Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-05-26
1lahhu,ap &c NonrraL
WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1875.
Letter from Florida.

/ ing service as slceplng-rOOlns, Whlle, lor
/ few nights cars aud steamers also were
made to do duty, and this in a town where
there are two immense hotels, any number
Of smaller ones aud very few houses where
boarders or dodgers are not accommodated
Surely the cold winter has proven faithful
friend TO Floridians, for never before were
there so many visitors as during the presen,
winter, and as the number increases, the
scale OF prices rises proportionately; SO those
who came late are paying considerably
larger sum for board than those who came
early in the season, aud rich harvest OF
greenbacks Is being gathered by the hosts
and hostesses.
To the old residents, the change which
has come over Jacksonville since the close Of
the war must seem wonderful indeed, for in
1866 census was taken by ex-senator Os.
borne, which showed the population 10 be
about twelve hundred, and fully threc-fourths
were destitute blacks; now the city claims
a resident population Of fourteen thousand,
with considerable amount Of business, ten
churches, two newspapers, schools, public
halls, handsome business blocks, wide streets,
and the accompanying drinking and gam
bling saloons which cities "must have" "
while it Is the resort Of thousands Of people
from 4" oH oc.r," as the natives express il.
IN addition to the public, or free schools,
there arc the Episcopal seminary, under the
personal supervision of the Bishop Of Flor
ida, and St Joseph's academy, under the
control Of the Lady Superior Of the convent
French lady whose chief qualification for
the position seems to be an infeSible will.
The business done in curiosities is a very
considerable one, and the shops of the ven
dors of such articles are usually thronged +,
strangers are easily distinguishable by the
sea-shell jewelry, alligator's teeth charms
etc, which they sport, if in no other way and
one would readily conclude that all the gentle
men are rheumatic, for every one wears "
an orange cane, the number Of knots deter
mining the value and beauty Of said article
Then, too TO watch the movements OF some
Of the new arrivals who are maccustomed to
the colored people, is rare amusement Some
gather their skirts or coat-tails carefully IN
their hands, and pass by on the other side,
with an air which plainly says No nigger
for me % while another class regard them as
natural curiosities, and manifest a desire to
interview every one they meet. One of the
latter class was rather astonished, one day, by
the answer he received from little woolly-
headed contraband, whose wits were as bright
as his shining skin, when he asked the ques-
ton "Well, my little man. how do YOU live
down here 2" I'VE lives of fish and sick
Yankees, sab" quickly responded the "little
man" much to the amusement OF the listen
ers near by.
The chief shipments from the state are
lumber and fruit, principally oranges. Con
siderable is said in books on Florida and her
resources about her wonderful adaptab.lity
10 market gardening, but as long as we are
served with vegetables from New York,
shall question the accuracy Of these state
ments. Milk, too, is one Of the expensive
luxuries here for grass is hard to find, and
cows very scarce. Along the St. Johns river
may often be seen cows, up 10 their backs in
water, hunting for the sweet, tender grass.
which grows there, beneath the water, as it
seems to do in no other place near Jackson
vile; sometimes huge alligator breaks the
legs of these animals with n switch Of his
anos,pots tail ,r Fogt.,,s b;e to.tl l., ..,,.,..
portion of the body, thus disabling them 50
they must be killed-so that getting living
in Florida, even for cows, is attended with
many drawbacks.
Large steam saw-mills dot the sides Of the
st. Johns, and immense quantities of lumber
principally pine-are daily sawed. The
work in the mills | visited is done chiefly by
colored men, and though they " do not know
enough to take care Of themselves | notice
they get on very well as engineers in the
mills, and as pilots on all the steamers, One
thing struck me as at variance with the
rule "waste not;" the first cut from the logs
takes down to the heart, and al the sap por-
tion is Immediately run over to the fire bin,
and burned, to get it out of the way. 1t
seems to me Yankee might devise some
plan to utilize this lumber now wasted. The
engines are fed by the sawdust
In the vicinity Of jacksonville are quite
a number of orange groves and graperies,
chiefly owned 10y men from the North--for,
with occasional exceptions, the natives man
ifest very little interest in the development
OF the state. At the recent convention of
fruit-growers, the most active man, and the
best informed on the subject before the con
yention, was J. S. Adams, at one time the
efficient Secretary Of Yerlnont's Board of
Education, now postmaster at Jacksonville.
Deceived by the glittering inducements
offered by publications, setting forth the
wonderful facility with which fortunes are
made in the state, many a man has sold his
home, and with the few hundreds thus OBJ
tanned come here, with his family, expecting
to find himself transplanted to the garden of
Eden, where every tree bears fruit good to
eat, and all the land blossoms like rose
Bitterly are such men disappointed. For
tunes do not lie about loose here any oftener
than elsewhere, though many men have
made money off their orange groves, and
more will do the same; but TO do this one
must have means to live on while the trees
are growing. Wheat and corn grow here
but poorly, II they grow at all, which | much
doubt stock raising is ont of the ouestion