278 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
FLORIDA NOTES. No. 4. 
It is not generally known that Florida 
increased over 50 per cent in population 
during the past 10 years. The State lanks 
near the top in this respect, and a good 
proportion of this increase is located in 
city and town. It is doubtful if Florida 
will ever take rank as a manufacturing 
State. There are few if any minerals, and 
not a river, I think, that can provide water 
power. Of course the lumber and turpen¬ 
tine interests are large, but in the nature 
of the case these cannot he permanent. 
"Climate” and farm products are to be the 
assets of the future, and they are both as 
valuable as most other States can show. 
There can be no question about the de¬ 
lights of Florida during the four "mean” 
Winter months. It seems natural to con¬ 
clude that as wealth accumulates in the 
North more and more people will spend a 
few weeks or months in the South. Of 
course houses in the cold country are now 
made so comfortable that one can live in 
“canned sunshine” nearly to the limit of 
civilization beyond the St. Lawrence, but 
this is never like the real article, and 
thousands will come each year to enjoy the 
sun. There is the first opportunity for 
Florida people as I can see it. 
The State of Maine has gained untold 
wealth by entertaining Summer boarders. 
Just as people move away from the stove 
when it gets too hot, thousands of them 
hurry to Maine during July and August. 
They carry a good-sized appetite and the 
price for satisfying it along with them. The 
Maine farmers get after that price by pro¬ 
viding fish, meat, eggs, fruit or vegetables. 
It is the finest sort of market, and they 
have captured a large share of it. The cool 
breeze blowing over Maine is not as good 
an asset as the warm Winter sun shining 
upon Florida. Thousands of people come 
here, and more will come when they realize 
that there are places to stop other than 
high-priced and fashionable hotels. What 
I mean by the business of “climate” is 
housing and feeding these people. At pres¬ 
ent they are largely fed upon imported food. 
Our folks have had a few boarders 
through the Winter. Most of them were 
strangers, but they all seemed to pick up 
the spirit of this happy land. One man 
came down for a fishing trip, lie was away 
all day on the lake, providing his own 
lunch, and brought back all his fish to be 
cooked for the family. That comes close to 
what you might call a model boarder. 
Others came down to rest and look up 
property, and in a few hours they were out 
helping the boys split wood. Not all 
Florida tourists are like this, as you may 
easily see by watching the people at fash¬ 
ionable hotels order the servants around 
and find fault with the food. Splitting wood 
or work over the wash tub is what such 
people need, but there is no law to compel 
them to work when they have the money. 
The hotel keeper has no time to ask where 
the money comes from—he says nothing, 
but puts his price up to the limit. Many 
of the smaller boarding houses give far 
better entertainment. I think they will 
multiply and take advantage of “climate.” 
When it comes to feeding the army of 
sunshine seekers the Florida people seem 
to me like a man stamping with cowhide 
boots on the face of good opportunity. One 
man told me how he traveled through the 
State before the freeze and saw good-sized ' 
houses each with a pile of tin cans as 
large; as the barn. That is a good-sized 
statement, but it carries a great truth. Go 
and look these cans over and you would 
find that the vegetables and fruit which 
they once contained were packed in Maine, 
Michigan or California. The entire country 
had contributed, and the middlemen had 
played their holdup to feed the Florida 
orange growers. When the freeze suddenly 
came it found people gambling in oranges 
and sending money 1,000 miles or more 
away to purchase food—every bit of which, 
except a few things like flour and certain 
groceries, could have been grown on their 
own soil. I think it was this vital food 
mistake which led to the abandonment of 
many of those fine places. Ilad the owners 
learned to feed themselves they could have 
remained here, cut out the oranges and 
grown other things. I know one case where 
a place of six acres of good land and a 
house that could not be built now for less 
than $1800 was transferred for .$400, with 
only half that cash. These and similar 
things which involved fearful losses were 
brought about by the old, insane Florida 
idea of feeding and clothing the people out 
of Northern canning factories and sweat 
shops. That has always been the curse of 
Florida. The old Spaniards did not at¬ 
tempt to raise any food. They lived in 
their castle at St. Augustine and bought 
food from Spain, or stole it as pirates. 
They could not hold the country because 
they did not root in the soil as farmers 
and freeholders, but were little more than 
cut-throats and hold-up men. Some of 
tlmse tourists who go there now feel that 
the hotel keepers are as good hold-up men 
as ever were started. Of course I feel like 
exempting our own boarding house! The 
fact is, however, that Florida development 
has gone wrong in the scheme of feeding 
her people at long range. 
