78 FLORIDA: ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, 



buoyancy of outdoor employment, and we have all tlie essentials for 

 acquiring health and happiness, as well as independence. 



WHAT THE POOR IMMIGRANT MAY DO. 



In previous pages we briefly made some remarks as to new-comers. 

 We believe that a plain relation of what may be reasonably assured to 

 the poor as well as rich immigrant will be received as useful informa- 

 tion. Florida is no exception to other countries, and the present but 

 repeats the past in the various phases of immigration. The early col- 

 onists and colonies in America, the periodical and frequent later immi- 

 gration to new States and Territories, and from old to new localities, all 

 have bad experiences, good, bad, and indifferent, yet we find, after a 

 brief period, that the new countries are filled up with a prosperous and 

 contented population. It is not necessary to review the varied causes 

 of this universal experience; although the local historian may dwell 

 upon them, the new generations of the present look forward and not 

 back. The characteristics of Florida, general and special, we have truth- 

 fully noted; other things being equal, the climate, soil, health, cheap- 

 ness of lands, staple and special productions, easy access and egress by 

 land and water, form of government, low taxes, a small State debt, all 

 present superior advantages, especially for the poor, or those in mod- 

 erate circumstances, for securing a good home. At the outset, how- 

 ever, the immigranj. asks, how shall I at once procure a support for my- 

 self and family? Now, premising that the new-comer means to work 

 intends to stay he can go to work at once and raise food from the soil. 

 New pine lands, broken up with the grass turned in, will grow good crops 

 of sweet potatoes and cow pease, with but slight cultivation. These crops 

 in, fields inclosed, the grass covered soon becomes rotted, and the soil 

 easily worked. Corn, cane, and cott on may now be planted, as also vege- 

 tables; in the same field and with the crops, orange, lemon, and other 

 fruit trees may be planted, where they are to remain, at regular dis- 

 tances apart, both ways. The vineyard may also be put out, as well as 

 smaller fruit, about the premises. The pea- vines, with pease, will afford 

 forage for stock ; pease and potatoes for food. Succeeding the pease and 

 potatoes, turnips and onions, beets, cabbage, and similar semi-hardy 

 vegetables may be grown from the late summer to the next late spring 

 months, nearly the year round. The immigrant can easily gather about 

 him hogs, which will range for their own living, potatoes being fed to 

 them in the fall. Poultry are no care for feed or support ; game and fish 

 are to be had for the seeking. It will be seen that the food question is 

 easily solved. Year by year his crops are increasing, his comforts added 

 to; he has within himself the accessories of a comfortable home. In 

 the meantime his grove of oranges, lemons, his vines, are growing apace; 

 in a feAv short years he scents in the early spring the sweet odor of the 

 orange bloom, sees the green fruit gradually increasing in size, and, as 

 autumn months come on, gladdens his eyes *vith the sight of the golden 



