14 



THE FARM AND GARDEN. 



©0I^r?BSP0NDBN6B. 



MORE ABOUT FLORIDA. 



By W. C. Steele, Stri(::erkind, Florida. 



When I otfered in the January number to 

 answer questions about Florida I little thought 

 what I was Viringing upon myself. 1 have re- 

 ceived over 120 letters of inquiry from twenty- 

 five States and Territories, and still they come 

 two or three per day. The sulijeet seems to be 

 «ne of such general interest that I will make a 

 few stat^'inents that will answer many inquiries. 

 In the F'ARM and Oakden for September and 

 October, 1KS4, 1 gave my views upon market gar- 

 dening in this State. I cannot as yet add much to 

 ■what 1 then saifi. This noighborliood is as 

 healthy as any part of the United States with 

 which I am acquainted, and I have lived in four 

 different Northern States. We have some sick- 

 ness; I have never found a place yet where doc- 

 tors and undertakers were not needed. But we 

 have less real si(^kuess here in proportion to the 

 population than in Indiana, Now York, or New 

 Jersey. 



Our summers are long and hot, beginning in 

 March, and lasting until November. But we 

 never have thcHultry, oppressive hot weather so 

 •ommon at the North in July and August. Sun- 

 Btroke is unknown. It is always comfortable in 

 the shade, the nights are always comfortable, 

 and usually rather cool. We have some mosqui- 

 toes and llies, but not enough to be a serious 

 annoyance — iu»t so bad as I have often seen them 

 North. Northern white men work out'Of-doors 

 every day through tin* Fumnier, and many of 

 them all day long, but as a rule they rest three 

 or four hours in the middle of the hottest days. 

 "We cannot grow cfirn profitably, the crop o«ly 

 averages from li-n !o twenty bushels per acre, 

 and is seldom {ilaiite<1. It pays better to grow 

 eoraothing else and buy our corn. There is no 

 grain grown here in any quantity except rice. 

 We can grow jilenly of gras« for feed, such as 

 Johnson grass, (hiinea grass, Millo Jlr.ize, Millet, 

 Ac, but timothy and ciov»'r do not do well, and 

 are seldom tried. Orange trees begin to bear in 

 from six to ten years from the seed. All the soils 

 that I have seen in Florida are sandy or muck, the 

 former all need fertilizing to produce good crops, 

 but when projH'rly enriehed and cultivated It 

 yields very profitably. Wliilc waiting for a 

 grove to bear, a living can be mad*- by growing 

 vegetables an<i strawlM-rrles for market. Poultry 

 is also profitable, and right liere I will say that 

 Joseph has taken the wind all out of my sails. 

 IlnU^nih'd to wrlt<' a letter <»n that very 

 subject, but ho hat; so nearly (roverid *iie ground 

 that there Is llttlf l(»fl for nie to say. I will say, 

 however, that I iM-lleve a ll»M-k of hens in an 

 orange grove will pay for their feed and the labor 

 of caring for tbiiu, even if you do not get an egg, 

 nor raise a ebleken. If the grove is divided into 

 yards, so as t<> prevent too great crowding, they 

 will keej) down all weeds, and their droppings 

 will enrich the soil to siurh an extent that very 

 little other fertiii/.i'r will l>e needed. 



I believe this State is as good a jdaee for a poor 

 man a« any In the I nited States. Less labor is 

 necessary to supi)ort life here than In the North. ' 

 Groceries and provisions are as cheap as in most 

 parts of the United States, Bo also is clothing, and 

 Tory much less of the latter is required. 



Hereafter I must request that those who wish 

 ftirther intorniation shall writt^ out their ques- 

 tions and leave one t»r more lines blank for the 

 answer, and l>o sure to enclose a stami>ed 

 envelope. 



Fakm and Gakdkx, Good Friend :— Some one 

 was kind eiiough to send nve a copy of you for 

 January, with which I was inort than plc;u^cd. 

 In perusing your pages, 1 came across "Odds and 

 Knds" departn»ent ; and therein the allusion tn 

 the circular saw, and its introduction into Eng- 

 land in 17{*(», but its inventor being unknown. 



The circular-saw was invented by a member of 

 the Shaker ('ommunity, at IM<mntI-/ebanon, New 

 York,— his name I cannot now recall, but easily 

 obtained— in the year ITS-'j. The original instru- 

 ment wivs depr>sited, by one of the members of 

 above society, in the Archives of the New York 

 Agricultural Stwiety, Albaivy, New York, about 

 the year 1H.54, and can be seen there now. The 

 Shakers, at the time, dct^lined, from religious 

 motives, to take out a patent, although they 

 were famous for inventions, among whi^^h might 

 be named eut nails, metal pens ; these were first 

 made of silver-|»late. Babbitt metal, etc., etc. 



