 ands of acres of this kind of land have been re- 
 claimed, and there is yet thousands of acres of the 
 same l^ind of land m the State that can, and no 
 doubt will be reclaimed in the near future. 
 
 SEASOx\S A\D CLLMATE, 
 
 Both are rather peculiar in this peninsula. The 
 seasons, so to speak are only tw^o, winter and sum- 
 mer. The winters are short, and in the South 
 halt of Florida, snow has never been seen; no, not 
 by the oldest inhabitant, and seldom any seveie 
 frosts, but I do not know that I can give any de- 
 scription that will nil the bill better than to quote 
 frotn a letier receiitly published in the Hee^ly 
 Times. 
 
 *'Some ooe has said take the climate from Florida aud 
 the State will be the very poorest of them all. That would 
 be the exact truth except for one impossible fact If the 
 {)reseat climate of Florida were taken away, it woidd of 
 necessity have another climate, because no place on the 
 globe can exist climateless. Therefore, to take away the 
 climate of Florida would be the same as to- give it another 
 {iliraate and that climate might be worse, or it might be 
 better. To give to Florida the climate of Denmark, Mo- 
 rocco or Mexico, would give it a worse one than we now 
 have, but to give it the climate of South Japan, Hawaii c^r 
 San Domingo would be a slight improvement upon tlie lia 
 bilities to frosts from the cold waves of winter, but nf n- lor 
 
32 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 the balance of the year. 
 
 Climate is as much, a part of any country as its soil, and 
 until there shall be ai,...^,,.e chanoe of the ciimatical cou- 
 diiions of the atmosphere, the climate peculiar to each 
 region must remain as at present. Such changes have 
 taken place during the first periods that have existed since 
 the most ancient rocks were first formed and they may oc- 
 cur again. Florida may become as it was. When tropi- 
 cal heats produce the iinmense vegetable growths of the 
 carbonaceous period or in later periods when the elephant, 
 ihinocerous and tapir fed on the plains at the head of the 
 Mississippi and the JNIastoden and Megatherium browsed 
 the tropical herbage of Florida, so may Florida again have 
 the climate that existed when the whole of the Northern 
 States were covered with ice and snow a thousand feet deep 
 a"-^' those regions had glaciers and climate conditions now 
 presented in the Northern Greenland. 
 
 The man who buys a farm in Florida, buys the climate 
 as well as the soil and the plants upon it ; the atmosphere 
 above the mineral below the surface become his The acres 
 of climate corresponds to the acres of the surface. Florida 
 without its c'imate would not be Florida. It would be 
 shorn of its best qualities or would be improved, who can 
 tell which. 
 
 1 his matter of the climate of Florida should never be 
 lost sight of in considering questions pertaining to the 
 health^uluess and capabilities of the State, especially 
 should the person who plants a crop raise an animal, writes, 
 talks about or gives advice concerning agricultural s-ubjects, 
 bear constantly in mind that Florida has a climate, "Sui 
 Generis" (particularl} to its own) that must remain with all 
 the equability consistent with the geographical situation. 
 It must not be lost sight of for a moment that each Decem- 
 ber and January a frost more or less severe will occur Id 
 all the Northern halt of the State That between the sum- 
 mer solstice and the f>utumual Equinox, is the season of 
 greatest rains, cooli.ig showers and greatest humidity of 
 the atmosphere and the peri( d of greatest vegetable growth ; 
 that May and early June is tue s ason of greatest aridity- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. ^^ 
 
 (dryness) and the hottest midday sunshine and that the 
 balance of the year has a fair proportJ^^^^ of raiut'all for the 
 successful growth of those plants, . ..^ted to their locations 
 and seasons. Ft also rn ist not be forgotten that climate 
 will not yield theories however plausible, but theories to be 
 of auy value, must conform to climate and practice must 
 be goverened accordingly. The guiding star climate must 
 always be in sight and always kept in view if the agricul- 
 turist would march in the way of success. 
 
 How to grow and care for an orange grove or orchard in 
 California, Spain or Italy, where irrigation is an absolute 
 necessity, can be of little value to men in Florida where 
 climatic conditions are varient (different,) the same remark 
 may also be applicable to the cultivation, gathering and 
 handling of fruits and vegetables for the markets. If Hie 
 climate of some other region requires lemons to be gathc "■'" 
 ed wnen they can be passed through an iron ring of a giveii' 
 size that is not a reason why the lemons of Florida, thai 
 will grow to nearly twice the size without deteriorating, 
 should be passed through the same rmg, so too, a descrip- 
 tion of how to grow an orange orchard or handle the fruit 
 in Porti Rica or Jamacia, would, to the common reader be 
 equally uninstructive unless the climatic differences between 
 those places and Florida were also kept in view. Climate 
 is the keynote with which the whole must accord, or there 
 Avill be discords innumerable. 
 
 Florida has its own climate which must remain as per- 
 manent as earth itself. It cannot be taken away, and 
 people must conform to it, or failure will certainly ensue.'' 
 
 Much, if not all of the above letter is true in a 
 general sense, but inuch more may, and can be 
 said about the seasons and climate of Florida. 
 
 llie thermometer seldom ranges below 30 de- 
 grees above zero. In January 1886, it however 
 got below twent)'. This is said to have been the 
 hardest freeze that ever occm-red since 1835, ^vhen 
 it was about as cold. Tlie last freeze destroved 
 
34 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 all thefruiis of Florida, except the oranges and it 
 hurt them. All the citrus trees were frozen to the 
 ground, (roots not killed) except the orange treesy 
 many of which were not hurt at all, while many 
 Cithers lost their foli^^ge and some in exposed places 
 were frozen to the ground Thi^-, however, seems 
 to be an exception as this kind of weather ver}- 
 seldom occurs. As a general thing in the winter 
 season the thermometer ranges from about thirty 
 to seventy above zero, and in summer Irom about 
 sixty-live to ninety-five above zero. Sometimes, 
 howevt^r, the mercury clinbs up to one himdrecl 
 and even above that. About this time the weather 
 is pretty hot, but w hiie the da^^s are hot, nights 
 comparaiivcly cool, tliere being usuaUy a breeze 
 that mak« s it pleasant, but sometimes t'.is breeze 
 fails to come, or you may be so placed that 3'ou 
 cannot get the advantage of it. At such times if 
 you were here you wotild think the nights pretty 
 warm also. There is not much cloudy wrather. 
 Rains come in showers and are f f short duration, 
 then sunshine. A day in Florida that the sun does 
 not shine brightly some part of tlie day, w^ould be an 
 Qj anomaly. Fogs are almost unknown ; the air 
 seems to be pure and very dry — indeed very dry, 
 when w^e consider the amount of water with which 
 we are surrounded. 
 
 The climate in the winter about compares with 
 the climate of New A^ork and Pennsylvania in 
 November and April, leaving out the cold rains. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 35 
 
 The winter season.s here, are as a UMial thing, rath- 
 er dry ; that is there is not much rainfall. Oc- 
 casionally a v\et spell about the latter part of 
 March or in early April, then usually very dry un- 
 til late in June, when the rainy season sets in, 
 which usually lasts about three months, during 
 which time scarcely a day passes without one or 
 more showers of rain, and some of these are 
 very heavy, and usually accompanied with thun- 
 der and lightning, and oh I such vivid and bright 
 lightning. When these show ers occur at night, as 
 they frequently do, it seems sometimes as if the 
 whole heavens w^as lighted up with continuous 
 streams of liquid lire, and the thunder so loud and 
 sharp the ground seems to tremble and shake, and 
 it actually does. It is grand and sublime to see 
 the lightning and hear the thunder, but it is rather 
 unpleasant to have it so near you. What are call- 
 ed settled rains never occur here, though sometimes 
 it will rain right along for as much as a half a day 
 at a time and v\ hen it rains there is no drizzle to it, 
 but a genuine pour down and done wath it. Should 
 one of these big rains occur, then look out for high 
 waters. 
 
 Low lands are converted into lakes and ponds in 
 the shortest possible space of time, and if you 
 chance to be in some of the flat portions of the 
 State, (and the greater part is flat) you will be- 
 gin to think that Florida is nearly all lakes, ponds 
 and sw^amps, sure enough, but on the contrary 
 
36 FLORI DA AS IT IS. 
 
 should you visit Florida in a dry time, you certain- 
 ly would think they have a good deal of dry land 
 there, and so we have a good part of the year, 
 however some, and a large sum too, that is dry in 
 some parts of the year, in other parts ol the same 
 year are several feet under water. This kind of 
 land is not of much account for anything but pas- 
 ture for stock and not worth much for that, simply 
 because not much of anything but bramble grows 
 on it. 
 
 Florida is a very pleasant State to live in during 
 the winter season provided you have plenty of 
 money to enable you to secure good and comfort- 
 able quarters or to build you a place to suit your- 
 self. With all the necessaries, luxuries and deli- 
 cacies of liie can be procured here at all times. 
 (What are not grown and raised here are shipped 
 here from the I^'orth and other places,) but some- 
 times, and nearly always, the prices are enormous- 
 ly high and the very many tropical fruits and 
 berries that you expect to see £^rowing here in 
 abundance, you will be rather surprised to find 
 that many of them are brought here from foreign 
 parts and a great many things that are grown here 
 that you had expected to find common and low in 
 price, when you discover the facts you will find 
 that many of these things had to have great care 
 and nursing to bring them to even partial perfec- 
 tion, and the price asked will be more than the 
 same fruits, vegetables and berries could be bought 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS 
 
 for in Norihern markets, even at the same time of 
 the year. Almost all the substantial food we eat 
 in Florida, is shipped here from the North — flour, 
 butter, bacon, Irish potatoes, apples, corn meal, 
 &c. To feed our horses we use hay from the 
 North, even from JNevv England. Oats and corn 
 are all shipped here, and we have even to ship our 
 chicken feed. 
 
 True we raise oranges, lemons, limes, grape 
 fruit, grapes, sweet potatoes, water meloiis, cante- 
 lopes, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, mulberries and 
 vStrawberries. Oh yes ! we fairly bask in straw- 
 berries and cream. The cheapest strawberries I 
 saw in Florida, were twenty-five cents a box, 
 (about a pint,) and small at that, from the holi- 
 days to about [the first of April, they usually sell 
 at about one dollar a box. Cheap, is nol it so? 
 You see that persons with plenty of money can in- 
 dulge in strawberries and cream, when the}' can 
 get the cream. It costs forty cents a quart ; blue 
 milk from fifteen to twenty cents a quart, depends 
 a little on how badly you want it. For people 
 that do not have a great deal of filthy lucre, straw- 
 berries and cream is no good in Florida. 
 
 Now take snap beans. These grow well here 
 and are plenty in the month of April, and sell right 
 along at about one dollar a peck, About this time 
 the Irish potatoes that grow in Florida come into 
 market at about the same price as beans. Onions 
 by the bunch, (about half a dozen little ones in a 
 
38 FLORID A AS IT IS. 
 
 bunch) sell at from fifteen to twenty cents a bunch. 
 Red beets are verv hard to o-row here, and sell 
 very high. Lettuce, cabbage and all other garden 
 trucks sell at about the proportion of the above 
 figures. About the first of June green corn, water- 
 melons and tomatoes come into market and sell 
 about as follows : very small corn per dozen, 
 twenty to fifty cents ; until watermelons come be- 
 come plenty, they bring a dollar a piece — they get 
 cheaper about July first. Tomatoes sell for a dol- 
 lar a peck, and not very good even at that price. 
 The only things that are really cheap are turnips 
 and sweet potatoes, and these sell all the time 
 from forty to ninety cents a bushel. So it is pretty 
 plain to be seen that unless a ou raise these things 
 yourself or have plenty o{ money, you might as 
 well be anywhere else as in Florida, so far as en- 
 joying the eating of them is concerned. Notwith- 
 standing all this, the climate of Florida in winter as 
 compared with the Northern States, is delightful. 
 In the summer I prefer being in a climate that the 
 heat is not quite so great, and I have a very strong 
 impression that should the readers ever spend a 
 summer in Florida, they will agree Avith me long 
 before the summer is ended. 
 
 SOMETHING ABOUT ORANGES, ETC. 
 
 There are several varieties of oranges. They 
 ripen from October to February, according as they 
 are early or late varieties. They are not easily 
 shaken from the tree and aiter being matured and 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 39 
 
 fully ripe, they stick so tighily to their lastenings 
 that the branches to which they grow are frequent- 
 ly broken off in attempting to pull them. When, or 
 in gatheriijg the oranges, the gatherer fastens a 
 sack or basket, made for the purpose, in front of 
 him with straps o» strings passriiig around his 
 shoulders, and with a pair of snips (scissors) or a 
 knife witli a hooked blade, thus equipped he 
 mounts a step ladder after placing it in proper po- 
 sition about the tree and gathers the golden truit, 
 depo^iting each orange in the receptacle separate- 
 lyv This gathering of oranges is a kind of a trade 
 and an expert will thus gather many thousands in 
 a single day, w^hen many another who does not 
 understand the business w^ill not be able to gather 
 as man}^ hundred in the same length of time. Pro- 
 fessional orange gatherers work or gather by the 
 hundred and some of them do nothing else. They 
 make (earn) enough money during the gathering 
 s^easons to keep them the balance oi the year. Oc- 
 casionally you will see two crops on the same tree, 
 (ripe and green) and very frequently you will see 
 the tree bloom out for a new crop and have plenty 
 of ripe fruit on at the same time, yet they produce 
 but one full crop a year and not as many suppose 
 Ihat the tree is an everbearer, that is that they are 
 producing fruit all the time. I never saw an 
 orange tree that was an everbearer and the reason 
 }ou occasionally hear as above written, is because 
 of the tenacity with which the Aar't sticks to cr ad- 
 
40 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 heres to the tree and not having been gathered* 
 If, however, the tree or fruit is unsound, the fruit 
 loses this tenacity and falls to the ground, hence 
 } ou never see an orange grower eat an orange that 
 has not been cut or taken directly from the tree ; 
 notwithstanding some unscrupulous persons will 
 ship uind falls, that is oranges that have dropped 
 from the trees, from being diseased in some w^a}'. 
 These oranges can always be told in this wa\^ and in 
 no other. The absence of a small part ot the stem 
 on which the orange grew, is very suspicious- All 
 rirst-class oranges have this smal\ part of the stem 
 firml}^ attached and it is almost impossible to get it 
 ofl^ without injuring the rind or sktn of it. 
 
 The orange trees as well as all the citrus famil}-, 
 is an evergreen, that is it is always full of green 
 leaves. Should the foliage become destroyed, as 
 is the case sometimes by frost, worms, or insects, 
 it will soon put out a new folias^e. The tree is all 
 the time (very slowly) casting off" the old and mak- 
 ing new wood and foliage, yet you scarcely ever 
 see an orange leaf under the trees. 
 
 AN ORANGE ORCHARD. 
 An orange 'grove is planted something after the 
 style of an apple orchard (in the North) and by 
 planting three year old budded trees that have had 
 proper care and by planting properly and giving 
 them all the attendance necessary and fertilizing 
 them all they will take ; if on the right kind of soiL- 
 you may expect, and will get a few^ oranges the 
 
FLORIDA AS ITIS. 41 
 
 third or fourth year after planting. Your orange 
 grove must be cared for just like a garden, and 
 the more you work, manure or fertilize it, the bet- 
 ter it will do, and if you fail to give it proper at- 
 tention, it will show it very qaickl3^ About the 
 seventh or eighth year after planting, if it has had 
 the proper kind of attention, it wall begin to pay 
 you, that is you v\ill begin to get fruit and when it 
 once begins to make returns, (the older the grove 
 gets the more it will returii) provided you always 
 keep fertilizing and giving it proper attention. You 
 might just as well fatten an animal and after he is 
 fat, expect him to remain so without feed or atten- 
 tion as to plant an orange grove and bring it into 
 bearing and then expect it to copxtinue bearing" 
 without giving it the same attention that you did 
 to bring it into that condition. In this respect 
 orange trees are very sensative and are more like 
 corn or vegetables; they show^ neglect or good 
 oare almost immediately* The man or person who 
 expects to get an orange grove by simply planting 
 the trees and then let them ta'^e care of themselves 
 wdl only reap vexation and disappointment. You 
 might just as well plant corn in a clover held with- 
 out ploughing, and then expect a crop of corn with- 
 out any further attention, the one would be just 
 about as likelv to succeed as the other. Work, at- 
 lintion and fertilizing are the three main points in 
 making an orange grove. 
 
 From wliat I have seen, know and learned 
 
42 
 
 FLORIDA AS 1 1' IS. 
 
 n 
 
 about this orange business, in my judgement there 
 are ver\- few orange groves in the State that have 
 ever paid the cost of bringing into bt^aring and 
 keeping up. Do not undtTsiand that all who have 
 planted groves have lost money — very far from it. 
 On the contrary, nearly every pt rson that has 
 planted groves and given them any kind of care 
 or attention at all, have made money by the oper- 
 ation of planting and starting groves, and also 
 made money by bringing them into bearing, not 
 in the fruit however. It is done about in this way t 
 Purchase five acres of land within a mile or two of 
 a smart town for fifty dollars per acre* have it 
 cleared and fenced, (or do it yourself) and planted 
 for sav one hundred dollars per acre more ; be 
 careful to have nice thriving trees; have them set 
 out in June, about the be<^inning of the rainy ^:eas- 
 on ; have the ground in prime condition ; all tjie 
 trees, stumps and roots taken out, and make it look 
 like a garden ; trees start to grovv at once, being 
 aided by the wet weather and some powerful fertil- 
 izer ; watch and attend to them carefully, keeping 
 off all sprouts and suckers ; watch the orange dog, 
 a kind of worm something like the worm that gets 
 on seed parsnips in the North — they destroy the 
 foliage ; also keep off the ants and all other insects 
 that infest orange trees ; wash the trees occasional- 
 Iv with whale-oil soap, and don't forget your fer- 
 tilizer, and by the first of November you will have 
 a new <^rowth of wood from three to five feet, and 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 43 
 
 the trees will look beautiful. Now this whole bus- 
 iness up to this time will not have cost over two 
 hundred dollars per acre, including your own work 
 and all expenses. Some man from the North or 
 elsewhere, comes alonp- with more dollars than 
 
 fc> 
 
 knowledtre and he wants an orano-e o-rove, vou 
 ask him a thousand dollars per acre or five thous- 
 and dollars for the w^hole tract ; you show^ him the 
 big growth. He wants to know how old these 
 trees are, when they were planted, now much at- 
 tention and how^ much fertilizer you have used. 
 Of course you tell him all about it, making as 
 much out of the grow^th as you can and enlarging 
 on the very short time in which they put on the 
 this very heavy growth ; keep the fertilizer and the 
 attention paid to the trees as much in the bac'^- 
 ground as possible ; you will show^up all the good 
 qualities of your country, or your place in partic- 
 ular ; do not however seem to want to sell, but 
 show by figures and calculations what your grove 
 will produce, (no probabilities about this) as soon 
 as it comes into bearing ; you can easily figure up 
 that in six or eight years your grove will produce 
 the interest on from ei^^ht to ten thousand dollars 
 per acre and maybe you can get him to believe it. 
 Whether you do or not, he does not know how^ 
 much truth you have told him, and he w^ill not be 
 likely to find out very soon unless he should hap- 
 pen to buy and come to Florida to live. However, 
 ii you have played your part well, you have him 
 
44 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 fascinated by this time, for this orange business is 
 fascinating to a stranger ; he will very probably 
 make you an offer for your grove of perhaps one 
 halfoi what you asked him; 3'ou of course could 
 not think for a moment of taking any such offer, 
 but before the matter is settled you have sold your 
 grove for seven hundred and fifty dollars per acre 
 acre and have thus made over two thousand dollars 
 clear money, and he has the. grove. This is not 
 a bad speculation for you, but unless he stays right 
 there and attends to his grove just as well as you 
 did, he cannot help but lose money. I know of a 
 case just exactly like this and know the parties, 
 but suppose you do not sell the first fall or winter, 
 there is such a thing as dv^^arfing and pushing an 
 orange tree, that it will bear a few oranges the sec- 
 ond year from the bud. You are likely to have a 
 few of thesekind of trees, and if so, you will be 
 sure to call particular attention to them and they 
 do look nice, and almost certain to attract and fas- 
 cinate, and many times you make money by not 
 selling the first year, but then it is generally all 
 the worse for the end man. You certainly have 
 made money by planting an orange grove. The 
 man that now owns it, has his to make yet. My 
 Judgement is that there is more money made out 
 of orange £jroves before they come into bearing than 
 there is afterward. I mean clear money. There 
 are many, very many things about this orange 
 business that the uninitiated know^ but little about. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 45 
 
 ^owever, with all the tricks thrown in, some of 
 the tinest oranges raised in the world are grown in 
 Florida, and it is a nice business and many honor- 
 able men and women are engaged in the business 
 of growing oranges and orange trees in Florida, 
 and many of them are doing well, while others, 
 and many of them are ready and willing to sell out 
 as soon as the right man puts in his appearance. 
 You can always bu}^ orange groves. 
 LEMONS AND LIMES 
 Are not, as a general thing planted in groves, but 
 in odd corners and sometimes between the rows 
 of orange trees. They are more of a bush than a 
 tree and come into bearing in two or three years 
 from budding. Florida produces lemons and limes 
 of a good quality, but not of the best. These trees 
 or bushes are very tender and a frost of any se- 
 verity at all, ruins the fruit lor that year, hence 
 the fruit growers do not cultivate them to any great 
 extent. There is, however a large, rough, thick 
 skinned lemon that stands about as much freezincr 
 as an orange tree. They are not of a very good 
 quality and not much accounted of. 
 
 CITRON TREES OR BUSHES, 
 This fruit is more of a novelty than anything 
 else. It is a large fruit and somewhat bell shaped, 
 some of them weighing as much as ten pounds. 
 Whether it is the citron of commerce or not, I have 
 not been able to learn, nor have I been able to 
 earn of anv person making any use of them 
 
46 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 whatever. The trees or bushes are rather small, 
 something like a lemon tree. The branches are 
 very tough and elastic, and the weight of the fruit 
 bends the boughs until the fruit-touches the ground. 
 GRAPE FRUIT.(6/ja:c>/^^c./s;/ 
 
 This seems to be a kind of an orange. It grows 
 on a tree that looks like an orange tree, and unless 
 you saw the fruit, you would say the tree was an 
 orange tree. The fruit is very full of juice and is 
 used in various ways, as lemons for drink and mak- 
 ing PIES. Jelly is also made of grape fruit, and 
 by many persons it is eaten the same as an orange. 
 It is not so sour as a lemon, but much more so than 
 a good orange. In size it is very much larger than 
 the largest orange ; one or two grape fruit trees is 
 all any person wants on his place. They ripen 
 and stick on the trees about like an orange. They 
 are not often shipped JNorth for the reason that 
 there is not much money made by handling them. 
 The tree grows as large, if not larger than an 
 orange tree aud bears heavily every year, if kept 
 in good condition. 
 
 GUAVA. 
 
 The tree is of a bush character and grows some- 
 thing like a quince does when left alone (in the 
 North.) It does not grow tall, but branches out 
 from the ground. I have seen them from 
 twelve to fifteen feet in diameter through the 
 branches, six or eight feet from the ground, and 
 not more than ten or twelve feet hig-h. These 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 47 
 
 bushes are not hard to propagate and when once 
 started, need but very little care and they bear an 
 abundant crop every year (when not frozen.) The 
 fruit is about the size of a small lemon, and shaped 
 a little like a mandrake or May apple and is very 
 full of seeds, something like tomato seeds, only 
 larger. The fruit is used for a great many pur- 
 poses, and a great many persons like them to eat 
 right off the bush and nearly every person becomes 
 very fond of them after they once get the taste prop- 
 erly. They are used for jellies and jams, for which 
 they are excellent, as the jellies and jams can be 
 flavored to taste. They make excellent pies and 
 not a bad desert in the absence of something bet- 
 ter. The bushes bear the second or third year 
 from planting. 
 
 PINE APPLES, 
 These are rather hard to raise, being a tropical 
 fruit they cannot stand frost, hence must be pro- 
 tected in w^inter. A good many are raised, how^- 
 ever, in the southern part of Florida. Under pro- 
 tection they mature from the planting in about 
 twenty-one months. The ground is prepared as 
 for cabbage ; the plants are set in rows about two 
 feet apart, and the rows are about the same dis- 
 tance apart ; they must be carefully cultivated and 
 tertilized, and no grass or weeds allowed to grow 
 among them ; cultivated like cabbage. Alter a 
 proper time a kind of spike shoots up from the 
 centre of the plant, something like a poppy head 
 
48 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 or tulip flower, with a bulb on top : this bulb is tht? 
 pine apple, which grows and enlarges and finally 
 ripens. Each plant produces but one apple then 
 dies, but while it is bearing this apple it is at the 
 same time lattooning or throwing out several other 
 plants from the old root, which in turn, each bears 
 an apple. So you see a pine apple bed is self- 
 propagatirjg, and once planted is there indelini"tely 
 If proper care is taken of them, all you have to do 
 is to see that it does not become too thickly set 
 with btalks, in which case the fruit would be small. 
 After the ]3ed or orchard is properly started and 
 cared for and w^ell protected in winter, 3'ou can* 
 and will have ripe fruit the whole year around, as 
 there seems to be no special season of the year in 
 which they ripen, so that after a very few years, 
 you will have pine apples all the time in all stages^ 
 ot growth and oi all sizes. The pine apple stock 
 is very rough, and in working among them the 
 hands, arms and legs must be protected with leath- 
 er, in order to keep your skin and flesh from being 
 torn and lacerated. Plants are obtained from the 
 roots and also from small suckers that shoot out 
 from the base of the apple. If the top of the apple 
 be cut otf and planted, it will also grow and in due 
 course of time produce another apple. 
 BANANAS, 
 This is also a tropical fruit and plant but partiaL 
 ly acclimated to Florida, and when planted in 
 places not too much exposed, fruits tolerably welL 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 49 
 
 The least bit ot" a freeze stops the fruiting. It 
 is grown for ornament in nearly all gardens ana 
 lots in the State, particularly in the southern part. 
 It grows to the height of twenty or more feet in 
 good soil. Its loliage or leaves are from two to 
 ■six feet long and when flattened out will measrue as 
 much as two feet in width : the leaves have a rib 
 or stem running through the middle the long way 
 of the leaf, thus it appears to be double, drooping 
 from the stem. When the stock is ready to fruit, 
 it sends up a strong stem from the centre of the 
 stock, after the nature of the pine apple. This 
 stem is from one to three inches in diameter ; on 
 the outer or extreme end of this stem or spike is 
 wiiat is called the blow: this is in shape a good 
 deal like an ear of corn and about the size, the 
 layers answering to the husk on corn ; it is red and 
 when this biow opens, as it always does, is very 
 beautiful ; when the blow begins to open then the 
 butt or lower end of this spike begins to, and does 
 throw out segments partially around it, which 
 seems to divide, each pushing out a small yellow 
 flower ; this is the blossom Each blossom is the 
 end of the Iruit, which growa very much like a 
 cucumber, in that the blossom is on the end of the 
 fruit. In a .short time <^nother of these sequents 
 forms and the process is repeated again and agam 
 until from a dozen to three hundred bananas are 
 formed on this stem or spike. When the blow flrsL 
 makes its appearance, its weight curves the stem 
 
so FLORIDA AS IT IS 
 
 and by the time the truit is well formed the top of 
 the bunch is toward the ground, A stock only 
 bears one bunch and then dies, but like the pine 
 apple, is self-propagating, sending out rattoons or 
 suckers from the roots, which in turn produce fiuit. 
 The stock has the nature of corn, being very 
 porous, but not jointed, and are sometimes as much 
 as eight inches in diameter within a foot of the 
 ground. T hey will grow in almost any kind of 
 soil, but do much the best in low lands. They 
 will grow without fertilizer, but will do better with 
 it. They propagate in Florida entirely from the 
 roots ; they will not mature seed outside ot a purely 
 tropical climate ; there are several varieties of them 
 some of which are much better than others ; very 
 few, if anv bananas are shipped from Fl rida ; 
 about all that grow here are consumed in the 
 State. 
 
 GRAPES. 
 
 The are several varieties of natural grapes, none 
 of which amount to much except the '^Scupper- 
 nong," which is a very fair grape, especially when 
 no better is to be had. There are several varie- 
 ties of grapes growing wild in the Hammocks that 
 are something like the fox grapes of the North, 
 only smaller. Grapes other than the scuppernong 
 do not seem to do much good in this climate. 
 
 PEACHES. 
 There are two kinds of peaches that can be 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 51 
 
 raised in Florida. The Peen-to or Pinto is a small 
 flat, fair peach ; it does lairly here and ripens in 
 early June. The honey peach is small and yellow- 
 ish ; it is very sweet ?nd ripens a little later. The 
 kind and varieties of peaches that grow in the 
 North, do not seem to grow here- There is, how- 
 ever, a new peach called the Bidwell, about which, 
 just now a big blow is being made. I have not 
 seen any of these peaches, but if one-half that is 
 said about them be true, they will revolutionize the 
 fruit growing business in this State. They are 
 said to even ripen earlier than the Peen-to, and it 
 is further said that they are worth in the New York 
 market about twenty-seven dollars a bushel. The 
 reader must bear in mmd that we do not vouch for 
 this Bidwell peach, but simply write what is said 
 about them by those who are interested in the sale 
 if the Bidwell peach trees and what is published 
 on the papers by those otherwise interested in this 
 variety of peach. One thing is pretty certain, and 
 that is that time will test this peach as well as many 
 other things in Florida. 
 
 PEARS. 
 The Leconte is the only pear that can be raised 
 in Florida. This grows something like the seckel 
 pear of the North and somewhat larger ; it has a 
 fine flavor, (rather too sweet.) The trees are 
 propagated from cuttings. 
 
 PLUMS. 
 It is said that plums grow wild in some parts of 
 
52 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 the State. I have seen the so-called Persian plum 
 which grow on a tree something like the horse 
 chestnut tree. The fruit is about the size of a 
 green gage and is much relished by some people. 
 There is to me very Itttle, if any plnm taste about 
 them. 
 
