274 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



give the facts communicated, meeting the eyes of 

 those who have made similar inquiries of me. I 

 ivould thank you to procure the publication of the 

 answer in the Northampton (Mass.) paper. 



1 will adopt the course suggested by you; tak- 

 ing the liberty to vary some of your questions, 

 and to add some put by others: For the satisfac- 

 tion of those interested in silk growing, I send 

 you the enclosed impressions of leaves: one of 

 the Chinese mulberry, one of the native mulber- 

 ry, and one of the Italian; all taken on the 4th of 

 April inst. and which, if you please, you can give 

 with this article, by a wood cut, at a trifling ex- 

 pense. 



Is St. Augustine a healthy summer, as well as 

 winter, residence (or northern people? It is pro- 

 nounced not only perfectly healthy, but agreea- 

 ble, by many northern people, who have spent 

 the summer here, and by many northern families 

 who have settled here permanently. 



What is the general effect of the climate of St. 

 Augustine on northern invalids? Persons labor- 

 ing under pulmonary, asthmatic, bronchitis, or 

 dyspeptic complaints, may find a cure here if 

 they come in the early stages of those diseases. 

 In many cases it would be necessary to remain 

 through the summer, and in some a permanent 

 residence would be indispensable to a perltjct 

 cure. 



Is Florida as a country healthy? Many places 

 in the interior are unhealthy in summer. 



What extent of country can be found on the 

 coast where northern families could reside during 

 the summer free from fear of southern diseases? 

 The country between the ocean and the St. John's 

 river, embracing a district of one hundred miles 

 long and twenty wide, is generally ];ealthy, and 

 so are many points on the Gulf coast. 



What is the quality of the soil? The pine bar- 

 ren is somewhat similar to the land between Al- 

 bany and Schenectady. The hammock is low 

 land covered with live oak and other timber. 

 When drained and cleared it makes the finest su- 

 gar land. The shell lands, lying on and near the 

 margin of salt water rivers, are those soils where 

 oyster shells have been deposited, which oradu- 

 ally mix with and enrich the soil. These lands 

 produce corn and cotton. Some of them have 

 been cultivated since the selilement of the coun- 

 try in 1565 without manure— and the best por- 

 tions of them will produce from thirty to forty bu- 

 shels of corn to the acre. Two crops of Cuba 

 corn can be raised in a year. Since the war com- 

 menced the average price of corn has been ft 1 50 

 per bushel. 



What is the relative profit of cotton compared 

 with corn crop.? About threefold from Sea Island, 

 which grows well in every part of Florida. 



Is there any particular skill required to raise 

 cotton and prepare it for market? None that can- 

 not be readily acquired by anv intelligent man. 



Is cotton growing carried" on wholly by ne- 

 groes? It is often raised by white labor, and 

 plantations vary in size, as at the north, from a 

 few acres up to a thousand. 



What is the relative value of sugar crops com- 

 pared with corn, and can it be raised to profit in 

 small quantities? Good hammock land well re- 

 claimed ought to yield a clear profit to each hand, 

 at present prices of sugar, S400, and there is no 

 reason why it should not be cultivated by white 



labor in small lots. Indeed it has been common 

 for the small planters of this country to raise their 

 own syrup and sugar. Live oak answers well as 

 a substitute for iron rollers to grind cane. The 

 cost of a wooden sugar mill is about the same as 

 that of a cider mill. Sugar produced by white 

 lubor will, I presume, command a ready market 

 and higher prices from those aboliiionisls who 

 will consume nothing raised by slave labor. 



Are rice, tobacco, and indigo, raised in Florida? 

 Rice can be profitably raised only where the rise 

 of the tide flows back the fresh water rivers so as 

 to submerge the land. East Florida cannot 

 therefore be called a rice country. Havana to- 

 bacco has been, and can be raised here, to great 

 profit, and is a sure crop. Indigo was once ex- 

 tensively cultivated, but at the pieseot prices 

 would not pay lor expenses. 



Is the country well adapted to oranges? Few 

 places in the world where the orange tree has 

 grown to so great perfection, and none where the 

 fruit is better. The frost of 1835 destroyed the 

 trees, many of which had stood nearly if not quite 

 one hundred years. Extensive groves have been 

 set out, and they begin again to bear. A few were 

 produced last year, and there are some now in blos- 

 som. The trouble of raising orange trees here is 

 about the same as raising apple trees at the north. 

 The average produce of a tree ten years old 

 would be five hundred, of one twenty years old, 

 a thousand oranges. Many trees produce annu- 

 ally twenty-five dollars. Light sandy soil is re- 

 quired for oranges ; and as the tree advances, 

 shell or manure can be added to hasten the 

 growth of the tree if desired. 



Are the wild oranges (said to abound in the 

 wood) the same as the cultivated, and are there in 

 fact large groves of them? They are as large as 

 the cultivated oranges, many of them palatable, 

 though generally acid or bitter. They are found 

 in such (]uantities that ship loads might be ga- 

 thered from a iew acres of land. 



Is the mulberry a native of the country? Has 

 the Chinese mulberry been tried there, and if so, 

 how does it succeed? The native mulberry 

 abounds in the woods, but the Chinese can be 

 produced so easily and abundantly, that it must 

 be preferred to any other kind tried in this coun- 

 try for silk worms; and besides it puts forth leaves 

 more than a month earlier than any other mul- 

 berry here. 



Will Florida become a silk growing country? I 

 believe it will. A few worms have been raised 

 yearly for the last few years. Several thousands 

 are now on hand. They appear to do well, and 

 I believe would thrive in the open air, if protected 

 from the winds. Those who attend them say 

 that they pass through the various stages of their 

 growth in fine health, and are great eaters. 

 Some hatched on the 27th of February, complet- 

 ed iheir cocoons on the 9lh inst. My ignorance 

 of silk-raising admonishes me to give you fads 

 rather than my opinions. So I'ar as mulberry 

 leaves are connected with silk business, there is 

 perhaps no place where they can be raised in so 

 great quantities so cheaply as here. The Chi- 

 nese mulberry will ffrow from a slip over ten feet 

 in one year. Mr. Ephraim Hart, of Utica, can 

 testily to this fact, who made the experiment last 

 year. They grow well on the pine barrens. I 

 have made the experiment with white labor, and 