Hold up a man of moderate means in 
Florida and analyze what he has on. His 
shoes come from Massachusetts, his hat 
from Connecticut, his shirt from Illinois, 
his coat from New York, his stockings from 
Rhode Island, and his belt probably from 
Ohio. He is going home with supplies 
bought at the village store. A piece of 
bacon from Chicago, a broom from Penn¬ 
sylvania, a can of condensed milk from 
Wisconsin, a can of sweet corn from Maine, 
flour from Minnesota, sugar from Germany, 
and representatives from several other 
States. He is riding in a wagon from In¬ 
diana, the whip from New Hampshire, the 
harness from New York. lie came from 
Michigan because ho could not stand the 
hard Winters, and hi? wife perhaps came 
from Kansas. It is an even chance that 
the mule is native born. Our folks pay ”0 
cents a pound for a very inferior bacon. 
It comes out of the packages thick with 
mold. There are few better sections for 
hog raising than north Florida. Over in 
Marion Co. my friend S. II. Gaitskill tells 
me that he sold seven tons or more of 
pork at .$140 per ton live weight. Such 
hogs run practically all the year on green 
pasture. We are supposed to get potatoes 
at a wholesale rate. This means $2.50 for 
a sack weighing about 140 pounds. This 
means nearly $1.10 per bushel. These‘po¬ 
tatoes were evidently shipped direct to 
Jacksonville from Maine by water, and the 
original grower got 80 to 35 cents. In the 
town where I bought my cow I went to 
get* some groceries. Among other things 
our folks wanted two quarts of split peas. 
The grocer did not have them, but he gave 
our boy a quarter to go out to another 
store and buy them. The boy did all the 
work, bought the peas and carried them to 
the store, and my genial friend the store¬ 
keeper cheerfully put 30 cents on my bill— 
as his profit of 20 per cent! I am told 
that 75 per cent of the butter, cream, milk, 
chickens, eggs and meat used in the Florida 
hotels and boarding houses is brought from 
the North. 
Now all this suggests what Florida peo¬ 
ple could do to utilize their assets of “cli¬ 
mate.” The population of town and city 
seems sure to increase. Some of the Florida 
people think the Panama Canal will help 
the State. I cannot see how; in fact 1 
think the entire South will be disappointed 
in the effect of that canal upon its trade. 
There can be no doubt, however, that 
Florida is coming steadily and surely. It 
will be an agricultural State with one of 
the greatest Winter markets in the world. 
These Summer boarders in Maine bring vast 
sums of money into tin 1 State. If the farm¬ 
ers did not stir themselves this money 
would all pass away from the State once 
more—back to the middlemen and storage 
men in Boston and New York. The farm¬ 
ers get their share of it by providing just 
what these boarders demand. That is one 
chief reason why Maine is known as the 
"Contented State," with probably, more 
money per capita invested in safe securi¬ 
ties than any other farm State in the 
Union. Yet Maine never had any such op¬ 
portunity as Florida has in long growing 
season and in the princely expenditure of 
people who come to enjoy “climate.” 
As you know, 1 have stated that orange 
* growing north of Tampa is a gamble. Some 
Florida people protest against that, but I 
still believe it is true. It seems to me 
that this hanging to the old idea that 
north Florida is a safe place to plant 
orange trees has hurt the State by pre¬ 
venting the careful study of other crops. I 
have got to the point where I would not 
plant an orange tree anywhere. I think 
the business is being overdone as judged by 
what we see in the northern markets. 
North Florida as I see it will do far bet¬ 
ter to let the oranges go and provide the 
vegetables and canned goods, the meat and 
the milk, which is now being brought into 
the State from the North. 
Now I would not willingly start any 
Florida “boom” or get anyone excited over 
the prospect. For the young and energetic 
I think there are even better opportunities 
in New England or along the hills down 
through New York, Pennsylvania and the 
Virginias. That is the latitude in which 
the great, strong work of this continent is 
to be done. Anyone who reads history must 
know that while tin* warm country civiliza¬ 
tion makes its mark upon the world, the 
really enduring things come out of the cold. 
As a Winter home Florida has few su¬ 
periors. I have not been there in Summer, 
people here tell me that they suffer 
during August in most parts of the 
ALSO FULL 
LINE OF 
GARDEN 
TOOLS 
March 4, 
Also BARREL 
A SPRAYER 
FOR OR¬ 
CHARDS 
x 
A Quartet of 
Potato Profit Producers 
The Iron Age Potato Planter, Cultivator, Sprayer and Digger make music 
i t h a t is sweet to the. ear of every potato grower. In actual use they have 
been proven superior to any other potato implements by producing a greater 
increase of potatoes, both as to size, quantity and quality. 