 PERSIMMONS. 
 There are two varieties here. The common per- 
 simmon of the North flourishes here and produces 
 abundant crops, but are of very little use. The 
 other variety has been brought here from Japan ; 
 when ripe, is rather a fancy fruit, and is relish- 
 ed by everbody. The fruit is yellow when ripe, 
 and is usually about three inches lon^ and about one 
 inch in diameter, having but few seeds, "and they 
 are verj^ small. The fruit is very slightly astring- 
 ent, even when very ripe, not enough so, however 
 to make it objection al. The trees are propagated 
 by budding into wild persimmon stocks and from 
 seed ; the trees raised from seed must be grafted 
 or budded to insure ^ood fruit. Shaddocks have 
 been described under the name of grape fruit, as 
 both names mean about the same fruit. A further 
 description would be superfluous. 
 
 POMEGRANATES 
 Are grown in some places ; they are like the 
 citron, more ornamental than useful ; the tree or rath- 
 er bush is very beautiful, and the fruit in shape re- 
 sembles a half grown quince in appearance and 
 size, the colors however are reddish. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 53 
 
 BKRRIES. ~^ 
 
 Strawberries are the principal, and in tact about 
 the only cultivated berry in Florida. They need 
 no particular description as every person knows all 
 about strawberries. I may say that by proper cul- 
 tivation and planting at the right season, these 
 berries may be had or the crop continued irom the 
 holidays until about the first of July. The princi- 
 pal crop, however, is made during March and 
 April. In order to obtain berries as early or late 
 as the holidays, the plants must be set out in June 
 or early in July. Planting them at this time of the 
 year, they require the greatest kind of care, mul- 
 cing and protection from the hot sun, and by keep- 
 ing away from them all grass and weeds and using 
 the proper fertilizer, you may succeed in gettmg 
 some berries, provided the frost don't kill them. 
 You will not get much of a crop, but what you do 
 get will be worth Irom two to five dollars a box in 
 New York — no not worth that amount, but will 
 bring that prtce. If only a few quarts are thus 
 raised, and they are, it answers first-rate for an ad- 
 vertisement of what can be done in the State, and 
 will find big accounts of strawberries raised in the 
 open air in Florida. These accounts never give 
 the " modus operandi " of raising the berries To 
 make a success of raising strawberries in Florida, 
 they must be planted in September or October, the 
 ground being first well prepared and fertilized, 
 then if properly attended, you can expect, and will 
 
54 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 get a fair crop of berries the following March and 
 April. Sometimes you can begin to pick ripe 
 strawberries in February and from the same plants 
 get a few berries as late as July. The berries do 
 not ripen all at once as they do in the North, but 
 continue ripening all along throughout the season, 
 of say three or four months, or even longer from 
 the time the first berries come until the last are 
 done. These old plants produce but very few 
 berries the second year, so of necessity you must 
 plant new beds each year or reset the old ones. 
 The price of strawberries here is about the same as 
 it is in the New York market all the time, so you 
 must either raise your berries, have plenty of 
 money, or do without, just as it happens, 
 
 HUCKLE AND BLACKBERRIES 
 
 Of an inferior quality grow wild in Hammocks 
 and low lands, and in season are peddled around 
 as they are in the North. They bring from ten to 
 twenty-five cents a quart, depends a little on how 
 badly you want them. 
 
 CURRANTS, RASPBERRIES, GOOSJi- 
 
 BERRIES, ELDERBERRIES AND 
 
 CHERRIES. 
 
 I have seen none ol these, nor have I seen any 
 person that did see them, notwithstanding, it is 
 said some of each grow in the State, and I know 
 no reason why they should not grow here at least 
 as well as strawberries. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 55 
 
 MULBERRIES 
 
 Grow wild in the Hammocks, and they seem to 
 be of the same variety as the Northern. There is 
 also a tame or cultivated mulberry that is very 
 large and ripens in April.' They, however, are 
 not very valuable as they are rather soft and taste- 
 less» 
 
 VEGETABLE AND TUBERS. 
 
 Cucumbers and sweet potatoes are perfectly at 
 home in Florida ; about all that is to be done to get 
 a crop of either, is to prepare the ground and plant 
 the seed. You can either plant the whole sw^eet 
 potato or the draws (plants) or pieces of the sweet 
 potato vine, and with very little cultivation you will 
 get a fair crop — better cultivation will produce a 
 better crop. Cucumbers do the best when planted 
 in February or March. If planted much later the 
 hot sun interferes with their maturing. Sweet 
 potatoes should be planted the latter part of May 
 or early in June to make the best crop, however, 
 the can be planted at almost any other time of the 
 year, and generally do w^ell ; the crop may remain 
 in the ground for a long time without injury. This, 
 however, is a lazy -way of keeping them. The 
 right way is to dig them, take them out of the 
 ground and bank them, (put them in pits) as they 
 do Irish potatoes in the North. Many people dig 
 them and put them on piles, cover lightly with 
 sand, then cover all with palmetto bu^hes or moss. 
 As a general thing enough of seed is left in the 
 
56 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 ground to produce a crop the next season, and 
 frequently the second crop is almost as good 
 the tirst, without much, if any additional 
 labor. 
 
 WATER AND MUSH MELONS. 
 These can be, and are raised here by the million. 
 They, however, must have a good deal of atten- 
 tion and the ground must be well fertilized and the 
 seed planted at the proper time, which is in Feb- 
 ruary and never later than March for general crop. 
 Start the plants with plenty of good fertilizer^ 
 watch the cut worms, (they do have cut worms in 
 Florida) and insects, keep your plants and vines 
 growing vigorously, one hill to each — ten feet 
 square is plenty thick enough, and if you have 
 more than three stocks in a hill, it i.« too thick. 
 Mush melons may be planted a little closer- All 
 thinjjs being favorable, the melons produced in 
 Florida cannot be surpassed in the known world. 
 
 IRISH POTATOES, 
 
 The Irish potatoes that are raised in Florida, 
 cannot be classed as first quality by any means,, 
 although there are some fair pcTtatoes raised here. 
 When planted at the proper time, and January, by 
 my observation, is the right time. As a general 
 thing Irish potatoes that are raised here have a 
 watery nature and many of them are black inside. 
 The whole of it is, raising Irish potatoes in Florida 
 is not a success, and I do not think ever will be. 
 
 n 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 57 
 
 CABBAGE. ^ 
 
 Cabbage on certain kinds of soil, grows very 
 well, as (or instance on reclaimed marsh land or 
 low hammock, provided you can keep the cutworms 
 insects, and cabbage worms off. I have seen no 
 very large heads of cabbage grown in Florida, but 
 have heard ot them. I have however seen hun- 
 dreds that were called fine cabbage ; if the heads 
 being small and solid made it fine, then the saying 
 is true. As a general thing the heads weigh from 
 one to four pounds, although I have .seen others 
 that weighed five and six pounds. 
 
 ONIONS. 
 
 Onions are not a success, still on good land, with 
 care and plenty of fertilizer and planting wide 
 apart fair onions can be raised here. 
 
 TURNIPS, 
 
 Turnips of all kinds grow pretty well. Fertil- 
 izer helps them wonderfully. 
 
 RED BEETS. 
 Red beets for some cause not known to the 
 writer, does not grow here except in special local- 
 ities, and in no locality do they amount to much, 
 SQJJASHES AND PUMPKINS. 
 As a general crop are a partial success. Egg 
 plants in certain localitie^^, with care and plenty of 
 fertili;zer, make a fair crop. 
 
 TOMATOES. 
 As a general crop whh ordinary care and a lit- 
 
58 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 tie fertilizer, make a good crop, especially the' 
 small round cluster tomato. To be a success, they 
 should be planted very early in the season, say 
 the last of December or rirst of January. Be sure 
 to protect when there is danger ol frost. 
 CORN. 
 This can be raised on cow penned land or with 
 plenty of fertilizer. February is the time to plant, 
 and you will then have mutton corn (roasting ears) 
 in early June. A crop of corn yielding, say twenty 
 bushels to the acre^ is considered a pretty good 
 crop for Florida. Not much is raised except for 
 
 table use. 
 
 COTTON, 
 
 In the Northern part of the ^tate considerable 
 cotton is raised, both Sea Island and Short Staple^ 
 and does very well. 
 
 WHEAT AND RYE. 
 
 Rye and wheat will not mature here. There h 
 some of both sowed, epecially rye for pasture. 
 OATS. 
 
 A very good crop can be made with plenty of 
 fertilizer in the Northern part of the State. 
 BEANS. 
 
 Beans when properly planted, cultivated and 
 fertilized, make an excellent crop, especially w^ax. 
 and snap varieties. Many thousands of bushels of 
 beans are raised in Florida every year and shipped 
 to the Northern markets. Beans are one of the 
 staple crops of the State. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 59 
 
 COW PEAS. 
 
 These are a kind of a small bean generally sown 
 broadcast on new land. As a first crop, it is said 
 they sweeten the land, that is takes out the wild- 
 ness, and mal^s land productive. These cow 
 peas are frequently plowed down, thus acting as a 
 fertilizer, other times they are left stand until about 
 half ripe, then cut and cured like hay. In this shape 
 they are excellent food for stock, they do not 
 seem to impoverish the land, but rather to enrich 
 it. These cow peas are very rough food for man. 
 
 HOSS (HORSE) BEANS. 
 These are grown for ornament and shade. They 
 are climbers. I have seen them climb a pine tree 
 for forty feet ; their foliage is very dense, and the 
 bean pods are as much as a foot long, having usual- 
 ly twelve ^arge beans in each pod. I know of no 
 use for the beans. 
 
 HOPS. 
 
 These are not grown in Florida to my knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 ASPARAGUS. 
 
 Have neither saw any or heard of any in the 
 State. 
 
 HORSE RADDISH. 
 
 The same as Asparagus. 
 
 RADDISHES. 
 These grow quickh^ when fertilizer is used, but 
 get spongy very soon . 
 
6o FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 TOBACCO. 
 
 It is said tobacco will gr3\v well in places, but I 
 have neither seen the places or the tobacco grow- 
 ing. 
 
 CASAVA. 
 
 Casava is said to be a sure anU profitable crop. 
 This is the root out of which tapioc? is made. I 
 have heard of it, but know of none growing in the 
 State. 
 
 PEA NUTS, PINDARS OR GOUBERS. 
 
 These grow well and yield abundantly if proper- 
 Iv planted, cultivated, cared for and fertiHzed. 
 CASTOR BEANS. 
 
 These grow to be quite large, (that is the stocks) 
 I have seen them as much as six inches in diam- 
 eter near the orround. These stocks were all frozen 
 dead in the heavy freeze of January 1886, and it 
 will be several years before such large stocks will 
 be seen again. A castor bean stock will naturally 
 live and bear beans for several years in succession, 
 not killed by frost or otherwise. Many orange 
 growers plant or sow castor beans in their groves 
 for the purpose of keeping down other weeds and 
 grass and to shade the ground, thereby acting as a 
 kind of mulch and yet letting the air circulate free- 
 ly on the surface of the ground. The bean stocks 
 are said to act as a fertilizer for the orange trees in 
 that way. How this is I do not l^now, but I do 
 know that where you see an orange grove thickly 
 set with castor beans, the trees look nice and 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 6i 
 
 thrifty and seem to be doing v\ell. 
 BUCKWHEAT. 
 I never saw or heard of any buckwheat growinc- 
 in the State. 
 
 RICE. 
 
 A very little rice is grown. It is sown in rows 
 about eighteen inches apart and thickly in the row. 
 When it first comes up it looks like oats and un- 
 less you knew what it was, you would sav it was 
 oats, until it shoots out the heads, which are a 
 little different from oats, being much stifFer and 
 more upright. Rice like most other grain, grows 
 taller or shorter in the straw, according to the 
 quality of the land on which it is raised. 
 FIGS. 
 
 Nearly every fruit grower in Florida has a tew 
 fig trees or bushes. These, as far as I can see, 
 are like some other fruits grown here, more orna- 
 mental than useful. While some people eat the figs 
 right from the tree and pretend to say they are 
 good and palatable, I would about as soon eat oak 
 apples. I do not know but that these figs could be 
 prepared in some way and made palatable and 
 salable, but as they are now, they might as well be 
 marked N. G. However they do very well to talk 
 about by persons who are much interested in this 
 Eldorado. They can say figs grow there also. 
 NATIVE GRASSES. 
 
 The native grasses of Florida are nearly all of a 
 
62 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 course, rough character and do not seem to possess 
 much nutriment, with very few exceptions. 
 Among them all, the crab grass seems to be the 
 best. This is a joint grass and grows very thickly 
 on the ground, and when trampled upon, wher- 
 ever a joint touches the ground, it grows fast and 
 forms a new stock ; it also produces seed in abund- 
 ance, so you see it reproduces both from the tops 
 and by rooting from the joints. It somewhat re- 
 sembles blue grass when it is standing straight up, 
 but very much coarser and rougher. Cattle and 
 horses eat it readily and greedily and stock fatten 
 on it alone. When not grazed off, it will grow to 
 the height of two or three feet and in many places 
 covers the ground as thick as it can stand. If 
 mown or cut just before the seed ripens and well 
 cured , it will make very good hay. Cattle and 
 horses will eat it when well curea and seem to 
 relish it about as well as when green. Unfortun- 
 ately this grass grows only in certain localities and 
 is only available for pasture, and hay for a com- 
 paratively short time. It does not remain green 
 all the year around, but it cures on the stock an^ 
 becomes hard and dry, as do most of the native 
 grasses here, and then stock either will nor or can- 
 not eat it. Wire grass is a native. When young 
 and tender stock eat it, but it soon begins to have the 
 appearance of running briars, becomes hard and 
 woody, when nothing but goats can eat it. It is 
 good for nothing then that I know of but to harbor 
 
FL ORID A AS IT IS. 6^ 
 
 and breed red bugs or jiggers. There is also a 
 native grass that is more general than any other 
 in the State. It has the appearance of what people 
 in the North call "white top,'' a grass that grows 
 in old natural meadows in the North, and is as 
 thick as the hair on a wooly dog, near and on the 
 ground and hardly ever grows over a foot high. 
 This grass is fine in the stem, and remains green 
 the greater part of the year, hence it is the main 
 dependence ot^ the stock raiser. Then there is a 
 very fine grass (that is fine or small in the stock) 
 vind short that grows in old roads and old fields. 
 Cattle only eat this when the}' can get nothing 
 else ; then there is what is called bunch s^rass, some- 
 thing after the nature of what is called sour grass 
 in the North, only it grows in bunches. The 
 western man will understand when I say it com- 
 pares in appearance with the roughest kind of June 
 grass ; then there is what is called saw grass. 
 This, when young and tender, is much relished 
 by cattle, but soon becomes hard and the teeth on 
 the blades so sharp and hard that cattle will not 
 even go near it ; then there is the marsh swamp and 
 bull grass and a kind oi grass that grows in the 
 bottom of shallow lakes and ponds- These latter 
 remain green the whole year around and are the 
 only source of feed for stock in the winter season, 
 except the scrub and saw palmetto, which is the 
 ^-oughest kmd of forage, unless hay or dry {tied is 
 provided, hence the cattle get very poor in the 
 
64 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 
 
 winter and toward spring and many of them die 
 from sheer starvation. There are some other 
 native grasses and plenty of weeds, mosses, pig- 
 weed, &c., that would be useles and of no advant- 
 age to any person to describe, 
 
 BERMUDA GRASS. 
 This grass is a foreigner, imported from Ber- 
 muda, but took to the soil of Florida at once. Jt 
 seems to be very closely related to the crab grass.- 
 but of a finer quality. It is also a joint grass and 
 propagates the same wa_y from the roots and joints, 
 but produces no seed, hence to start it you mu.-t 
 plant the roots or joints, either of which will grow 
 in any kind of soil or even in pure sand, and when 
 once started, it is there just as long as you want it^ 
 and sometimes longer, for should you want to get 
 rid of it, you will find a larger job than it was to 
 start it in the first place. 1 his Bermuda grass is 
 better in quality and equally as good in quantity. 
 and answers every purpose that the crab grass- 
 does, with the advantage that it will grow any- 
 where or place where there is soil or sand of any 
 kind, which the crab grass will not do. 
 
 TIMOTHY AND CLOVER, 
 There is none growing anywhere in the State 
 that I know'of, nor do I think there ever will be. 
 The scil is not the kind to produce either the one 
 or the other. 
 
 ALFALFA OR GERMAN CLOVER. 
 I have heard it said that some man got a few' 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 65 
 
 •st::eds 01 it, planted it in his garden and it sprouted, 
 came up and after it got to be a few inches high, 
 had an advertisement put in the papers to the ef- 
 fect that Alfalfa was the coming gras.*^ for Florida. 
 He knew there was no mista^'e about it that he had 
 ihe thing itself growing luxuriously on his place, 
 when the facts were exactly as stated above. This 
 ^stem alone will give you some idea of how Florida 
 is ''boomed" up by those interested. Persons read* 
 ing the ab ,ve mentioned notice a thousand miles 
 Northward, where clover, timothy and Alfalfa are 
 grown in large field>?5 you would at once take it 
 for granted that this man away down in Florida had 
 acres of Alfalfa growing on his farm, and it is a 
 well known fact that this grass is a great producer 
 and you would at once conclude, -'well if Altalta 
 grows that way down there, there surely need be 
 no scarcity of either pasture, fodder or hay,* when 
 the facts were simply a few stocks had been coaxed 
 to grow a few inches Now" it has been said that 
 '^ 'truth is might}^ and will prevail, "' I reckon the 
 sa}ing is true, when the truth, the whole truth and 
 nothinor but the truth is said or written. Now iu 
 this Alfalfa case the truth and nothing but the 
 ^ruth wa§ written or ad^'crtised. the Alfalfa seeds 
 were planted, germinated rnid grew, but it was told 
 in such a way that it would mislead almost any 
 person that w^as not, at least partially acquainted 
 with the circumstances, climate or country. Thr 
 fact is a crop of Alfalfa cannot be |jrown in FJor- 
 
66 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 ida, no more than timothy, clover or an}^ of the 
 Northern tame or held grasses, for the reason that 
 the season, soil, climate and all other natural con- 
 di ions are against it, just as they are against growing 
 wheat and other cereals that require the seed to be 
 frozen in the ground, or the ground frozen and pre- 
 pared before the seed is put into it. It will be well 
 enough to theorize, say and write that there is no 
 reason known why thus and so can't be done, but 
 there are reasons and good ones, too, why certain 
 things cannot be done. Notwithstanding all our 
 theories, speculations or imaginations about them, 
 if the natural conditions are not favorable in the 
 end, you will have your labor for your pains and 
 reap only disappointment and vexation. Theories 
 and imaginations to amount to anything at all, must: 
 conform to the nature of the thing or subject 
 theorized upon, otherwise they are valueless. 
 WILD FLOWERS— TREES. 
 Among the wild flowers, the Magnolia lor size 
 and sweetness, may be called the queen. These 
 flowers when in full bloom, resemble an enormous 
 cabbage rose, only the}^ are perfectly white. A 
 large magnolia in full bloom is a sight when once 
 seen, will never be forgotten ; the most delightful 
 perfume fills the air for many rods around the tree. 
 Many of the flowers are more than a foot in diam- 
 eter when in full bloom. There is this peculiarity 
 about them, while they are perfectly w^hite, and 
 remain so while on the tree and after they are taken 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 67 
 
 off, unless your finger or an\^ part of your flesh 
 touches them, when the spot touched immediately 
 turns red and remains so. The tree remains in 
 bloom for sev^eral weeks, but produces no kind of 
 either nuts or fruit, nothingr but kind of cone. It 
 is an evergreen, but only blooms once a year, and 
 that in April or early May. There are some other 
 trees that produce flowers, but when you have 
 o-nce seen the Magnolia, all the other flowering- 
 trees dwindle into such insignificance that a de- 
 scription here seems to be superfluous. 
 WILD VINES. 
 
 The trumpet flower and the honey suckle grow 
 wild here in the Hammocks and produce large and 
 beautiful flowers. Some of the trumpet flowers are 
 as much as fifteen to eighteen hiches in length, 
 while the honey suckles bloom abundantly Ver}'' 
 many of the flowering vines and shrubbery of the 
 North grow wdld in this State. 
 
 FLOWERING SHRUBBERY. 
 
 The wild Jassamine is perhaps the grandest. 
 You will see great masses of this in the Hammocks 
 literally covered with flowers in early summer. 
 The flowers of many are variegated, while others 
 are white, and indeed you can find Jassamine of 
 almost any color. It is said the flowers are pois- 
 onous, but of this I could get no certain knowdedgc 
 There are many other shrubs and small bushes 
 that produce flowers, some nice and large, others 
 very small and tiny. There is a bush that grows 
 
68 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 to the height of several feet and produces a purple 
 and white flower. The flower both before and 
 after it opens is covered w^ith a kind of stick sub- 
 sance something like syrup or honey. The flies 
 seem to like this substance, but woe to the fly that 
 a lights on flower bud or blossom ; his feet immedi- 
 ately become fastened and in his efforts to get 
 awav, his wings become fastened also and in a 
 very short space of time the fly is dead. This 
 bush is plenty in some localities and where they 
 grow you do not find the flies so plentiful. If 30U 
 break oft' the bush that have flower buds and blos- 
 soms on them and place them, or hang them in 
 your horse, in a very short time they will be full 
 of dead flies. I know of no name for this bush or 
 flour but FLY catchp:r. 
 
 MARYGOLDS. 
 
 Mary golds of the reddish variet}', grow wild 
 here. There are hundreds of flowers of about all 
 sorts and sizes growing in the timber and low 
 lands of Florida, some of which are very beautiful, 
 and very many of them are tiny, and but very few 
 of the wild flowers have any perceptable perfume 
 in them, 
 
 CULTIVATED FLOWERS. 
 
 Ore pinks, petumas, nearly all varieties of 
 roses, four o'clock, tulips, peonies, asters, chrysan- 
 themums and any, and nearly all other kinds and 
 varieties of flowers that you may fancy can be 
 grown in Florida, provided yovi have the patience, 
 
l^LORIDA AS IT IS. 69 
 
 dme and money to buy and attend to them. Many 
 of the flowers here are like tropical and semi-!rro]> 
 cal fruits and shrubbery in the North. They can 
 ~^be had with proper care> attend on and protection. 
 With a very few exceptions the natural and wild 
 flowers of Florida are neither plentier or prettier 
 than they are in ihe North, and yet il is called the 
 *'Land of Sunshine and Flowers.'" It could be 
 ■called the Land of Sand and Shower with rather 
 -more propriety than the other, but there h not s(i 
 very much in a name after all, particularly when 
 the truth is known^ 
 
 LILLIES AND CALLA LILLIES 
 Of nearly every kind and color grow wild; so 
 do flags. These latter grow in some lands, some 
 of which are very pre^tty. 
 
 FLOWERING MOSSES. 
 
 Such as are cultivated in the North, are here^ 
 treated asvveeds, and are con.siderable of a nuis- 
 ance in the gardens. 
 
 EVERGREEN TREES 
 
 Are all of the citrus lamily, such as orange, 
 lemon, shaddock, lime, &c. The magnolia bay, 
 live oak, turkey oak, water oak, palmetto, man- 
 $^rove, pine and .some others. 
 
 DECIDUOUS TREES, 
 Of those that shed their leaves in late summer or 
 fall and again put out leav^es ifi early spring, are 
 the hickor\' and pignut, the pecan ; the red, black, 
 
70 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 scrub and post oaks, maple, wild cherry, mulberry 
 ash, persimmons and some others. 
 
 HANGING OR HAIR MOSS. 
 
 This is the moss of commerce. After being pre- 
 pared, it grows on nearly all trees in the State, 
 particularly in the south half of it. The heaviest 
 moss is in the Hammocks and cypress swamps. 
 It seems to fjrow best on the hard wood trees and 
 cypress, but you find plenty of it on most of the 
 pine trees, especially in the neighborhood of lakes 
 or indeed waters of any kinds, whether lake, pond, 
 river or springs. The higher the land the less 
 there is of moss. I have seen moss grow on orange 
 trees in orange groves ; however where this occurs 
 the man or partv owning that grove had better sell 
 to some man who will take care of the grove and 
 keep the moss off the trees, for if he does not, he 
 will in a short time find out that kind of a grove is 
 not profitable. The moss does not grow on the 
 b:dy or trunk of the trees, but attaches itself to the 
 limbs or boughs and seems to thrive best when it 
 gets a hold near the top of the trees ; it seems to 
 feed on the air. It certainly is an air plant, for it 
 will grow on a dead tree just as well as on a live 
 one. It does not seem to injure any kind of trees 
 except fruit trees, and the trouble here seems to be 
 that the moss being so thick excludes the air par- 
 tially from the fruit. The moss is attached to the 
 limbs of the trees .seemingly by very small fibrous 
 roots which adhere very closely. It grows in 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS, 71 
 
 bunches something h'ke a horses tail, and hangs 
 the same vvaj^ Some of these bunches are as 
 much as fifty feet in length, and there may be from 
 twenty to live hundred of these bunches hanging 
 on one tree, varying in length from three to hfty 
 feet; the color of them when growing is of a dark- 
 ish gray. It bears a liny whitish flower and blos- 
 soms for several months in the year. There is 
 millions of tons of this moss in Florida. It is not 
 lit fur use ; when taken from the trees, it seems to 
 be of the nature of flax ; it must undergo a rol- 
 ling process, after which it is milled or broken, the 
 fibre is then .separated ana packed in bales ; it is 
 then the moss of commerce and ready for use. It 
 seems to the writer that right here in this moss 
 business, there is a good opening to make money 
 and do it legitimately andm a business way. All the 
 moss that is prepared, and being prepared, is done 
 in a primitive way, and nearly all by manual labor 
 and much of it is roughly and carelessh' put up 
 with a great deal of dirt in it. It certainly would 
 pay to form a company on a large scale, put up 
 proper machinery at suitable places, and prepare 
 this moss in a clear and proper way for the market 
 and I wall here venture the guess that in the near 
 tuture, such a company will be organized, 
 machinery built and much money made by it. 
 AIR PLANTS, 
 Air plants are rather singular in iheir nature or 
 ratlier they have a peculiar penchant for fastening 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS 
 
 or growing on almost anything, whether it ha's 
 roots or not ; the most lingular to fny mind is llie 
 mistletoe. This is a mixture between the bramble 
 bush and a vine, it seems to come by a kind of 
 chance^ (if -^uch a tiling can be) and att'Aches it- 
 self to some tree of the oak family, either bve or 
 deciduous and grows m a solid bunch tVom the 
 size of a crows ne.^t( which it som-ewhat resembles) 
 to manv feet in diameter, It usually aj*sumes a. 
 roundish form^ it i^ an evergreen and wheti found- 
 on deciduous treee, it presents a ver}' sii^gular ap- 
 pearance- when the leaves of the trees have lallen; 
 off. 
 
 There is aroother very singular dr plainfi, llhe 
 name of which I could nat learn-. In form and ap- 
 pearan4:e- it i^alrrsost identical wilh the pine apple- 
 It grows to ai large siz-e aud |:^oduces a spike or' 
 stem, but instead of forming a solid fruig on ^op as- 
 does the pine apple, it separates into many buncheS' 
 or forks at the top of the ^tem>, and produces beau-- 
 tiful flowers of various colors, but neither fruit or 
 seed that I could discover or find out • This plant, 
 attaches itself to almost a-ny kind of tree, but seems 
 more abundant on live oak in the low lands v They 
 do grow and thrive on dead trees, and I have seen' 
 them growing on posts and against the sides of old 
 houses and stables. There are many other va-- 
 rieties of these (so-called) air plants that grow 
 here, a description of which would be very nearly 
 a repetition of what has been above written. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 73 
 
 . CACTUS OR COWLEEKS 
 The cactus family in Florida is not large, but 
 what are here grow to an enormous size. They 
 increase in size tVomyear to year ana produce very 
 nice flowers until tlnally a freeze kills them, root 
 •4nd- branch. 
 
 SUGAR CAiNE, 
 Sugar cane seed is not seed at all, but simply 
 the cane stock cut in proper lengths, laid in the 
 furrow or ground, cjvered eniirely up ; if the stocks 
 are ripe aad in good coadition, they sprout at the 
 joints and thus produce the ncvv cane. 
 
 As a general crop in Florida, it has only been a 
 partial success , and that only in special localities, 
 notwithstanding, the reclaimed marsh lands is the 
 right kind ot* land to raise this crop on, and when 
 once the people get properly in the way of raising 
 cane, in my judgement it certainly will, and must 
 be a success. As yet sugar making in Florida is 
 nearly all prospecdve ; all the}^ can now grow is 
 nearly all made into syrup and the most of that is 
 consumed within her borders. Some of the s3n'up 
 made in Florida is equal to the best New Orleans 
 molasses and there is no good reason why it should 
 not all be of a good quality, if proper machinery 
 was put up and proper care taken in manufacturing 
 of the syrup. 
 
 The cane seed or pieces of stocks are planted in 
 rows several feat apart and in the row\s about like 
 corn. It is cultivated about like corn. The ijrst 
 
74 FLORIDA AS ITIS. 
 
 1 
 
 season, a field or patch of cane looks very much 
 like a field of corn ; the stocks are jointed, and the 
 blades all ret^emble corn. The stocks in rich 
 marsh lands grow as much as twenty feet highy 
 and many of them are as much as two and a half 
 and three inches in diamtter at the butt and they 
 carry thfir thickness for from six to ten feet before 
 beginning to taper. At the proper time they tassel 
 out something like sorgham or broom corn ; very 
 soon ofter tasseling, they are what is called ripe? 
 and then syrup or sugar making begins, the cane 
 V^eing cut and cured can be worked up months 
 afterward. As soon as the cane is cut the roots 
 rattoon stool out, thus producing the start for an- 
 other crop, and when freezing does not interfere 
 one planting will answer for several years and it is^ 
 sa'd that more and better sugar and syrup can be 
 made tVom these rattoon s or suckers the second, 
 third, and even up to the fifth year, provided the 
 rattoons or suckers are not allowed to cover the 
 ground too thickly, and are not frozen. It is said 
 by those who ougnt to know, that sugar cane will 
 not ripen seed anywhere in the United States, con- 
 sequently when new cane farms are first started 
 the seed must first come fj-om cuba or elsew^here. 
 One thing I do l^now, that the parties who are now^ 
 starting sugar farms in the reclaimed marsh lands- 
 of the Disston Company, imported their cane seed 
 from Cuba. Sugar making in Florida may or 
 mav not be a success, the future alone will tell.. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 75 
 
 and ibr the information of those who have been 
 otherwise informed, I will only say, that while 
 sugar has been made in Florida, it is by no means 
 established that the business can be made a paying 
 business. 
 
 HORSES. 
 