I hope somebody will be so good agaiii as to 

 »nd another copy of the pretty Farm and 

 6abi>hn. 



^G. A. LOMAS. 



"Willie writing up frauds we received a letter 

 tmra An Iowa friend, who was swindled out of 

 ff.50by the magazii.e lott-ry swindle which we 

 «)xp<»ed some Urn •/ ago. We arc glad to say our 



Iowa friend saw the exposure but did not find 

 the advertisement in The Farm and Garden. 

 We will not insert a fraud on our readers. We 

 rather would exposethem. Pass along the frauds 

 to us, gentlemen, we will attend to t*iem. 



W.W. J., Ilarrisburg, Pa., asks about gooseber- 

 ries. We cheerfully answer. The Interest taken 

 in gooseberries is increasing, and there are many 

 new kinds now claiming public favor. 



M'e would ask our friends who are now taking 

 Thk P'arm and Garden, when they renew to 

 send us all the items of interest they can, or any 

 suggestions how we can make Tiik Farm and 

 Garden of more value to tliem. We want to do 

 well by our friends, and hope they will do well by 

 us. We always aijpreciate their favors. 



Mrs. E. R, Southwick, Belvidere, N. J., asks how 

 to take the lime taste out of a new cistern? 

 Answer: If good cement has been used there 

 should be noTime taste. If there is, draw all the 

 water from the cistern and see if the sides are 

 cemented hard, if not, apply a coat of pure cement 

 as was given in our article on cisterns in Febru- 

 ary number. Pure cement leaves Tio lime taste 

 to water. 



L. Parkhurst, Rapid City, Bakota, ;isks, l.-How 

 to make pre}iare(l gyjisinn for whitewashing. 

 2.-('an a market be found for gypsum of whieh he 

 has thousands of tons, .i.-how to make water 

 lime. Answer: The manufacture of prepared 

 gypsum is a trade seeri-t. 2.-Gyi)sum is so cheap, 

 from ftmr to eight d(»Ilais per ton when ground 

 ready for use, you <'ould not make it pay you. 

 ;>.-Water cement is a jK-culiar kind of m:tgnesia 

 limestone, very impure, and is the roek, which, 

 mIhmi ground, makes the cemen*. The ro*-k is 

 found native, and cannot be male, artificially, 

 as clK'ap as from the natural rock or of as good a 

 quality. 



M., Green Island, no State, asVs, under date of 

 December 2Jlh, IHfvJ, whetlier a '-ertaiu piece of 

 land on the James river, twt.vo miles ft-om 

 Petersburg, Va., Is a good place to locate, with a 



view to going'in the'poultry and fruit business, 

 etc.? The laud in Tidewater, Virginia is generally 

 poor, and often dear, at the small amount asked 

 lor it per acre. I would not advise any one to 

 buy "a cat in a bag." See the land before you 

 invest. The location is good ft)r raising poultry. 

 I could not say whether the land is adapted to 

 fruit growing or not. That depends on the par- 

 ticular piece of land. Success In either branch or 

 undertaking, aepends on the tnan lus much as on 

 the land. Some i/>ces along the James River, 

 below Richmond, are subject to malaria. 



Write iigain, giving full address and particulars, 

 and I will answer by letter. 



JOSEPH. 



I am a subscriber to your valuable paper, and 

 read it through each month. I thought I would 

 give your readei-s my experience with tho recent- 

 ly introduced, but valuable forage plant, Miilo 

 Maize. Last spring I procured seed enough to 

 plant about one-tenth of an acre. I planted it on 

 common eotton land on the 7th of May. The 

 month of May and June were very dry and cool, 

 consequently, it did not grow much until after 

 the 1st of July. On the 10th of August I cut some 

 for the purpose of curing for forage; again, on the 

 Gth of October, I cut the same part of the patch, 

 leaving about one-fourth of it for seed. At the 

 two cuttings, I cured about .5(lO i>ounds of excellent 

 feed, as good as any clovi-r hay nnule anywhere. 

 Mules and cows eat it very greedily, either green 

 or cured. I believe on good land it will make 

 from four to six tons of cured fodder per acre, 

 probably more. It will pay to grow it for the 

 Keed alone. Hogs and iioultry are very fond of it. 

 It mMU make from KiOto I.jO bushels of grain per 

 acre on good land. I believe it would make good 

 bread if properly ground. I intend to give it a 

 trial anyway. 



One of the great advant-agcs Millo Maize has for 

 the Southern and South-western States is that it 

 stands dnmth so well ; for two months before the 

 frost came and killed mine we had had no rain, 

 but it was perfi'-^'tly gree,:. The only disadvan- 

 tage that it has, as I car. >._-e, is that it is somewhat 

 slow to cure, I honestly believe it to be the best 

 forage plant yet found for the South and South- 

 west. 



JAMES H. HAWKINS, Georgia. 



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