"SUNNYSIDE"--ORANGE AND BANANA GROVES--LEMONS AND LIMES--COFFEE
TREES AND PINE-APPLES--CALIFORNIA GRAPES--QUALITY OF THE LAND--MODE
OF CULTIVATION--FLORIDA, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE--INCREASED
PRODUCTION--BETTER AND CHEAPER TRANSPORTATION--INTERROGATORIES AND
ANSWERS.
Having given the reader a hasty outline of the Manatee region, I will
add a brief _resume_ of my personal experience at "Sunnyside" during the
past eighteen months. On my arrival in Braidentown, in the fall of 1879,
my land was a "howling wilderness." At this time I have a young orange
grove of six hundred trees, sixty lemon, fifteen lime, ten guava, half a
dozen olive, two soft-shell almond, twenty coffee, four each Japan plum
and persimmon, two pomegranate, two cocoa-nut and four Le Conte pear
trees, all of which are growing luxuriantly. I also have one acre in
bananas and sixty pine-apple plants, both of which will bear fruit next
year. Around the fence inclosing my house lot, I have sixty California
grape-vines of the choicest varieties, viz.: Flaming Tokay, White Muscat
of Alexandria, Mission and Rose of Peru. The vines are looking well, and
will bear fruit next year.
The land on which I am located is spruce-pine, interspersed with
water-oak and scrub palmetto, which would be pronounced by the average
Floridian worthless. I had at the commencement, and still have, abiding
faith in the white sand of Florida with a mulatto sub-soil. No matter
how white the surface, if underlaid by a mulatto or yellow sub-soil, the
citrus family will thrive. The foliage of my young trees is dark green,
and their vigorous growth astonishes the "crackers," who predicted a
failure. Owing to the mildness of the climate--my location being exempt
from frost--my trees grew all last winter. My orange trees are set in
parallel rows, thirty feet apart each way; the lemon and lime trees
twenty-five feet apart; the bananas twelve feet, and the pineapples two
feet apart. I hoe my grove every two months, and plow it four times a
year. Thus, by keeping the soil constantly tickled with the hoe, my
trees laugh with a bountiful foliage. What I have done, can be performed
by others. There is no secret about the matter. We welcome immigrants
from the frigid North, from the prairies of the West, and from the lands
beyond the sea. To all we say, come and tarry with us.
Florida, the first State belonging to the Union, discovered and settled
by Europeans, has, during the past 350 years, been hustled about from
pillar to post like a shuttle-cock. The repeated Indian wars from 1816
to 1858, rendered life so insecure, that the early settlers literally
carried their lives in their hands. Is it then a matter of surprise that
Florida is so sparsely populated? Mr. J. S. Adams, former Commissioner
of Immigration, truthfully remarks: "The wonder truly is, not that she
has not attained a more flourishing condition, but that she exists at
all, and that her boundless forests, her lovely rivers and her beautiful
lakes are not fast locked in the silent embrace of a moveless
desolation." Since slavery, which rested like an incubus of original sin
on the soil of Florida, has been removed, immigration has been pouring
in from the North and the West, and from the isles of the ocean.
Germany, Italy, France and England have each furnished their quota, and
the forests along the line of the railroads, as well as those accessible
by steamboats, are beginning to show the effects of an advanced
civilization. The gigantic undertaking of draining Lake Okeechobee and
the Everglades, together with the construction of a ship canal,
connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Gulf of Mexico, by Mr. Hamilton
Disston, of Philadelphia, and his coadjutors, is proof positive that a
new era is beginning to dawn on the Land of Flowers, and, ere many
years, the southern portion of the State will be one vast orange grove,
interspersed with the guava, lemon, lime, pine-apple and banana. I hear
the skeptic say: "You will overstock the market, and your fruit will not
pay the cost of transportation." The orange _par excellence_ can be
grown _only_ in the soil of Florida, therefore competition with foreign
countries need not be feared. Florida will soon be able to supply the
cities of the Mediterranean with a superior fruit to that grown on their
own shores, and more cheaply. Increased production and transportation
will cause a corresponding reduction in freight, and also insure greater
and better facilities in the modes of transportation. There will also be
a large reduction in price to the consumer, which will enable the man of
limited means--in other words, the poor man--to indulge with the
millionaire in the daily luxury of the golden apple of the
Hesperides--the Florida orange. The above may be deemed by some persons
chimerical, but time, the great arbiter of events, will solve the
problem.