 The native horses are all small and of the pony 
 order ; there are, however, some very fine horses 
 here, nearly all of which have been imported or 
 brouo-ht here from other States and cost bitr 
 money. 
 
 MULES 
 
 Are used tor drawing loads, plowing, etc. They 
 are as a general thing, brought here from Ken- 
 tucky, and it is a very indifferent one that will not 
 sell for one hundred and fifty dollars, and some 
 good ones will bring nearly double that amount of 
 mone}^. 
 
 CATTLE. 
 
 The native cattle are very small and of the com- 
 monest kind, generally weighing when lat enough 
 for beef (when they are three or fours years old) 
 from two to three hundred pounds net, and thous- 
 ands of them will not weigh that much each when 
 hun£^ in the market. A cow (all cattle are called 
 cows here, no matter whether it is a bull, cow, 
 heiier, steer, stag or call) that will dress from two 
 hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds of clean 
 meat, is considered extra large. There are, how- 
 ever, some very fine milk cows in the State, which 
 
76 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 
 
 have been imported from other places. This kind 
 of stock does not do very well here, either on ac- 
 count of climate or some other cau;se. It requires 
 ^ri'eat care to acclimate them and even with all the 
 care that can be taken, a large percentage of them 
 die the fh-st j-ear after being brought here. 
 OXEN, (COWS) 
 Are much used for carr3ing, (drawing.) Re- 
 member in this countr}' nearly everj^thingis carried 
 as for instance carry the cows to water, carry the 
 log to the mill, etc.. Hauling or drawing in this 
 country is always called carrj-ing and an^'thing 
 that IS small and can be carried by hand, is here 
 called todng, as for example, tote these eggs to 
 market, or tote this wood into the kitchen, etc. 
 The reader will have to pardon this digression, I 
 started on oxen, (cow). Drawing cattle ma}' be 
 steers, bulls or cows, and it is no unasual sight to 
 see a bull and a cow under the same yoke, draw- 
 ing a load. Cows are also driven single in shafts. 
 Yon see Florida buggies drawn hy a single cow. 
 A Florida bugg}^ is a kind of a cart mounted on 
 two wheels with two poles for shafts, the motive 
 power being a cow. I have seen in or on one of 
 these vehicles, a man, a woman and five children 
 and they seemed to be about as happy as mortals 
 general!}' are. but to me it seemed rather a sorry 
 looking crowd. I have seen as many as six and 
 eightpairs of these cows attached, or hitched to a 
 wagon loaded with a load that any two good 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 77 
 
 Northern horses would have walked ric^ht aloncr 
 with it on a good Northern road, but what the horses 
 would, or could have done in a Florida sand road, 
 the writer has- no means of knowing. 
 
 SHEEP. 
 There are very few of them in the State. I 
 kow of no reason w^hy they should not do well. 
 
 GOATS. 
 
 This certainly would be a grand country for 
 goats, if rough garbage and weeds are the stuff for 
 them to forage on, and if they could be utilized in 
 any way. As it is, very few goats are here and I 
 do not know of any use they are being put to, ex- 
 cept as playthings for the boys. 
 
 HOGS, 
 
 The native hogs are very small and of the razor 
 back or cat fish variety ; about one-third of the 
 whole hog is head, then gently tapering to the 
 tail. It takes a big hog here, when fat to weigh 
 one hundred pounds, I mean a native Florida hog. 
 There are some imported stock that is much better. 
 To my mind Florida is not much of a country to 
 raise hogs in — nothing to feed them on. 
 
 DOGS. 
 
 Of all the States that I have ever been in, Flor- 
 ida beats them all for mongrel curs. 
 
 CATS. 
 House cats are not plenty, but pole cats are. 
 
78 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 CHICKENS. 
 
 Chickens do well. They are not subject to di- 
 sease, and with a little proper attention, are a source 
 of revenue. The common dunghill or mixed breed 
 seems to be the best adapted to this climate. Near- 
 ly ever person who have tried the pure bloods or 
 the so-called fancy chickens have failed for some 
 cause. I can see no reason why any l^ind of chick- 
 ens should not do well in Florida, as above stated 
 they are not subject to any of the diseases that 
 chickens are in the North. It is true, however, 
 that the mites (chicken lice) are very much worse 
 here than they are in the North, but they are easily 
 kept down if understood. It is said, but I have not 
 seen them, that there is a kind of a chicken flea 
 in some parts of the State, that when these fleas 
 get on a chicken that they become so numerous 
 that they destroy the skin of the chicken and cause 
 their death. 
 
 There are so many beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, 
 crickets, and so many and various insects here 
 during the greater part of the year, that fowls run- 
 ning at large about pick up their own living, and 
 about all vou have to do is feed them a little each 
 morning and evening, shut them up at night and 
 keep them shut up in the morning until after they 
 lay, thus securing the eggs, then let them run the 
 balance of the day. It is no trouble at all to raise 
 young chickens, and it seems strange that so few- 
 are raised. They always command a good price, 
 
FL ORIDA AS IT IS. 79 
 
 and eggs are never less than twenty-five cents a 
 dozen any place in the State that I have been, and 
 very often are sold for fifty cents a dozen, the fact 
 is in many places fresh eggs cannot be haa at any 
 price half the time> 
 
 TURKEYS. 
 
 Turkeys for some cause that the writer does not 
 know^ seem to not do welL 
 
 DUCKS AND GEESE. 
 
 These^ if properly taken care of, the right kind 
 wf coops and pens made so as to protect them from 
 alligators, skunks ?nd opossums, certainly ought 
 to> and would do well, but I do not now remember 
 of seeing a tame duck or goose in the State. 
 
 NOTE.— Since wilting the above, T saw one old tame goose. 
 
 GAME.. 
 
 In the Soistherfi part of the State, deer and bears 
 are plenty ; wild turkeys, quail, and rabbits are 
 found in nearly all parts of the State. There are a 
 good many wild cats, and in the extreme south are 
 found many American panthers, cougar or cata- 
 mount, coons, opossums, and others are here in 
 places very abundant. Squirrels are said to be 
 plenty, but I have seen none in the State. There 
 is abundant room and plenty of glorious fun for the 
 sportsman and hunter, even without the squirrels, 
 indeed you would hardly 'thifi'< of them when you 
 4iad such game as deer and the others named, and 
 last but not least by any means is shooting alli- 
 .igators, this in itself, is royal fun or sport ; th«en3 uu 
 
So FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 have wild ducks and geese, which, in season and 
 places, are very plenty : then there are thousands 
 of cranes, plume birds, herrons, blue, gray and 
 white Cormorants, black ducks, water turkeys and 
 thousands of other birds, so that the sportsman can 
 enjoy himself to his hearts content. A great many 
 of the large birds known in Florida, are not seen 
 in the North at all in a wild state. 
 BUZZARDS. 
 Buzzard-s are the natural scavengers of the 
 country. They are very plenty and are especially 
 protected by law under a severe penalty. They 
 clean up everything of a meat or fish nature that 
 that is thrown out, even before it becomes offensive 
 They are so tame that they will come into your lot 
 and even to your door, and very often you can go 
 near enough to touch them. They are perfectly 
 harmless and destroy nothing that is Useful. It is 
 rather a singular sight to see buzzards stepping 
 around among 3^our flock of chickens, (this the 
 writer has seen many times), neither seeming to 
 care for, or be afraid of the other. 
 PAROKEET^. 
 This is a bird of beautiful plumage. They are a 
 kind of parrot, and it is said that when taken very 
 young, they can be taught to imitate the human 
 voice, and even articulate certain words. This 
 mav be so, I however have the first one }'et to see 
 or hear that made any sound, that had the faintest^ 
 resemblance to the human voice to my ear. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 81 
 
 BEES. 
 
 Both the black and Italian bees are in Florida in 
 a wild state 5 when put into hives they make or 
 gather some honey, but are not very profitable. 
 In the spring or early summer when the orange 
 and magnolia trees are in bloom, they do well and 
 gather vast quantities of honey, provided there is 
 not much rain. The honey plants and flowers 
 here, are no better than they are in the North, and 
 many of the best honey plants of the North are not 
 here at all, such as white clover, catnip, buck* 
 \vneat, and others i the locust and apple are also 
 missing, but to balance this, Florida has the orange 
 and magnolia, and in the extreme South the man- 
 grove. The bees here have a much longer season 
 to work in and all things being favorable, a good 
 colony will gjather more honey here in a year than 
 they will farther North or w'here the seasons are 
 shorter. Bees do not seem to care to work when 
 the thermometer is much below sixty-five, conse- 
 quently there is quite a while in the winter season 
 Ihat they cannot, or do not gather honey, and if 
 they could, or were disposed to gather at this seas- 
 *-3n, there is verry little, if any to gather. It is true 
 there are man}' varieties of flowers in lull bloom in 
 mid-winter, but there is tio honey at all in most of 
 them, and such as do have honey in them, is so 
 h^haped thai the bees cannot get it. Again it is 
 never so cold here but what the bees are active in 
 then- hives, and they have brood at all seasons of 
 
82 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 the year, an(;i when they cannot gather honey trom 
 outside, they consume what is inside. It is said 
 that bees do much better further south, especially 
 so in the mangrove country. From my own ob^ 
 servation, if I were to raise bees I would seek oth- 
 er quarters to operate in. 
 
 SNAKES. 
 Rattlesnakes, of which there are several kinds 
 or species — Moccasin and Cottonmouth, seem to be 
 the most dangerous. These all have fangs and 
 their bite is frequently fatal, unless the proper rem- 
 edies are at hand to apply. I have seen the skins 
 (if Rattlesnakes in Florida that were all of twelve 
 feet in length and to all appearance the snake when 
 living must have been eight inches in diameter in 
 the thickest part. This kind however are not very 
 plenty. There is a rattlesnake called the Ground 
 Rattler, that is plenty and perhaps the most dan- 
 gerous of all the snakes of Florida because of his 
 habits. This ground rattle snake is small ; never 
 exceeds a couple of feet in length ; is of a kind of 
 grayish color ; he crawls under pieces of bark, 
 wood or boards ; coils himself up there and should 
 you go to remove the matter with which he is cov- 
 ered, or step on the same, you are almost certain 
 to be bitten. This snake gives no warning, al- 
 though he has rattles he does not use them only in 
 the act of biting, the warning is then too late. Not 
 so with his big brother, which always warns before 
 biting, and unless you can come upon them very 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 suddenly there is not much danger from the larger 
 species, for there is generally enough time be- 
 tween the warning and the bite for you to get out 
 of their way and I would here advise you not to 
 tackle (attempt to kill) one of these big fellows 
 unless you are well prepared to do battle or have a 
 good rifle with you. Then besides these two 
 species above named, there is a medium sized rat- 
 tle snake that presents very nearh' the same ap- 
 pearance as the large one, whose habits are about 
 the same. It is said that this is a distinct species 
 I did not investigate this snake business very closely, 
 but from what I saw and know of this snake, I am 
 of the opinion that when he lives as long as his big 
 brother, he will be about the same size. 
 
 As for the Moccasin snake, I have never seen 
 one, although they are said to be numerous and 
 their bite very poisonous. The most danger from 
 them is that they lie out at night on the public 
 roads, foot paths and even on board walks and if 
 you should happen to step or tramp on one of them 
 you are almost certain to be bitten. 
 
 The cotton mouth is a l^ind of adder somethin^j 
 like what the Northern people call a blowing viper 
 When disturbed they throw back the upper part of 
 their neck, thus exposing the entire inside of their 
 mouth, which very much resembles an open ball 
 of cotton, hence the name cotton mouth. It is said 
 this snake is not apt to bite unless provoked or sud- 
 denly surprised. 
 
84 FLORIDA AS IT IS. ] 
 
 There are many, very many other kinds and 
 species of snakes in Florida, as the black snake, 
 a large gray snake, coach whip, (Northern people 
 call it black racer), garter house and others, none 
 of which are very dangerous. 
 
 SALAMANDERS AND CHAMELEONS.' 
 
 These are a species of lizzards from four to 
 eight inches long ; thev burrow in the sand, throw- 
 ing up great piles of it, especially in the scrub pine 
 lands, you will frequently find thousands of these 
 little sand hills about the size of a half bushel on a 
 single acre of land. You do not want much of 
 that kind of land to raise oranges or truck on. 
 GOPHERS. 
 
 Gophers are a kind of rat or ground mole that 
 burrows in the ground and a half a dozen of them 
 will destroy a young orange grove by eating off 
 the roots in a very short time if only left alone. 
 The only way to stop them is to trap them, (which 
 is very hard to do) or dig after until you catch 
 them, which is quite an undertaking, as they get 
 away about as fast as you get after them. 
 COOTERS. 
 
 This is a kind of terrapin or land turtle, which 
 also burrows in the sand. They are harmless as 
 far as I can ascertain. When they are full grown 
 they weigh about twenty pounds and are said to 
 be very good to eat, equally as much so as soft 
 shell turtles, of which there are abundance in many 
 of the lakes in Florida. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 MOSQiJITOS, GALINIPPERS, 
 
 And Gnats are very numerous and verv pestif- 
 erous. You hear it said and read it in news- 
 papers published here, that there are some mos- 
 quitos in Florida, but in many places they are 
 comparatively free from them. No person does say 
 that there are none here, and no person can truth- 
 fully say but w^hat they are very abundant all over 
 the State- In one of the towns that is &>aid to be 
 ^ree from these pests, you cannot walk the streets 
 or sit in the house five minutes without having the 
 pests singing about your ears, and it is impossible 
 to sleep at night without being protected by a good 
 mosquito bar, and the bar must be tucked under 
 the mattress and perfectly tight or they will find 
 you under it. If they only lasted a short time you 
 could stand it, but they pest you for nearly nine 
 months of the year. This is almost too long, even 
 for all the advantages Florida promises to give : 
 then the black sjnats are no pleasant companions, 
 they get into your mouth, eyes and nose and while 
 they, do not present their bills with as much pertin- 
 acity as do their big brothers, (the mosquitos and 
 galinippers) , and while they do not trouble you in 
 the dark or while trying to sleep, they are very un- 
 pleasant to have about ; then in connection with 
 the mosquitos and galinippers and gnats, you 
 have the 
 
 FLEAS 
 
 Innumerable Cimex Lecturlarius. The per- 
 
86 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 fume from tnese latter when you smash one of them 
 is indeed very different from "attar o{ roses," and 
 the}' are very numerous and can be found inside 
 and out of about all the houses in Florida, whether 
 inhabited or otherwise. The winged insects and 
 bugs are so numerous that it is almost impossible 
 to read or do anything in the house after dark by 
 candle light without shutting doors and windows 
 tightly, or having very fine screens over them^ 
 hence in traveling through Florida by rail after 
 night, you will see large fires built near the dwell-- 
 inir houses. You wonder what these fires are tor 
 in the warm weather. Here is the secret ; to de-- 
 stro} the bugs and insects, which it does to. a cer-- 
 tain extent, but the mosquito cannot be caught in 
 that way : he is a night bird to a very great extent 
 and keeps av\ay from the fire. The only way to 
 dispo>e ot" them efl^ectually is to catch him, which 
 requires ab.ut the same amount of exertion and 
 dexterity that it does to catch a flea, and after you 
 have him, squeeze him gently between your thumb 
 and finger until he is dead. If these pests named 
 were all, you still might put up with all of them^ 
 lor the seeming advantages to be derived, but when 
 the "red bugs," and sand fleas begin to levy tribute 
 you will begin to think Florida has some pests. 
 RED BUGS AND JIGGERS. 
 Red bugs and jiggers are all over the State, in 
 fields and forests, in the sand, in the grass, on flow- 
 ers and weeds, on the trees and bushes and particu-- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 87 
 
 larly on old logs and in the moss that grows on 
 the trees. They, however, do not infest the houses 
 but it is almost impossible to keep them off your 
 body ; the}' are so small that you can scarcely see 
 them with the naked eye, but. when they get on 
 you, as they certainly will, if you walk around 
 much or stand among the grass or weeds. The 
 first intimation you have of them being on you, is 
 an itchiness, which you will naturally rub or 
 scratch, which, instead of relieving, only increases 
 the irritation, and the more you rub or scratch the 
 itchier the place becomes ; on the first opportunity, 
 you make an examination, you will then discover 
 the skin is red and inflamed — the bugs are there 
 sure enough ! and at work, and unless you get them 
 killed very soon, the place where they are be- 
 comes very sore and begins to slough (sluff) ofi'. 
 The best remedy known is to rub with kerosene, 
 (common coal oil) : very strong spirits of camphor 
 will also answer ; as soon as vou discover that the 
 bugs are on you, if one application does not kill 
 them, the second will be sure death. To avoid 
 getting the bugs on you either stay in the house, 
 or rub your body all over with coil oil before dress- 
 ing in the morning, then you can go where you 
 please with impunity. So far as red bugs and jig- 
 gers are concerned, there is another pest that you 
 will likely become acquainted with before you are 
 very long in the -'Land of Sunshine and flowers :" 
 it is the 
 
88 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 WOOD TICK. 
 
 These, however, are not very plenty ; they gel 
 on your body and may be on lor days before you 
 know it; they, like the red bug, produce an itchi- 
 ness : in trying to relieve, which you will tind a 
 small lump or protuberance, on close inspection 
 you will tind the tick about the size of a large sheep 
 louse ; no trouble to tind or see them ; you will tind 
 him securely fastened. The head of the tick is 
 formed something like the sharp point of a wood 
 screw with the thread cut the reverse way and un-- 
 less you unscrew the tick and get it all out of the 
 place where it was fastened, will become very sore 
 Many persons not knowing the nature of this pest, 
 seize hold of the body of the tick and pull them off, 
 in that case you almo^^t invariably let the head part 
 remain in \ our tiesh. which naturally must beal 
 out. I have named some of the most pestiferous 
 pests. There are plenty of others that you will be-- 
 come acquainted with should you at any time spend 
 a year in Florida. 
 
 BUG^, BEETLES, &C. 
 These are here by the thousands of millions. 
 The vast majority of them, as far as I know, are 
 harmless, and are useful for chicken feed, if for 
 nothing else. 
 
 ROACHES. 
 Roaches are very numerous and are, or do de- 
 stroy some things when they get into the houses, 
 as they generally do and not in small quantitie?;^ 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 89 
 
 either. 1 have seen roaches in Florida one and 
 one-half inches long and lully five-eighths of an 
 inch wide. 
 
 COMMON OR HOUSE FLIES. 
 These need no particular description as they are 
 common all over the world in certain seasons of 
 the years In Florida we have them in abundance 
 during the whole year^ 
 
 MICE. 
 
 Mice are plentiful and just as destructive as they 
 are in the North, and seem to be about the same 
 kind of mice. 
 
 RATS. 
 
 1 have not seen or heard of a black or gray rat 
 in the State, I have no doubt they are here, not- 
 withstanding, there is an Albino or large white rat 
 here dom.esticated. and they are used as cats for 
 catching m.ice> 
 
 TOADS AND FROGS. 
 
 These are numerous here, and the only differ- 
 ence I see is they are smaller. There is a kind of 
 toad here that makes a noise very much lil^e a 
 duck and there is a cricket that hollars just like a 
 young chicken. 
 
 SOMETHING ABOUT THE STATE AT 
 LARGE AND SOME OTHER THINGS. 
 
 The area of the State is iibout 60,000 square 
 miles, or say 38,400,000 acres. Fully the one- 
 half is covered with water and swamps, about 
 
90 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 one-half of the balance is marsh and low, flat land, 
 two-thirds of which can never be utilized for any 
 purpose ; this leaves about one-sixth of the State 
 that is upland. Now perhaps one-half of this, or 
 one-twelth of the State, which can with proper 
 drainage, good cultivation and abundance of fertil- 
 izer, be made to produce vegetables and almost 
 anything that will grow in a semi-lropical climate. 
 
 As to cost of production and what they will bring 
 in cash, will perhaps be the subject of another 
 chapter in this or some other book. If it were not 
 that many of the products of Florida are raised and 
 marketed in a season of the year that they bring 
 extra good prices, the producer w^ould have very 
 little but his labor for his pains, as it is, if the pro- 
 ducer had to entirely depend upon the products of 
 the soil for a living, many of them would have 
 very short rations or allowance. 
 
 About now you will ask, what then are the at- 
 tractions and inducements for people to go to Flor- 
 ida? The answer may be given by asking this 
 question: "What are the attractions and induce- 
 ment for people to go to Saratoga Springs, Cat- 
 skill and White mountains, or any and all of the 
 famous summer resorts in the North ?" Very few- 
 people go there, or to any of those places with* a 
 view to make money, (except the hotel keepers), 
 but rather for recreation and rest. This is all well 
 enough and perfectly legitimate when you have 
 ample means and can afford it. Nows these sum- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 91 
 
 mer resorts are generally so situated iuld their lo- 
 <catioiis are 8ucb, that there is not much chance tor 
 sharpers and speculators, Consequently you do not 
 find many o( this character there. Now Flofida is 
 a natural winter resort for the class of people who 
 have leisure and money to spend, and who wish to 
 ^void the long cold winters of the North, and the 
 Territory being larger ; selections of place and lo- 
 cality can be made to suit the purses of alK The 
 winters here are almost like summer in the North, 
 and for some thfee or four months there are com- 
 paratively few pests to trouble you. For rest and 
 recreatior^, th'.s State Cannot be surpassed in the 
 Union, and I doubt if itl the known world, but 
 ^vhen that is said, it is nearly all that can be truth- 
 fully said about it, but the chances for speculation 
 here are too great to be overlooked ; many places 
 (f beauty, must be and are improved ; large hotels 
 and boarding houses are built, and paper towns 
 •are laid out, number of inhabitants are kind of 
 miraculously increased, flaming circulars are sent 
 broadcast over the North- These circulars as a 
 general thing Contain som^e truths and they are so 
 worded and prepared that -they -seem to describe 
 the country almost as being a paradise — all the 
 good is told and well told, and the bad is kept in 
 the background and is seldom, if ever mentioned. 
 Syndicates or companies of speculators are form- 
 'xrd a few thousand acres are bought, the land costing 
 tVom one dollar and twentv-five Cents to three and 
 
92 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 a half dollars per acre, a town plot or winter resort 
 is laid oft'; certain lots are always reserved for 
 churches and schools ; a good deal of money is 
 spent in advertising and a little in cutting streets 
 and roads in the new city ; a little bit of a shant}' is 
 put up and advertised as a grand hotel. There is 
 usually a cut or picture on the advertisement or 
 circular showing a magnificent hotel with carriage 
 in waiting to take you to and from the depot, also 
 showing magnolia and palmetto and orange trees 
 laden with fruit- This all looks splendid on paper 
 when the facts are, that in many cases there is not 
 a magnolia or palmetto tree, or a bearing orange 
 tree within man}^ miles ot this particular locality, 
 and the hotel is as above described, this, however, 
 is called booming. These circulars also set forth 
 that there are about so many inhabitants there now 
 and for a short time small lots, say 40x100 feet, 
 can be had for from two to ten dollars , each, but 
 you must be in a hurry about it for the lots are 
 going off (selling) very rapidly and the price will 
 be double or more in a short time. You are also 
 told that this land is first qualitj^ and on it can be 
 raised all kinds of vegetables, tropical and semi- 
 tropical fruit, and strawberries — no end to them, 
 and for a very small sum you can build you a 
 house to live in ; some of them even say that lor 
 , so much, they will put up for you a neat cottage 
 and have it ready so that all 3^ou have to do is to 
 come right along, (better not come right away, the 
 
FLORIDA AS I F IS. 93 
 
 bouse may not be ready for some time)^ Many of 
 them tell yon that it is just as pleasant to live in 
 Florida in the summer as it is m witner. This all 
 looks splendid on paper, and it does not, according 
 to these circulars, seem to require much capital to 
 own a house and lot in Florida. About the next 
 thing you begin to talk of this matter to your neigh- 
 bors and they become interested and in short 
 among you, you have sent the syndicate or com- 
 pany a few hundred dollars, in due course ot time 
 3'ou get your deeds for the land or lots ; this is all 
 bona fide and in proper shape : your title is good 
 and the land or lots are there sure enough, and 
 you are a land owner m Florida and it has not cost 
 you a great deal either. But now let us figure a 
 little and see if some person has not paid prett}' 
 well for the whistle, considering its size. *^uppose 
 you pay only five dollars for a lot 40x100 feet, you 
 get four thousand square feet of land, this land cost 
 the company, say two dollars per acr,e and perhaps 
 two dollars more an acre to advertise and getting 
 you t*^ buy. Now we find that there is a little over 
 ten such lots in an acre, so 3^ou see 3*ou have paid 
 the compan\^ at the rate of over fifty dollars for 
 what cost them not over four dollars, now this is 
 quite a neat little job, a clear profit of not less than 
 forty-five dollars on an investment of four dollars. 
 Very often after the company have sold the major- 
 ity of their lots they abandon the enterprise alto- 
 gether ; they have accomplished their object to 
 
94 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 make money ; they have made their pile, (so ta 
 speak) and while they have failed to do as their 
 circulars represented, what they have done has 
 been within the statute and there you are and with- 
 out remedy : the enterprise is a fizzle or failure ; to 
 be a little more explicit, it is a fraua and a swindle 
 The only thing you can do is to bear your loss 
 and look out and not buy the next time until } ou 
 see what you are getting. This is no fancy picture 
 nor is there any imagination about it. Such cases 
 are constantly occurring and can easily be speci- 
 fied. I would not have the reader understand that 
 all land, speculations and enterprises in Florida 
 are of this character, but I w^ould have you under- 
 stand that they will all bear watching, and some of 
 them very closely, and I here and novv advise you 
 to hold on to your money until you have thorough- 
 ly investigated the case, and as for me, 1 would 
 not entrust this investigation to any one, but before 
 I invested a single dollar. I would go and see for 
 myself. There are certainly many good chances 
 to speculate, and make money rapidly in Florida, 
 but in order to do it, you must be right here on the 
 ground with the money to take advantage of the 
 chances as they occur. What a man wants to 
 make money here, is some capital, the more the 
 better, lair judgement and some pluck, (vim), but 
 , unless a person has some considerable cash en 
 hand, there are very many places preferable to 
 Florida to live in or make money. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 95 
 
 COPY OF LETTER. 
 
 '•Ed. Falcon: — Never having written yoii since mv 
 arrival in "the Land of Sunshine and Flowers," I 
 thought the views and ideas of one who now lives here 
 would not be uninteresting to some of your readers, lor 
 some of them, like the writer, may be foolish enough to 
 want to exchange the certainties of old Albemarle for 
 the very uncertainties of the very great humbuggers of 
 this very great myth cf the land of gnats, sand flies, 
 sand, i.e. Florida. I have been in this State just nine 
 months and can truly say that the only ones that I 
 have seen, who lil^e it, are those who came down several 
 years ago and happened to strike land that was then of 
 comparatively no value, and which has since risen to 
 value on account of immigration or those who come here 
 with thousands of dollars in their pockets, and speculate 
 in lands and town lot sat almost fabulous prices. I my- 
 self came here with a few hundred dollars in my pockets 
 with the idea in my head that I had only to invest that 
 in either merchandise or a piece of land, to live ever 
 after in ease and comfort. I was wrong, my ideas were 
 based on the articles of which the State is composed, 
 namely sand. I found I could not buy a building lot 
 anywhere convenient to the business portion of the town 
 (Orlando) without expending the whole of the little 
 cash I had brought with me in the naked lot alone. It 
 is true I can buv a small lot 50x140 feet about one mile 
 from the centre of the town for two hundred dollars in 
 cash down, but why are these lots sold so cheaply? I 
 will tell. Hold your ear close that I may whisper it, for 
 I must not speak of these things aloud. It is because 
 the lands are so low that they are almost entirely cover- 
 ed with water and a person cannot walk upon the streets 
 where they are located, unless he has on what our fisher- 
 man in North Carolina ca 1 hip boots. These are 
 facts and yet they sell lots. Why? I will tell you in 
 the fall and winter when they are comparatively dry, the 
 Northern man with capital in his pocket comes down 
 lo invest, he is taken hold of by the land s'larps, (real 
 e state agents) — no reflection Mr. Editor, and first shown 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS 
 
 higher up town, which does not oveifl )w, an<l offers them 
 at troiD . ight hun(ired to two thousand dollars per lot; 
 of course when he is offered the other at two hundred 
 dollars b cause ihey are a little farther out; (nothing 
 said about their hcing low); he uaos them at once, ^oes 
 to work and puts a shell on them, costing from two to six 
 huniirtd dollars and rents them out at trom twelve to 
 twenty dollars a month — the same house with oOxloO 
 f( et that rents in Elizabeth City lor six dollars a month 
 would reno here quickly for from twenty to twenty-five 
 dollars per montli 
 
 Trade in merchandising is now very duU here, but the 
 town authorities are using their best endeavors to make 
 times brisker by putting on new takes. We have & 
 water clo>et tax at the rate of thirteen (iollars [*er yearj- 
 which tlie poor renter has to pay; a little street tax of 
 six dollars per year for each voter. These are only i^ 
 proportion to other taxes, which you see are all very 
 moderate. 
 
 There is only one thing that keeps, or hoi Is at least 
 one-third of the p<»pulation of this section here; want of 
 means lu get away ; They spent their all t<j get here and 
 now can't i-ave engugh ot money to pay their way back 
 home. 
 
 Tidkiiig about rents, I pay for a shell that is neither 
 lathed, piastend or ceiled on the inside, and with boards 
 ruhnmg up and down on the outside on a lot of about 
 seventy-five feet square; the modest little sum of fifteen 
 dollars per monch, pa5'able in advance every time, and 
 then under obligations to take it lor the whole year. 
 My stcre rent is more reasonable, being only Iwenty-five 
 dollars per month for a room about nine by forty-five 
 feet but that is really low in proportion to some others. 
 If you ask me, can people stand this long? I will an- 
 swer no ! Business here will not justify it and I will 
 answer that before the summer is over, manj- will be 
 compelled to sell out and close up. 
 
 You never see corn growing here or any of the ceiealsr 
 or grass. All of the feed is imported and nearly all ex- 
 cept a few inferior vegetables that is used here for foci? 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 97 
 
 bv the inhabitants is brought here from the North and 
 West. 
 
