I have been haying this month: in fact I had mowed my
orange-grove, a square of two acres, from time to time,
all summer. But this month a field of two acres had a
heavy burden of grass, with cow-pease intermixed. In some
parts of the field, there certainly would be at the rate
of three tons to the acre. The whole field would average
one ton to the acre. So I went at it with a good Northern
scythe, and mowed every morning an hour or two. The hay
was perfectly cured by five P.M., same day, and put in
barn. The land, being in ridges, made mowing difficult.
Next year I mean to lay that land down to grass, taking
out stumps, and making smooth, sowing rye and clover. I
shall plough it now as soon as the hay is all made, and
sow the rye and clover immediately. I have five cows that
give milk, and four that should come in soon. These, with
their calves, I shall feed through the months when the
grass is poor. I have also a yoke of oxen and four young
steers, with Trim the mule. I have already in the barn
three to four tons of hay and corn-fodder, and two acres
of cow-pease cured, to be used as hay. I hope to have five
hundred bushels of sweet-potatoes, which, for stock, are
equal to corn. I made a hundred and ten bushels of corn,
twenty-five to the acre. My cane is doing moderately well.
Hope to have all the seed I want to plant fourteen acres
next year. Bananas thrive beautifully; shall have fifty
offsets to set out this winter; also three or four
thousand oranges, all large-sized and fair.
All these facts go to show, that, while Florida cannot compete with the
Northern and Western States as a grass-raising State, yet there are
other advantages in her climate and productions which make stock-farming
feasible and profitable. The disadvantages of her burning climate may,
to a degree, be evaded and overcome by the application of the same
patient industry and ingenuity which rendered fruitful the iron soil and
freezing climate of the New-England States.
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