By every mail I am in receipt of letters asking all manner of questions
in relation to the climate, soil, productions, etc., of this part of
Florida. At first I cheerfully complied with the requests of my numerous
correspondents, but the novelty has worn off, and the task has become
slightly monotonous. Recently, I received a four-page capsheet letter
from a gentleman in Utah Territory, to which was appended seventeen
interrogatories in relation to the Gulf Coast of South Florida. That
straw broke the camel's back, and, in reply to the following question:
"I see by the last census that Manatee County has a population of over
4,000, and not a death recorded for 1880. Do people ever die there?" I
wrote immediately, "Hardly ever. When we want to start a graveyard, we
kill a man." I am firmly impressed with the belief that my Mormon
correspondent, with a "family of ten persons," will not immigrate to the
Land of Flowers. Below will be found twenty-five questions in relation
to Florida, from correspondents the "wide world over," with answers
appended:
1st. "At any time of the year do you have severe storms of thunder and
lightning?"
During the rainy season, thunder showers, accompanied by lightning,
frequently occur, but they are not more severe than in the Northern and
Western States.
2d. "Are venomous reptiles numerous?"
During my residence and travels in Florida, I have never seen a
rattlesnake; I have seen a few moccasin, garter, coachwhip and
blacksnakes. The two latter are harmless, and are seldom killed by the
natives. Alligators are not numerous in this vicinity, and are
comparatively harmless. Scorpions and centipedes are seldom met with.
Their sting is no more severe than that of a bee.
3d. "Is the land about Braidentown sandy or clayey?"
The land on the margin of the bay is sandy; further back in the hammock,
the soil is dark gray and chocolate color, underlaid with clay and
limestone.
4th. "Are the people mostly Northern?"
Like an Englishman's favorite beverage, they are 'alf-and-'alf.
5th. "What is the name of your nearest town of any importance?"
Have no towns of "importance" in this section of the country; they are
in the womb of time--not hatched yet.
6th. "What is the character of your society?"
Mixed.
7th. "Do you consider Florida as healthy as California?"
I consider this Manatee region the sanitarium of the world. A more
healthful spot cannot be found on God's footstool.
8th. "Do malarial fevers prevail in your section any time during the
year?"
In the rich, low hammock lands, where vegetation is rank, malarial
fevers exist in the fall of the year. Chills and fever here yield more
readily to proper medical treatment than in the West. Pine land is
exempt from malaria.
9th. "Does the summer heat prove enervating?"
That depends on a man's constitution. If born tired, yes.
10th. "Is it true that the summer weather with you is more
pleasant--less oppressive--than at the North?"
Yes; the thermometer rarely registers more than 96°. It reached that
point only twice last summer.
11th. "Are the nights in summer always cool?"
Generally; sometimes cooler than in the winter.
12th. "Can you work out of doors during the day in summer time?"
Yes, when it does not rain. I have not seen a day too hot to work out of
doors since my arrival in Florida.
13th. "Do the crops of vegetables and grass burn under the summer sun?"
We don't raise vegetables in the summer. Our vegetables are grown in the
winter and spring, when the land at the North is locked fast in the
embrace of frost and ice. The grass here is very nutritious, and large
herds of cattle fatten on it. This section of country supplies Cuba with
beef.
14th. "Are insects--fleas and mosquitoes--more troublesome than at the
North?"
Fleas sometimes make it lively with us; but there are fewer mosquitoes
in this locality than in a majority of the Northern States.
15th. "Do you consider Manatee County one of the best to settle in?"
It suits me better than any other part of Florida. You might go further
and fare worse.
16th. "Do you think the Gulf Coast equal to the Atlantic Coast for
climate, health, etc.?"
Yes; far superior.
17th. "What is the price of land in your section?"