 I rude out in the country on Sunday last to admire the 
 '•Land of Flowers." T only saw p'ne barrens, swamps 
 and lakes, what in North Carolina would be called ponds 
 No flowers, no fields of eorn, wheat, cotton or clover, 
 nothin<4 in fact but barrens with now and then a geld of 
 sand with young orange trees set out in them. But they 
 can raise cabbage, potatoes and other vegetables if they 
 only chof)se to do so. I have it from the very lips of a 
 man from Ohio^ now living here, who has tried it and 
 he says as good vegetables can be raised here as any- 
 where in the world, and that the cost of raising them 
 will not be much more than double the price you can 
 sell them for. I, of course don't know whether this is 
 t.ue or not, but this I do know that ail with whom I 
 have talked on the subject, say that the cost of culti- 
 vation far exceeds the prices obtained. 
 
 This country has a great reputation for climate, in 
 fact it is all climate and sgnd, flies and other pests, such 
 as it is. I have been told that the winters here are de- 
 lightful. I suppose it must be so since they all say so, 
 but I can say for myself, I have not found it so. My 
 whole family, including my wife and myself, have suf- 
 fered more from the col-d and colds here than on the 
 bleak cost of North Carolina during the fall and winter 
 of 1885 and 1886, 
 
 Comment on the above letter is useless. It is the 
 experience of thousands in Florida to-day, and will 
 be of thousands more, until people come to know 
 the true condition of the State, its resources and 
 drawbacks. 
 
 SOCIETY, 
 
 The state of eociety may be truly said to be self- 
 ish in nearly every sense of the word, A JNorth- 
 ern man or woman, (when I say Northern, I mean 
 anvbodv outside of Florida, whether from the North 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 South, East or West), on first coming to the State ; 
 especially if they have money, which is soon found 
 out by land agents and speculators, they are taken 
 in hand by interested parties, and carried all over 
 the town and surrounding country in good style, 
 usually with a spanking team, rigged in the latest 
 style, and if you are to be out all day, a good lunch 
 and may be something to wash it down will be 
 taken. Either that or arrangements made at some 
 convenient place. In either case, the trip costs 
 you nothing (directly). You will always find the 
 driver a first-rate fellow ; he knows everybody he 
 meets and w^ill introduce you and the newlv made 
 acquaintance will give a flattering account of the 
 country, its beauties and advantages. After leav- 
 ing him, the driver will again take up the conver- 
 sation. After expatiating on what the man said, 
 he will show you that there is much more to be told 
 in his case He will then perhaps give 3'ou a his- 
 tory of the recent acquaintance which is always 
 marvelous, particularl}^ in the way that he has ac- 
 cumulated wealth ; usually the party came to Flor- 
 ida ver}' poor, either bought or took up a piece of 
 land, cleared it oft', fenced broke up, and planted 
 a grove. There it is and you can, and do see it 
 with your own eyes. These trees are from seven 
 to ten years old and this season will have on each 
 tree from a thousand to five thousand oranges ; 
 (mighty good trees) these at a cent and a half a 
 piece will bring, w^ell you can figure for yourself; 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 99 
 
 about this time you are some place else, and an- 
 . other new acquaintance is made and about the 
 same stor}' is gone over again perhaps with a little 
 variation, but always better, all the time, the 
 brightest of the bright side is shown and kept be- 
 fore you and expatiated upon in the most glowing 
 language and the very best and choicest places are 
 shown you, thus the day passes. 
 
 You turn to the starting point, another engage- 
 ment is made at the earnest solicitation of the party 
 who has carried you around for another drive in a 
 (iifferent direction on some other day, in the near 
 future you leave him for the present. You, how- 
 ever, scarcely get aw^ay from him until some one 
 else hails you. These men get to know you very 
 soon and promise to take you around to-morrow or 
 next day ; you soon begin to think these people are 
 very clever and very sociable, and that this is cer- 
 tainly a very nice country to live in ; thus it goes 
 on for a week or so until you make a purchase, 
 which generally reveals the true state of yourfinan 
 ces ; as soon as this is known, or if you have in- 
 vested about what you intended and express your- 
 self in that way, these fellows will hardly recog- 
 nize you on the street, and many of the parties to 
 whom you have been introduced, will have for<i-ot- 
 ten you entirely ; the party that sold you, (so to 
 speak) has accomplished his end, made his money 
 paid his stool pigeons and now is looking out for 
 other victims, while others got left, as thev say 
 
loo FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 down here in Florida. Now when this transaction 
 is thoroughly sifted, we find that by a previous ar- 
 rangement that nearly all of the persons with whom . 
 you have talked and been introduced to, there is 
 an understanding that they are to talk just about 
 the way they did, and they always manage to have 
 enoucrh show of truth in the whole business to oaz- 
 zle and fascinate you, (and let me here say that 
 they understand their business) and get you to in- 
 vest your money, and on further investigating you 
 will find as you are shown around by different firms 
 that you seldom meet any of the parties with whom 
 you had become acquainted through other parties. 
 Should it so happen, you are quickly drawn av^'ay 
 from them. This being the case, and it is exacth'. 
 it is plain to be seen (not at the time but afterward) 
 that nearly everybody is interested in land specula- 
 tion either directly or indirectly, and as soon as 
 they have your money or signature, you can row 
 your own boat. As is often the case when notes 
 are given and you fail to meet it, then the friend- 
 ship is shown, for often the law is enforced the day 
 the note falls due, and the laws in Florida are such 
 that debts of all kinds can be collected at once, if 
 at all collectable. This same stran or thread runs 
 through all the business transactions with store- 
 keepers, mechanics &c. So long as you can pay 
 cash, it is all right and friends are numerous, but 
 when short of funds and want a favor, in ninety- 
 nine cases out of every hundred^ you will stick. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. loi 
 
 This, then fully demonstrates that the society and 
 people of Florida, as a general thing, are selfish. 
 There are some honorable exceptions, but they 
 only prove the rule. There are very few neigh- 
 bors, all are strangers as it v^'ere, and each one is 
 taking care of him or herself, vs^hile their way of 
 doing business is in some respects commendable, 
 in others it is far from honorable. The rule here 
 is to buy and sell for cash» This is all right, but 
 if the trade is of such a nature that money can be 
 made out of it, they will hold out every inducement 
 for you to buy, (not particular about the cash,) but 
 as soon as the trade is made and closed, as a mat* 
 ter of business of course you give your obligations 
 to pay at a certain time and just as soon as the time 
 is up, if not paid the statute is put in force and the 
 money is made, no matter how badl}' or who it 
 hurts. There are a few exceptions to this, but 
 they are very few indeed- My advice here, is 
 never give a note or obligations of any kind in 
 Florida, unless you are sure you know where the 
 money is to come from to pay it, and that you are 
 sure you will get it in time, or my word for it, you 
 will have trouble and costs to pay also. 
 
 MISREPRESENTATION. 
 
 There are but few men or parties who are in any 
 kind of business in Florida, but what will misrep- 
 resent, or at least make things appear to be fullv 
 as large as they are and many of them seem to 
 think it no special harm, but rather smart to repre- 
 
io2 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 sent an article as first-class when they know it is 
 not, or to say an article cost so much when it did 
 not cost one-half of what they say. Another thing 
 is very common here and that is to have several 
 prices for the same article, the lowest of which is 
 always high enough. If you happen to know^ 
 what a thing is worth, you can generally buy 
 about right, otherwise you will in all probability 
 pay double or treble for it. This is considered all 
 right and counted as smart, the fact is the motto 
 seems to be, "get money, get it honestly if you 
 can, if not, get it any way, so you don't steal it and 
 get caught. 
 
 POLITIC^. 
 
 There really does not seem to be much bother 
 about it in the State. The proclivities however^ 
 are Democratic, but 30U hear very little said and 
 elections are held with very much less clamor and 
 corruption than they are in the North. The ma- 
 nipulating or wire w^orking (if an}-) are done iri 
 the registration of voters. A man connot vote un- 
 less he is registered such a length of time prior to 
 the election, and as the Board of Registration is 
 located at the count}- seat of each county, you must 
 therefore go to the county seat to find out if you 
 are registered or not, otherwise 3'ou will find out 
 on election da}^ as the list of registered voters is 
 sent wath the other election papers to each polling 
 place in the county. As a general thing nearly all 
 voters, both white and black, are registered and sc>> 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. lo^ 
 
 far as I Know or can see, or find out, each and 
 -every man, both white and black, casts their vote 
 as they please without let or hindrance from any 
 person ; the stories you hear in the North to the 
 contrary notwithstanding. I would not have the 
 reader understand that there is no electioneering 
 here about election times, for there is and some- 
 times excitement runs very high, but I have never 
 heard of any money being offered for votes in the 
 State, it may have been done however* 
 JNIGGERS. 
 
 The word nigger is a term of general accepta- 
 tion all over the State, and it is as much used by 
 the blacks as the whites, and no disrespect is shown 
 or attended when the w^ord is used. 
 
 There seems to be no authentic censes or ac- 
 count of the number or even relative number of 
 white and black inhabitants in the State, but it is 
 admitted by nearly all persons who seem to know 
 that the niggers in the State outnumber the whites 
 by very considerable. Some of the niggers arfe 
 industrious and are doing w^ell — in many cases 
 they are doing better than the whites as they stand 
 this hot climate better than the whites, but take 
 them as a class, they are lazy and w^orthless, and 
 will not work unless compelled by necessity. Many 
 of them live more like brutes than human beings » 
 They are even (many of them) too lazy to cook 
 meat or mutton corn, but eat them raw. Then on 
 the other hand, there are niggers who have pride 
 
I04 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 enough to take care of themselves, and who are 
 just as respectable and live just as good as any of 
 the whites. On an average in doing manual labor 
 two white men will do about as much work in a 
 given time as six niggers would in the same time. 
 The black mechanic will, however, do about as 
 much w^ork as the white one in the same length of 
 time, and there are some very £^ood mechanics 
 among them. 
 
 INDIANS. 
 There are in tde Southern part of the State- 
 principally in Dade, Monroe and Manatee counties 
 about five hundred Indians. This number, like all 
 other accounts of the inhabitants of the State are 
 guessed at, and I guess the number is too high by 
 nearly one-halt. Be this as it may, a remnant ol 
 the once powerful i^eminoles are still in Florida^ 
 They seem to be perfectly harmless and subsist by 
 hunting, lishing and raising a few cattle. Some of 
 them occasionally come as far North as Kissimmee 
 City to exchange their furs, pelts, alligator teeth,. 
 &c., for groceries, lire water, (whiskey), a little 
 clothing, gewgaw^s, and ribbons. Their clothing 
 is very scant, nor is it in the height of fashion. It 
 consists of a garment made something like a short 
 shirt, over which is usually worn a kind of jacket 
 and head gear of some stuff or cloth usually red or 
 other glaring, or gaudy color, trimmed with beads, 
 alligator teeth or some gaudy tinsel. The buckF- 
 (men) seem to care more for their head gear than 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 105 
 
 any other part of their clothing. The squaws 
 (women) dress about as the men, they however, 
 wear no head gear, but instead thereof, usually 
 wear moccasins. None of the bucks wear moc- 
 casins, except the chiefs or those in authorit}^ who 
 wear in addition to the above described dress moc- 
 casins and kind of pantaloons or trowsers made of 
 buckskin and being adorned with a wide flap or 
 fringe down the legs about where the outside seam 
 of pants are. The principal chief has his head 
 gear also trimmed with eagle feathers and w^ears in 
 addition a fancy breech clotti fancifully trimmed 
 with tinsel and gay colors. The papoose (child- 
 ren) run entirely naked until they are ten or 
 twelve years of age over the country, everglades, 
 &c., living in skin tents, bark cabins, hollow trees, 
 etc. A large majority of them can speak enough 
 English to make their wants known. 
 MINERALS. 
 There is in some places in the Northern part of 
 the State some iron ore, but as yet not found in 
 paying quantities. There are no other minerals 
 that I know or can hear of in the State except sul- 
 phur and that only in the water. Clay Springs 
 are so strongly impregnated with sulphur that you 
 can smell it several hundred yards away from the 
 springs and when you approach the springs you 
 can see the sulphur all around the margins. Place 
 ^i half dollar in the water and in a very few min- 
 utes it turns to a yellow color, resembling gold. 
 
io6 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 It however soon turns black on exposure to the air. 
 There are many other sulphur springs in the State. 
 The deep down water seems to all be impregnated 
 with sulphur. Nearly all the artesian wells pro- 
 duce sulphur water. 
 
 STONE COAL, 
 
 There is not any in the State that I know of. 
 FUEL, 
 
 Wood is the only fuel. Pine wood is usually 
 used (the oak is very hard to chop) and while it is 
 plenty and can be had for the gathering. The 
 wood choppers here put up the wood in what they 
 call strans. A stran of wood is said to be eight 
 feet long, four feet high and wide as a stove wood 
 stick is long. They will cut the wood whatever 
 length you want, not exceeding twenty-four inches, 
 A twelve inch length is the same price as a twenty- 
 four inch length. It seems like as if the charge 
 was for the work and not for the wood. Those 
 strans they will deliver to you cut, split up and aM 
 ready for the stove for one dollar and fifty cents 
 a stran, so you see after all fuel costs right smart. 
 There is, however, the consolation that this climate, 
 especially in the summer time, does not require 
 much fuel. The wood is always cut from the green 
 tree and you must have lighter wood to start your 
 fire with. This lighter wood is from old pine trees 
 that have fallen down and the sap or white wood 
 has all rotted off, leaving nothing but the fat pine 
 heart and old pine knots. Lighter wood in Flor- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 107 
 
 ida is called kindling wood in the North. This 
 lighter wood is delivered to you in chunks and costs 
 about two dollars a stran and you must split it up 
 into kindling yourself or get it done ; you can suit 
 yourself about this, 
 
 HAULING OR CARRYING. 
 
 You seldom hear the word haul or hauling in 
 the sense used by Northern people. If they haul 
 an3'thing here, it is called carrying. They carry a 
 stran of wood, they carry the lumber for a house 
 from the mill, they carry the stock to water, in fact 
 any and everything that is transported on wagons, 
 drawn by horses, mules or oxen or that is driven 
 before you is carried and any and everything that is 
 carried or transported by hand in this country is 
 toted, so it is tote me a pail of water, tote me some 
 w^ood or tote these eggs to the store, or this satchel 
 to the depot, &c. Many other strange and singu- 
 lar terms are used, both by whites and blacks, such 
 as ''sure enough.'' This expression is used when 
 anything startling is related as for example : John 
 Smith's house was burned last night. The person 
 to whom it is related will invariably exclaim "sure 
 enough," and I do not know but that the expres- 
 sion is about as elegant as the Northern people do, 
 *'is that so?" Agam, "done gone" is another com- 
 mon expression. Ask if a man has done a certain 
 vork, and if he has, the answer will be, "Yes, he 
 done gone and did it," or did such a person go west? 
 *^Ye5, he done gone last week. Again "that away' 
 
io8 FLORIDA AS IT IS 
 
 instead of that or this way, always putting the "a" 
 before the ''way," and many more seemingly ab- 
 surd expressions, which no doubt originated among 
 the niggers, but are now used indiscriminately 
 with the whites and blacks ; there are exceptions, 
 but they are few and far between, and strange to 
 say people from the North fall right in and use 
 these same expressions quite soon after coming 
 here, 
 
 DWELLING HOUSES. 
 
 Dwelhng houses are mainly built of wood (yel- 
 low^ pine) and are covered with cypress shingles, 
 tin or boards ; the foundation is live oak blocks 
 when obtainable, otherwise pine blocks. These 
 blocks are pieces cut off trees from two to six feet 
 long, according as you w^ant your house elevated, 
 and. are set on end on top of the ground (sand) for 
 the top is the solid part of the country ; these blocks 
 are from a foot to two feet in diameter, these being 
 placed in position the structure is then built. A 
 common house or shell is made of light timber 
 usually two by four inch stuff, enclosed with plank 
 (inch boards) running up and down, sometimes 
 stripped and very often not, a single story about 
 eight feet high, the inside divided into two apart- 
 ments, however usually all in one ; the roof may 
 be plank, shingles or tin, according to the means 
 of the 15uilder, it is a fact that there is not one roof 
 in ten in Florida that turns water perfectly, no 
 
 I 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 109 
 
 matter of what kind of material the roof is compos- 
 ed. The commoii houses have no inside finish 
 whatever. This kind of a house can be built cheap- 
 ly ; the lumber will cost delivered on the ground 
 about thirteen dollars per thousand feet, so for 
 about fifty or sevent3'-five dollars you can have a 
 house of your own and then sit down under your 
 own roof and contemplate on 3'our surroundings, 
 and thus enjoy this splendid country, composed of 
 climate, sand and some other things, but a bet- 
 ter class of houses are built about as follows : 
 Foundation about as above described, then a regu- 
 lar frame (balloon) is made of heavier timber, 
 novelty siding is used, planed and matched floor- 
 ing is put in, a good shingle or tin root is put on, 
 doors and windows are put in places, the inside 
 divided into rooms, &c., outside painted, then it is 
 readv to occupy if the party has means ; the inside 
 may be ceiled with plank or lathed and plastered, 
 chimneys and fire places put in and fixed up and 
 furnished as you may desire, this, then is called a 
 a very good house in Florida = Such a house wijl 
 cost from four hundred to four thousand dollars, 
 depending on just two things alone and these are 
 the size of the house and the size of your moneys 
 pile, then there are a few extra good houses built 
 here of both wood and brick. They do have brick 
 in Florida, but they are nearly all made and burn- 
 ed at Atlanta, Georgia. They cost in Florida from 
 leven to sixteen dollars per thousand, yet there 
 
no FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 are some brick houses built in the Southern part of 
 the State, and quite a good many in the Northern 
 part. This is just about the size of it. You can 
 build just the kind of a house you may want in 
 Florida as well as anywhere eLe, provided } ou 
 have the money to do it with. I know of houses- 
 being built here that cost from fifteen to twenty 
 thousand dollars. The material out of which they 
 were built was all shipped from the North. These 
 kind of housts are generally put up by parties who 
 have a big lot of land. A new town or orange 
 groves for sale is not ahvays the case, but when 
 you tind a party making a big show o( this or 
 any other sort in Florida, it will be w^ell enough to 
 keep an eye to windward. 
 
 As above stated nearly all the brick used in 
 Florida ai e taken there from Atlanta, Georgia. 
 There are several places in the State that brick 
 are made. They, ho^^ever, are very inferior on 
 account c>f being too much sand in the cla}', or 
 the sand not having enough of clay in it, anyhow 
 the brick are worthless. It is claimed that a party 
 has recently made a discovery and I believe has it 
 patented, that by a certain process the}' can make 
 a kind of brick or artificial stone out of this Florida 
 satid. They put up the sand in blocks about the 
 size of ordinary brick and witljout burning. They 
 harden these blocks so that they do not crumble 
 and they are just about as strong as well burned 
 brick The claim is that they will stand fire anu 
 
FLORIDA AS IT iS. iii 
 
 are no more subject to crumble from exposure to 
 the weather than good brick. I have seen solne cf 
 these blocks and to all appearance the discovery 
 seems to be a good one. This party claims they 
 can furnish these sand bricks or blocks at from six 
 to eight dollars a thousand — a thousand of them 
 will build aboiit as much Wall as twelve hundred 
 common bricks. Thev further claim when the 
 right kind of mortar or cement is used that the en- 
 lire wall becomes solid ; they further claim they 
 can make door sills, lintels, cornice, mouldings, 
 etc., right out of the sand. Should this prove a 
 success, it will to a great extent, revolutionize the 
 building of houses in Florida and some other places 
 as well. This, however, to a very great extent is 
 prospective, like a great many other things here. 
 The worst feature about building here, is that the 
 lumber is all worked green. A log is thrown on 
 the mill at one end and comes off at the other end 
 in the shape of flooring, siding, moulding, etc«, as 
 the case ma}- be, or rough boards or dimension 
 lumber, and is taking at once and put into build- 
 ings. Very ma.ny times trees that w^ere standing 
 in the morning, in the evening of that same da}' 
 are built in dwellings, thus you see building houses 
 entirely of the greenest kind of lumber ; this being 
 the case the lumber seasons in the building and 
 naturally gives aWay, leaving cracks and open 
 places, making bad work. The lumber is of such 
 a nature that if to season before using, unless very 
 
112 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 carefully stacked, it warps and twists all out of 
 shape and becomes so hard that it is almost im- 
 possible to work it to any advantage or satisfaction, 
 as it breaks and splits very easily. When green ^ 
 it is soft and pliable and easily worked and bent in 
 almost any shape you may want it, but when dry 
 it is stiff, hard and will not, and cannot be made 
 to assume any shape, but that to which it has^ 
 dried. 
 
 Yellow pine is the only kind of native lumber 
 that is used for building purposes, except cypress^ 
 which is too expensive on account of the difficulty 
 of gttting it out of the swamps, otherwise it would 
 take the place of white pine in the North, of which 
 its nature partakes, in that it is soft, straight in the' 
 grain and does not warp or twist in drying or seas- 
 oning. Magnolia trees make good lumber, but it 
 is too scarce to amount to an} thing. The live, and 
 other oaks when sawed, assume all kinds of shapes 
 consequently are of no account only for blocks for 
 
 foundations. 
 
 WELLS OF WATER. 
 There is no trouble to sink a well anywhere in 
 Florida, all you have to do is to difi^ a hole in the 
 sand big enough so that you can work in it. After 
 you get down several feet, a box three or four feet 
 square without a bottom or top must be placed in 
 the hole with a stout piece of scantling in each 
 corner inside ; these pieces of timber should be 
 from sixteen to twenty feet in length — of course thi^; 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 113 
 
 Upper end sticks away above the hole ; this timber 
 is to nail your boards to, to increase the height of 
 your box, now put on a few pieces of boards so as 
 to bring your box on a level with the surface of the 
 land, then get inside and throw out some more 
 sand ; as fast as you throw out the sand from below 
 the box will sink, thus keeping your well walled 
 or curbed ; when you have gone down a foot or 
 so, better climb out and put more boards on your 
 timbers or the sand will come in over the top of 
 what is on, soon you will strike the surface water; 
 this you must go through for it is fit for nothing, 
 continue until you strike hard pans ; this has been 
 described. You must go through this and as soon 
 as you strike water below the hard pan, it is said 
 to be good and wholesome. Your trouble now is 
 to keep the surface water outside of your box or 
 curbing. This so-called good water is found at 
 tiifferent depths, say from ten to thirty feet from 
 the .surface, depends if the land is high or low; in 
 any and ail cases, your box or curbing must reach 
 from the top to the bottom of the well or the sand 
 will run in and fill it up, thus after having dug this 
 hole or well to the proper depth and curbed it, the 
 water settles into it sometimes to the depth of sever- 
 al feet, and very often filis up above the hard pan ; 
 \vhen this is the case, you must pump or draw it 
 out — it may be several times, at kast until it be- 
 comes clear, you can then use it, in fact you will 
 be obliged to use it, simply because you can get no 
 
114 FLORIDA AS ITIS 
 
 other. The only other remedy is to procure a tank 
 and catch rain water, which, without ice is not 
 much better. While many of the lakes, streams 
 and springs atid some of the wells in Florida seem 
 to have nice, clear, pellucid water in them, I have 
 never had a good drink of water since I entered 
 the State. The water is all warm, insipid and o( 
 a brackish taste and the deeper the Well, the Warrrl' 
 er the water, and if it were not that ice can be had 
 at almost all the principal towns and cities at reas^ 
 onable prices, say fifty cents pef hundred pounds 
 wholesale, that is by agreeing to ta^e from one to 
 three htitidred pounds per day. At retail, that i^ 
 from five to ten pounds per day* or a chunk now 
 and then, the price is from one to five cents pej^ 
 pound. This ice is all made by machinery run by 
 steam. The ice is made somewhat on the princi-^ 
 ciple of making ice creamt the water to be frozen, 
 is placed in square cans of the si^e of which the 
 cake of ice is intended to be when frozen. These 
 cans are placed in a large metal or wooden tank or 
 vat, each can or mould being held in position by a 
 frame or kind of wicker w^ork, the tank is then 
 filled with a- freezing liquid or brine. There is 
 another receptacle or tank in w^hich is some kind 
 of chemicals, which is called the charge. This is- 
 so arranged with pipes and connections running 
 through and about the brine, surrounding the cans 
 or ice moulds, that the whole business is set in 
 motion by machinery driven by an engine that they 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 115 
 
 turn out solid cakes of ice about every twenty-four 
 hours. The capacity of these machines are from a 
 few hundred pounds to many tons of ice per day, 
 and their cost from about eight hundred to fifty 
 thousand dolhirs, according to their capacity. 
 There is said to be a small machine intended for 
 famih' use, and driven by hand power, the capacity 
 of which is fifteen pounds per hour and the cost of 
 which is only about twenty-five dollars. I have 
 not seen any of these machines, therefore cannot 
 vouch for the truth of the report, if, however it be 
 true, there surely is no reason why each family 
 should not have the luxury. 
 
 TAXES. 
 The method of assessing or laying taxes in Flor- 
 ida are rather loose and appears novel to a North- 
 ern man. There is but one assessor for each 
 county. He advertises to be in the difierent elect- 
 tion districts on certain days — I believe two days 
 each year, at a designated place in the dis- 
 trict — usually at the voting place, each voter and 
 property holder of personal or real estate, must re- 
 port to him on one of these days all of his posses- 
 sions, both personal and real, and he is provided 
 with printed forms or blanks. If 3 ou own any 
 lands or lots, you must give him the description 
 and number of the same, also the township and 
 range, block and numbers of lots, as the case ma}' 
 be, all of which is a matter of record at the countv 
 .seat. You are then required to fix a price on tv- 
 
ii6 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 erything you have or own, down to your household 
 goods, and certify over your signature to the truth 
 of the same. All voters under fifty years of age 
 in addition to the above, have to pay a poll tax of 
 six dollars a year. This, I believe is applied to 
 fixing and making roads and streets ; the other 
 general taxes, that is State and county, are from 
 one and a half to two per cent on your own valu- 
 ation. Besides these taxes mentioned, the town or 
 city authorities may levy and collect such other 
 taxes for town and city purposes as they, in their 
 wisdom, may deem necessary and these extra taxes 
 often amount to much more than the regular taxes 
 do. You are taxed for sanitary purposes, for po- 
 lice regulations, you are taxed in the form of license 
 for doing any and all kinds of business. The store- 
 keeper is taxed in the form ol a license to sell 
 goods, the butcher must pay thirty-five cents for 
 each cow (beef) he l^ills. This I believe is called 
 the brand tax, and he must report the brand to the 
 marshall under penalty. The sewing machine 
 man, the book agent, insurance men and nearly all 
 mechanics must pay a tax in the form of a license 
 to do business. The real estate man must pay 
 about seventy -five dollars a year to follow his bus- 
 iness, and costs the man who sells whiskey from 
 six hundred to two thousand dollars a year, be- 
 sides numerous fines to engage in that nefarious 
 business. I have not learned if the authorities tax 
 Ministers of the Gospel in the way of a license or 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 117 
 
 not, but I rather guess that if any person escapes 
 taxation or license, they do. 
 
 • LAWYERS AND DOCTORS. 
 
 Legal fees are high and the less you have to do 
 with either profession, the better for you and your 
 purse, for while Lawyers, notaries and squires' fees 
 are high, doctors fees, in my judgement are extra- 
 orcinar}^ high, while many of them are no doubt 
 £^ood physicians and understand their business, one 
 thing IS very certain, they all know^ to perfection 
 the art of charging, and they invariable exercise 
 that knowledge whenever opportunity offers. The 
 only difference is, you can, and generally do know^ 
 what a lawyer is going. to charge you, while you 
 are entirely at the mercy ot a doctor. 
 
 FEES 
 
 Of county officials are not extravagantly high, 
 not much, if any higher than they are in the North 
 but township officers and Justices of the Peace are 
 about double what they are in the Northern States 
 for the same service. 
 
 CONSTABLE FEES AND POWERS 
 Are also very much higher and greater here than 
 they are North. Constables, or as they are here 
 called marshalls, have the same powers in their 
 respective towns and districts, (bailiwicks) as the 
 sheriff has in the county, and they are all empow^- 
 ered to act as Deputy Sheriffs and receive the same 
 pay and a salary besides for patrolling certain 
 
ii8 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 1 
 
 beats or districts. Summons in case of debt are 
 seldom used, but instead thereof, a capias or war-^ 
 rant is used both in civil and criminal cases, and as 
 a general thing, heroic treatment is put in force by 
 attachment of person or property and the cases are 
 disposed of quickly, they know nothing of stay of 
 execution or any other kind of stay. If they can 
 be had at all, it must be by an arrangement be- 
 tween the parties, either before or after judgement 
 is obtained. There is no imprisonment for simple 
 debt between man and man, but they do imprison 
 for fines, public fees or anything pertaining to the^ 
 county or State. 
 
 HOMESTEAD LAWS. 
 They do have for actual settlers or residents of 
 the State. These law^s, however are vague and 
 complicated and the machinery of them, so cum- 
 brous and expensive that in ninety-nine cases out 
 of a hundred it costs less to pay the debt than to 
 take advantage of the law. The fact is that nearly 
 
 all the 
 
 LAWS 
 
 Of Florida seem to have been made by and for 
 thelaw}ers. All of them seem to have two sides 
 and both appear to be right, and unless you have 
 the clearest kind of a case, you had better settle it 
 belore going before a Justice or getting into the 
 court. 
 
 MORALITY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Taking the commonw^ealth as a whole and con'^ 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 119 
 
 sidering that this is comparatively a new country, 
 that it is filling up rapidly with people of all classes 
 from different parts ol the United States with a 
 good sprinkling of foreigners, the people are moral 
 and rather well behaved. There are some rough 
 and uncouth people, it is true, but you will find 
 such in all communities, particular!}^ so ^here 
 society is in a formative state and composed of 
 people from almost everywhere. People here are 
 quick to resent an insult and some of them are hot 
 blooded and will shoot pretty quickly, but a stranger 
 coming here and conducting himself properly and 
 in a becoming manner, is just as safe from harm as 
 he is, or would be in any other place in the United 
 States, and a great deal more so than he would be 
 in many places I know of, however there are 
 plenty of sharp men here, who will take advant- 
 age of you in the wav of a trade and unless you go 
 a little slow and investigate properly, these men 
 will have your money, legally or otherwise, before 
 3'Ou know much about them or Florida either for 
 that matter. The better plan is when you go to 
 Florida, say but little, especially about yourself or 
 your business, keep your eyes and ears open, learn 
 all you can and from whom you can. There is a 
 great deal to be learned about the ins and outs of 
 the country from the old negroes, both men and 
 women, who have lived for years in the State and 
 who, as a general thing, have no special interest 
 in selling land or orange groves, and they are 
 
1 20 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 n-early all communicative, and you can draw from 
 them much valuable information, especially about 
 the quality of land, what has been raised on it and 
 what can be raised and how it is done. You c?n 
 then draw your own conclusions, and form your 
 judgement accordingly. I know that these smart 
 alex's in Florida will hoot and ridicule the idea of 
 getting information from the negroes on agricultur- 
 al subjects, but look for a moment, who has a bet- 
 ter right or bettt-r opportunity to know than they, 
 for the negros do nearly all the work of farming 
 and otherwiirc and most of them are smart enough 
 to know how much labor it requires to do certain 
 things and they are observant and imitative too, 
 and when you take them all for ignoramuses, you 
 are very apt to get misled. It is true that the 
 negros as a class are not smart, but there are smart 
 ones among them. 
 
