Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-07-05

chocolate to light gray, the former OF
which is the most productive. The low
hammock is of black color, suitable for
the culture of the sugar cane. As the
war now pending in the island of Cuba
appears continuous, and its results Will
prove disastrous to agriculture in that
country, and tend to the Generalization
of labor, the advantages which this
country presents to the planter, in lands
equally suitable for the culture of sugar
and tobacco as those in the Gem of
Antilles" must, of course, be enhanced.
The country bordering on Indian river
abounds in deer, bear, turkeys, duck and
other game, which can be obtained with
out great difficulty. In the garden at
tached to our camp" about one hun
dred yards distant, the track of deer
made in their visits to the sweet potato
beds the preceding night might be seen
in the morning by scores. Bear are
plenty during'the turtle season, which is
about the month of June, when they visit
the beach to hunt eggs in the sand.
Let me give you an idea of the facility
with which dinner can be gotten up
here. On Sunday neighbor living two
miles distant, sauntered with his rifle on
his shoulder from his camp to ours, to
spend the day, brought in a one gobbler,
to season which boy was sent to the
river to get supply Of oysters with
which to make pie to stuff the turkey.
We drew large bass from the river,
and with cast net one OF the party
caught three fine ducks, while fat
haunch OF venison was procured from a
fine buck hanging from large
live oak which shaded the camp.
So you see with what facility we
procured a sumptuous dinner We
had no need for sardines Indian
river challenges any stream known in its
supply of fine fish of the choicest varie-
ties. The most valued is the pompino,
which is about the size and shape OF the
sheephead, but decidedly superior I'm
like any other fish we know of, the bones
of the pompino are eaten away with avid
ity, being of rich juicy, grisly sub
stance; the flesh, also, is incomparably
fine. Their appearance is beautiful,
having very small scale of the color of
gold and silver. Next is the cavalier,
something like the pompino, lat not so
delicious then comes the sheephead,
mullet, bass, drum, whiting and many
others. 4a to
All the tropical fruits here, as there is
no winter to destroy them, Indian river
being in the 9th parallel of latitude.
For early vegetables for northern mar
ket this fine country, as all the different
varieties grow we'll Unlike other por-
tions of the South, the sweet potato is
planted from the seed but once, as the
vines are always alive and continuously
planted. They have been known to OBJ
tain great size, weighing as much as
twenty-five pounds.
While here we visited the celebrated
orange grove of Captain Dummett. 1t
has over two thousand bearing sweet
orange trees, producing annually some
thing like 100000 of oranges. 1t was
without exception the most beautiful
sight we ever beheld. The crop of 1868
and GO sold at the grove for $4,000
Besides this, there is another large grove
owned by Major Barnum, on Barnum
river, and many other smaller ones. Such
is the Indian river country we have at
tempted to describe.