•130 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



Such a chimney can be built in one or two days at a cost 

 not exceeding five dollars. Chimneys built of brick cost 

 about thirty dollars for a one-story house. The preceding 

 description applies to a rude and cheap house, but hundreds 

 of families have lived comfortably in such for years, and 

 hundreds are living so now, all over the State. 



And now for a better class house : Lumber is to be had 

 at the mills for eleven dollars per thousand feet ; the haul- 

 ing from three to six dollars per thousand, according to 

 distance. Doors, sash, and blinds can be got from Jack- 

 sonville, Feruaudiua, Gainesville, whichever may be most 

 convenient. The necessary hardware can generally be had 

 at the nearest country store. The prices are about twenty 

 per cent higher than those of Philadelphia or New York. 



Carpenters' wages, by the day, range from two dollars to 

 two dollars and seventy-five cents, according to the work- 

 man's skill ; but building is usually done by contract. 



It is much the best plan to supply all your own material 

 and pay your own carpenters only for their work ; if you 

 leave them to find the building requisites, you will proba- 

 bly have to pay them a considerable profit over the cost- 

 price of the article used. 



Cypress shingles, as we have already said, are held at 

 four dollars per thousand, delivered on the spot where they 

 are to be used. 



House-building in such a mild climate as Florida is a 

 very different thing from what it is at the North. Here is 

 no need for the thick walls and winter-proof dwelling so 

 necessary there. 



A tight roof is needed of course, but weather-proof walls 

 are not indispensable, although desirable, as it is not al- 

 ways ''summer time" even in Florida. 



There are occasional days in every month, from Novem- 

 ber to March, when fires morning and night are very com- 