 After you have learned all you can, then do not 
 buy too quickly, better miss a chance or two than 
 get bit or make a mistake. Remember sociablility 
 as a general thing, stops short as soon as you have 
 fastened up your money, and remember also that 
 while there are many chances to invest and make 
 money, it is not all gold that glitters, nor is it all 
 Florida sand lots that will pay to invest in. 
 
 Prices of articles that are daily used are about a& 
 follows : 
 
 Flour per barre', $7 00 ; flour per pound, fbifr cents ; ci^ru 
 meal per pouud, two and one half to three cent-* ; corn grits 
 per pound, two and outha'.f to three cents; oat uieal per 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 121 
 
 pounH, three cents ; rye flour per pound, four cents ; buck 
 wheat per pouud, ten ceiit^ ; salt per sick, G. A., $2.00 ; 
 .^ait pt-'r bushel, G. ^, §1 00, white sugar pjr pound, ten 
 cents ; browe sugar per pound, nine cents ; loaf sugar per 
 pound, twenty cents; coffee (best), per pound, forty cents; 
 coffee; (inferior), per pound, lifteen to thirty cents; dri^d 
 peaches per p )und, (best) fifteen to thirty cents ; dried ap- 
 p'es per pound' ten to twenty cents; (ii'ied blackberries per 
 pound, twenty-five cents ; prunes, fifteen to twentv-five 
 cents ; ca-uied fruit, dry go )ds and clothing about the same 
 as in the N )rth ; chickens each, fort cents to $1.00; turkeys, 
 61 50 L'> 80.OO; venis-)u per p )und, fifteen au I twenty five 
 cents; quails per dozen, $1 .50 and $2 00; fresh fish per 
 pouud, five to fifteen cents; eggs per dozen, twenty-five to 
 fifty cjnts; Irish potatoes by the bushel, $200 to $-4 00; 
 sweet potatoes per bu^he-, fifty cents to $1 00; tomatoes per 
 peck, seventy five cen's to $100; snap beans per peck, 
 i-eventjv five cents to $100; cow peas per peck, , fiftv to 
 seventy- five cents; onions per peck, eighty cents to $1.20; 
 ■oranges each, two to iive cents; grape fruit each, five to ten 
 cents; lemons per dozen, forty cents; binanas per bunch. 
 sevt-nty five cents to $3 00; strawberries a box, (about a 
 pibt), tweity-flve cents to $1.50; huckleberries per box, ten 
 to twenty-five cents; pt-aches per crate, (dbout a half bnshe'} 
 $ 50 to $5.00; hay per one hundred pounds. $1 25 to $2-00 
 apples per barrel, (Northern). $4 00 to $G 00; corn per 
 sack, two bushels, $1.40 t> $1 80; oats per sack, [fuur 
 bushels) $2 10 to $2 GO; wheat per bushel, (chicken teed) 
 three to four cents; wheat scr -nings, (chicken feed), two to 
 three cents; lumber, rough and dimension per 1,000 fee% 
 $12.00 to $14 00; flouring, plained and matched per ihuusabd 
 feet, $17 00 to 5'18 00; shingles per fhousaLd feet, (cypress). 
 $4,50 to $G 00; shingle, (yellow pine) per thfuisarid feet, 
 $3.00 to $5 00; wood, per stran, $1 50 to $2.00; wood per 
 t'Mi'd^ $3.00 th $5.00 ; beef per pound, native 5 to 15 cents; 
 N')i-therii beef fier pound, 15 to 25 cent>; p<iik. l2 to 15 
 cents; mutto 1, 15 to 20 cents; veal, 15 to 20 cents. Ab' ut 
 the same average prices are p^id for aW }ou buy in Florida. 
 
 LANDS. 
 
 Nine-tenths of all the up lands in Florida ar- 
 
122 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 
 
 worthless for agricultural or horticultural purposes, 
 that is they are so sandy that nothing will grow on 
 the land in its natural state, it however, answers as 
 a good base for manure and fertilizers, and when 
 properly brought up by these agents, will produce 
 vegetables, fruits, and such other things as are 
 described in this book. 
 
 The value of these lands is determined much 
 more by location than quality. Wild lands (unim- 
 proved lands) several uiiles away from towns and 
 railroads are comparatively low in price, while the 
 same quality or kind of land near towns or close to 
 railroads are held at enormous prices You can 
 now begin to see where big money is made. Get 
 ahead of the railroads, buy your land cheap, or at 
 nominal figures, lay out your town, boom it up any 
 way you can, induce some persons to buy lots and 
 build, start a store no matter what kind of a store — 
 five or ten pounds each of coffee, sugar, tobacco, 
 bacon, and a little grits and flour will make a good 
 outfit, you do not care if you sell these goods at a 
 profit or not, that is not your point to be made. 
 Your point is to get settlers, as soon as you have a 
 few inhabitants you will give some railroad com- 
 pany a good slice of your land just to get them to 
 run their road through your lands. These railroad 
 companies are quick to see where money is to be 
 made ; the offer of land in sufficient quantities will 
 bring a railroad or branch almost anywhere in 
 Florida. Railroads are easily built here. If the 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. . 123 
 
 company sees any money in it straightway, the 
 road is built^ then the balance of your land will 
 bring more than a hundred times more than you 
 paid for it* You have made big money and are 
 the big man of the town ; the railroad compan}^ 
 has made money^ not only by running their road 
 into or through your town, but have been paid the 
 cost of making their road many times over by the 
 sale of the land you gave them for running your 
 Way, now neither you or the railroad oompany 
 (especially) cares much who sticks. You do not 
 care much for the end man. 
 
 When the Northern man gets on to Florida soil, 
 his first impressions are after looking about him ; 
 w^ell this is Florida as it is ; the '<Land of Sunshine 
 and Flowefs, The sunshine you have, that is 
 here. The flowers I do not see, but I do see sand 
 pure (poor) white sand. "Is all your land so 
 sandy?" Oh, no I (first fib)» We have plenty of 
 ihe richest black loam (2) you ever saw, and we 
 raise the biggest kind of vegetable" (3). Your im- 
 pressions begin to change very soon from this kind 
 of tal^', but without the talk the impressions run 
 in about this way : What in the world can people 
 in this sandy country do for a living, certainly 
 Nothing will grow on this land without first putting 
 on manure or fertilizer, about as much as you can 
 in any case get off it, and where is the stufl^ to 
 make fertilizer of? Very little grass can grow 
 ■here, there is no limestone, there is no natural fer- 
 
124 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 lilizer, these pine leaves are no good, the fact is 
 there is no soil at all, this sand seems to run clear 
 to the bottom, and if left to yourself, in ninety 
 cases out of one hundred you would turn away and 
 leave the State in disgust, go home and report that 
 Florida w^as nothing but a sandy desert or a wild- 
 erness of pine barrens, lakes, ponds and swamps, 
 and was not fit for any person to live in, that it 
 always was the habitations of Indians and wild 
 beasts and all manner of pests and 3^our opinton 
 would be, that it should forever remain so, and I 
 am not sure but w^iat your idea of the land and 
 country is about, at least three-quarters correct. 
 
 HEAT. 
 
 Heat in summer, especially before the summer 
 rains set in, is almost unbearable. The thermom- 
 eter for weeks is high up in the nineties, frequently 
 above one hundred degrees, (farenheit) during 
 nearly the entire day, falling at night to about 
 eighty-five degrees^ The only thing that makes 
 this climate endurable at all in summer, is the 
 nearly constant breeze or mild wdnd which seems 
 to cool the air a little. As to hot days and cool 
 nights in Florida in summer, it looks well on paper 
 especially the cool nights, and when you read 
 about them, in imaginatiou you feel kind of com- 
 fortable, perhaps in the enjoyment of them in the 
 future. Let me say right here that if there was or 
 is any truth in the saying that distance lends enchant- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 12^ 
 
 ment to the view, it certainly applies with full force 
 in this case. 
 
 This cool night business answers first-class for 
 advertising, but when you come to test it, you will 
 here again find that there is always some truth in 
 these advertising circulars, but while there are 
 ssome cool nights, you will find some very warm 
 ones and a big majority ot them are uncomfortably 
 hot, so much so that it is impossible to sleep on ac* 
 count of the heat. If you attempt to sleep in a 
 room or place where the air or breeze does not 
 pass over you ; should you go to sleep at all, which 
 is doubtful, you will very soon wake up with pers- 
 piration oozing out at every pore ; the nights are 
 hot, no use trying to disguise the fact, how can 
 they be otherwise ; the thermometer up to ninety- 
 eight or one hundred during nearly the entire day 
 and not below eighty or eighty-five during the 
 whole twenty-four hours with the ground or sand 
 so hot that in five minutes your feet would be blis- 
 tered were you to walk on it in your bare feet 5 
 let me ask in the name of common sense, how can 
 the nights be anything but hot. Now then, if you 
 still have doubts about this thing, just you come to 
 Orange county. I name this particular county be* 
 cause it is claimed to be the banner county of the 
 State and I am not sure but what it is, in fact I 
 know it is if booming can make it so. Well you 
 just come to Orlando, Kissimmee, Eustis or Ta- 
 vares about the middle of June and try it, be sure 
 
126 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 and get a room where the wind does not blow oil 
 you. You better be sure and have a mosquito baf 
 over you, and a good one too, or 3'ou will hardly 
 know where to place the blame of your not sleep- 
 ing. You might possibly think that fighting the 
 mosquitos had made you uncomfortably warm. 
 After you have made this experiment, I rather 
 think you will agree with me that they do have hot 
 nights in Florida, sure enough ! And you will 
 probabl}^ exclaim ?s one of old, *' surely the half 
 has not been told I " I might add right here that 
 Orange county and particularly the places named 
 above, have fewer mosquitos and other pests than 
 any other part of the State. This may be so, (I 
 do not believe it), but if these are the good places, 
 1 do not think you will ever care to visit the other 
 places ; you will be thoroughly satisfied in a short 
 time that they do have hot days and nights, mos- 
 qaitos and pests in abundance in Orange county^ 
 Florida, and if there is the garden spot (there are 
 other places just the same in every respect) and 
 comparatively clear of pests, what must the rest of 
 the State be. 
 
 TOWNS AND CITIES. 
 Jacksonville, Duval county, is the metropolis or 
 grand ENTRE pot of the State. It is to Florida 
 about what Philadelphia is t;0 Penns3'lvaniav As 
 nearly as I can ascertain it has a population oi 
 about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. In the: 
 winter season the population is much larger. Al) 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 127 
 
 the railroads of the ^outh centre here ; no matter 
 where you wish to go in Florida, you will prob- 
 ably start from Jacksonville. It also has water 
 communications by the way of the mouth of St. 
 John River, connecting with the Atlantic Ocean, 
 distance about thirteen miles ; also water communi- 
 cation with the interior of the State by the St. Johns 
 and Ocklawaha rivers. Steamers, ships and water 
 craft of all shapes and sizes line her wharves Irom 
 all countries and nations. To say the least of 
 Jacksonville, she is a busy, bustling little city with 
 street cars, electric lights, manufacturies, and all 
 kinds of business in full blast. A great many of 
 her business men are from the North, with a good 
 sprinkling of foreigners, Jews and a few natives. 
 Goods aud merchandise of almost every description 
 can be bought in Jacksonville almost as cheaply 
 as in the Northern cities, provided you happen to 
 strike the right parties, but there are plenty of 
 sharpers there as there are in all other large places 
 and it is well enough for strangers to be on their 
 guard while in Jacksonville, especially after night. 
 Many a man has been heard of last in that city, 
 although it is no worse in that respect or do I think 
 it is as bad as some other cities much farther up 
 North, 
 
 TALLAHASSEE 
 
 Is the captal ot the State. If the public build- 
 ing and the public business were removed from 
 Tallahassee, there would not be very much left. 
 
128 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 GAINESVILLE 
 
 Is quite a neat little city and has a good deal of 
 push and vim. It is the county seat of Alachua 
 county and is said to contain about eight thousand 
 inhabitants. This town has some as fine buildings 
 as there are in the State, many of which are built 
 of brick. 
 
 OCALA 
 Is the county seat of Marion county. It is rath- 
 er an eld town not more than half as large as 
 Gainesville, which is perhaps the wealthiest town 
 in the State of her size or according to her popu- 
 lation. Pensacola, Apalachicola, Cedar Keys, 
 Key West, Tampa, Bartow and many others are 
 towns of some note here and are much more no- 
 torious in the North than they are when you are in 
 them. 
 
 ORLANDO 
 Is the county seat of Orange county ; now claims 
 our attention. This town or cit}', if we can believe 
 the citizens thereof, especially the real estate men, 
 is almost an Eden, but taking the facts as they are 
 Orange county is about eighty miles long North 
 and South, and about fifty miles wide. East and 
 West ; it's shape is amorphus, being very irregular ; 
 I cannot give figures that are reliable about it& 
 population, therefore will not venture a guess. 
 There are several good sized and growing towns in 
 the county. Eustis, Tavares, Sanford, Maitland. 
 Winter Park, Apopka City, Wildwood, Zellwood.. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 129 
 
 Ocoee, Gotha, Longwood, Pine Castle, and last 
 but not least by any means, is Kissimmee City, 
 located on the boarders of Tohopekaliga Lake and 
 claims a population of twelve hundred inhabitants, 
 but now again to Orlando. It, a very few years 
 ago, was but a sorry little village, notwithstanding 
 it was a county seat, six or seven years ago a few 
 smart enterprising men seeing the situation bought 
 up quite a body of land in the village and vicinity 
 and began to boom (advertise) the town ; their 
 venture proved a success financially and otherwise 
 and now Orlando is second to" none in the State for 
 its growth, and the amount of business it does, for 
 its size, and bids fair in a few 3'ears to outstrip all 
 other towns in the State, Jacksonville alone except- 
 ed. Many new and apparently thriving towns 
 have sprung up within the last three or four years 
 and where the wild beasts and Indians used to roam 
 now the shriek and whistle of the locomotive is 
 heard ; you naturally ask what has made all this 
 change? The answer is, speculation and specu- 
 tion only, advertising and booming by speculators. 
 BOOMING, 
 Booming as I understand it, and as it is, is to 
 talk up the place, write and advertise it all over 
 ihe country, tell all the good you know about it, 
 be very particular to write or say nothing bad 
 about it, but tell what has been and can be done ; 
 in telling about what can be done, here you can 
 draw on your imagination to almost any extent and 
 
ISO FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 not be blamed for Iving, perhaps I should have 
 said prevarication, as that term is not quite so harsh 
 but I think the first word is the better one in this 
 case, and when they tell you of how much some 
 person has made since they came to Florida, they 
 always get the figures as big as possible ; the 
 people living outside of the State do not know if 
 you are telling or advertising the truth or not ; say 
 nothing about the mosquitos, sand, flies, fleas, red 
 bugs, bad water or anything about any of the pests 
 that abound all over the State. Should the boom- 
 ers be asked or written to about these things, the 
 answer must, and will be evasive or something 
 like the people of Ohio said about the milk sick- 
 ness, it was always over in the next county ; you 
 could never get to the place where it would actual- 
 ly be acknowledged. They are in the State, but 
 principally along the coast or down in the big cy- 
 press swamps where no person lives anyhow, or 
 any other place than the particular place you are 
 writing or talking about but they must be mighty 
 scarce about it, and if it should so happen that 
 some man should chance to raise some new seed- 
 ling fruit or berr}^ be ita peach, orange or a straw- 
 berry that has been pushed and nurtured into pro- 
 ducing a fair fruit, then take hold of that, have it 
 published in all the papers far and near, have cir- 
 culars printed and sown broadcast all over the land, 
 make this particular thing, fruit or whatever it may 
 be, fully as large as it really is, and if they succeed 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 131 
 
 m fully describing it. draw a litde on the imacrin- 
 ation and be sure to figure it out so as to show how 
 immensely profitable it will be. that is, it will sell 
 for so much per quart or bushel^ as the case may 
 be, but never say a word about the care it must 
 have or the costs of raising the fruits or berries, 
 and as 3^ou are doing this all principally through 
 st^ewspapers and circulars, there is not much danger 
 ot people asking questions about the cost of pro- 
 duction, taking for granted that it is a natural thing 
 for such a fruit or berry to grow that way in Flor- 
 ida, show also by circulars and otherwise that the 
 price of lands, lots, etc., double in value about 
 €very three months, in no case make it^ver ayear ; 
 this is booming sure enough ! 
 
 There are many towns hi the State, most of 
 w^hich are thriving, just in the proportion to the 
 way they are boomed. A descriptiota of one boom 
 is sufficient foi' all^ so you see that booming and 
 speculation go hand in hand. 
 
 Nearly all the newtowfis in the State are started 
 as above described and very many of the older 
 tow^ns are given a "tresk start by the same process. 
 When adjoining lands can be had in large quan- 
 tities, take {gt example St Augustine, (Augusteen) 
 this town is said to be, and I believe is the oMest 
 town in the United States, but until very recently 
 was not nmch more than a mere barracKS on the 
 sandy coast, but a few^ years ago speculators with 
 capita] took hold of the 'old town, bought adjoinint? 
 
132 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 lands and went to booming the town and now the 
 place is quite a city, and the surrounding lands 
 that even four or five years ago were comparative- 
 ly worthless, sell for hundreds, and in some cases 
 for thousands of dollars per acre, not because it is 
 valuable for producing anything, for it is as poor 
 as poverty itself, but simply because it is near St, 
 Augustine. 
 
 Hundreds of persons are thus making money in 
 Florida, and the more money you have to start 
 with the more you can make, provided your specu- 
 lations turn out favorably to you. Here again I 
 will say, that with very few exceptions the man 
 who has but little or no ready cash, can do much 
 better almost any other place than in Florida. 
 
 Now because I have not mentioned or named 
 other towns, the reader must not think that there 
 are no other towns in the State for there are hun- 
 dreds of them and some not mentioned are larger 
 and perhaps much better than some that are named 
 To write them up separately with their history and 
 growth, with their advantages, (if they have any) 
 and their disadvantages, would make a volume or 
 book of such a si^e that it would be too cumbrous 
 to handle, besides such a work would be very 
 tedious and entirely too prosy to read, for when 
 you know the history and booming of one town, 
 city or place, it will fit to all of them with very lit- 
 tle variation — very few exceptions to this as a rule* 
 Towns and cities seem to take root and grow here 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 133 
 
 about as well, if not better than anything else I 
 know of, particularl}^ for the first fev\' years of their 
 existence, especially if they are well fertilized with 
 proper booming. This is about the only fertilizer 
 that I know of that will cause towns and cities to 
 grow, and if it is properly applied, it and it alone 
 will pay the purchaser thereof. Here again how- 
 ever, look out and do not be the end man or you 
 will get left. 
 
 NEWS PAPERS e 
 Newspapers are numerous here, the fact is it is 
 almost impossible to boom a town or place without 
 the printing press, and as it is much cheaper to buy 
 a printing press and hire a printer than to pay for 
 the necessary amount of printing needed in the 
 enterprise ; about the first thing in a new town is a 
 so-called newspaper generally owned by the com- 
 pany and apparently .managed by one man; the 
 profits from the paper at first is nothing, the ex- 
 penses however, are not very heavy ; as soon as 
 people begin to come to the place and invest, start 
 up little stores and embark in such business as 
 must necessarily follow the people ; advertising is 
 resorted to, and when you put an advertisement in a 
 paper in Florida, you will find the price something 
 like the doctor's bills, however it must go in, thus 
 the paper soon pays the expenses of running it and 
 thus the company gets their advertising for com- 
 paratively nothing, and can print what they please 
 and can draw it mild or strong to suit the occasion. 
 
134 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 The subscription price of newspapers here are not 
 any more than in the North. 
 
 You will notice that a great many things that ap- 
 pear in the papers as local matter on close inspec- 
 tion look like advertisements, for example nearly 
 all the newspapers note the transfers of lands tak- 
 ing place w^eekly ; some of these are noted as tak- 
 ing place on certain days, when the facts are the 
 transfer had been made several months before and 
 been so noted at the time. These things are of 
 more frequent occurrence in the summer season, 
 which is the dull time, but something must be done 
 to make the people abroad believe that the busi- 
 ness is booming in Florida the whole year around* 
 This has its effect in inducing people to come here 
 and who ever comes, it makes business for some 
 person — the liveryman, the hotel and boarding 
 house keeper, real estate men and the railroads. 
 This again makes items for the newspapers and 
 tthus it goes on adinfinitum ; again when a certain 
 fruit or vegetable has been grown of rather an un- 
 usual size, flavor or quality, advertisements in the 
 form of local matter appears in all the papers far 
 and near and many times repeated in even the 
 same paper ; the attention of the whole State and 
 the United States, so far as they can be reached, 
 is called to this particular thing when the article in 
 itself nearly always proves to be but very common 
 in the end. 
 
 Just now the Bidwell peach is the fruit that is 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 135 
 
 going to revolutionize the fruit business in Florida. 
 It is said they ripen about the first of June — some 
 two weeks earlier than any other, and are said to 
 be of superior flavor and quality ; a few of this 
 variety were sent to New York market this season 
 for the first time, and were sold at the rate of 27 
 dollars per bushel, (a good price for peaches) sure 
 enough ! It is not said how many peaches were 
 Sent to the New York market, or is it necessary, 
 but the probabilities are that there were but few, 
 the language least implies that, when closely scan- 
 ned, we notice they were sold at the rate of twenty- 
 seven dollars per bushel. Now even this, although 
 they are making such a blow about it, is not much 
 better than raising strawberries, and selling them 
 at home here for a dollar and a quarter a box, or 
 sending them to the Eastern marKets at the rate of 
 forty or fifty dollars a bushel. These things have 
 been done tune and again. The only wonder to 
 to me is that the peaches did not bring a larger 
 price in New York, lor there are a good many 
 people interested in the sale of Florida lands and 
 town lots who live in that big city, and yet I have 
 the first man or woman to see who got rich or made 
 money in this State by raising and selling straw- 
 berries and peaches. Another good quality of this 
 Bidwell peach is that it bears fruit the third year 
 from planting. I have not been able to learn if 
 this means from the pit or bud. About the whole 
 thing is, some person has a big lot of peach trees 
 
136 FLORIDA AS IT IS, 
 
 for sale ; this kind only grows on Florida soil, and 
 some person else has a big lot of that kind of soil 
 for sale they : thus, as it were, splice teams and 
 boom this particular peach for a particular purpose^ 
 knowing that there are a great many people in the 
 North who have money to inve.^t and this looks as 
 if there was big money it, they go to Florida, in- 
 vest in land, buy the tree.<, plant their orchard^r 
 and await results. The tree raiser and the land 
 man have m?de their points and unless } ou sell 
 your peach orchard while the boom is up, you will 
 likely be the tnd man, and in an}- case some per-- 
 son will be the end man ; so this business goes on<f 
 if not one thing it is another. It may be beans, 
 tomatoes, peaches, cocoanuts. pine apples, oranges, 
 bananas, cucumbers, melons or indeed almost any- 
 thing to entice people to part with their money, 
 
 N. B. — I have just learned from a reliable nurs- 
 eryman, that the Bidwell peach is a seedling cross ot 
 the Peento and honey peach, and is a better peach 
 than either of the other two, and it ought, to be 
 worth anything. 
 
 HEALTH. 
 
 From general reports and published accounts in 
 Newspapers, particularly by those interested in 
 Florida, the State is a paradise and a sure restorer 
 of health to invalids of wc may say the entire out- 
 side of the world, and all who are sick or have anv 
 kird of ailment, all ihey have to do, is to get into 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 137 
 
 the general climate of Florida ; it is a panacea for 
 all the ills that human flesh is heir to, and when 
 3 ou get under its influence straightway, you be- 
 come hale and hearty, and will add to your days 
 many 3'^ears« The facts in the case, however do 
 uot warrant the assertions. A large proportion of 
 the natives (wdiite) are lean and do not look healthy 
 and the women particularly are, to say the least of 
 it, delicate and a large percentage of the people 
 who Lave came to Florida, have some ailment and 
 are here for their health. The result is 3'ou see 
 but comparatively few^ stout and healthy looking 
 people : about all the healthy looking people 3'ou 
 do see here are those who came from other States 
 with plenty of money in their pockets, either to see 
 sights, speculate or both, and very few of these re- 
 main the entire season. They come in the fall of 
 the year and return in the spring, thus enjoying 
 the pleasant winter here, and the summers at some 
 cool watering place or summer resort in the North, 
 Now with regard to the sanitary condition of things 
 here, according to my judgement and observation 
 about the only persons who receive benefit in health 
 by coming to Florida, are those who are afflicted 
 with pulmonary or asthmatic diseases persons 
 having incipient or consumption in the first stao-es, 
 and before the disease has taken a firm hold, may 
 be benefited b^' spending a winter here, and thus 
 avoid the extreme cold winter of the North, but for 
 •any other kind of disease, almost any other place 
 
138 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 IS about as good as Florida. Nine-tenths of the 
 people who come here for their health, for all the 
 benefit they receive might just as well remain at 
 home and thus save their time and money » 
 DISEASES IN FLORIDA, 
 There are no special or prevalent fatal diseases 
 here, there is, however, a kind of low type of fever 
 that prevails to a considerable extent all over the 
 State, that in almost any other place or State would 
 be named or called malarial lever, (but they have 
 no malaria m Florida ) People here take cold 
 just about as readily and as easily as in most other 
 places, and they sometimes get pretty sick and 
 have to send for a doctor. This in almost any 
 other place or State would be called pneumonia , 
 (but they do not have any pneumonia here either.) 
 Many of the inhabitants here frequently get what 
 they call hot and cold spells and sometimes they 
 shake a little too,— for these spells they use qui- 
 nine. This disease anywhere else would be called 
 chills and fevers, but they do not have any ague in 
 Florida ; nobody ever heard of a case in the whole 
 State, and while the weather is very hot, nearly 
 every person will tell you there never has been a 
 sun stroke known to occur in the State, noth with- 
 standing there has been numerous deaths from 
 what is called nervous prostration, the symptons of 
 which are identical with those of sun stroke. There 
 are frequent cases of small pox and sometimes it 
 assumes the form of an epidemic, and is just as 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 139 
 
 fatal as elsewhere. Measels, whooping cough and 
 all the diseases that children and even grown 
 people are subject to, are here, and I cannot see 
 that there is much, if any difference in this respect 
 from other States and places. Yellow fever has 
 been in the State a number of times, and so has 
 cholera. It is barely possible that many of the 
 diseases here do not assume so malignant a form as 
 they do in some other places, but after all is said 
 about the diseases here that can be said, people do 
 die here and of about the same diseases that they 
 die of in other places, but to say that Florida has 
 about the same diseases that other parts of the 
 country has, detracts very much from her reputation 
 as a health resort. The facts are that Florida is a 
 good winter resort and w^hen that is said it is near- 
 ly all that can be truthfully said about the State. 
 
 You will find out, it you do not already know it, 
 that everything here is magnified several or more 
 times. The transient visitor generally has these 
 magnifying glasses fixed on his eyes before coming 
 here and hardly ever stays long enough in the 
 State to get them off. He therefore sees only one 
 side of the picture and that always the bright side 
 particularly if he has plenty of money, but let him 
 settle down among the people and become one of 
 them (as it were,) the glass and glamour soon 
 wears off and the realities begin to appear, and the 
 longer he remains the more he finds out, and when 
 the magnifying glasses are entirely removed, then. 
 
140 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 and not until then can he see "Florida as it is." 
 The wonder to me is that a book similar to this 
 one has not been written long since. The only 
 reason I can give is about like this : That parties 
 become interested in speculation and as many of 
 them have been to a certain extent taken in (so to 
 speak) and on the principal that misery loves 
 company and perhaps with a view that somethin£[- 
 will turn up by which they can better their con- 
 dition in the end. This is the only reason that 
 seems to be plausible that "Florida as it is" or 
 something that would give the people of the whole 
 country the true light on this subject has not been 
 written. 
 
 SAND OR FLORIDA ITCH. 
 This is something seldomly heard of outside of 
 the State and the people or inhabitants say very 
 little about it. You know itch is a kind of disease 
 or disorder that is not very popular anyhow,' and 
 persons who are afflicted with it, will not say much 
 about it. This disease is not at all fatal or does it 
 seem to be contagious, but it is very disagreeable 
 to have. What produces this itch I do not know ; 
 it may be the sand (and I think it is), which is as 
 fine as emery that gets into the pores of the skin, 
 or it may be the climate, heat and sand combined 
 produces it, one thing is certain, very few people 
 escape it, especially those w^ho remain during the 
 summer. You hear nothing of it in the winter 
 season. 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 141 
 
 There is also something in either the soil (sand) 
 or climate that causes any little scratch or hurt that 
 you may get, and very often without, to become 
 sore and very much inflamed, and unless proper 
 remedies are applied at once, cause a good deal of 
 pain and suff'ering. What this is I have not been 
 able to find out from any person ; if the doctors 
 know they will not tell, and now when you come 
 to put these things all together and begin to ana- 
 lyze, it does seem rather strange that, from some 
 cause or causes, will and does cause eruptions and 
 breaking out and causes sores and boils all over 
 the surface of the body. That these causes should 
 or would cure and make healthy the internal or- 
 gans when diseased, this is a question that I will 
 leave for the reader to figure out. This, however 
 inconsistent it may appear, is claimed for this Flor- 
 ida climate or something else. This is not a whit 
 more inconsistent than scores of other things that 
 are claimed for this '^Land of Sunshine and Flow- 
 ers," but as before stated, Florida has a climate 
 peculiarly her own, hence these seeming incon- 
 sistencies ; you will understand these things much 
 better after a residence of a year or two in the 
 aforesaid climate, and particularly so, should you 
 have the Florida itch and attempt to sleep with the 
 thermometer at ninety, at 9 o'clock at night and no 
 breeze blowing and surrounded by a cloud of mos- 
 quitos, each one presenting his bill and singing at 
 your ears, "blood, blood." 
 
