Florida's Greatest Farm Colony 



A Narrative of a Most Charming Spot W^here Northern Men Are Changing Into Smedl 

 Farms a Region 'Where the Plow Has Never Turned the Sod. 



By E. ROY MELCENT 



I HAVE been all over the great state of 

 Florida. I have been up one coast and 

 down the other. I have seen all the 

 famous show places of the state. I have dipped 

 into the amethyst waters of Biscayne Bay and 

 I have slept all night at a turpentine still close 

 beside the stockade of a convict camp. I have 

 seen the mighty results of Florida's wonderful 

 and incomparable soil. Last year I saw the 

 trend of the human tide of travel that was 

 pouring over the borders of Florida like a great 

 army of invasion. I 

 have often seen land 

 values arise several 

 hundred per cent, in 

 . only a few months be- 

 cause of this tremen- 

 dous demand for Flor- 

 ida land. I know the 

 beauty of her exquisite 

 climate, her growing 

 verdure, her draped 

 trees festooned with 

 the dreamy Sp a n i s h 

 moss, her pines, palms 

 and palmettos, her 

 wonderful streams un- 

 like those of any other 

 region in the world, 

 and I have felt the gripping charm of her "out 

 of doors" that seems to hold one entranced as 

 though in a spell. 



All the wonders of Florida it has been my 

 peculiar pleasure to have visited and viewed 

 during the past two years. I am wholly and 

 completely subdued and infected with the spirit 

 of Florida. It is the index finger on the right 

 hand of the world. Here are soon to come the 

 tireless greyhounds of the sea carrying full 

 cargoes to all parts of the universe on their way 

 to and from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 

 through the Panama Canal. This entire state 

 is one gigantic field of activity. Development 

 is in the air everywhere. The madness of money 

 and opportunity has grasped "Florida the 

 peaceful" in its unrelenting hands. The gov- 

 ernment has appropriated many millions for 

 the improvement of Florida waterways. This 

 points to the nearby future when Florida shall 

 stand forth to the world with the most important 

 ports of call for the thousands of ocean going 

 vessels who will have directed their courses 

 toward the Panama Canal and Florida. There 

 are more stupendous undertakings in this great 

 state than in any other section of our Union. 



Florida has been known heretofore as the 

 "rich man's playground." but has now become 

 "the poor man's paradise." 



We people of the North and the East and 

 the West do not really know what life is until 

 we have spent some time in Florida. 



The beauty of the sky and landscape, the 

 bounty of climate and health, the voluptuousness 

 of foliage and farm, are nothing to be compared 

 with the great and limitless opportunities for 

 the man of ordinary means to establish himself 

 upon just a few acres and make those acres give 

 him all there is in life to own. 



I have seen ten acres of Florida land produce 

 at the rate of more than $800 per acre. The 

 man who owned this garden patch of ground 

 came to Florida to die, after he had sickened 

 his body bending over a dirty desk for fifteen 



The Hilliard Inn and Manager's Residence. Where 



You Will Be Made Comfortable When 



You Visit the Colony 



years in a northern city, and, mark you, this 

 man knew nothing of farming when he came. 

 Today he is rich beyond his wildest dreams of 

 youth. He can go out any day of the year 

 and pick growing things for his table. His wife 

 and babies are simply bubbling over with gener- 

 ous health, and this man is every bit as much a 

 prince as though ages of royal blood flowed 

 through his veins. I have seen many of such 

 cases. I have visited the many successful 

 colonies which have sprung up over Florida 

 and I have seen there 

 more peace, pleasure 

 and profit to the 

 square inch than has 

 ever been my good 

 fortune to behold be- 

 fore. 



Mind you t he s e 

 northern men and 

 women who are filling 

 up Florida are not a 

 few hundreds in num- 

 ber but they can be 

 seen by the thousands 

 and scores of thous- 

 ands. You may talk 

 with them from the 

 windows of your Pull- 

 man as you travel along and the universal 

 answer to your question is: "I would not go 

 back home for anything in the worLd," 



I must say, however, that the most charming 

 and irresistible region I have yet visited in 

 Florida is that famous colony at Hilliard, which 

 lies some thirty miles northwest of Jacksonville. 