That depends upon quality and location. Here, in the settlement of
Braidentown, land is selling at from $25 to $100 per acre. A short
distance back of the town, pine land can be purchased at from $1.50 to
$5 per acre; and hammock land at $10 per acre. Across the bay, nearly
opposite Manatee, on the Patten plantation, good hammock land, once
under cultivation, can be purchased at from $15 to $25 per acre,
according to location. This land is being rapidly metamorphosed into
vegetable gardens, whose products--tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peas,
etc.--reach the Northern markets during the month of March.
18th. "What are the business prospects for a new-comer?"
That will depend a great deal on the "new-comer." Come, investigate and
judge for yourself.
19. "Can sugar-cane be grown to advantage in your neighborhood? and what
amount of sugar can be made to the acre?"
The Manatee region is the natural home of the sugar-cane. Here it
tassels, and consequently fully matures. Florida is the only State of
the Union in which the cane tassels. When the Cofield and Davis, now
Patten plantation, was in full operation, the average product was two
hogsheads of sugar to the acre. The cane here ratoons from six to eight
years.
20th. "What is the cost of clearing land?"
That depends on the quality of the land. The average pine land can be
cleared and grubbed at from $10 to $20 per acre. Hammock land will cost
double that price.
21st. "Can lumber be had on the Manatee, and if so, at what price?"
Heart-pine lumber, suitable for fencing or building purposes, can be had
here at $15 per M. Light wood posts can be purchased at $10 per hundred.
22d. "What is the price of labor in your vicinity?"
Colored laborers can be hired at from $15 to $20 per month, with board
or rations. The price is $1 per day when the laborer boards himself.
23d. "Are fish, oysters and game plentiful?"
Our rivers and bayous are literally alive with mullet--the mackerel of
the South. Sea-trout (black bass), jack-fish, sheepshead, red-fish,
angel-fish, drum and pompino can also be had in abundance in the water
around Palm Key, at the mouth of the bay. Oysters and clams of a
superior quality can be had in Terraceia and Sarasoto Bays. Deer,
squirrels, quail and wild turkeys abound in the adjoining hammocks.
24th. "Can you refer me to any person in your vicinity whose health has
been benefited by the climate?"
Yes; several. Rev. Edmund Lee, of Manatee, arrived here forty-five years
ago, a confirmed invalid; in fact, nearly gone with pulmonary
consumption. On his first arrival he was so weak that it required
considerable effort to pull a mullet off a grid-iron. The healthfulness
of the climate, together with out-door exercise and a clear conscience,
have enabled him to fight the flesh and the devil successfully to the
present time. He is at this time a well-preserved patriarch of
seventy-two years; has outlived two wives, and bids fair to remain many
years longer on this side of Jordan.
Mr. John M. Helm, residing some three miles south-east of Braidentown,
arrived from Windsor, Ind., about four years since. He also was nearly
gone with consumption. One lung was hepatized, and on the other a
tubercle formed, and discharged after his arrival here. Physicians at
the West pronounced his case hopeless--beyond the reach of medicine--and
recommended the climate of Florida as a last resort. He is now a well
man, and can hoe more orange trees in a day, and hoe them better, than
any man I know in Florida.
Two years ago I arrived here, clad in porous-plasters, suffering with
chronic rheumatism. Two months later I was as frisky as a lamb in spring
time. I am convinced that my old complaint has left me never to return,
so long as I remain here. I could record other cases, but the above must
suffice for the present.
25th. "State the most direct route to Braidentown."
By rail to Cedar Key, the terminus of railroad communication, thence by
the boats of the Tampa Steamship Company to this place. A boat leaves
Cedar Key on Monday and Friday afternoon of each week, and arrives at
Braidentown early on the following morning. Fare, $8. The above is the
advertised programme, but it is sometimes changed to suit wind and
weather. Captains Jackson and Doane are thorough seamen, and do
everything in their power to render passengers comfortable. Whatever may
be the opinion of travelers in regard to the speed and accommodations of
the boats, they will unanimously agree that the fare--$8 for a distance
of less than 100 miles--is _first-class_. A line of light draught,
modern-built and comfortably fitted-up steamboats, between Cedar Key and
Braidentown, would be liberally patronized. Shall we have the boats?
Echo repeats the question.