142 FLORIDA A S IT IS. 
 
 RAILROADS. 
 
 The principal of which is the Florida Railway 
 and Navigation Company. Their system of roads 
 extend nearly all over the State ; their track is 
 standard guage. I believe all the other roads in 
 the State are narrow guage except the T. O. & A., 
 which is an extension of the F. R. & N., but own- 
 ed by a different company. The Jacksonville, 
 Tampa and Key West, and South F lorida Rail- 
 way companies have their roads completed and cars 
 running nearly the entire length of the State North 
 and South. The tracks on these roads are all 
 narrow guage. The Florida Southern also has a 
 road in running order from Jacksonville to Cedar 
 Keys. There are quite a number of short roads 
 and many now building, most of wiiich are narrow 
 guage ; I presume however, that inside of a year 
 or two at least, all the principal jailroads in the 
 State will be changed to standard guage. It is an 
 easy matter to build a railroad in Florida : no 
 rock to blow and remove, no big cuts or big fills, 
 no tunnels to bore and very few bridges to build — 
 all that is to be done is to get tw^o or three dozen 
 or more Italians (alw^ays to be had) and have them 
 shovel up a road of sand, level off the top, put 
 down the ties, put on the rails and rolling stock, 
 and then charge five cents a mile for passengers 
 aud from two to five cents per hundred pounds per 
 mile for freight. This does not look like specu- 
 lation, does it? It does look a good deal like ex- 
 tortion though, don't it ? Where two railroads come 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 143 
 
 Into competition, rates are more reasonable, but 
 
 still much higher than in the Norths 
 
 WHAT WE EAT, AND WHERE WE GET IT, 
 
 The inhabitants of Florida are a good deal like 
 other people concerning their diet. They are just 
 as fond of good eatables as any person else, but 
 the best thin^js cannot always be had, they there- 
 fore eat what ever they have and get it wherever 
 they can. They generally haVe plenty of Florida 
 beef, and some Florida pork ; they usually haVe 
 plenty of sweet potatoes (hot always) and some 
 Irish potatoes (in season) ; they have snap beans, 
 toW peSiS, cucumbers, tomatoes, water and mush 
 melons, turnips, some cabbage, and a few other 
 vegetables , they also have oranges and guavas 
 plenty when they dont freeze ; a few lemons, banan- 
 as, pine apples, some strawberries, and few other 
 fruits and berries in certain localities. These thing-s 
 are produced at home. 
 
 Wheat, flour, corn meal, corn grits, ham, bacon, 
 apples, and nearly all the substantials of life they 
 eat, but all these things niust come from abroad. 
 They also eat dried frUits, jams, jellies, canned 
 fruits and me^ts. These are all imported. Good 
 butter cannot be had here ; the natives butter is lit- 
 tle, if any better than grease, and by the time 
 Northern butter gets down here, it is not much bet- 
 ter. The native beef during the greater part of the 
 year is very poor, and to ship Northern beef here 
 either on the hoof or in quarters, is kind of sorry 
 
144 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 meat too. 
 
 Now as to Florida betf. To have it, all that is to 
 be done is to l^ill a cow, no matter in ^vhat con- 
 dition, whether fat or poor, when cut up it is Flor- 
 ida beef. I have seen plenty of cows (cattle) kill- 
 ed here and ate that in the North would have been 
 called very poor stock cattle. The cattle that are 
 killed for beef are not all of this class, but in the 
 winter and spring very many are quite poor ; in the 
 summer and fall they are in better condition, and I 
 have seen them so fat that there was some signs of 
 tallow on the kidneys. The native pork is much 
 better than the beef, and yet I have seen hogs 
 killed here for pork that there was not enough ot"^ 
 lard in them tn fry them ; these however are the 
 exceptions. There are some fine t^at little hogs here 
 and they make rather nice eating, (if you don't like 
 the fat little hog you may read it, the little fat hog. 
 As to the vegetables grown here, very few of 
 them are first-class. They nearty all have a tough- 
 ness about them, the cabbage particularly so. The 
 tomatoes, cucumbers, turnips, radishes, &c., have 
 none of that crispness about them that first-class 
 vegetables have ; even the watermelons have a 
 soggy appearance and taste. Oranges are good, 
 first-class than which I suppose none better in the 
 known world. Bananas, what few are raised here 
 are a fair quality : so are the pine apples. Sweet 
 potatoes are only fair, more like yams in th^^ 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 145 
 
 North. Irish potatoes, as a general crop, are not 
 a success either in quantity or qualit}' , Nearly ail 
 the lard and butter used in the State, is shipped 
 here Irom the North, and you can form some kind 
 of an idea of the condition it is in when it reaches 
 our market and remains sometimes for weeks in a 
 temperature wdth the thermom.eter up in the nineties 
 As to light bread, ycu seldom see it ; a kind of bread 
 called light, (that is it is light in weight) is made 
 and sold by the bakers — hot bread in the shape 
 ot biscuits three times a day or as often as you eat, 
 Florida beef, corn grits, condensed milk and butter- 
 in e wdth either sweet or Irish potatoes and coffee or 
 tea is the usual meal ; sometimes the meat is omit- 
 ted at breakfast when fish (mullet) takes the place 
 thereof. Sometimes this bill of fare is varied for 
 supper or dinner for that matter, and you will make 
 a right good meal on bologna sausage, cold bis- 
 cuits or crackers, using for drink pure c — ; I al- 
 most wrote cold lake w^ater, and sometimes you will 
 get something that is real palatable in the shape of 
 a boned catfish, stuffed opossum or roast of venison 
 the fact of this whole business is, the native Flori- 
 dian and for that matter all who are in the State, 
 eat whatever they have that is eatable and gets it 
 wherever they can. They get it honestly if possible 
 to do so, but they all get a living somehow^ As a 
 general thing all the butters, jellies, jams and 
 ilainties are missing here ; there is one production 
 ihat there is a good deal of noise about here. 
 
H6 FLORID A AS IT IS. 
 
 ^ THE CASAVA PLANT, "" " 
 
 A root from which tapioca is made, I think 
 perhaps this is like many other things here, for I 
 have made diligent search and inquiry to find out 
 where and how it grows, and have thus far en^ 
 tirely failed to see any of it, or any person that has 
 seen it, yet it may be growing somewhere in the 
 State and some day may be profitable, who knows f 
 FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. 
 
 Speaking generally, the soil of Florida is of a 
 poor kind of quality. There is not one acre in 
 twenty, and I doubt if there is one in a hUhdred 
 that will pay to cultivate in anything at all without 
 fertilizer, except the reclaimed marsh lands. Every- 
 thing you plant, (sweet potatoes excepted) must be 
 fertilized, and it does not hurt the sweet potatoes to 
 fertilize them a litde if you would get a good crop, 
 and unless you do fertilize you will get no crop, 
 and with all the care, cultivation aiid cost, the 
 best thing you can do your crop when raised will 
 sell for very little, if any more than it cost to raise 
 jt, in any case it will not anymore than pay for 
 your labor and attention, besides the cost of raising 
 as before stated. There is nothing made here in 
 either agricultural or horticultural pursuits, and" 
 nearly all of that kind ot work that is done in the 
 State is done in small patches and lots, if nursed, 
 fed and fertilized all it will bear or take up, then it 
 may be only a patch fifteen or twenty feet square 
 that has received the very best attention and has 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 14 7 
 
 produced a big crop for the size of the place, now 
 an estimate is made on what can be grown on an 
 acre, but nothing is said about the care, attention, 
 &c., thus leaving people at a distance under the 
 impression that by ordinary cultivation such crops 
 can be raised almost anywhere in the State, when 
 the facts are that by ordinary cultivation nothing 
 at all can be raised ; why the land is so poor in 
 many places that even weeds will not grow. 
 
 FERTILIZER. 
 
 Nearly everything here is utilized for fertilizer, 
 and any and everything in the shape of manures 
 and droppings of man, beast and fowls are utilized. 
 A very good way to fertilize a small plot of 
 ground, is to fence it, then have some person 
 that has a small heard of cattle or a bunch of hogs, 
 pen them in this lot, (this is called cowpenning 
 land.) If you can keep the stock on long enough 
 they will fertilize it so that vegetables and even a 
 little corn will grow on it. Men or parties who 
 have a large bunch of cattle proceed in this way to 
 prepare their lands for orange groves, and has 
 proved to be a success in more cases than one. If 
 you have to hire your cowpenning, it will cost you 
 about one dollar per month per head, then the cat- 
 tle are penned every night. 
 
 Another way is to gather all the cow chips (drop- 
 pings) or buy them ; they sell for about fifty cents 
 a barrel ; pulverize or have them pulverized, and 
 apply on the surface of the ground- Horse manure 
 
148 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 is much used for early vegetables ; bones are gath- 
 ered up, broken, ground or burned, and then ap- 
 plied as a top dressing ; the contents of outhouses^ 
 sinks, slops, refused meats, fish offalls, anything 
 that has, or seems to have any fertilizing proper- 
 ties in them, are all thrown on the compost heap 
 or pile and afterwards used as fertilizer. After 
 consuming all the domestic fertilizer that can be 
 had, then if the parties have any m.oney they buy 
 commercial fertilizer Man}^ haul muck from the 
 swamps or muckbeds when not too far off, this, 
 however is of doubtful utility, while it doubtless im- 
 proves the quality of the soil, it generally costs 
 more than it comes to. Fertilizing is the key note 
 to the raising of all the fruits and vegetables of 
 Florida, and without it nothing of any account can 
 be raised. It must be applied several times a year 
 and that abundantly and without stint. All the 
 yarns and stories to the contrarv notwithstand- 
 ing. 
 
 CHURCHES, 
 There are church organizations in nearly all the 
 towns and many of them have several church or- 
 ganizations. The colored people also have churches 
 in nearly, if not all the places that the whites 
 have. The negros and whites never worship to- 
 gether in the same church. The Methodists seem 
 to predominate ; the Presbtyerians and Baptists 
 seem to be about alike in numercial strength ; there 
 are some Episcopalians and a good many Catho- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 149 
 
 lies. The negroes are divided between the Metho- 
 dist and Baptists, It rather seems to be fashionable 
 to belong to a church, and in a great many in- 
 stances that I know of church members prostitute 
 the church or use their membership for quite an- 
 other purpose than it was intended- .A few of the 
 worst scalawags that the writer knows of are 
 church members who partook of the Holy Sacra- 
 ment of the Lord's Supper on Sunday morning, 
 took parties in the afternoon of the same day to 
 show and try to sell them land, and who, on the 
 following week did arrange a villainous scheme to 
 beat a party out of a large sum of money and he 
 succeeded in the scheme to a very considerable ex- 
 tent. Another case, that of a local preacher on a 
 certain Sabbath morning took a party to see a lot 
 arranged, then went straight to church and into 
 the pulpit and preached a sermon. Many other 
 such tricks of a similar character are of almost 
 daily occurrence, and it is not much thought of, 
 only accounted rather smart. These things are al- 
 ways done in such a way that there is not much 
 chance for the party that gets beaten, the laws are 
 such that a man can do almost anything he has a 
 mind to in Florida ; if he has a little money he 
 need have no particular fear of getting Into trouble, 
 or if he does get into trouble, his money will get 
 him out. 
 
 One day in riding in the cars on the South Flor- 
 ida Railroad, in conversation with a gentleman 
 
i^o FLOklDA AS IT IS 
 
 who liad lived in the State for a considerable length 
 of time, and who Was then living there and fof 
 all I know is living in the State yet; In the course 
 of our conversation he reniarked that there was 
 more solid lying done In Florida to the square foot 
 of land than in any other country or State that he 
 knows of. I did not know then whether to believe 
 him or not, but since livhig here for sotlie time and 
 doing business with the people, 1 am satisfied that 
 he spoke the trudi, and might have made it strong- 
 er yet, and still been within bounds, and yet tht^ 
 lying is dotie in such a way that at the time you 
 cannot tell or detect it. It is done by magnifying 
 everything and drawing on the imagination td 
 complete the picture, and by taking sttiall plots 
 and magnifying them into aCres, as for example 
 a certain man raised so many quail of strawberries 
 on a square rod of ground, it having the best of 
 cultivation, attention and fertili^^ation, such as 
 could not have been given to even an acre of 
 ground, much less five or ten acres ', th^ yield oii 
 the small plot was immense of course, it beiiig all 
 got up for an advertisement. Well, this small plot 
 will be mairnified in a verv short space ot time td 
 perhaps twenty acres, and the yield perhaps in- 
 creased a little, and possibly directly you will be 
 told that the man raised this crop the first year, 
 after clearing wild land and that he gave it no 
 special attention either. You do not know and 
 have no means of knowing whether it is true of 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 151 
 
 not, and just as li'^ely as not the very fellow who 
 has told you all this stufl is an actual active 
 church member, or in other words a wolf in sheep's 
 clothing. I don't wish the reader to understand 
 that I am finding fault with the church for I revere 
 and love it ; I am only trying to show you a cer- 
 tain class of men who are using the church to ac- 
 complish their nefarious ends, and do not under- 
 stand me to say or mean that all the man or mem- 
 bers of churches in Florida are of this class, very 
 far from it, you will find just as honorable and 
 square men here to deal with as you will find an}^- 
 where, both in and out of church, but being fore- 
 warned ou^ht to be forearmed ; do not invest too 
 quickly and do not bestow your confidence without 
 some previous knowledge. 
 
 Another way of exaggerating is about like this, 
 a man has a piece or tract of land for sale, he may 
 want to sell ever so badly, he will probably tell 
 you here is a tract of land for which he has refused 
 so much money ; now this may be so. In this way 
 he and some person else may have or has an un- 
 derstanding that he shall help to sell the land and 
 get so much when the sale is completed. In your 
 travels you will probably almost certainly run 
 across or meet the man who made the offer for the 
 land. It having been previously arranged, but he 
 he has now bought, but if he had not he would 
 still give that amount for it , this all looks right 
 and square, and if you do not watch mighty closelv 
 
152 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 and sharply, you will be caught right there by this 
 process of lying. 
 
 There are various wa}- s of telling things so that 
 they resemble the truth, and having some truth 
 mixed into the story, and the speaker being a 
 church member or a member of some order that 
 you know something about and seeming to be all 
 straight who will brother you, and nearly every 
 person he meets, that a g^reat wonder will be, if 
 you are not deceived, A man may be a real estate 
 man in Florida and be a christian, but let me say 
 right here, it takes a good deal of grace and close 
 watching to go straight in that business and there 
 is generally more or less room to suspect a man's 
 Christianity. When you find him engaged in the 
 land business in a new country at least it will do 
 no harm to watch him. Notwithstanding all that 
 has been said and written, there are men in the 
 land business in Florida, some of whom belong ta 
 the church and other societies^ and others who do 
 not, who will tell you about as nearly the truth as 
 they know or understand it, and whose judgement 
 can be taken everytime and money made by it, 
 then there are others and plenty of them that 3'ou 
 cannot believe one word they say, and who will 
 fleece you every time they get a chance, some of 
 which I could name, but I reckon I will let you do 
 as I did, find out for yourself Land agents in all 
 newly developing countries are a necessity, but 
 land sharks are of no use to any person but an in- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 153 
 
 jury to the business and the community in which 
 they operate. 
 
 PROFANITY. 
 
 A large majority of the men, both white and 
 black use cuss words, when and where they 
 seem to be unnecessary and out of place, at least 
 in a Community that claims to be moral. Some of 
 the native women and som.e that are not natives, 
 can sw^ear right smart too, notwithstanding all this, 
 there are Sunday Schools in nearly all the churches 
 with a full corps of officers. You also find a band 
 of hope in nearly all places where there is a church 
 and generally a Womian's Christian Temperance 
 Union. These are all located in the towns and 
 cities. You know, or at least I do, that the rural 
 districts, are now, to a certain extent uninhabited, 
 and I guess always will be. Wherever you see a 
 half dozen houses and sometimes not more than 
 one or two, the place is called a town, city, park, 
 ^sola or something that means a great deal more 
 than it is. 
 
 PROHIBITION. 
 
 There is quite a strong prohibition element in 
 Florida among both whites and blacks. The law 
 on the license business is such that the party ap- 
 plying for license to sell strong drinks and make 
 people drunk, must have as signers to his petition 
 majority of all the legal voters in the district where 
 he proposes to sell, and any and every town, city, 
 district or county has the right to vote once a j'ear. 
 
154 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 whether license shall be granted in said place or 
 not. Should license be granted in any case the 
 said license will cost the parties in no case, less 
 than five hundred dollars and may cost that many 
 thousand. As I understand it, these licenses con- 
 sist of three parts. First, the State license; sec- 
 ond the district or county license, then the city or 
 town license, the State and county license com- 
 bined is three hundred dollars in all cases. The 
 city or town license may be only tw^o hundred dol- 
 lars, no less by the statute, but the city or town au- 
 thorities may by law, make the license as much 
 higher as they choose and in a number of cases they 
 make it so high that it almost amounts to total pro- 
 hibition. The fine for selling strong drinks contra- 
 ry to law is heavy, and the law is enforced about 
 as well as any other law in the State and my ob- 
 servation is that all laws, particularly such as have 
 a fine connected with them, are rigidly enforced, 
 and in many cases summarily, I account for this 
 in this way : That all the laws, or nearly so, that 
 have a fine in money attached, the informant gets 
 half the fine ; this being the case, it is a source of 
 money making, and as there are a good many 
 people in Florida who are too lazy to work, they 
 w^atch the misdoings of others and make it profit- 
 able. 
 
 KITCHEN HELP, WASHING, &C. 
 Florida is a hard place for women to live in, 
 unless their circumstances are such that they are 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 155 
 
 fiot obliged to work, The labor of cooking, wash- 
 ing and doing general house work, is much more 
 laborious and fatigueing than in the North. The 
 exreme natural heat in connection with lires neces- 
 sary to do much of the household work, makes the 
 labor almost unendurable and the very great dif- 
 ticully of getting efficient help in the house, and 
 enormous prices you must pay for it, puts it beyond 
 the reach of people in ordinary, or even moderate 
 circumstances, and should you be able to obtain 
 help at all, they (the help) must superintend or 
 boss the kitchen and on the least provocation, and 
 sometimes without iany at all, they will leave you. 
 Ordinarv kitchen work, sUCh as cooking, washing 
 dishes, etc., will cost from four to ten dollars per 
 week, then you must furnish a separate room and 
 board the party, and with all the watching you 
 can do, they will take aWay (steal) fully half as 
 much as their wages amount to, and about half the 
 lime, they are absent, running the street. You 
 must i-'emember that the house help will in no case 
 do the washing and ironing ; this has to be done 
 outside and will Cost you otte dollar per do^en 
 pie^C'e'R 'of wearin'g clothes, towels, etc; iot washing 
 bed clothes they charge more. It must also be re- 
 membered that the negroes have a kind of secret 
 society regularly organized, including both the 
 men and v. omen, and they meet regularly and fix 
 dieir own prices for doing housework, cooking, 
 Vvashing, etc., and they stick right there and to the 
 
1^6 FLORIDA AS I T IS. 
 
 prices fixed, so you must either do your own work, 
 not have it done at all or pay the prices, and 
 should you have help and turn them off ior any 
 cause, you will not be able to get an}^ other until 
 you agree to take back the one that you turned off. 
 Occasionally you can get white help, but ver}^ sel- 
 domly, and when it can be had the character of 
 the parties is generally such that you do not care 
 to have them about you, so here again you find 
 that unless you have plenty of mone}', your women 
 folks must bear all the burden, which certainly has 
 no tendency to improve either their health or tem- 
 per as the writer ver}^ well knows. Should you 
 hire negroes to clean house or do any other ordinaiy 
 work by the day, they board themselves, come 
 when they get ready and quit when they please, 
 and unless you have the price fixed beforehand, 
 they will charge you three times what they should, 
 and if you do not pay them on the spot, they 
 V\ill sue you and make you pay more cost than 
 their wages amounted to. Remember this is no 
 fancy sketch, but the actual iacts as they occur 
 dail}^ so you see you must not only take the cli- 
 mate of Florida as you find it, but also the house 
 help as you can get it or have no houses ; true you 
 can board, and not be bothered with house help 
 and your washing in any case will not cost so 
 much, but 3'ou will find that a boarding house 
 life in Florida soon becomes monotonous. This, 
 however is "Florida as it is," and what are you 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 1^57 
 
 going to do about it. 
 
 There is this can be done, either conform to the 
 habits and customs or get out of the State in the 
 shortest space of time. Another thing can be said 
 about the washing of clothes, it takes twice as much 
 washing as it does in other places, particularly in 
 the dry season, tne nature of the soil (sand) is such 
 that it soils clothes quickly, and garments that can 
 be worn a whole week in the North, must here be 
 changed two or three times a week, and unless the 
 bath is used every day, a change of under gar- 
 ments is necessary every 24 hours to be clean and 
 comfortable. You will soon see this item of wash- 
 ing and ironing is no small thmg in housekeepmg 
 in Florida, and it requires perhaps more clothing 
 here than it does where the seasons are not so warm 
 for the reason that the frequent washings and rough 
 handling wears them out more than the actual wear 
 I will close this article by advising all families who 
 intend cominor here to remain lor some time to 
 bring the help needed around the house, with them 
 and be independent of the natives and negroes. 
 Your outside work you can get done at much more 
 reasonable prices. 
 SOMETHING ABOUT THE COST OF CLEAN 
 
 ING, AND PREPARING LAND FOR 
 
 ORANGE GROVES, AND TRUCK 
 
 FARMS IN FLORIDA. 
 
 Suppose you purchase first quality high land us- 
 ually covered with a thick growth of yellow pine 
 trees ; these must be removed, and a contract is 
 
15^ f^ORlDA AS IT IS. 
 
 made to clear the land and prepare it for the pTow > 
 this will cost from 25 to 50 dollars per acre depend- 
 iiis: oil whether' the stumps are all io be taken out, 
 and also the number of trees on an acre, atid still 
 more on the aimount of grubbing. ^Should there be 
 much saw palmetto (not usually the case on such 
 land) on the land, the timber is worth something 
 provided it is near a saw mill, then arrangements 
 can be rrlade to sell the timber on the stump or for 
 a certain per cent after it is sawed. The best plart 
 is to sell the stumpage, count the saw frees and get 
 the money before the trees are cut, for should yoU 
 agree oil a per cent, it is advisable to remain with 
 the saw mill party. Ifi any case the cleaning of the 
 land will cost about the same, especially if the" 
 stumps must be removed which is dilficult"^after the 
 trees afe off". The stumps are removed as follows :' 
 The sand is removed from around the roots to the 
 depth of 12 or 15 inches, the roots are then chop^ 
 ped off and the tree in tailing often draws out the 
 tap r0ot, otherwise it is ctit off about a foot below 
 the surface of the groufid, the saiid filled jrf; the 
 roots covered y- atid as pirie roots or stumps hevet 
 sprout they are out of the way for all time to come. 
 You now see that it is easier to remove the stumps 
 while the tree stands, as it helps to pull its own 
 stump, otherwise it must be dug out or cut so low 
 as to be out of the way of the plow. The plowing 
 will cost from 3 to 5 dollars per acre, fencing from' 
 -ts: ^o to $2.00 per rod depending on the kind 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 159 
 
 of fence. The land after being grubbed and plow- 
 ed should remain without planting for at least one 
 season, otherwise it will not produce it being wild 
 and sour, unless you stir (plow) it and use fertil- 
 izer. You must fertilize nearly all the time to grow 
 anything. To plant an orange grove, here again 
 the cost is governed by the kind of trees planted. 
 Good thrifty budded trees three or four years old, 
 will cost you about one dollar each ; you can, how- 
 ever, get trees as low down in price as twenty-five 
 cents a piece that do sometimes make bearing trees 
 in the future. Fifty orange trees to the acre is 
 about the right amount to plant, although some 
 plant as many as one hundred trees to the acre. 
 An orange tree should have about as much space 
 of ground to grow on as an apple tree in the 
 North. 
 
 Clearing second-class pine land usually costs 
 more than first-class, for the reason that there is 
 always more palmetto on it, although not nearly 
 so much timber. The grubbing out of the palmetto 
 root is quite a job. The tops are not large, being 
 only a bunch of leaves, but the stems of these leaves 
 are from a foot to four feet long, and some of them 
 are more than an inch through ; the shape or form 
 of the stem is about half round, having two sharp 
 edges, and the edges are full of teeth the entire 
 length, something like saw teeth, and are about 
 one-eighth of an inch long and sharp pointed and 
 about as close together as a number twelve saw 
 
i6o FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 teeth ; the points all turn toward the ground of butt 
 of the stem and are hard and solid as a green briar 
 and cut equally as badly when you come into con- 
 tact with them. The roots of the saw palmetto 
 do not lie deeply in the ground, that is the main of 
 principal root; they, however, have small lateral 
 roots that penetrate the ground to a considerable 
 depth. The length and thickness of the main root 
 are simply enormous; the fact is, it is hard to find 
 the farther end of them and if it were not that thev 
 are not entirely underground, you could not find 
 them at all, they extend for rods and rods, over- 
 lapping and intertwining with, and over each other 
 thus completely covering the ground, in many 
 places. They are of a kind of fibrous compositiori 
 and are laminated, or grow in layers and between 
 each layer is a kind of natural cloth that can be' 
 separated into sheets after the matiner of isinglass, 
 and after being separated, it has the appearance 
 of having been woven in a loom; the warp and 
 woof, or chain and filling are just as plaiftly showil 
 as in a piece of burlap bagging. The '.vritef has 
 seen pieces of this stuff or natural cloth over a foot 
 square ; the leaf sow^e-vvhat resembles the palm leaf 
 fan, so common in the North, but is solid only one- 
 third of its length. 
 
 When you come to grubbing out this kind of 
 stuff and making the land or sand tillable, it will 
 cost you from thirty to eighty dollars per acre, es- 
 pecially should it be intermixed, which is very 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. i6i 
 
 often the case with hog or scrub palmetto. The 
 tops of this kind look like the saw palmetto, but it 
 is much smaller in the top and teeth, the roots grow 
 straight down like a beet and are from three to 
 six inches in diameter, and from one to three feet 
 long ; they are much harder to grub out than the 
 other kind. 
 
 FENCING. PLOUGHING, &C., SAME AS 
 BEFORE STATED. 
 
 HammocK land is much harder to clear and pre- 
 pare for a crop or a grove, and will cost more than 
 double as much as any other kind of land to clear 
 and prepare for the plow. After being once read}' 
 to plant, the expense for fertilizer is not by one- 
 half as much as the pine lands ; the cost of fencings 
 ploughing, planting, &c., is about the same in ail 
 cases^ 
 
 The work of cleaning up land here is very labor- 
 ious, and but few white men can stand it, or are 
 able to perform that kind of labor, especially in the 
 summer season, and the negroes work so slowly 
 that it almost makes even a \ap.y white man tired 
 to look at them working. You see by this descrip- 
 tion ithat the cost of building a new orange grove is 
 quite an item^ and particularly so, should it be a 
 large one. After it Is started, about the same at- 
 tention must be given it as a field of corn in the 
 N:rth, and that continually for from seven to ten 
 years before you begin to get returns worth speak- 
 ing of. In addition you must spend for fertili^^-'r. 
 
i62 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 on each tree, from twenty-five cents to a dollar per 
 year, depending on the quality of soil it is planted 
 on. True, in the meantime vegetables and garden 
 truck can be raised at the same time after the first 
 year, provided the right kind of fertilizer is used. 
 In another part of this book you have learned some- 
 thing about the cost of raising vegetables in this 
 sunny climate, and let me say that what is said 
 about raising vegetable and all the other things 
 written in this book is true. Interested persons, 
 newspapers, circulars and other stories to the con- 
 trary, notwithstanding, and proper investigation 
 and unbiased examination will amply prove the 
 truth of the assertion. I will now give you an ex- 
 tract from a Florida newspaper, headed 
 
 DOES ORANGE CULTURE PAY? 
 
 ''This is a question which many growers have been ask- 
 ing themselves. During the current season of depression 
 in the business, a gentleman in Manatee county, whose 
 name for the present we withhold, has kept books on this 
 branch of Florida farming, and sends us the result^ which , 
 in his opinion, does not militate in favor of the grove. His 
 account is kept with a five acre grove on good land, under 
 most favorable circumstances with best attention. Here is 
 the balance sheet after thirteen years of work : 
 
 ORANGE GROVE, DR. 
 To first cost near a railroad and growing town 
 
 5 acres at $50 per acre, f 250 00 
 
 To cost of clearing land, grubbing, felling tim- 
 ber, removing stumps, plowing and clear- 
 ing, 250 00 
 To fencing, hog proof, 150 00 
 *' 300 trees and setting same, 100 00 
 '' cultivating trees ten years, man and horse 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 163 
 
 half time, ploUghiDg, hoeing, hauling fer- 
 tilizer and applying, repairing fence^ trim- 
 ming, etc., $150 per pear, 1500 00 
 
 To horse in hauling, ploughing, etc , one half 
 
 time^ 900 00 
 
 'ro cost of fertilizer, average 10 cents to tl*ee^ 
 300 pounds a year, 10 years 30.000 pounds 
 say $20 per ton-, 300 00 
 
 ITo repairing fence estimate, 26 00 
 
 '' interest on capital average of $1500,00 for 
 
 ten years, 900 00 
 
 To use of land ten }€ars fof Vegetable culture 
 and other purposes, worth $100 per acre 
 per }ear, being for five aci*es for ten years, oOOO 00 
 
 To additional iab^or, doable after ten years and 
 double amount of fertiliser up to thirteenth 
 year, man and horse three years $1000,00, 
 fertilise. $100, 1100 00 
 
 Total cost and outlay at end of 13th year $10175 00 
 ORANGE GROVE, CR, 
 l5y yield '8th year, estimate to average to tree>, 
 
 total 30,000 at $5 00, 150 00 
 
 By yield 9th yeat double-, 300 00 
 
 ^'* " iOth '■ '■' 600 00 
 
 ^' " 11th •* " 1200 00 
 
 '• " 12th '' ** 2400 00 
 
 •^ - 13th '^ '* 4800 m 
 
 • possible yield of vegetables for three years-, 
 
 average h^lf <iro|) amon^ the trees, $50 per 
 
 ^aere, 750 00 
 
 Total incofi^le^ $10200 00 
 
 So that at the end of the thirteenth year under the most 
 favorable circumstances, a man has barely got his money 
 back. Under unfavorable circumstances, trees are so set 
 back by the cold, drought, disease and insect life that at the 
 ^nd of ten years are not bearing, or at the end of the fifteentli 
 year they do not bear, and time and money are thrown away. 
 
