FLORIDA. 



331 



Peabody fund in 1878 were $3,900. As a 

 whole, the schools in Florida have increased 

 several hundreds, a larger number of children 

 have been enrolled, a longer school term given, 

 and better teachers employed than ever before. 

 The penitentiary system of the State is in 

 some respects a novel one. By an act of the 

 Legislature of March 3, 1877, the State Ad- 

 jutant-General was authorized to hire out the 

 convicts then in the penitentiary, and such 

 others as should be sentenced to that institu- 

 tion during the time the contract might be in 

 force. Agreeably to that law, he advertised 

 for proposals to lease the convicts for a term 

 of two years. Three bids were received, and 

 the one most favorable to the State was ac- 

 cepted. By the terms of this bid, the con- 

 tractors, after giving bonds for the faithful 

 performance of their contracts, were to have 

 all the prisoners then in the State prison, or 

 out at work under contract, and all others that 

 should be sentenced to the State prison during 

 the term of their lease, upon the condition that 

 the State would pay to the contractors $3,000 

 the first year and $2,000 the second year, the 

 State paying all expenses of transportation of 

 prisoners from the respective jails to the con- 

 victs' camp. The contractors having given the 

 necessary bond, the convicts then in hand were 

 turned over to them, and subsequently all con- 

 victed in the Circuit Courts and sentenced to 

 the State prison have been delivered to them 

 as speedily as possible. The cost to the State 

 of the convicts for 1877 was as follows: 



For expenses of penitentiary before the convicts 



were leased to contractors $1,841 52 



Amount paid to contractor as per agreement 8,000 00 



Amount paid for transportation and sheriffs 1 fees 

 andguards 8,159 10 



Total cost for 18T7 $8,000 62 



For the year 1878 the cost of the State 

 prison has been as follows : 



For amount paid contractor as per agreement $2,000 00 



For transportation of convicts, sheriffs' fees, ex- 

 penses of guards, and incidental expenses 4,591 03 



Total cost for 1878 $6,591 03 



At the expiration of this contract a new one 

 was proposed. A bid was received and ac- 

 cepted, by which the State will be relieved of 

 all future expenses connected with the prison. 

 The bid was as follows : After giving good and 

 sufficient bond for the faithful performance of 

 the contract, the contractor to receive all con- 

 victs now on hand at his camp, and to take all 

 others that may be convicted during the term 

 of his lease at the county jails of the respective 

 counties, and to pay all expense of guards and 

 transportation, and to pay the State $100 per 

 annum. The annual expense of these prison- 

 ers to the State during the last four years has 

 been as follows: 



For18T5 $39,769 99 I For 1877 $8,000 62 



For 1S76 21,638 06 | For 1878 6,591 03 



By an act of the Legislature of 1876 the 

 State-prison buildings were ordered to be con- 



verted into an asylum for the insane. The in- 

 stitution was made ready for the reception of 

 lunatics about April 1, 1877. Since that date 

 the number received has steadily increased, 

 until it has readied 86, of whom 34 are white 

 males, 24 white females, 15 colored males, and 

 13 colored females. The whole number re- 

 ceived in 1877 and 1878 was 90, of whom 12 

 died and 19 were discharged, leaving in the 

 asylum 55. In addition to these, there are 

 now in the hands of private parties receiving 

 support from the State 49, making a total of 

 104 of this unfortunate class depending upon 

 the State for support. This shows an increase 

 of over 100 per cent, in the past two years. 

 In the case of indigent lunatics, the practice of 

 the State has been to pay the friends $150 per 

 annum, and they retained the patient under 

 their care. But this has proved expensive, and 

 unfavorable to the recovery of the lunatic. 



The sales of State lands have increased dur- 

 ing the last two years by several thousands of 

 dollars over the two preceding years, notwith- 

 standing the general depression of business, 

 thus showing that immigration has been gradu- 

 ally on the increase, though not in very large 

 numbers at any one period. 



In order to obtain reliable statistical infor- 

 mation of the productions of the State, blank 

 books with all productions arranged under 

 proper headings have been sent to the assessors 

 of taxes of each county, with instructions to 

 collect all the information possible and to re- 

 turn to the Governor's office. It is proposed 

 to make these inquiries a part of the permanent 

 duty of assessors in future. 



A State Board of Health is proposed as the 

 means of preventing the occurrence of yellow 

 fever in the manner in which Fernandina was 

 afflicted in 1877. 



The attention of the public has been turned 

 to Florida as presenting peculiar attractions 

 for immigrants, especially citizens of Northern 

 States. It may be briefly said that as a State 

 it is nominally divided into "West, Middle, East, 

 and South Florida. West Florida is embraced 

 between the Perdido and Apalachicola Rivers. 

 The climate in summer is very pleasant; in 

 winter there are occasional frosts, yet the 

 orange and a few others of the tropical fruits 

 are successfully raised. There is but little land 

 in the extreme western counties that is suited 

 for agriculture. The rest is covered with a 

 fine quality of yellow pine, and large quantities 

 of it are manufactured into lumber, at Pensa- 

 cola and other points along the Gulf coast, and 

 shipped to all parts of the world. This has 

 been a source of large income to the State. 

 The counties bordering the Chipola and Apa- 

 lachicola Rivers are very fertile, and as pro- 

 ductive as any lands in the State, and are high, 

 dry, and healthy. There are many fine orange- 

 groves on both the above-named streams, and 

 the fruit is generally very fine and large. Mid- 

 dle Florida lies between the Apalachicola and 

 Suwanee Rivers. The climate is the same as 



