"WHERE SHALL I SETTLE?" 105 



coming crop was full or short, so the merchant laid in a 

 large or full stock of goods, for his pay must come from 

 the royal hands of the reigning sovereign, the king afore- 

 said, so there followed the inevitable high prices consequent 

 on long credits. 



But now some of the stirring Northern element has crept 

 in and things are changed in these as well as in the other 

 portions of Florida. Truck-farming is the great winter 

 business of three fourths of the people, and right royal is 

 the attendant revenue, unless, as does sometimes happen, 

 some unexpected mishap befalls the crops. 



The planting, cultivating, gathering, and shipping of 

 garden vegetables keeps the truck-farmer busy from No- 

 vember to May, or even June. 



We have elsewhere referred to the live stock of this por- 

 tion of Florida, and the majority of our Northern brethren, 

 who have been reared in the idea that " there is neither beef 

 or butter, nor grass in Florida," will be surprised to learn 

 that dairy farming is hereabouts rapidly assuming notice- 

 able proportions. 



Improved stock has been imported, several genuine dairy 

 farms, with pastures of Bermuda, Para, Guinea, and other 

 grasses, have been established, and now, in the first infancy 

 of this enterprise, three or four farms in Leon County, 

 alone, are sending from seven hundred to one thousand 

 pounds of first-class butter each week to the Jacksonville 

 market, and the demand is far beyond the supply; this 

 butter brings the owner thirty cents a pound. 



Those who -inaugurated this new field of industry for 

 Florida are reaping large profits, and each year sees their 

 herds increased and their pastures enlarged. Even cream- 

 eries are being established. 



One half-blood or even three-quarter-blood Alderney or 

 Jersey cow, they tell us, gives more and richer milk than 