164 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 I see raany instances of this kind The readers can study 
 the above balance sheet and draw their own conclusions." 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 This is one of the things that there is no certain- 
 ty about. You go into any small place in the State, 
 ask how many inhabitants are in the place and near- 
 ly every one asked gives a different amount. Each 
 town or city wants to be as big if not bigger than 
 the other town, and my opinion is that were you to 
 go to each town and city in the State and take the 
 biggest figures that are given of each place, say 
 nothing of the rural districts, as few people live 
 there and add them together, you probably would 
 have six or eight million inhabitants in the State, 
 but when we come to solid facts, the census of 
 1880 gives as the population of the State (269,493) 
 two hundred and sixty-nine thousand four hundred 
 and ninety-three. The population has no doubt 
 increased some in the last live or six years, but not 
 to any great extent, so you perceive that there is 
 not such a tremendous amount of people in Florida 
 as many interested parties would have you believe. 
 TOURIST OR TRAVELLERS 
 
 Usually start at Jacksonville, goes up the St. 
 Johns River to Sanford, then by the South Florida 
 Railroad to Tampa, then to Charlotte Harbor or 
 Cedar Ke3"s by way of the Gulf of Mexico and 
 then by the F. R. & N. C. Railroads to Gaines- 
 ville, to Ocala, Silver Springs, Leesburg, Eustis, 
 Tavares, Baldwin and Calahan, then returns to 
 Jacksonville. Sometimes they take time to run up 
 
FLO RIDA AS IT IS. 165 
 
 to St. Augustine, then they, in their judgement or 
 estimation, have seen about all of Florida, and form 
 their conclusions accordingly, when in fact they 
 have seen and know but little about it. Your trip 
 up the river gives you the idea that Florida is little 
 else than marsh, water and low lands. At a few 
 places you get glimpses of the country, but most of 
 it is vast stretches of sw^amp land, cypress swamps, 
 cabbage palmetto, live oak, magnolia, pine trees 
 and black murky water, for the St. Johns River is 
 by no means a clear water stream, though I recon 
 no person ever saw its waters muddy ; then at San- 
 ford, you board the train and until you arrive at 
 "Winter Park and Orlando you pass through a 
 sandy country that to Northern eyes, does not seem 
 to be good for much, and I am not sure but the 
 ideas then formed, are very nearly correct ; then 
 from Orlando until you arrive at Kissimmee, the 
 most of the land is flat pine woods and unless in 
 a dry time, most of it is under water, notwithstand- 
 ing all this, some of the very best lands in the 
 State, are right here in the neighborhood of Kis- 
 simmee City, but you run right on to Bartow, and 
 here you will find a superabundance of sand that 
 will not impress you very favorably, and away you 
 go to Tampa or to Charlotte Harbor — it is still 
 sand. You ask the price of land here and the fig- 
 ures will be such as to mal^e you open your eyes in 
 amazement, and you will surely think the parties 
 are jesting, but on further inquiry you will find it 
 
i66 FLORIDA As iT IS. 
 
 is reality, and if you wish to own any real estate* 
 composed of sand in that neighborhood, you will 
 have to come down with the cash to the amount of 
 the price asked, of some other man will oWn it 
 while you are thinking about the trade : you cannot 
 see (or any person else for that matter) what in the 
 world makes this land sO valuable : yoii soon get- 
 disgusted with the place and leave for Cedar Keys. 
 This place you have heard and read abouc atid the 
 chances are that when you get there, yau will be 
 so much disapf)ointed that yoli will iiot even ask 
 the price of real estate at all, but will leave by the 
 first traiti for Gainesville. Here you vviil probably 
 be disappointed, too, but it will be the other way, 
 the place being so much better tlian expected ; I 
 do not mean the land, for that is still sand, but the' 
 buildings and the enterprise and business of the 
 town* It is more like a Northern tov/n than any 
 one 1 have seen m the State. The town is well 
 laid off, the streets are wide and good board and 
 brick pavements are laid all over the business part 
 of the town, as well as on many of the sti'eete wi^ere 
 the private residences are, and many of the build-^ 
 ings are of brick and well built; you will also find 
 that property here is held at very high figures, so 
 that a man of ordinary means must look elsewhere.. 
 From here you will go to Waldo. Here is said to 
 be the largest orange tree in the State, which is- 
 said to have yielded at a single crop as many as 
 thirty thcusand oranges. About this time you will 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 167 
 
 be about ready to return to Jacksonville, or it may 
 be you will visit Silver Springs, Ocala and some 
 other places, but in any event you will soon return 
 to the starting point. After a review of the trip, 
 you will possiblv begin to think that there is either 
 not much in this Florida business or that you have 
 made a mistake in the route taken. You did make 
 a mistake in the route, and as for there not being 
 much in it, you may be more than half right in 
 that also. 
 
 On your first arrival at Jacksonville you should 
 have gone direct to Gainesville by rail, then either 
 bought or hired a horse and buggy there, got some 
 man (and there are plenty of them to be had by 
 simply bearing their expenses) that was well ac- 
 quainted with the country, and then drove abou^ 
 the county, gradually working Southward by way 
 of Orange Lake, Citra, Micanopy, Ocala, Wier 
 Lake, Leesburg, Eustis, Maitland, Tavares, 
 Apopka, Ocoee, Gotha, Lake Butler, and so on as 
 long as your inclination and time would allow and 
 your money in your purse held out, in the mean- 
 time talking to everybody and anybody that will 
 talk to you, ask all the questions you can think of 
 and ask the same questions of different persons, 
 and do not pass the negroes by, they very often 
 can, and will give you information that is obtain- 
 able in no other way. A sojourn in the State of 
 two or three months in this way will give you more 
 minute and correct information concernincr the ins 
 
i68 l^LORlDA AS IT IS, 
 
 and outs, advantages and disadvantages of it than 
 you could obtain in ariy other way in double or 
 even quadruple the time, in fact there is no other 
 way to find out all about Florida and the people of 
 the State, but to go there and mingle with them^ 
 and as to safety ot a persons life and property, you 
 are just as safe in almost any part of Florida, (if 
 you conduct yourself properly) as you would be 
 anywhere else in the United States, and a great 
 deal safer than many places I know of that boast 
 of their high state of morality and civilization. 
 
 ACCLIMATATION. 
 
 Persons may come to Florida in the late fall 
 season and remain until early spring and escape 
 any and all bad effects from change of climate, or 
 sometimes they can take a tour of a month or two 
 at almost any season or time of the year, and not 
 feel any change so far as their bodil}' condition i?* 
 concerned, but to come and remain here for a year 
 or more, 3^our system Will, and must undergo s 
 climatic change, and this change usually SnoWS it-^ 
 self by affecting the botvels and sometimes very 
 seriously, or by a spell of a kind of low type of 
 fever or by sores and boils, particularly on the 
 ankles and legs and by the sand or Florida itch, 
 which It will be almost miraculous should you es-= 
 cape the latter. Should you remain in the State 
 a whole year at one time, this acclimatation, while it 
 sddomproves fatal, is very annoying, A little 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 169 
 
 pimple with a yellow spot or head will rise, say on 
 your ankle or somewhere between the ankle and 
 the knee nt is a small bit of a sore not worth mind- 
 ing at first, but in a day or two it inflames and en- 
 larges so that in a very short space of time it is an 
 open sore that you could not cover with a silver 
 dollar, and if the proper remedies are not applied, 
 it will e?ftend all around the leg, and perhaps you 
 will not get this sore healed until another one 
 starts on the other le^ or on your arm^ and fre- 
 quently these sores are on both legs and arms at 
 the sam.e time. It is very seldom that any sores of 
 this kind breaK out on the b^dy, but the body is 
 the place for the sand itch* Should you have a 
 spell of sickness soon after arriving here, you w^ill 
 probably escape the sores, but not one in ten escapes 
 the itch. You cannot imagine how anno3'ing it is 
 to have to rub or scratch, and the more 3"^ou scratch 
 the more itchy the parts become ; you become al- 
 most wild, and I recon that if ever you felt like 
 saying cuss tvords^ you will feel like it about this 
 time. Well, let me tell you, that if you come to 
 Florida to live and you stay here, you will in all 
 hikiftan probabiuly go through this ordeal. It is 
 •an axioiti and self-evident that in changing from 
 one climate to another, where the living is differ- 
 -ent, what you eat is different, your habits must 
 change with the country— almost everything is 
 changed, and consequently your system must 
 ■<:hange to conform to the climate : this, then is b.- 
 
I70 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 coming acclimated, and it is a law of nature that 
 must, and will be obeyed, you, however, by proper 
 care in eating, do not overindulge in anything, ex- 
 pose yourself as little as possible-to the direct rays 
 of the sun, remain indoors in the heat of the day, 
 and by observing natures laws carefully and close- 
 ly, you will thus become acclimated without any 
 serious trouble to yourself or any person else, 
 WHO SHOULD GO TO OR VISIT FLORIDA. 
 
 All persons who have an abundance of money, 
 and who make a business of spending their sum- 
 mers at Northern watering places, such as Sara- 
 toga, White Mountains, Deer Park, Ocean Grove, 
 and other such places in order to spend their money 
 avoid the extreme heat of summer and thus enjo}' 
 life by going to Florida and spending the winter 
 season. There you will avoid the extreme cold 
 and freezing winters of the North, and can bask 
 in the sunshine of Florida to your hearts content, 
 and have all the out and indoor enjoyment you 
 want, provided you have plenty of money. 
 
 Florida in the true sense of the word, is a winter 
 resort and that is about all it is. You now perceive 
 that the pleasure seekers should all come here in 
 the winter season. 
 
 HUNTING AND FISHING. 
 
 The parties who delight in hunting and fishing, 
 and who care nothing for time or much how they 
 live, should come here and hav^e a good time gen- 
 erally, as game and particularly fish, in many parts 
 
FLORIDA As IT IS. 171 
 
 are plenty and with a little manoeuverin^^ and exer- 
 tion, game and fish enough, with pelts and alli- 
 gator hides, call be caught and sold to keep soul 
 and body together. I know of no place that would 
 suit people of the above class any better than in 
 Florida. 
 
 SPECULATORS. 
 
 The parties who niake a business ot speculating 
 n a business Way ifi lanlls in towns i^nd lots, can 
 find no better iieid to ply their Vocation in, provid* 
 ed they have money to pay as they go, they will 
 'make money rapidly, provided their judgement is 
 good and propei'l}' 'exefCised* 
 
 Sick and feeble persons who are afflicted with 
 ■asthmalic and pulmonary troubles are often bene- 
 fited and sometimes entirely cured by spending 
 their winters in Florida, provided the}^ come here 
 before the disease becomes too deeply seated. The 
 ■trouble with this class of people is that they tfy aM 
 >he home remedies that thev can get hold of before 
 coming here, and by this time it is very often toe 
 late, and the climate of Florida or any " other di- 
 oiate will not do tliem ?ny good. If you Come at 
 •al'k ^^on^ie whefe iht disease is in its first stages, 
 otherwise you ha^ better stay at Kome. Every 
 person that has the time and money to spend should 
 take a trip to Florida and then they will know 
 something about it and can judge for themselves 
 about what kind of a place it is and what kind of a 
 *climate it has. 
 
172 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 TIME TO COME. 
 This depends a good deal on what you are going 
 to Florida for. If on a tour or visit, one time is as 
 good as another — I would say come whenever you 
 please. If, however, to remain in Florida a year 
 or more, come in the fall, either in October or 
 November for the reason that the acclimating pro- 
 cess (which all who come here from a distance and 
 remain here must expect to go through) will be 
 likely to affect you much less severely than at any 
 other time ; let me here say, if you think of becom- 
 ing a citizen of Florida, whether you have a family 
 or not by all manner of means go and see it and 
 remain until satisfied that it is a better place than 
 where you now are, and then move there and not 
 until then. Should you find or thmk Florida not 
 the place, then remain at the present location, or 
 seek a home elsewhere. 
 
 WHO SHOULD NOT COME TO FLORIDA 
 
 Except to see it. Persons who are well situated 
 in the North, or who are in moderate circumstances 
 having a comfortable home, and doing well enough 
 had better let well enough alone. The mechanic 
 who can make a living in the North, cannot better 
 his condition here for the reason that wages are no 
 better than where he is. The clerk has no busi- 
 ness here at all except in isolated cases for the 
 reason that hundreds of men in delicate health 
 come to Florida for their health, who not having a 
 
F LORIDA AS IT IS. 173 
 
 superabundance oi lucre ^ attempt to help out same 
 by clerKing or any light work they can find. Many 
 of them will work or clerk for their boarding and 
 even less, as whatever they do make or get, is 
 that much ahead. Many of them are first-class 
 clerks, so you see there is no use of clerks, and they 
 should not come, if to better their conditions be the 
 object. 
 
 SCHOOL TEACHERS, 
 School teachers get better wages in almost any 
 other State than Florida, yet there are s^me good 
 schools here and the people brag considerably 
 about their educational institutions. 
 
 DAY LABORERS. 
 
 Day laborers need not be idle here unless they 
 want to ; wages, however, are no better for gener- 
 al work than they are in the North. About the 
 only advantage a day laborer has, he need not 
 lose much time b}^ reason of snows and bad weath- 
 er, and if he can stand the heat, he might do about 
 as well here as elsewhere, but no better. 
 SICKLY PERSONS. 
 
 Especially if much reduced by reason of sickness 
 except as before stated, should not come here, for 
 the change will be more likely to do harm than 
 good, particularly if the person has not an abund- 
 ance of money, for they will find that the cost of 
 comfortable living is high, and as the worry on ac- 
 count of the expense of living and enormous bills' 
 that the doctors will charge, will, in all probability 
 
m FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 aggravate the disease and make it worse instead of 
 better, and here an idea occurs to me that if your 
 family physician, who knows all about your system 
 and has had a chance to note all the symptoms and 
 facts connected therewith, cannot do you any good. 
 It does seem to me to be the heighth of folly to 
 suppose for a moment that a strange doctor who 
 knows nothing at all about you or jour case, should 
 be able to do you much, if any good, so in m}^ 
 judgement 3^ou had better remiain at home and save 
 your time and money. 
 
 THE LAZY MAN. 
 
 The lazy man will find his business entirely over- 
 done all through the State, and will find no open- 
 ings to pursue his calling. There are most too 
 many lazy people here now, both male and female 
 MERCHANDISING. 
 
 The handling of dry goods, groceries, boots and 
 shoes and indeed all kinds of merchandising ig 
 overdone in all parts of the State that I have been 
 in or can hear of. The general complaint is, that 
 there are more stores than the place affords, conse- 
 quently the merchant need not come here expect- 
 ing to make a big fortune at the business, and if 
 he does come in the faice of all this, he will in the 
 end, in nine cases out of ten reap disappointment 
 and loss. 
 
 STOCK RAISING. 
 
 In some parts of the State, particularly in the 
 extreme Southern counties, there are large cattle 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 175 
 
 ranches, and certain parties make a business of 
 raising cattle. There are parties who own from 
 a few hundred head to many thousands, I 
 suppose this is so, because a number of people say 
 it is so. These cattle have no special care, but run 
 at large the whole year around ; at certain times in 
 the year, these cattle are, what is called rounded 
 up, coralled and branded. Each owner has a 
 brand peculiarly his own. This brand is recorded 
 in the archives of the State and all cows (cattle) 
 having this brand, belongs to the party owning 
 said brand. No two brands dare, or can be alike. 
 
 The native ca Ule or cows of Florida are all small, 
 the best of them being not much better than a good 
 yearling calf at the North, 
 
 In the winter season the cattle become poor ; dur- 
 ing the late summer and fall they are in much bet- 
 ter condition. The best of these cattle are selected 
 out, gathered up and driven Northward in the State 
 until the owner finds a market for them. They 
 usually have from thirty to fifty in a bunch, and sell 
 them to butchers, who cuts them out, (as they call 
 butchering here). These cows sell for, from five 
 to ten dollars a head, depending more on age than 
 quality. You observe that this sandy country and 
 warm climate does not produce either large or fat 
 cattle, nor do they bring big prices, and yet they 
 brin£^ all they are worth, because they are not 
 worth more than they bring. Often the beef in the 
 markets here is something like this ; Take a poor 
 
l^6 FLORIDA As IT IS., 
 
 steer or cow from among the poorest stock cattle: 
 you can find in the North, kill and cut up, and 
 you have something a good deal like the Florida 
 beef, especially that which is killed here during 
 the winter and early spring. As befors stated the 
 Cattle are in much better condition in summer and 
 fall, consequently the beef is better, but Florida 
 beef at its bestj would be considered sorry stuff in 
 the North, and so it is in Florida.- 
 
 The Florida pork is better' than the beef, partic-- 
 tilarly so when the hogs are penned ; v/hen they 
 are left run at large, the meat is a kind of a red- 
 dish yellow color* This is caused by by the hogs 
 eating what is called paint foot, which grows wild 
 in this country. This paint root grows something 
 like the artichoke of the North ; the roots are small 
 and seem to be mtieh hunted, after by the wild 
 hogs, which devour them greedily with the above 
 result to the meat. It is said the meat is perfectly 
 healthy ,■ it may be, I ivaJit but little of it in mine.- 
 The iiMive hog when full growiJ and iti ordinary 
 case, will average in weight about fifty pounds. If 
 is a very large one indeed, and very lat, that will 
 weigh one hundted pounds. There are a number 
 of hogs running wild in the wild lands of Florida. 
 These are common property, btrt are generally so 
 gaimt and wild that they are about as hard to shoot 
 as deer, or any other wild game, and alter 3^ou 
 have them, they are not of much account. 
 
 An extract from the Times Union, a daily paper 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 1 7 7 
 
 published at Jacksonville, Florida, in their issue of 
 Sept. 4th, containing the following on stock rais- 
 ing: 
 
 " Stock raising id I^lorida is much discussed in the news- 
 papers and in private circles, but upon few subjects so much 
 discussed is there manifest so great degree ot ignorance of 
 the merits of the question. 
 
 The climate condition of the country, the varieties of vege* 
 tation, the drouths that some se isons preyail, and rains at 
 otiiers, covering the entire surface with w-iter f^r miles in ex- 
 lent; the Hies that goad the cattle to frenzy at times, aud rob 
 them of their life bloodv; the msed of proper food at some 
 seasons, and not least the fact that the Southern cattle fever is 
 ■endemic in ail portions of the State, and particularly in the 
 South, a disease that all cattle in this State at some period of 
 theii* lives must undergo, and which in one-half the cases ter- 
 minate fatally with imported cattle aud thus preventing breed- 
 ing up from imported blood, are seldom or never taken into 
 Hccourit by those who have acquir'^'d their experience in stock 
 raising in other States, and especially in the great plains of 
 the wps^ There, each blade th it springs from the soil, is as 
 nutritious as the blue grass of Kentucky, or the white clover 
 of the Northern pastures, and when the rains have ceased and 
 the frosts have come, its nutriment is not dissipated, but parch - 
 •ed and dried^ still give food to the flocks and nerds, but in 
 Florida not more than tliree-fitths of what grows in the water- 
 soaked ground, contains any nutriment, and if we are to give 
 credit to the actions of the men who have the care of Florida 
 cattle, the dried vegetables are only fit to light the ilames that 
 strip the whole regions of their summer growths. 
 
 On the plaines and in the pastures of the Northern States 
 cattle can find dry beds on whi-ch to repose and ruminate, 
 but in -Florida there occur seasons when the cattle would need 
 to t'ravel miletj to find a'dry spot on which to lie, and then 
 1iei'(5Qr3 are 'often compelled to make their bed on a fallen log 
 or upon a pile of bashes and grass, where they may secure 
 such sleep as tkey can in the midst of swarms of mogquitoes 
 and flies. 
 
 These lands may answer for cattle pastute during the dry 
 season; for there does come times wben it may require as many 
 miles to find water for drinking, as in the v/et seasons to secure 
 the dry place for the stock to Up upon. Kvery stackman nra!=t 
 admit that dry land on which the cattle may lie. as well a« 
 ■'easy accees to water lor drinking purp( ses, are absolute nu.-c^s- 
 
178 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 sities for the health of stock. If our position on this point be 
 correct and the character of the country, such as those who 
 have ridden over many miles of it describe it, then it follows 
 that this is not a stock region of great value. It might be 
 used advantageously in connection with dry lands to which 
 the cattle might retreat for resting places; and it may be 
 drained of its covering of water. (It a place can be found to 
 drain it into.) Ttie noxious vegetation destroyed and the 
 more nutritious grasses, like Bermuda para and smutt ^^rasses 
 introduced, and thus become as famous for its grazing qualities 
 as for its genial climate, but in its present condition, it is yery 
 different irom the dry plains, mountain sides and valleys of 
 the great west, and men should not allow themselves to be 
 deceived by appearances during such dry seasons as have been 
 during the past two or three years, or by the flattering ac- 
 counts of land agents, whose objects are to secure a commis- 
 sion lor selling. 
 
 Cattle raising in Florida may, and should be prominently 
 adjunctive to a more general farming, but from the natural 
 conditions of Florida, it will scarcely reach the position of a 
 leading industry, far less will it ever become the leading 
 staple product." 
 
 HORSES. 
 
 As before stated are small and will not average in 
 weight much over 600 pounds, but are quite hardy 
 and can stand more work than the general run of 
 horse ftesh, gentle and docile and do not seem to 
 be vicious or to have bad habits although tricks 
 will be learned if not properly handled. 
 
 From what has been written it will be seen that 
 all the domestic animals of Florida are small, some 
 indeed quite small, and little effort is made to im- 
 prove the domestic stock ; the little effort that has 
 been made resulted in failure. A few good bulls 
 have been brought into the State and turned wdth 
 the herds, and that was the last heard of the im- 
 ported bulls. The forage and climate does not 
 
FLORID A AS IT IS. 179 
 
 seem to agree with other than the native cattle nor 
 do I have an idea that the bovines and equines of 
 Florida can be much improved until Florida be- 
 comes an agricultural Country where all the cereals 
 and tame gf asses can be grown, and this accord- 
 ing to the present nature and climate of the State 
 will never be» 
 
 And now let Us as^ why it is that Florida is such 
 a great place. If it is as so often represented, why 
 is it that the horses, catde, hogs, and many of the 
 wild animals are so small and insignificant? and 
 why is it that even with all the fertilizing that can 
 be done, there is no extra or even large vegetables 
 of any kind grown in the State? but on the con- 
 trary, the vegetables and nearly everything that 
 grow^s out ot the ground are of only ordinary or 
 inferior size as compared with the same vegetables 
 and other things in the countries or places in which 
 the same vegetables and things grow and mature. 
 This subject of size and maturity of vegetables, etc, 
 is a subject that should not be overlooked by per- 
 sons or parties emigrating from one place to an- 
 other. There certainly is something in it and an- 
 other thing you will see by observing closely, that 
 in all the blowing and booming that interested 
 parties give to Florida, there is very little said 
 about size and quality, it is all quantity. The 
 reason of this is that size and quality (oranges and 
 a few other things excepted,) will not bear investi- 
 gation, therefore they are left in the background. 
 The quantity misleads, and you take for granted 
 
i8o FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 when the quantit}' is sufficient, it is understood that 
 size and quality must, or at least ought to corres- 
 pond ; take for example : Mr. John S has 
 
 ten thousand head of fat cattle — this is quan- 
 tity , you at once conclude that these cattle are 
 large and in first-class condition — this is size and 
 quality. Now this conclusion is legitimate and 
 natural, and one that almost an}^ man would arrive 
 at under ordinary conditions, but as before stated 
 in this book, Florida has a climate and also many 
 other conditions peculiarly her own, and these must 
 all be well understood to arrive at true conclusions. 
 I have described the size of cattle in Florida as 
 well as what the people there call fat beef; now 
 you see that size and quality has a different mean- 
 ing than that conveyed in the notice that Mr. John 
 
 S had ten thousand head of cattle. This 
 
 same comparison or explanation will carry out in 
 nearly all cases where quantity is spoken of, and 
 you will in a very large majority of the cases find 
 size and quality ver}- conspicuous on account of, 
 or by reason of ther absence in their description. 
 
 Another thing the people in the North are led to 
 believe and that is that in Florida the people al- 
 ways have an abundance of fresh vegetables, such 
 as radishes, lettuce, spinach, beans, peas, tomatoes, 
 cucumbers, squashes, red beets, melons, turnips, 
 and indeed all kinds of garden sass, the whole 
 year around ; that all that is to be done is to go in- 
 to the garden-patch and get whatever you want 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. i8i 
 
 and whenever you need it, and also bring right 
 along a basket of strawberries, a pine apple or a 
 bunch of bananas, figs or pomegranates, oranges 
 or some other tropical fruit. Such, however, is 
 not the case by any manner or of means, all garden 
 truck, vegetables and fruit have their seasons and 
 while this season is perhaps a little longer and 
 comes much earlier than in the North, the rotation 
 is very similar to the same products in the North. 
 All vegetables and seeds that are usually planted 
 in the North in April and May, in this countr}^ to 
 make a crop, must be planted in January and Feb- 
 ruary ; if planted here much later the hot sun and 
 dry weather prevents their maturing. It is true, 
 however, that if you plant in the month of Novem- 
 ber and get no frost in December and January, 
 (nearly always frosts in both these months all over 
 Florida,) 3^ou will sometimes get a few vegetables 
 as a kind of second crop. I have ate watermelons 
 in November taken right from the vine ; this, how- 
 ever is the exception, and not the rule. After July, 
 and I may say after June, the vegetable crop in 
 Florida is over until the following March or April. 
 Do not understand that we do not have an}^ veg- 
 etable and tubers in Florida during all these months 
 from July to March, for we do have them, but ver}' 
 much the larger part of them are shipped into the 
 State from other places, but the strong probabilitv 
 s that, unless you have plenty of money at com- 
 mand, you will not indulge much in eating them. 
 
182 FLORIDA AS IT ig. 
 
 When Irish potatoes are a dollar a peck, as they 
 how are, July 2d, 1886, it is not likely that people 
 in ordinary circumstances wil indulge very extrav- 
 agantly or extensively in them. Apples, peaches, 
 pears, plums, cherries, grapes,- currants, rasp-^ 
 berries, blackberries, gooseberries, and all such 
 fruits and berfies are seldom seen anywhere in 
 Floridia, except in the large towns and then the 
 price is such as to be only within the reach of com- 
 paratively few of the inhabitants » The above' 
 named fruits and berries, however can be had al- 
 most any place in the State in the form of canned 
 goods at tolerably reasonable prices. Considering 
 you are a long way or distance from y/here they 
 growo The facts are that Florida is not now, and 
 in my judgement never will be self-supporting. 
 if it were not that Northern capital is largely in-* 
 vested in speculative enterprises, there would be 
 very little, if any motiey afloat.- Speculation you 
 know is no producer ^ (Its plain name is gamb- 
 ling), and the money made by speculation does 
 not by any means, enhance the prodneing qusfMes 
 of the country, but rather retards the progress of 
 any country or town ; take for example a town any-^ 
 where that is just newly laid out and is just fairly 
 started. CapitalisTs come along and buy a num- 
 ber of lots in what should be the business part of 
 the town ; it may be under a verbal promise that he 
 will build and improve so and so, thus he is en- 
 abled to get the lots at a low figure, but as soon 3.^ 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 183 
 
 he has the deeds for the lots, he now says, gentlt- 
 men these lots are mine, and if any person wants 
 them, they can have them at about so much ; he 
 will put his figures at double or treble what he paid 
 for them. If parties do not want them at these 
 tigures, the lots are put into the hands of an agent 
 and off the owner goes, regular dog in the manger 
 style, he will neither improve or allow any person 
 else to do so unless he doubles his money. Now 
 his buying these lots does not enhance the pro- 
 ducing qualities of these lots one iota, but his buy- 
 ing them on speculation has undoubtedly retarded 
 the progress of the town sometimes to that degree 
 that persons w^ho would buy and build, go else- 
 w4iere and invest their money where speculation 
 does not run quite so high. Many cases of this 
 kind have come under the writers observation down 
 here in this '-sunny climate," but what causes this 
 speculation? The plain answer is this ! Booming, 
 lying and misrepresentation, for there is nothing 
 substantial to back up the State, no production 
 that will, or ever can be made to pay in any shape 
 or form whatever as a general crop, and there is 
 nothmg to export from the State that v^ill bring a 
 revenue. There is not much over a quarter ol a 
 million of inhabitants in the State, and the State in 
 itself cannot begin to support what are now here 
 and if you take out of it all the speculating capital 
 and the produce and stuff that is shipped in from 
 the North and elsewhere, nine-tenths of all her in- 
 
1% FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 
 habitants woi)ld be obliged to go somelvhere dsef 
 for it would be impossible for them to obtain a liv- 
 ing in her borders* I ain well satisfied frotn per- 
 sonal observance that there is in value ship|)ed into 
 the State at least teti dollars to every one that is 
 shipped out of it of its own production* This, no 
 doubt will seem strange to some of my readers who 
 have read of the wonderful productions of this 
 wonderful State of Florida, bu! no matter how 
 strange and startling it m^y appear^ Wheil you 
 come to investigate this matter closely ^ yoti will 
 find the facts as sefe forth in t;his book^ t3 be' about 
 the true state of the case^ I will only say lit 
 CONCLUSION 
 That ctll persons who have a desire to come to 
 Florida may come, the road is open and it does 
 tiot cost much to get hete, but look Out after you 
 do get here^ but let me advise" all who do come to' 
 see well to k thai you are not misled,- Get all the 
 Infofffiation you. can ivom evety source atia from 
 personal inspection And ^nves^ig^tio^, ihe^ make' 
 1ip yo^lf min4s either to come of stay Ivh^re' f6\i 
 are. Slsou'ld you come and succeed well^- if you 
 do not succeed ^ell, jou iviD have to feiame some- 
 body other than the wtiter^ for if, after having 
 carefully read this little book 3'Oti are still in the 
 dark, then nothing but sad experience will enlight- 
 en you. 
 
