1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER- 



275 



find that slips can be put out al'lor llio p^round iy 

 |)i-epare(i, for tiiirty-sovfin and a liall" cents ])vr 

 lliousanil, inc.h<dint;:cutlin<2;or the slips. Suitable 

 lands can be |)nrcliased lor ^3 per acre. If twen- 

 ty thousand tlollars (the sum paid to be laid out 

 by the (rcnesee company lor mulberry alone) 

 were expended in this country in purcliasinu: land 

 and pnttuiiT out the Chinese mulberry, it would 

 be sullicicnt to purchase Ibm- thousand acres, and 

 plant a slip on every square yard. The Chinese 

 mulberry will ijrow as much here in one year as it 

 will m western New Vork in three; and the dif- 

 (ercnce in the production of leaves is still greater, 

 ns here successive crops of leaves may be picked 

 from the same tree. JMinorcan children would 

 oiler in hundreds, if required, to collect leaves, or 

 perform such service as would be necessary in a 

 silk establishment. 



What is the price asked for lands suitable for 

 corn, cotton and oranges, in the vicinity of Au- 

 gustine? Good liirms can be boujrht lor from 

 four to ten dollars per acre. The abandonment of 

 all the plantations Irom fear of the Indians has 

 been the cause of the present low prices. Plan- 

 tations on the North river, (which is navigable 

 from eight to twelve miles from this city) can be 

 bought for from fijur to seven dollars per acre, the 

 soil well calcidated for cotton or corn, and as good 

 as can be desired for oranges. These plantations 

 contained fme orange groves belbre the frost cf 

 1835. 



What other fruits can be raised to profit about 

 St. Augustine? Figs, peaches, pomegranates, 

 plums and citrons thrive well here, and can be 

 raised to any extent. 



Are potatoes easily raised there? The sweet 

 potato is much cultivated and is a sure and very 

 profitable crop. Its quality is superior to that of 

 the potato raised farther north. The Irish or 

 common potato grows well here. Two crops can 

 be raised in a year. The plantings of February 

 will come in for use the last of this month. Small 

 parcels are already offered in market. 



What IS the state of society in St, Augustine? 

 A. The majority of the inhabitants are descend- 

 ants of emigrants from Minorca, Smyrna, Port 

 Mahon, and other places on the Mediterranean, 

 who settled in this country during the British oc- 

 cupancy. They are a peaceable, inoffensive peo- 

 ple. The women are remarkable for neatness 

 and industry. They are Catholic in their religion 

 — observing the Sabbath in the manner of the 

 Spaniards, but otherwise orderly and obliging. 

 Of the Americans, there are many intelligent and 

 enterprising men with cultivated iiimilies. 'J'hey 

 are of the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Haptisf, 

 and Methodist faiths. The two Ibrmer sects have 

 each a settled minister and a good house of wor- 

 ship. The Baptists and Methodists have nei- 

 ther. The Catholics have a church and schools. 

 A college has recently been established in the 

 city. 



Is East Florida capable of supporting a large 

 population, and what are the prospects of a speedy 

 settlement? A. The proportion of good land 

 suited to the growth of cotton is greater in East 

 Florida, than in South Carolina, and as great as 

 in Georgia. There are very large tracts of sugar 

 lands, equal to those of Cuba. Lands too light 

 for either cotton or sugar, are well suited to the 

 orange and other fruits, the raising of which will 

 give profitable employ to a large population. 



From the peculiar advantages presented by the 

 soil and climate of Florida to emigrants, the 

 country must settle with a rapidity ecjual to Michi- 

 gan or Wisconsin, and in a few years East Flo- 

 rida will become a state, and will fiirnish, at no 

 distant day, a supply of sugar and fruits to the 

 United Slates. The whole country is intersper.'icd 

 with navigable lakes and rivers, and there is no 

 region of the United States, where good roads can 

 be made at so small an expense, except it be the 

 prairie country of Illinois, 



In answer to several questions relative to fami- 

 lies of small property beinj^ able to obtain as com- 

 Ibrtable a living here as in the north, they can by 

 referring to the facts before stated, decide for them- 

 selves. Much will depend on industry and econo- 

 my in this as in every other country. I will, how- 

 ever, remark, that I have nowhere seen poor peo- 

 ple live so comfortably with so little labor as some 

 of them do here. This is owing, m a great mea- 

 Rure, to the absence of winter, the abundance of 

 fish and oj'sters, and the ease and cheapness with 

 which vegetables are raised. Northern men in- 

 tending to settle in this country, should know that 

 since the war commenced no lumber has been cut 

 in East Florida, or bricks made. All building 

 materials for the present must be obtained from 

 the north. Should you desire further information 

 in relation to Florida, address me at Buffalo, du- 

 ring the summer, and I will answer you with 

 pleasure. Yours, &c. 



Saml. Wilkeson. 



[The foregoing article was accompanied by the re- 

 presentations (referred to above) of mulberry leaves 

 of the natural size. Measuring these by their longest 

 straight lines, the sizes are as follow : 

 Chinese mulberry (Moms multicaulis) length 8^ in. 

 Native or Eed mulberry (Morus rubra) 3| in, 



Italian (White) mulberry. If in. 



If the design of this exhibition was to show the ge- 

 neral comparative sizes of the leaves of the several 

 kinds, it is delusive; and so are most other statements 

 of comparative sizes. The sizes of leaves are very dif- 

 ferent at different times, and situations, not only of the 

 same kind of mulberry, but even upon the same plant. 

 Young trees, and in the most succulent state, and du- 

 ring the most forced and rapid growth, have much 

 longer leaves than afterwards. The leaves of the Chi- 

 nese mulberry are certainly larger than those of other 

 kinds; but few of us, however, have ever seen any of 

 that kind, except in very young plants, rapidly forced 

 by I'ich soil and careful culture — and therefore, the 

 leaves are much longer than will be found in after 

 times, and with proper and economical culture. We 

 have seen leaves of young and succulent trees of the 

 native midberry, grown in the woods, as large as a 

 breakfast-plate — and measured one which was more 

 than twelve inches on its longest line. Yet the same 

 individual would afterwards probably bear leaves n^t 

 half so long. — Ed. Far. Keg. 



IMPORTAKT TO FARBIERS, 



A machine has been invented by Milton Day- 

 ton, of East Hampton, Long Island, by which he 

 thrashes his own grain, at the rate of fifteen bush- 

 els per hour— grinds it at the rate of two busheb 