 This was the proving ground of Florida, for it 

 was because of this famous colony that northern 

 men saw the wonderful opportunities of Florida 

 soil and came pell mell to the state in search 

 for land. This colony started the Florida land 

 rush, which is one of the greatest land move- 

 ments the world has ever known. 



There are many reasons why this spot, which 

 is called the North Florida Fruit and Truck Farm 

 Colony, is entitled to 

 rank as the first and 

 choicest c o 1 o n y o f 

 Florida. First, the 

 soil. No one can ap- 

 preciate fully the won- 

 der working ability of 

 this soil to yield. I 

 have never seen come 

 out of the ground such 

 evidence of productiv- 

 ity. It is amazing. 

 The formation of this 

 soil is that of a dark 

 or highly colored sandy 

 loam underlaid with 

 the priceless clay sub- 

 soil that lends untold 

 value to all growing 



things. This soil is virgin except of course 

 where these northern men and women have 

 tilled it for the past two years. 



It is the same soil now with nature's fertilizer 

 added to it for countless generations that it was 

 when the great Ponce de Leon first flung the ban- 

 ner of Spain to the soft Florida winds. All that 

 man has done has been to remove the giant trees. 

 The soil is primal in every sense of the word. 

 208 



New Homes of Northern People in Hilliard 



The next excellent quality this region has, 

 in my opinion over all other farm colonies in 

 this state, is that it is naturally selfdrained. 

 The center of this colony forms a perfect water- 

 shed. Upon the one side the rainfall flows 

 north; upon the other, south. 



There is no danger of loss of crops from excess 

 of rainfall like in many other sections of the 

 state. 



The Atlantic Coast Line railroad runs right 

 through the very heart of this colony in double 

 track. Here one may step out of a Pullman car 

 directly upon colony ground. Here one may 

 load one's products into refrigerator cars to be 

 kept in perfect condition until with the speed 

 of a mail train they are whisked into the eager 

 markets of the north. 



The great city of Jacksonville lies but thirty 

 miles away. Here one may enjoy all the ad- 

 vantages of a metropolis atone's very door. 



Jacksonville is the fastest growing city in 

 the South, if not in the United States. Seattle, 

 with nowhere near the advantages of Jackson- 

 ville, increased her population more than 500 

 per cent, during the past ten years, and I predict 

 that Jacksonville will discount this record. 

 When the Panama Canal is opened Jacksonville 

 will be one of the wonder cities of the world. 

 The North Florida Fruit and Truck Farm 

 Land Colony will feed this nest of human 

 thousands. These people must eat 365 days a 

 year. The local market must be supplied. 

 Here today are located the great buyers of 

 fruit and vegetable commission houses of the 

 North and Europe, and here is a crying demand 

 for more products than Florida can supply. 



Jacksonville is a mighty city and its value 

 upon this great farm colony makes for this 

 region a greater future and a surer security of 

 steadily increasing land values then any other 

 colony in the state. 



Hilliard and the North Florida Fruit and 

 Truck Farm Colony are located in Nassau 

 county, which enjoys a reputation second to 

 none in the state. These men and women who 

 make up the colony 

 at Hilliard come from 

 all over the globe. 

 You may talk to col- 

 lege graduates here as 

 they work i n their 

 fields. You may see 

 business and profes- 

 sional men building up 

 an investment that will 

 wichin a few brief 

 months net them more 

 actual money returns 

 tiian half the highest 

 salaried bank and com- 

 mercial men receive in 

 the large cities. These 

 people are the essence 

 o f cosmopolitanism . 

 They are bringing ideas with them. They 

 are putting these ideas into use. They are 

 deadly in earnest, and the best part of it all 

 is that they are succeeding and are immensely 

 pleased with their homes and their work. 



This region is the natural home of the paper- 

 shell pecan, which is probably the surest and 

 the greatest earner of profits of any tree that 

 grows, bar none. Here you may see pecan 



