CONCERNING FLORIDA.
A contributor, who is conversant with his subject, sends us the following important items, which we commend to young men who contemplate emigration.
‘Heads of families,’ says our correspondent, ‘with “little to earn and many to keep,” with several sons growing up and having a desire to go abroad and see the world, will be glad to know that there are ways for providing for the olive branches other than sending them to Australia or Manitoba to earn merely nominal wages as farm-labourers. Until recently, the United States depended almost wholly upon the enterprise of foreigners for their supply of oranges; but, as if by an inspiration, the discovery has been made that they can, amongst the numerous other industries for which they are remarkable, grow their own oranges, and that, too, of better quality, both in size and flavour, than those which are imported. The great and unequalled facilities for cheap and rapid transportation have opened up nearly the whole of the peninsula of Florida to settlement; and what was only recently very correctly described as a vast expanse of swamps, lakes, and sluggish rivers, is now a vast system of drainage-canals and railways.
In Florida, four hundred pounds will buy forty acres of land, ten of which may be cleared, fenced, and planted with orange-trees. A house may be inexpensively erected at an average cost of ten pounds per room. The orange-tree will bear five years from the bud, or ten years from seed; but a man left in charge—say the son of the owner—would have no difficulty in supporting himself by the sale of small fruit, which, coming to perfection in the middle of winter, commands the best prices in the New York and other Northern markets. In ten years, oranges are handsomely remunerative, and the crop steadily increases in value with every succeeding year. For those who cannot wait so long, the lemon and lime may prove more attractive, as they bear much sooner. They are almost as profitable, though not quite so hardy.
The list of things which can be grown profitably in Florida is so long and various as to include such dissimilar articles as potatoes, cocoa-nuts, plantains, guavas, mangoes, tomatoes, pine-apples, pumpkins, water-melons—which frequently weigh a hundredweight—grape-fruit, citron, cotton, sugar, strawberries, coffee, tea, tobacco, mulberries, pears, quinces, apples, Scuppernong grapes, &c. The woods and forests which have been slumbering all these years are now alive with settlers, who are actively employed felling timber, clearing land, erecting fences, planting groves, building houses, and in numerous ways expending their energy on the improvement of the land. The old cry, “Go west,” has been changed to, “Go south;” and now thousands of families from the Northern States are there, having orange and lemon groves, with pretty cottages simply but comfortably furnished, situated on the banks of rivers and lakes.
For the man who is fond of outdoor exercise and has a taste for gardening, the life in Florida has a charm all its own, for fruit-growing is nothing but gardening on an extensive scale. The soil in Florida has the most unpromising appearance, looking like nothing so much as silver sand. Yet what a charm it possesses! Seeds put in this apparently hopeless material spring up almost immediately; and cabbages, lettuces, radishes, and turnips may be eaten three weeks from sowing in the middle of January. Fish of large size, from ten pounds upwards, abound in the rivers and lakes, and being easily caught, make a very welcome addition to the larder. Deer, wild turkeys, quail, and numerous other kinds of game have not yet learned to shun the haunts of men.
Extensive drainage-works have made available for settlement vast tracts of land which have probably been submerged for centuries, but which now, thanks to the remarkable system of drainage-canals, is as dry and firm and as healthy to live upon as the best land in the State. A pretty site judiciously chosen on the banks of a lake will eventually enormously enhance the value of the property when the surrounding country is settled up. The plan suggested for persons of small means is to take up forty acres. Having ten acres cleared and planted at once, the whole might be fenced in, and a comfortable house built in the middle of the allotment. The remaining thirty acres can be brought into cultivation by degrees, and in the meantime will serve to graze cattle and sheep, which, being turned into the grove at night, fertilise it in the most effectual and inexpensive manner.’
Another correspondent has favoured us with the following notes:
‘Upon landing at New York City in the beginning of April of the present year, the weather was particularly disagreeable—cold, rainy, and sleety, and I was only too glad to leave the inclement North for the bright sunny South.
On the morning after landing at New York, I took my ticket for Jacksonville, Florida, and on the journey, stopped a few hours at Washington, and also spent a night at Savannah, Georgia; reaching Florida, the land of flowers, romance, and orange groves, in three days from the time of leaving New York.
Florida was first discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497, and after various vicissitudes in its history, became one of the United States in 1845. It is gratifying to know that the undoubted advantages and attractions of this country are becoming better known, and more and more appreciated, by all classes both in the United States and England. A great amount of English capital and English energy is now being attracted to Florida, which is a country offering inducements to the capitalist, sport to the sportsman, novel and romantic scenery to the tourist, health to the invalid, and very considerable advantages to the intelligent emigrant. The area of Florida comprises sixty thousand square miles; and the soil is adapted to an infinite variety of products, such, for instance, as corn, oats, rice, beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, strawberries, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, figs, &c.; and in South Florida, cocoa-nuts, pine-apples, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables too numerous to mention. The climate is charming. In winter, the thermometer seldom goes below thirty degrees, or in summer above ninety; and although the State is the most southern of the United States, hot nights or oppressive days are comparatively rare. This is accounted for by its peculiar position, shape, and surroundings. The constant breezes, either from the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, purify the atmosphere, and render the Floridian climate enjoyable the whole year; and I may add, that after a four years’ residence in the State, I know of no disease that is indigenous or prevalent.
Jacksonville is situated on the grand St John’s River, and is the largest and most important city in Florida. It has a population of over twenty thousand, and will ere long take rank with Savannah or Charleston in commercial importance. This is the point at which all Northern visitors enter the State, and from which they radiate in search of health, work, or sport. Here there are fine buildings, shops, churches, schools, and about one hundred and fifty boarding-houses and hotels, the latter being filled during the winter months with invalids, principally consumptives.
The most absorbing question of interest to the greatest number now, however, is the great money-making business of orange-growing, which is peculiarly adapted to the Florida soil and climate. Since I first visited the State (in 1873), this industry has gone far beyond the commercially experimental stage, and I have been an eye-witness to its undoubted success. It is particularly interesting and instructive to travel over districts now, and observe bearing orange groves, the owners of which are securing handsome incomes, where ten years ago not a tree was planted. In Orange County, many emigrants who first went to Florida for their health, have improved sufficiently to earn their living and raise an orange grove in addition. Many of them took up one hundred and sixty acres of land under the Homestead Law, and selling off portions of it to later comers, have realised enough money to cultivate the balance retained. Others, who knew a trade, worked part of their time for their neighbours, and spent their unemployed hours in planting an orange-tree here or there for themselves, until they finally had a five or ten acre grove, of sixty trees to the acre, which when bearing would give them an annual income of from three hundred to one thousand pounds. Owing to recent railway and shipping facilities, a man nowadays may—if his land is well selected—grow early vegetables, &c., without interfering with his orange-trees, and ship them north to Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York, and realise profit sufficient to enable him to pay his expenses whilst his grove is coming into bearing; for it must be borne in mind that the Floridians can grow any vegetable in winter which the Northerners grow in summer; and the Northern people are quite willing to pay a high price for such luxuries as peas, tomatoes, or strawberries at Christmas.
These are some of the attractions Florida holds out to the man who has industry, perseverance, and ordinary intelligence.’