 And now the writers task is finished ; how well' 
 it is done is for the reader to judge, and for the' 
 visitor, tourist and emigrant to Flori^ja to know,- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 185 
 
 Especially the latter*. The book is not w ritten in 
 high flowh lailgUdge of filled with rounded perior- 
 atioHvS, the aim has been to write so that any, and 
 all who read this booK will-, of can understand it. 
 Some parts seem to be tautological > this the writer 
 deemed necessary to the proper and full understand- 
 ing of these pfirticular parts» Again the writer is 
 wholly responsible for th<e entire work, except parts 
 of tw^o ietVeis quoied of Copied ^^nd the balance 
 sheet on orange groVe. The writer has wriiten 
 entirely from persoVial knowledge, observation au'd 
 his own judgement^ beihg right 'on the ground 
 While writing, and the objecl of the book is the 
 greatest good to the g^'entest nufAbcr, and if what 
 ^s said herein ^v ritten is heeded as it shouMbe^ then 
 \he object will be accomplishted. 
 
 Moreover the wri'tef is well ^aware of the fact 
 'that land agents, land sha^ks> speculators and 
 parties who ate iftterested in the sale x>( Florida 
 ^ands (santi), but who in few insl-ailces \lv^ or 
 make their hom^s there (th'C whole yeaf M*o^nd), 
 but who do make their money tkere-^ w?Il <ies>y the 
 facts se^. fo^th m ^h'm book, a/kd will n'>3 dowbt say 
 •all %\:dn%tr of^;kiAgs about Ihc writer, and will cry 
 •out, •^'tTr^ali:ist:he Goddess Diana of the Epheseans'' 
 because their shrinks ^and craft m endangered. 
 Reader make ^he ap^plicat^o"n yourself, B-iit be it 
 •known, the writer owes Uo m^an in Florida 
 ^anything and he has no favors to ask, or is he 
 iiucli afraid oi any person fa^:e to face-. He h^;s 
 
i86 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 been, and lived in a good many of these United 
 States. He has always tried to live as closely to 
 the ''golden rule" as possible. He has lived long 
 enough in Florida to know that what is written in 
 this book is about as near the facts as they can be 
 put on paper, and he further knows that a resi- 
 dence of a year or two in the State, will demon- 
 strate the truth too late however, for this book to 
 do the demonstrator or experimenter any good, 
 only he will then know if he had given proper at- 
 tention to what was written in the book, he would 
 have saved time, money and perhaps health ; such 
 is "Florida as it is." The Author. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Dogs, cats, hogs, and nearly all domestic and wild ani- 
 mals are polluted with mites. These mites look just like 
 small fleas. They are black in color, very active — ^jump 
 like fleas, are ver) hard to catch ; they get on the human 
 body whenever opportunity offers, and sometimes when it 
 does not offer, and when they do get on you, you will think 
 from their bite and other movements that they are fleas— 
 and they are fleas, and of the worst kind at that, but they 
 are mites in Florida. These miles or fleas (not chicken 
 lice) that get on domestic fowls, are of a different species, 
 they have the appearance of those above described only much 
 smaller. This kind, it is said will not stay on the human 
 body (I doubt this, however.) They become so numer- 
 ous on the fowls at certain times, that unless destroyed by 
 proper remedies, they literally destroy the skin and the fowls 
 will die. It is said the same remedies that destroy chicken 
 lice will also destroy these chicken fleas. 
 
 As before noted, the buzzards are numerous here, and 
 they are all polluted with mites. This is no doubt 
 true, from the fact that if you be to a slaughter pen where 
 buzzards gather very thickly, they being after the beef of- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 1B7 
 
 lallj &c , soon after they have been there, and in a short 
 time you will ii id yourself polluted wich mites, and these 
 mites ar^i identical \virh chicken lice. Allj or nearly all the 
 wi'd beasts-, and especially the plame birds, herrons, cranes, 
 and such as are so niuch sought after^ killed and dressed 
 for ladies headgear, are literally polluted with these abom- 
 ioable mites and f!eas and I sometimes tbink if the ladies 
 kne'vv what kind of messes they wore on their headgear, 
 these piumes would not be quite so highly prized, but 
 human nature is pretty nearly the same all over, and oce- 
 iia'f the WvjrM d )as not know, or do they c ire mueh what 
 the othef half eafs of wears-, only so thej get the money for 
 It. 
 
 As to the cattle (cows) , I do not know, of could 1 by any 
 means fiod out whether or no they were or are infested 
 with flea«?5 but they are infested with ticks, a kind of a large 
 louse, [ have se^n some of these ticks when they had 
 surkpd themselves full of blood that were as large as a small 
 hi Tkory n\3tj th?. usual si^e of this kind of tick is about the 
 size of a lars^e sheep louse. There is also another specie?; 
 of tick called a seed tick^, this one is very minute and arc 
 plenty They are a wee mite larger than the red bug, but 
 they do not seem to be as poisonous as the red bug-, but arc 
 nearly as annoying when they get on you. They are blar-k 
 and can be seen with the naked eye, cv-en before they have 
 filled theraselve4 ; when they are full they drop off and wait 
 for the next victim, whether it be man or beast, they do not 
 appear to have any particular choice on whom -or what 
 they prey. 
 
 As to human body, lice or gray backs I kn-oW 'n-otmng 
 about them, neVer having seen one in bU my life, but 1 
 rat^_er sr.pposis they ar^ in Florida also, for nearly all the 
 little pestB t know af or have ever heard of, «,re here, and 
 it is not very likely that the graybacks are missing. As 
 to ants, they are here of all sizes, irom the tiny little red 
 fellows to the big winged one that is an inch and a quarter 
 long, and of all the known species or sorts that are in the 
 tlnited States. There is a red ant that is about one qu^irter 
 of an inch long that gets into the houses same as the little 
 i;-cd ones. These »re very dfstructive and pugnaci'vus, nvd 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS, 
 
 when they get on your person as they frequently do, they bit« 
 or pinch furiously. 
 
 About stinfijing insects. These are not more numerous than 
 in some other parts. I now speak of these insects that have 
 fttiogs in the business end. We have a few bumble bees, 
 hornets, yellow jackets, wasps and a few other stingingr insects 
 There is also a good many scorpions; this is something ap- 
 parently between a ^maJl sized lizzard and a lurge spider and 
 has a stins: in its tail and is very poisonous and dangerous. 
 
 About flies: House or common flies are about as tht^y are 
 elsewhere; where much filth is they are plenty, otherwise not 
 so numerous, there are however, very many more ol the large 
 grayish or blue flies here than I ever saw anywhere else; there 
 are several species of large flies known as clags, that are amon^^ 
 cattle and horses of a species that I never saw only here; there 
 are several species of what are called mosquito and fly wasps 
 that seem to destroy the flies to some considerable extent: 
 sometimes if you are near a herd or bunch of cattle, you 
 wiil hear a noise something like bees swarming and you will 
 see thousands of these wasps all over ard among the cattle: 
 The cattle do not seem to mind them at all, and on close 
 watching you will see these wasps catching flies. As soon as 
 a wasp catches a fly, he makes a bee line f-r somewhere; where 
 it goes, or what it does with the fly I do not know. What 
 are called in the North snake sarvers or snake feeders, are 
 called mosquito wasps. These mosquito wasps are numerous 
 and so are the mosquitoes, and ri^ht here I would say that 
 either the mosquito wasps do not understand their business, 
 or that there are not enough ot them to do the business, for 
 there is a very large superabundance of mosquitos left over 
 and above what are destroyed by the wasps, if thcT destroy 
 them at all. Worms of all kinds except angle worms, are very 
 numerous. It is almost impossible to keep anything in the 
 shape of dried Iruits or berries, these little crawling pests get 
 into them and destroy them. Yeast or yeast cakes may be 
 good when you get or buy them, but in a few days are full of 
 worms; flour and corn meal in a very short time is literally 
 crawling with worms; spices and even black pepper and to- 
 Vjacco becomes wormy — the latter two mav seem uncreditable, 
 I did not believe it until I saw it myself. It is impossible to 
 keep fresh meats of any kind over twelve hours, and I have 
 seen it swarming with maggots in less than six hours from the 
 time it was killed; without iee and plenty of ice at that, and 
 the best refrigerators will not keep fresh meets sweet and good 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 without turning green much over forty-eight hours, although 
 maDy butchers and others do keep and sell it. After the ex- 
 piration of the above mentioned time, how good or healthy it 
 is, I will leave £or you to judge. The fact is, if the people 
 who visit Florida knew exactly in what condition many of 
 the things they are eating had been, they would turn fiom 
 them in disgust. A whole chapter might be written on how 
 butcherp, and particularly hotel and boarding house keepers 
 prepare their meats for sale and table, but I will dismiss the 
 subject by simply saying that if it were not f)r charcoal, soda, 
 smoke and spices, much meat that now goes into tue human 
 stomach would go into the buzzards craw. 
 
 An item on faiming in Orange county, Florida. A few days 
 ago the writer in conversation with a Florida farmer he 
 said he owned a sixteen acre farm within two miles of a lively 
 town ol twelve hutdred inhabit ants, that eight acres were 
 cleared and under the best of cultivation; it had all been cow- 
 penned and well tramped, that he had quite a number of 
 orange trees on it, some of which were in bearing; that part of 
 it was in corn; that it was the best corn he had ever seen in 
 Florida, (he lived in the State all his life) and he believed it 
 would make nearly twenty bushels of corn to the acre; that 
 his buildings were pretty fair log dwelling house and stables 
 that besides this he had about seventy head of cattle (he said 
 COWS; Jrom one to twenty years of age, ten or twelve head of 
 hogs and a good many chickens; and that he wanted to sell 
 the whole outfit; that he must have money, and would take 
 thirteen hundred dollars for the whole business, real estate and 
 all, and make a good and sufficient warrantee deed, and give 
 possession at once. Now the wiiter knows all about this par- 
 ticular man and bis place, and further that the man did not 
 misrepresent anything, and the property seems to be cheap, 
 and is cheap as a speculation, and I know that by a little 
 booming in this case, a clear thousand dollars could be made 
 inside of six months, yet with all this, T would not take the 
 price asked and what could be made beside and be compelled 
 to live on this place for two years. Now if you will read the 
 above over again carefully, you can perhaps read between the 
 lines a good deal more than what there is written on the lines, 
 and perhaps get something that will engage your thinking 
 powers for sometime, and in the end you will perhaps wonder 
 what about the end man. 
 
 You no doubt frequently hear and read about the prairies ot 
 Florida; you who live in the North-West know what prairies 
 Hre in that country, and form your conclusions at once that; 
 the Florida prairies aie about the sime. Again, when you 
 
igo FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 come to see them, you will find out your mistake as in many 
 other things. What they call prairies here, are well defintd 
 tatural markings generally around cypress swamps, where 
 neither trees or bushes grow, and it is covered with watei" 
 about half the year. It unly differs from Mareh lands in, that 
 it is sandy bottom and nothing will grow on this kind oi 
 land but the poorest kind of grass and not very much ol that. 
 These so called prairies are from a few yards to several hun-^ 
 dred yards wide, or in other words, they extend back from 
 the cypress swamp until the land becomes high enough that 
 the pine trees will grow. There is another kind of land that 
 is sometimes called prairie, that is, when as is sometimes the 
 case, a lake becomes dry from the bottcm falling out or in 
 some other way. See account of Lake Leyy or Paines Prairie,' 
 This comes much nearer being a prairie, than anything they 
 have in Florida, but the fart is there is no land in the State 
 that I, or you either, for that matter would Call prairie land 
 by any means. 
 
 When you come to Florida, before you eat or sleep ascertaic 
 what it is going to cost you for a meal or a bed, otherwise 
 you will probably think you have been oyercharged. Again, 
 if you have a trunk or anything to carry (haul), better make a 
 bargain before *.he work is done, otherwise you will probablj 
 pay seventv-iive cents where twenty-five cents should have 
 paid the bill. So, in having any work done of any kind, me- 
 chanical or otherwise, have it well understood what you are 
 to pay, either by the day or Job, and if the amount is of any 
 considtJdble size, have the contract in writing and well speci- 
 ified, otherwise you will, in all probability have to pay in the 
 end from one-half to double as much more as was agreed upon 
 for example the writer contracted (verbally) with a party to 
 do a certain job of mechanical work, spceifiying by drawings 
 how the work was to be done fo? a specified suM of money 
 to be paid when the work was finished; all well the wor& was 
 done, and not very well done either, the party refused to 
 abide by his contract (there was no witness) and charged by 
 the day, so that instead of the bill being one hundred and ten 
 dollars, it was run up to within a few dollers of two hundred 
 and there was no other way than to pay or haye a law suit, 
 which in Florida, abote all other places, should, and must be 
 avoided. Now, had the above verbal contract been in writing 
 and well specified, the writer would have saved about seventy- 
 five dollars, There was a small amount of extra work that 
 should have been paid lor, and it was mighty well paid for 
 too. 
 
 Many more instances and examples could be given, particu- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 19I 
 
 larly in setting out groves, clearing up lands, etc., Where the 
 absf lute necessity of written contracts c^me in and without 
 them you will certainly get the worst ol the bargain, and with 
 them the chances are about even to hold your own, and tight 
 match too. 
 
 And now 8h{>uld you ever visit Fh^rida, and I hope you will 
 and give heed to the advice given, in a very short time it will 
 save you many times the price of this little book in ihis one 
 Item alone. 
 
 UNDERWRITING OR FIRE INSURANCE 
 
 In Florida presents a rather singular and perplexing feature, 
 If the S^ate is so prosperous, so healthy and such an excellent 
 place to do business in. why is it that nearly al! the old reli- 
 able and substantial fire insurance companies, both in Europe 
 and America, rt^luse to do business in the State? Many of 
 these companies did start to do business in the State, but after 
 a trial ot a year or two, on account of the enormous losses and 
 unprofitableness of the business, c »ncelled their policies and 
 withdrew from the State, and to-day there is no strong, reli- 
 able fire insurance company outside ol the State or inside eith- 
 er, that I know of (and I have made dilligent inquiry) that 
 caies to, or will establish an agency in her borders, and those 
 that are now doing business in the State, are withdrawing 
 as fast as their licenses expire. 
 
 Rates of insurance against loss by fire iu the State are en- 
 ormously high, amounting in many cases to as much as ten per 
 cent per annum of the amount insured, and even v/ith their 
 rates, nine-tenths of the companies that have done business in 
 the State in the laiit three years, haye done it at a loss, in many 
 cases thousands of dollars annually. These facts are taken 
 Irom the State Treasurers report, who is also the insurance 
 commissioner by virtue of his oflSce of Treasurer. 
 
 Now this state ot things indicates and shows very clearly 
 that underwriting in the State of Florida is at present in no 
 flourishing condition. Referance being hnd to the above 
 named reports, will establish this fact beyond doubt or cavil. 
 I think I CO uld give good reasons lor this state of aff'airs, but 
 will let the readers draw their own inference and conclusions, 
 
 A TURPENTINE ORCHARD. 
 
 Consists of a pine forest of from ten to one hun- 
 dred or more acres of heavily timbered yellow, ot* 
 terpentine pine land. The trees are kerfed or 
 
92 FLORIDA As IT Is 
 
 chopped in from four to six inches deep, about iXvO 
 feet from the ground the kerf is cut in the form of 
 a bowl, so that it will Contain from two *:o four 
 quarts of liquid. The keJrf is cut about one-third 
 round the tree, the bark and white wood is then 
 hewn or chopped off above the kerf from four to 
 six leet, and little gutters cut lengthwise on this sur^ 
 face all leading into the bowl shaped kerf. The" 
 crude turpentine eoon begins to flaw or ooze out 
 of the surface and runs into the kerf from whkh it is 
 removed into buckets and barrels and t^ken to the - 
 still where it undergoes the process of distillation c- 
 RESULTANT, SPIRITS OF TURPENTINE 
 AND ROSIN. 
 When the trees are first tapped or prep^lred a 
 Nearly pure liquid turpentine runs out# and in a few 
 days it begins to harden and forms a kind of S 
 crust on the otit sui'face and in the kerf. This 
 eru5t if left for several days becomes qtiite thick 
 a;nd tongh ; this removed with scrapers and taken 
 to the still same as liquid and und^rgoe-^^- the same 
 process* Afcov^t once a month the trees are goli^ 
 over with an adze or ax and a little wo?>d taken 
 off the turpentine surface.- The next season the 
 opposite side of tree is treated in the same way 
 with as good fesults ;- thus yon see a turpentine 
 orchard is good for two years , though some par-- 
 ties cut the trees so as to make three turpendne 
 faces, then it takes three years to exhaust the tim- 
 1)er.- The timber after being exhausted is used 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS. 193 
 
 for lutnber^ it being^ just as good as if the turpen- 
 tine had not been drawn off except the lew feet of 
 *each tree that had been hew nor hacked to obtain 
 the turperitirte arid rosin. 
 
 The process of distilling turpentine is similar to 
 distilling other substances^ but is attended with a 
 2:ood deal of dat^.gef on account of its inflamable 
 fiature-. Iv. iherefoie requires a good deal of skill 
 and cafe lo fun a turpentine still with -safety and 
 profit. Thefe are but few turpentine stills in 
 Florida, ti.ot because Ihere is not plenty of the 
 Hght kind of pine, but I think the reason is, there 
 ^is too much work for the money made by the pro- 
 cess-. 
 
 A review^ ot the Diston Land and Drainage Com^ 
 ■pany's doings, w^ritteil about the beginning of Sep* 
 tember, A. D., 1886, immediately after a rainy 
 season of about ten weeks duration : 
 
 Sometime about the beginning of 1882 this com^- 
 pany Comm^enced operations on the banks of Lake 
 Tohopekaliga, vvhere the town of Kissim_mee now 
 stands, they built two sm.all steam boats, the Okee- 
 chobee and the Rosalie, and several dredge boats* 
 dug a canal four mJles long at the Scuth. end of 
 L-aki^ Tohopek^liga> This canal seemed to lower 
 ^:he W'i^ker in said lake se\>^eral feet and a good deal 
 of marsh land seemed to be in a fair way to be- 
 come fit for cultivation-. The company were en- 
 couraged by this seeming success and proceeded 
 to cut a canal between East and West Tohopeka- 
 liga Lakes. When this canal was completed the 
 effect was to lower the w^ater in East Tohopekaliga 
 '5ome three or four feet, and th^e marshes thus 
 
T94 FLORIDA AS I T IS. 
 
 drained have not been submerged since. The com- 
 pany then worked further South, opening up v\ ater 
 ways so that at this date there is steam boat navi- 
 gation and water communication through to the 
 Gulf of Mexico. In the meantime the so-called 
 reclaimed lands were largely advertised through- 
 out the United States and Europe, and the strong- 
 est kind of inducements held out for the people to 
 come and invest their money and settle upon these 
 lands. Many persons did come, bought and set- 
 tled and began making improvements some of them 
 on a large scale, the land appearing all right, it 
 being composed almost entirely of decayed vegeta- 
 ble matter, the accumulation of hundreds of years. 
 As soon as the marshes became dry enough, they 
 were cultivated, vegetables were planted and grew 
 miraculously, the seasons continuing dry for sever- 
 al years, and everything works to advantage of the 
 Company and to those who bought. Cabbage to- 
 matoes, beans, Irish potatoes, cucumbers, melons 
 &c., grew and produced immense crops. Pine 
 apples, bananas, lemons, and even orange trees 
 were planted and are doing well, when in January 
 1886 a cold snap came and froze the crops. The 
 parties planted their crops again and grew rapidly 
 and were harvested before the rainy season set in, 
 the corn, sugar cane and later crops were in prime 
 condition, when on the 19, of June 1886 it began 
 to rain. In a short time the lakes filled up and the 
 so-called reclaimed lands with their crops were cov- 
 ered w^ith w^ater. For some reason the canals fail- 
 ed to carry the water oft' and on Sept. 3, 1886, the 
 waters in all the lakes and marshes south of the 
 Tohopkaligas rose higher than before the Drainage 
 Company commenced operations. The water in 
 East Tohopkaliga did not rise within about three 
 
PLORIDA AS IT IS. 195 
 
 >eet of where it was before being drained. West 
 Toliopkaliga was aavertised as being lowered six 
 feet, but to-day its waters are about a foot of being 
 as high as it was before the Company began work, 
 leaving thousands of acres of corn and sUgaf cane 
 submerged making a total losg as it has now been 
 under water over two months and it rains almost 
 every day. The waters in the south part 01 the 
 State ate said to be higher than for years, whether 
 froiil cutting canals and partially draitiing the up=- 
 per lakes or from rain, who Can tell. 
 
 Many of the cattle ranges in Manatee, Polk and 
 Brevard Counties are so much under water and the 
 pasture so drowned out that the cattle are being 
 taken to high ground to saVe them. 
 
 You observe two Calamities have befallen Florida 
 this year. First, a freeze out, then a drowned out 
 A few moie such visitations will dampen the ardor 
 of the most sanguine operators. It is said that the 
 Company intend to get machinery to enlarge the 
 canals and nlake another effoft to drain the lakes^ 
 with what success is left to a future writer. 
 
 It is admitted that the climate of Florida is un- 
 dergoing a change, that the summers are becoming 
 warmer and wetter '; that the winters are colder and 
 severe frosts more frequent ; this being the case>, 
 there must be and is a cause for it. May it not be 
 that the clearing up of the land^ the destruction of 
 the timbef and forests and drawing the lakes may 
 have something to do with this state of things, who 
 knows? 
 
 We, how^ever do know that God created this 
 world and all things therein, that he looked upon 
 the finished work and pronounced it all very good. 
 But man, God's own creature, is ambitious and 
 >must needs attempt to improve on his works. Will 
 
196 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 or is he able. Nature has certain inexorable laws 
 with penalties attached, and the violation of these 
 laws is sure to bring the penalties. Now God had 
 a wise purpose in all his creations and no doubt 
 Florida with her pine forests, her dense Hammocks 
 sand, lakes and climate, was designed for a special 
 purpose in nature. And now if man by his de- 
 vices and plans, attempts to change that purpose 
 will he succeed without suffering the penalty, who 
 knows? 
 
 USURIOUS EXTORTION. 
 
 HOW IT EFFECTS CROPS. THE OPINION OF A FARM- 
 ER AT GAINESVILLE. 
 
 Madison County, Florida, Aue^ust 21; 1886. 
 
 Agricultural Editor Weeklx Times: — "I wjfh you 
 would write up our t^ection in the Times Union, in relation to 
 the usurious extortion practiced on our farmers, , laborers and 
 poor people generally. For instance one ol our tarmers will 
 go to a merchant to ''run him," that is to help him through; 
 he, the farmer, will have to make a mortgage on his crop, 
 stock, etc , to perhaps twice the amount he wants: say one 
 hundred dollars; from this the money lender takes twenty-five 
 dollars for interest, probably for six months, say from March 
 to October, when the mortgage is due; then sells the farmer 
 forty or fifty dollars worth of goods and charges him the bal- 
 ance of the amount, twenty-five dollars, so the farmer gets 
 fifty dollars worth of supplies for six months, and pays one 
 hundred dollars lor them, and if a balance is carried over, he 
 pays interest at the rate of two per cent per month. One 
 honest usurer, an employee of the F. R. and N., chargis ten 
 per cent per month. 
 
 This whole section, the Black Belt, is eaten up with usury, 
 and the area of Old Field and Broom sedge is rapidly widen- 
 ing in extent. 
 
 Some years ago Savannah merchants made advances to 
 larmers, but I have been told that the merchants from inter- 
 ested motives broke these up. When the farmers received aid 
 from Savannah we shipped in 1870 about 3,000 bales of cotton 
 
FLORID A AS IT IS. 197 
 
 from Greenville; last year, 1885, we shipped only about 400 
 bales, a falliog off ol 2,600 bales. Ancilla can show about the 
 same recDi-d. 
 
 Write this up if you please, and can we not get relief? I 
 am largely interested in land and il the poor people are eaten 
 up with usury and extortion, ol course my land and ail the 
 property of middle Florida will be valueless. We need re- 
 lief badly, and the whole thing of extortion in middle Florida 
 ought to be ventilated." Very truly, 
 
 M. W. Linton. 
 
 INTEREST OR USURY ON MONEY 
 LOANED. 
 
 All promissory notes, due bills and bank accounts, 
 draw interest at the rate of eight per cent annum 
 unless otherwise specified, but any rate, of inter- 
 est is legal in Florida, when specified in the 
 writing, note, or contract. Banks charges from 
 one two three per cent per months on loans, it 
 depends some on the kind of security and length 
 of time. 
 
 Mortgages on real estate are usually drawn to 
 draw two per cent per month and sometimes more 
 than that. The party who gives the mortgages 
 must pay all expenses 01 writing, acknowledging 
 recording and releasing, or satisfying the mort- 
 gage and very often has to pay a commission to 
 somebod}^ for negotiating the loan. This makes 
 the business of borrowing money very expensive. 
 I know a case where it cost a party something over 
 twenty dollars to get the use of two hundred dol- 
 lars for less than forty days. 
 
 So long as a man has money of his own in his 
 pocket, he is all right and can do about as he 
 pleases, but let him get m debt and have to borrow, 
 
198 FLORIDA AS IT IS. 
 
 he will then find out the value ot money, if not 
 betore. 
 
 The above was taken from the Weekly Times 
 of a recent date and while the wa-iter applied the 
 case to middle Florida, it applies equally well to 
 the whole State, and foreshadows what the final 
 result must inevitably be. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF STATE JNAMES. 
 
 New York — named by the Dake of York, under cover ot 
 title given him by the Eaglish Crown in 1064. 
 
 New Jersey — sa-called in honor of Sir George Carte?'et, who 
 was Governor of the Island ot Jersey in the British Channel. 
 
 Pennsylvania — from William Penn, the founder ol the new 
 colony, meaning Penns woods. 
 
 Delaware — in honor of Thomas Wesc Lord de la Ware, who 
 visited the bay and died there in 1010. 
 
 Maryland — after Henrietta Maria the Q'leen of Charles I of 
 England. 
 
 Virginia — so-called in honor of Qaetu Elizabeth, the ''virgin 
 Queen," in whose region 8ir Walter llilergh, made the first 
 attemj^t to colonize that region. 
 
 North and South Carolina — were originally in one tract, 
 called Carolina, after Charles IX, of France, in 1001, subse- 
 quently in 1005 the name was altered. 
 
 Georgia — so-called in honor of George II, of England, who 
 established a colony in that region. 
 
 Florida — Ponce de Leon, who discovered that portion of 
 North America in 1519, named it Florida in commemoration 
 of the day he landed there, which was Pasquade Plores of the 
 Spaniards a feast of flowers, otherwise known as Easter Sun- 
 day. 
 
 Alabama— formerly a portion of Mississippi Territory, ad- 
 mitted into the Union as a State in 1819. The name is of 
 Indian origin, signifying, "here we rest." 
 
 Mississippi — formerly a portion of the Province of Louisi- 
 
FLORIDA AS IT IS . 1 99 
 
 ana, so named in 1800 from the great river on the Western line 
 The term is of Indian origin, meaning the "long river." 
 
 Louisiana — from Louis XIV of France, who from some time 
 prior to 1763, owned the territory. 
 
 Arkansas— from Kansas, the Indian name of "Smoky Water' 
 with the French prefix arc. bow. 
 
 Tennesee — Indian name for *'the river of the big river^" i.e. 
 the Mississippi, which is the Western boundry. 
 
 Kentucky— Indian for "at the head of the river Ohio," trom 
 the Indian meaning beautiful, previously applied to the river 
 wliicli traverses a great part of its borders. 
 
 Michigan — previously applied to the lake, the Indian name 
 of a fish'Wicr so-called from the fancied resemblance of the 
 lake t > a fish trap. 
 
 Indiana — so-called in 1802 Irom America Indians. 
 
 Illinois — irom the Indian "illini" men and the French suf- 
 fix ""ois" together signifying "tribes of men." 
 
 Wisconsin — Indian name for wild rushing channel. 
 
 Missouri— named in 1830 from the great branch of the Mis- 
 sissippi, which Hows through it. 
 
 Iowa — Indian named, meaning the drowsy ones. 
 
 Minnesota— Indian tor cloudy weather. 
 
 California — the name given by Cortes, the difccoverer of that 
 region. He probably obtained it from an old Spanish romance 
 in which an imaginary island of that name is described as 
 abounding in gold. 
 
 Oregon —according to same from the Oregon river of the 
 West. Others say it is derived from the Spanish Oreganoo 
 wild Marjournm, which grows on the Pacific coast. 
 
ERRATTA. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 LINE. 
 
 READ. 
 
 FOR. 
 
 12 
 
 " 17 
 
 about 
 
 almost 
 
 13 
 
 22 
 
 foot 
 
 feet 
 
 12 
 
 34 
 
 stroke 
 
 strike 
 
 12 
 
 27, 28 
 
 bellow 
 
 hollow 
 
 17 
 
 3 
 
 through and and 
 
 though and are. 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 lumber 
 
 timber 
 
 65 
 
 8 
 
 item 
 
 stem 
 
 68 
 
 3 
 
 stickey 
 
 stick 
 
 (( 
 
 14 
 
 house 
 
 horse 
 
 (( 
 
 16 
 
 flower 
 
 flour 
 
 (( 
 
 26 
 
 are 
 
 ore 
 
 71 
 
 24 
 
 clean 
 
 clear 
 
 83 
 
 26 
 
 head 
 
 neck 
 
 95 
 
 7 
 
 humbuggeriea 
 
 humbug!.,'ers 
 
 9G 
 
 14 
 
 taxes 
 
 takes 
 
 108 
 
 15 
 
 . intended 
 
 attended 
 
 107 
 
 25 
 
 sav • 
 
 do 
 
 131 
 
 25 
 
 if.so 
 
 .50 
 
 131 
 
 28 
 
 130und 
 
 bushel 
 
 121 
 
 32,33 
 
 omit 
 
 leet 
 
 139 
 
 S7 
 
 gloss 
 
 glass 
 
 151 
 
 9 
 
 men 
 
 man 
 
 156 
 
 25 
 
 help 
 
 houses 
 
 177 
 
 29 
 
 vec(etation 
 
 vegetables 
 
 177 
 
 42 
 
 stockman 
 
 stack man 
 
 196 
 
 13 
 
 Greenville 
 
 Gainesville 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Since writing page 142, nearly all the railroads in Florida 
 have been changed to standard guage. 
 
IIOIIDA A; 
 
 IT TELLS ALL ABOUT THE INDUS. 
 TRIES OF THE STATE, ITS CLI- 
 MATE AND RESOURCES. 
 
 J^rttteii in Common Sense Language withoiit 
 ■paint or varnish^ 
 
 BY 
 
 1>JS W. B SMOBMAKBR. 
 
 1887, 
 
 NEWVILIili, PA., TIMES STEAM PRINT.