*' WHAT SHALL I EAT?" 195 



brand he had in stock, and a comparison of prices revealed 

 the fact that the economical neighbor had paid more, in- 

 cluding freight, than would have purchased a better article 

 on the spot. And this is a type of many other things. 

 In sugars, lard, hams, flour, there is not much difference, 

 as a rule, between Florida and Northern prices, though 

 a good deal depends on the greed of the merchant and 

 whether he has a monopoly ; but in canned goods there is 

 usually enough to pay the householder to send an order to 

 the North, or, which is better, to Jacksonville, if that or- 

 der be a large one, so that the saving shall counterbalance 

 the freight. An order of sixty dollars, at Northern prices, 

 would eftect a saving of from twenty to thirty dollars, that 

 is, the same goods at the ordinary Florida stores would cost 

 that much more ; at the same time canned goods are going 

 out and fresh vegetables taking their place, as they should 

 have done long ago. 



So much for the question of "What Shall I Eat?" as 

 regards the stores ; but there are other and important 

 sources of supply with which the merchants have nothing 

 to do, and which make an energetic settler almost inde- 

 pendent : these are the garden, the shot-gun, fish-hook, 

 and noose, before referred to, not forgetting the poultry 

 and "family friend," who furnishes the "cream of the 

 joke," the cow. Of these more anon. 



