SEPTEMBER 15, 1914 



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A glimpse of the unreclaimed forest in Manatee Co., in the vicinity of the stream at the bottom of my garden 



would cover two stovies as well as one, and 

 he fixed it up as cheaply as he could so they 

 could live in it a little while. See picture. 

 One of the first things that he did was to 

 plan): a great lot of bananas. I thought he 

 was getting wild on the banana business. 

 He planted out considerable other stuff 

 around the cottage, or around the central 

 part, as seen in the picture, and went ofr 

 north, and the place was allow-ed to take 

 care of itself for some little time. "Well, 

 just north of his banana-patch a neighbor 

 established a chicken-house and some duck- 

 pens. Whenever one of Florida's big rams 

 came it washed the poultry manure down on 

 to the bananas, and the effect was magical. 

 They grew tremendously, and a neighbor 

 sold enough bananas while he was gone 

 away up north to pay good interest on the 

 money; and the salt-water marsh, after the 

 ditches were dug, not only grew bananas 

 but sweet and Irish potatoes and a lot of 

 other stuff. Later on there was a speculation 

 in selling building-lots and putting up nice 

 residences right close to his " foolish in- 

 vestment " as some peojDle called it when he 

 first made it. When he saw how things 

 were going he took courage and put on the 

 porches and a little back kitchen as you 

 see; and now it is one of the prettiest little 

 cottages for a small investment I have ever 

 come across. You get a glimpse in the 

 picture of himself and his good wife. I 

 think they must be feeling happy because 

 of the beautiful flowers and fruit growing 

 on that investment, and from the fact that 



he could ^probably sell it now for five times 

 or more what it cost. Now, you need not 

 think such investments turn out that Avay 

 every time. Bradentown is gi'owing very 

 rapidly, and it happened to "grow" right 

 over where he was located. In fact, while 

 I write a steam-dredge is scooping the sand 

 out of the bay and piling it up on the 

 shore so as to make new dry ground where 

 before it was only a wet marsh or salt 

 water. Residences right on the edge of the 

 bay Avhere you can have a boat-house and 

 launch sell at a high price. 



While I am abcut it I might mention 

 another beekeeper, Mr. Reddout, who comes 

 down every winter from somewhere in York 

 State. On his first trip he put up a tent 

 right back of my garden, and lived there all 

 winter. Last winter, however, he decided 

 to have a house of his own, even if he is not 

 as yet a married man. I have forgotten 

 what it cost ; but by doing the work himself 

 I think he was only two or three hundi'ed 

 dollars out in cash. Here is a picture of the 

 little cottage with himself in an easy-chair. 



My impression is, that the structure in 

 the background is a tent where somebody is 

 living until he can get a bouse built. Such 

 things are frequent in and around Braden- 

 town, and I believe they get along very well 

 in a tent except when we have cold storms. 

 But this does not happen very often. 



Now, above is another picture giving a 

 glimpse of the wild woods a little up the 

 stream, where my ducks have their playspell 

 every day in tlie year. 



