Proceedings of thb Farmers' Club. 557 



as sterile as it first appears. The white color is given in part by 

 sand, and also by small white shells, which, as they disintegrate, 

 furnish the elements of fertility. Such a soil will give two thousand 

 pounds of sugar to the acre; yet millions of these acres can be had 

 at fifty cents. Florida shows marks of having been much more cul- 

 tivated than it is now. One sees in the woods the old hills of corn, 

 and rows of sugar cane. A generation ago, the English had some 

 flourishing plantations along the St. John. In 1822 it came into 

 American possession, and the tide of immigration was strong. This 

 was arrested by the Seminole war. Just as the State was recover- 

 ing from that back-set, the civil war broke out. Hence, at present, 

 Florida is practically a wilderness. The population is sparse and 

 poor. Now, they are much discouraged, for the cotton crop was 

 last year a failure. The best business for a permanent settler in 

 Florida is the cultivation of an orange grove. He was surprised 

 to fuid so few in the State. An orange tree begins to bear at five 

 years of age. Then it is worth a hundred dollars, for it is a poor 

 small tree that does not yield one thousand oranges; some bear as 

 high as ten thousand; five thousand may be taken as an average. 

 They sold this year, at about five dollars per hundred, for the 

 Florida oranges are unusually large, sweet and fine flavored. The 

 orange tree grows wild. It is dug up when small, in the woods, 

 and transplanted, the roots and limbs being very much clipped. 

 It is very tenacious of life, and survives rough handling, but not 

 the frost. Orange groves in Florida were killed by the cold in the 

 winter of 1835, but not since. The best region for oranges is the 

 head of Indian river. But this is so remote and diflicult of access, 

 that he does not advise settlers to go there at present. They should 

 keep near the St. John's river, where they can get to the New York 

 market in four days. He says a great deal of money can be made, 

 and easily made, by raising fruit and vegetables, and sending them 

 directly to New York or Charleston. Every climate has some 

 drawbacks; there are a good many musketoes and fleas and snakes 

 in Florida; the summers are long, though not sickly, and most new 

 settlers have a few chills, but the attack is usually very mild. The 

 health of soldiers is never better than when stationed in Florida. 

 There is little or no yellow fever. The timber by far the most fre- 

 quent is the long-leaved pine, but he saw hickory, pecan, live oak 

 and ash, though not in abundance. The pine is not of much size, 

 a tree two feet through being considered large. On Indian river 

 the banana grows, as also the pineapple and other tropical fruits. 



