144 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



you can probably quote iheir incidental observa- 

 tions, which will clearly show that the principal 

 earth of each conjectural location is the calcareous 

 earth of Tropical Florida! Your own pen has 

 frequently shown the asionishing rerlility cl" cal- 

 careous earih with simple irrigation ; and your 

 own pen can clearly explain the momentous Ifict, 

 of national importance, that the vivilying waters 

 of the slandered everglades are liquid mines of 

 vegetable wealth lor South Florida. You know 

 that a verdant oasis in an arid desert is barely the 

 vegetative result of a spring of water in a waste of 

 Band ! The ancient and modern histories of the 

 eastern hemisphere abound with facts which prove 

 that wherever water was brought into any desert, 

 vegetation flourished, population accumulated and 

 cities rose; and that wherever water was with- 

 drawn, vegetation decayed, population perished 

 and cities lell ! 



You have quoted Madden's Geological Obser- 

 vations in the desert between Egypt and Judea, 

 which sustain his belief that a solid bed of lime- 

 stone is the basis of the soil of all ii-gypt ; and 

 Denon's Geological Observations on the Lybian 

 range of calcareous moimtains, which show the 

 facts that their daily decomposition furnishes the 

 calcareous sands which gradually encroach on the 

 cultivated plains and populous villages of tlie pro- 

 ductive valley of the Nile, and dreadfully change 

 those scenes of vegetation and population into 

 sites of barrenness and of desolation. Yet you 

 truly remark, that wherever, by canals, are con- 

 veyed the waters of the Nile to irrigate the cal- 

 careous sands of its arid borders, an asionishing 

 liertility has been the immediate consequence; and 

 that wherever these canals have ceased to convey 

 these waters, those calcareous lands have again 

 become naked and barren sands. But by my 

 communications, you have perceived that the basis 

 of the soil of all South Florida is also a solid bed 

 of limestone ; that the arid sands of all South Flo- 

 rida are also calcareous sands ; and that hence an 

 astonishing (ertility of even its nakeil lands must 

 also be the immediate consequence of appropriate 

 irrigation in South Florida; and you can there- 

 fore appreciate the vast importance of my prin- 

 ci^pal position lor the vegecultural improvement of 

 Tropical Florida. " The lertilizing waters of the 

 mosquiio-less everglades are more elevated than 

 the sterile sands of the mosquiio-lull coasts; and 

 hence the same canals will drain the excessively 

 humid soils of the interior, and will irrigate tho ex- 

 cessively arid soils of the shore; and they will 

 thus distribute the appropriate proportion of ftjrti- 

 lizing moisture for the most flourishing vegetation 

 of the whole slandered surface of Tropical Flori- 

 da. Indeed whenever a governnicnial survey of 

 this slandered district shalfbe finally ordained, the 

 special surveyors must possess all tho-^e extraordi- 

 nary qualilii'ations which can only be acquired by 

 long observations in the regions of irrigation, in 

 the soutli ol" Europe, the noith of Airica, or in 

 Tropical Asia, South Florida is an extraordina- 

 country, wiili every thing extniordinary in its geo- 

 graphical |)Osi!icn, in its geoloyical fonnation, in 

 its chemical composition, in its substratum and 

 subsoil, in iis surliice and surliice soil, in its tro- 

 pical climate, in its tropical vegfiation, and even 

 injts tropical animation, from the muuite insect 

 of its coral rocks, to the huge manati of its calca- 

 reous coasts. The position, then, is self-evident, 



that an extraordinary country requires extraordi- 

 nary legislation by extraordinary legislators. But 

 in the congress of the United States, what mem- 

 ber of either house has extraordinarily studied the 

 extraordinary phenomena of Tropical Florida, 

 with the single exception of the scientific senator, 

 Doctor Linn I An extraordinary country requires 

 extraordinary government by extraordinary go- 

 vernors. But under all our successive govern- 

 ments of the United States, what member of any 

 cabinet has possessed the extraordinary qualifica- 

 tions for an extraordinary appreciation of these 

 extraordinary circumstances of Tropical Florida, 

 with the single exception of the travelled states- 

 man, the actual secretary of war? It is further- 

 more self-evident, that in any extraordinary coun- 

 try the extraordinary extirpation of ferocious 

 beasts must necessarily be accomplished solely by 

 extraordinary hunters with extraordinary pre- 

 miums : and that hence, with such motives by 

 such men alone, will ever be caught, or even 

 sought, the savage murderers in South Florida, at 

 the only sites where they can ever be found. 

 Now, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear ! 

 He that hath understanding to study, let hitn 

 study! The same extraordinary circumstances 

 which have forcibly prevented, and which will for- 

 cibly prevent, the agricultural settlement of South 

 Florida, the same extraordinary circumstances 

 have greatly prolonged and will greatly prolong 

 the Seminole war in South Florida. The extra- 

 ordinary governmental privation of desert free- 

 dom to individual industry in the deserted district 

 was the principal occasion of the beginning of the 

 Seminole war, and is the principal cause of the 

 continuation ol' the Seminole war in the same de- 

 serted district. The extraordinary circumstances 

 of the only private population of South Florida in 

 their only locations and only occupations along this 

 wrecking and this rumming reef, readily afford po- 

 sitive proofs of their extraordinary interests in the 

 extraordinary prolongation of this extraordinary 

 war. The extraordinary circumstances of the 

 only public troops in South Florida in their only 

 positions and their only operations along this rum- 

 ming and this wrecking reel) naturally afford pre- 

 sumptive proofs of their extraordinary interests on 

 the extraordinary prolongation of this extraordi- 

 nary war. But the extraordinary combination of 

 these extraordinary circumstances, along this ex- 

 traordinary wrecking and rumming reef, very na- 

 turally produce extraordinary considerations of de- 

 pendent interests, defenceless timidity and schem- 

 ing policy, which necessarily disincline and disqua- 

 lify almost every private resident from the patri- 

 otic discharge of the dangerous duty of nationally 

 public promulgation of locally notorious facts. 

 Hence the same extraordinary combination of ex- 

 traordinary circumstances necessarily generates 

 the extraordinary result, that locally notorious facts 

 of nationally immense importance cannot ever be 

 officially proved to the executive departments in 

 Washington. To this extraordinary promulgation 

 of extraordinary realities, I now add the extraor- 

 dinary inilividual position of extraordinary nation- 

 al importance, that Oc|=- the immediate restoration 

 of desert freedom to the deserted district of South 

 Florida is an essential means for the speedy ter- 

 mination of the Semino!e war. 



Very respectfully, yourob't, serv'f,, 

 Henry Perrine. 