The Planter drops 10!)* of the seed correctly, making no doubles or misses, 
never bruising the seed. ..... . .. 
The Cultivators save time and labor, while insuring a more vigorous growth 
t0 thC T^'e Sprayer destroys the ravage? of blight and potato beetle economically 
and s, '': R ! y A. inexpensively digs all the potatoes without injuring them. 
If you want to plant all your seed properly and harvest all your crop, and 
make more money from every acre of potatoes, follow the example of those 
who are succeeding—use 
IRON ACE 
POTATO MACHINERY 
The Maine State Experimental Station, in 1910, made a careful, 
thorough test using a “picker” planter and an Iron Age (Improved 
" ' ’ • " - - ™ ' |. r ]'he average results obtained showed 
XL 
Robbins) Potato Planter. - 
57 MORE BUSHELS OF POTATOES TO THE ACRE 
where nlanted with the Iron Age. Ask us for proof and we will send 
yo if a 6 bona 1 fide coSyofthid.- Bulletin No 188 Jt shows exact results. 
Also comparison of level culture, high and model ate ndgmg. 
Iron Age machines have long passed the experimental stnge- 
they have proved their worth in actual use on two continents. They 
.are quality machines at moderate prices. 
Write today for our Diamond Anniversary Catalog—it tells all 
you want to know about our superior line of Potato Machinery, 
t and describes the complete line of Iron Age, Farm and Garden , 
* Implements, including orchard tools, horse hoes, ' 
etc. Mailed free for the asking. 
BATEMAN M’F’G CO. 
Box 102X 
GRENLOCH 
N. J. 
) 
tj& -t, ■ % <-•- 
A 
Hurry Up—Don’t Sow Your Grass Seed 
Till You See That New Metal Box 
ON 
Strong galvanized Fteol seed box with adjustable openings 
—sows evenly—all kinds of grass seeds and most grains— 
special agitator for clmft'y seeds. Steel covers lit tight no 
spilling. Wheelbarrow has steel wheel, wide tire—box 
rests on springs. Sows 12 and 14 ft. Circulars free—write. 
THE SEEDER MFC. CO., Box <}, HOMER, MICH, 
THE 
MICHIGAN 
SEEDER 
MAKE YOUR OWN TILE 
One Man Can Make 300 to 600 Perfect Tile a Day 
TRS? FARMERS’ CEMENT TILE MACHINE 
at a cost of $3 to $5 per 1000. The only farm tile machine that does not 
renuire hand tamping; the only farmers’ machine operated by eith¬ 
er band or power. Machine makes 3,4,5, C and 8 inch tile, 12>4 inches 
long. Our Patented Water-Prool FLEXIBLE CASINO holds tile in perfect . 
shape till set. NoPallets. Ifafter |A niVC CDCC TDIAI ’ 
10 days’trial it does not meet |U UHI V flltt I nlftla , 
with entire satisfaction, return at oor expense. The price of the ma¬ 
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Without It? Write todayfor illustrated catalogue. _ 
FARMERS' CEMENT TILE MACHINE CO., 
Box 604 St. Johns, Michigan. 
• Vv V 
but 
more _„ 
North than they do here. I think the host 
opportunities in the State are for those 
who suffer from cold or other infirmities 
which this climate will relieve. As for a 
strong man coming here as a pioneer as 
he would go West or North into a wilder¬ 
ness, 1 would not advise him to try it. 
But in order to get a fair idea of it let us 
see just what a man would come to if he 
struck this part of Putnam County right 
now. H. c. 
Make Poor land Good. 
Make Good land Better. 
And raise larger, surer crops by properly tiling every acre 
of your farm. Correct tiling is the most profitable kind 
of permanent improvement for your farm, and it can be 
done best and quickest by a 
CYCLONE TILE DITCHING MACHINE 
This machine will in 10 days more than repay its cost. Has a capacity of 
300 to 400 rods of ditching a day, at average depths up to 2 ft. and over, ac¬ 
cording to size of machine. As easy to operate as a gang —— 
plow. Send today for booklet, 
“Ditching Dollars” with its — 
valuable information about tiling. 
The Jeschke Manufacturing Co. 
Box 13 Bellevue, Ohio.' 
