As I Saw it on a Thousand-mile Tour of the Central Part of
the State.
_By A. C. Williams._
Wasn't it Saul who went out in search of asses and found a kingdom? You
men who are familiar with the Bible can answer that. But I can testify
that I, while not in search of asses, duplicated Saul's experience
during the past month, when, in company with M. Sansom, W. N. Waddell,
Caesar Kleberg and Tom T. East of Texas, Dr. L. J. Allen of Oklahoma,
Geo. M. Rommel of Washington, P. L. Sutherland, C. L. Gaines and J. G.
Boyd of Florida, I had the pleasure of a thousand-mile trip through the
central part of the State of Florida.
Nature has been very kind to Florida, providing delightful climate,
fertile lands and adequate rainfall for farming purposes; broad
prairies, carpeted with succulent grasses and watered by running streams
for live stock raising; timber galore for sawmills, and countless beauty
spots beckoning to tourists. But the citizens of that State have been
slow to take advantage of their opportunities. Agriculture in many
sections has been a neglected art. Practically all of the foodstuffs,
including grain, meat, butter and eggs, have been produced outside the
State. Colonization companies have devoted their energies to boosting
orange orchards and truck gardens (the "poker game of agriculture"), and
little organized effort has been made to attract farmers and stockmen of
tireless energy--the backbone of any community.
Among the neglected industries, none stand out more conspicuously than
stock raising. The native cattle, inbred, stunted specimens of doubtful
origin, have been turned loose on the free, open range to rustle for
themselves, and little effort has been made in most sections toward
breed improvement. Due to the mild climate, good range, adequate water
supply and absence of screw worms, coyotes and other pests, they have
survived. And with open range and no expense they have been very
profitable. In our entire trip we saw only two or three flocks of sheep
and goats. They were of better quality than I had expected--fairly good
for mutton, but light on wool.
A new era is dawning for the cattle business of Florida. The war has
forced a reduction in the exports of turpentine and rosin, and the large
land owners are turning their attention to improved stock raising. A
packing house has been erected at Jacksonville. Systematic tick
eradication is being carried on. Large tracts of land have been fenced
and stocked. Hundreds of well-bred Texas cows and registered Hereford,
Angus, Shorthorn and Brahma bulls are being purchased, and the work of
breed improvement is growing in popularity.
Good feed and forage crops can be grown in most sections, and with this
new movement for improved live stock will come deeper interest in
agriculture. The chief forage crops now produced in that State are corn,
velvet beans, Japanese cane, sorghum, cow peas and beggar-weed. The
first three perhaps take the lead. The corn and velvet beans are planted
together, in rows from four to six feet apart. The beans grow very rank,
producing an abundance of good hay, and beans which are high in feeding
value. The beans may be left on the vines for pasturage, or gathered and
ground into bean meal, which is excellent for cattle feeding. Japanese
cane resembles our Texas ribbon cane. It makes good silage, keeps well
and is highly relished by cattle. The Florida beggar-weed grows as a
volunteer in old fields of a light sandy soil. If cut at the right time
it makes good hay, and, while it is rather bulky for silage alone, it is
said to add greatly to the fattening value of silage. Corn and cow peas
need no introduction to our readers.
The most common grasses are several varieties of paspalum or carpet
grass, switch grass, wire grass, little blue maiden cane and Bermuda.
Crab and Natal grass are volunteers which follow crops on sandy soils.
Both Guinea and Para grasses thrive in South Florida, where less liable
to injury by frost. Fort Thompson grass, which resembles giant Bermuda,
with larger joint, stem and leaf, is a native of Florida, which will
some day be recognized as one of their very best pasture grasses.
With their open range and native cattle--a poorer grade than our
old-time longhorn--the cattle business of Florida today may be compared
to that of Texas twenty years ago. What they need is more bulls and
experienced cattlemen who will apply the intelligence, energy and
persistence that know not failure.
Leaving Kenansville at 8:15, we were soon out on the Kissimmee prairie
of thousands and thousands of acres of open range. Here, where the grass
was very luxuriant, resembling a hay meadow, we saw several hundred more
of the small native cattle, followed by the common scrubby bulls. The
fat four-year-old steers weighed around 550 pounds, and are valued at
$30 per head. The cows weighed around 500 pounds. The range herds of
mixed ages and classes are valued at $20 per head. We soon left the
public highway, circling marshes and dodging palmettos. Our next stop
was on Gum Slough Ranch, where we were told that on a pasture of 10,000
acres there were 6,000 cattle. The ground was well covered with carpet
and a variety of other grasses, and did not show the effects of close
grazing. The cattle were in good condition and of better quality than
most of the others which we had inspected.--_From The Cattleman,
September, 1917._