118 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
gether a mass of strongly sulphureous water, and 
forming a little stream some ten feet deep, whose 
perfectly transparent waters empty into the St. 
John’s. It is filled with fish, which can be seen 
swimming in every part of it. The banks are 
some twenty feet above the stream, quite undulat¬ 
ing, and covered with palms, live oaks, magnolias, 
wild oranges, &c. It is altogether one of the' pret¬ 
tiest spots that I have seen. Immediately back of 
Blue Spring is a range of country forty miles in ex¬ 
tent, covered with pines, beautifully undulating, 
and no underbrush whatever. It is covered with a 
species of crab grass, which is said to make very 
good pasture. Where this kind of pine land occurs 
without any undergrowth of palmetto, the land is 
considered excellent for either sugar or cotton. 
Having a clay subsoil it can be readily improved, a 
rare case in Florida, for the land is universally of a 
sandy nature, and will not hold manure, and must 
inevitably be worn out in time. A favorite mode 
of manuring here is to pen cattle upon a certain 
spot until it is well manured and trampled in. 
From land thus prepared they sometimes raise 300 
to 500 bushels of sweet potatoes to the acre. 
Lake Monroe, a fine sheet of water, five miles in 
diameter, seems to be the spot about which settlers 
are gathering, and the best'lands are fast being 
taken up. The whole margin of the Lake abounds 
with mineral springs, and the lands will often pro¬ 
duce two to three hogsheads of sugar to the acre. 
One of the finest spots has been taken up by a gen¬ 
tleman who keeps a boarding-house for invalids. 
For this purpose the vicinity of Lake Monroe is 
well adapted, and houses for the accommodation of 
invalids from the North are going up every year. I 
have visited most of the West India Islands, South 
America, and different parts of Europe, and I am 
convinced, that for pulmonary diseases, there is no 
climate equal to that of Lake Monroe. This will 
become more generally known in a few years, and 
it will perhaps become the great place of resort. 
The advantages for bathing afforded by the nume¬ 
rous mineral springs (whose temperature is 75°), 
will render this vicinity very desirable. Living is 
very cheap there, from the great abundance of 
game. Turkeys are numerous, and deer are found 
everywhere. In a ride of 20 miles we saw sixteen 
of the latter. Steamboats run from Savannah to 
this place and to Lake Monroe, rendering the latter 
very accessible. 
It has been a matter of surprise to me, that amid 
all the enterprise for which our countrymen are 
celebrated, no one has attempted to cultivate and 
prepare the dried fruits. Figs and grapes both 
grow luxuriantly here. The labor of preparing them 
for market is comparatively light, and 1 cannot but 
think that if some enterprising man were to estab¬ 
lish their cultivation here, and import a first-rate 
hand from Smyrna to prepare them, he could not 
fail to reap large profits. The fig produces most 
abundantly, and its cultivation requiies very little 
labor. There is no reason why we cannot supply 
our own market with that article of consumption. 
At present, the attention of all the planters about 
Lake Monroe is chiefly devoted to the produce of 
sugar. The labor of planting is about the same as 
that of corn, it requires cultivating only two or 
three times during the season, and the roots will 
produce five years without replanting. The cane 
can be ground at Taylor’s mill, and the sugar made 
for two to three dollars per hogshead ; the expense 
of putting up mills is thus avoided. 
Some gentlemen from the North whose ill health 
compels them to reside there during the summer, 
informed me that the heat, although of longer con¬ 
tinuance, is not so oppressive as at New York, and 
the trade winds render it quite pleasant after ten 
o’clock in the morning. They also say that there is 
very little fever in the country, although the whites 
(many of whom have no slaves) expose themselves 
freely to the sun. If such is the case, settlers could 
labor here with as much safety as at the West; 
while, from the genial climate, the reward of labor 
is much greater. I am of opinion, however, that 
no settler who wishes to thrive, should employ 
slaves. Their indolence, and the necessity of sup¬ 
porting the sick, the young, and the aged, would 
soon ruin him. One good white man would perform 
as much as three of the ordinary slaves, and among 
the many emigrants to this country, white laborers 
can easily be obtained. 
One of the most profitable employments and 
modes of investment in East Florida is the raising 
of cattle. Intelligent planters inform me, that all 
their capital so invested yields them at least 30 per 
cent, annually. There are large tracts of pine lands 
which produce excellent pasture. A herd will double 
every three or four years; and the only labor in tend¬ 
ing them is to collect them several times a year to 
keep them from straying too far, and to mark the 
young calves. When the vacuum process of curing 
meat shall be fully tested and brought into practical 
operation, the profits of this branch of business will 
be greatly increased. 
Allowing in the facts thaf I have stated, a rea¬ 
sonable degree of partiality in my informants for 
the place of their adoption, I am quite inclined to 
think that the upper part of St. John’s river, and 
the rich bottoms of the Alachua District, afford 
many inducements to settlers, who are convinced 
of the superiority of free to slave labor. 
Jacksonville, E.F., Feb. 10, 1846. S. B. Parsons. 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 
After so long a time, I will in some measure 
fulfil my engagement about writing you in regard 
to sheep and wool growing. My intention is, and 
has ever been, to get up a flock that would combine 
as much as possible the following traits: First, a 
strong constitution ; a heavy fleece of real wool, of 
the very best quality that the world can boast; and 
a just form. It has been a favorite theory with me, 
that by judicious selection and good breeding, all 
this might be effected, and I have k r years spared 
neither time, nor expense, nor travel, to bring it 
about: and if I have in any good measure effected 
my object, it has been by selecting according to my 
best judgment, disregarding entirely all names of 
breeds, and names of men as breeders, except so far 
as to examine their flocks carefully, or specimens 
of them, as they have been exhibited at the shows, 
or their different lots of wool at numerous manufac¬ 
turing establishments. 
I have never been able to depend in the least 
upon the statements of men who Duff their sheep in 
the different agricultural papers- Some of them ara 
