The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-03-28
Florida-...its Great Advantages in
Productions. Climate. &c.

11OuuCGlUuHs EumAV0, &C.
A recent visit To- South Florida, and
personal Investigation into the apparently
wild and fabulous stories that had
heard ab0ut the attractions of TINT Sec
1onf and the enormous profits to be
derived from raising oranges, lemons.
lines; bananas and other tropical fruits,
proved 30. clearly to my mind the truth
OF all had heard, that have been in
duced to go back, with view of going
INTO the fruit culture, and with view OF
inducing some of my friends to join
with me in investing little capital in
the business. propose to draw their
attention to it in this way:
Untll the last four or five years, less
has been known of Florida, to the gene
ral public, than, perhaps, any Other
State; but it is now become the great
thoroughfare for Northern visitors, who,
driven by the cold Of the North, flock
IN thousands to the bright and bnlmy
skies md truly delightful climate of tho
Land OF Flowers" 1t is the great re-
sort, not only Of the invalid, who goes to
recruit in its temperate and delightful
air, his suffering and exhausted frnme.
but the plensure-seeker here seeks and
finds never ending attractions in the
beautiful scenery of the st. Johns and
Ociawaha. When basking in the irich
mellow warmth of q january sun, and
breathing air fragrant with fruits and
flowers. he may we'll forget the cares and
trials OF n business world, and dream
that he IS truly in fairy land. The
sportsman, too, here finds ever varying
scenes of pleasure and amusement. The
lakes and rivers are teeming with fish of
every imaginable kind. Game of all
kinds is abundant-deer, turkeys, ducks
and small game of every kind abound.
The health of Florida, az shown not only
by the experience of those who live
there, but by the medical statistics of
the United States, ranks prc-eminently
ahead OF that of any other State. I
know contrary opinion has existed, and
that Florida has been supposed to be
State of chills and fevers. This is not
the case. On the contrary, with the ox-
ception of few. locations, near the
swnmps, and on few exceptional water
courses, the health of Florida is as good
as TINT of the mountains of South Caro-
lima.
An article 1 lately read from the pen of
Edward King, says truly of Florida:
"What poets imagination, seven times
heated, could paint foliage whose splen-
dors should surpass that of the virgin TO-
rests of the Oclawaha and Indian Rivers?
What fountain of youth could be ina
glned more redolent of enchantment
than the Silver Spring, now annually
visited by fifty thousand tourists; the
5u6tie moonlight, the perfect glory of
the dying sun, as he sinks below a ho-
rlzon fringed with fantastic trees; the
perfume family borne from the orange
grove, the numerous music of the waves
|aiong the inlets and the mangroye
covered banks, are beyond words. It's
heats are tempered by the Gulf of
Mexico, on the one hand, and the Gulf
Stream, which flows along the Eastern
coast for three hundred miles, on the
other. Over the level breadth of ninety
miles, between these two waters, blow
odorous and health-giving ocean winds.
There tho Northerner, wont to bonst of
the brilliant sunsets of his own cline,
nnds all his past experiences ontdone."
Ihe climate during the winter months is
too well known for it to be necessary for
me to nllude to that; but the summer is
proportionately temperate. The peculiar
shape of the State is such TINT every
part OF 1t is visited by the breeze, either
from the Atlantic or the Gulf Of Mexico
The nights are always cool and pleasant.
and the extreme heat in midsummer
never reaches rs high ns it does further
North. Outside of the city of Jackson
vile 1t is n very rare thing to see the
thermometer reach ninety degrees. and
there it only does when caused by r.hec-
ton from the sand and water.
1t Is impossible for me. in this brief
article, to moro than allude to the chm.
racter and nature of the fruits of this
section. In extreme South Florida, in
nuInernblo tropical fruits flourish, many
oven growing wild-oranges, lines, ba-
nanns, cocoanuts pine apples, guayas
and many others. About one hundred
miles South of Jacksonville. is called
South OF the frost line. "Tis here where
the principal efforts are being made in
fruit raising. The whole country seems
adapted to the growth Of oranges, lemons
and bananas. Pine apples, cocoanuts
and guavas nre not SO successful, unless
i'll the extreme Southern portion of the
State. In choosing location, uccessi-
bllity IL the main thing, where shipping
can be got, without too much inland
transportation. Locations near the nayi
gable rivers and lakes are, of course.
more valuable than in the interior.
where miles of transportation would be
necessary by wagon. The rapidity with
which the desirable places are being
purchased and taken up, hns increased
the price of lands very much. bInny
places that could have been bought i've
years ago for fifty cents to two dollars per
acre, are now worth fifty dollars to one
hundred dollars. Still many good and
desirable places can still be got ut from
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