Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1876-05-04
Florlia as il Is.

place of resort, and in some ca.
ses of residence, it is we'll thai
our readers should know that
while that country is in some
respects desirable, yet the real.
ity is not always as rosy as The
reports indicate. The follow
ing letter, received last week,
was written at Tampa, by a
Tennesseean who is eminent for
his attachments, discernmcnt,
and sound sense. lie writes:
81 have now finished my trip
southwards through the inteSi-
or of Florida. / came here in
tending to go on the Manatee,
Caloosahatchee, Pease Creek,
and thence to Key West. lam
now satisfied from information
derived from old settlers, from
cattle drivers and herdsmen-
the best of all authorities, as
they see every part of a coun-
try. swim every creek and river,
and travel every path and bye
way-that the entire country
between this place and Key
West, with the exception of a
narrow strip on the Manatee, a
still narrow strip on the Calico
sahatchee, some of the Keys on
the Atlantic side, and a small
area near Biscayne Bay, are
wholly undesirable as settle
ments, and will remain SO until
there is wealth enough to ditch
and drain the country, so that
in the rainy season they will not
become submerged. Until that
is done, the country is undesir-
able. If ever done, then the
southern part being nearer the
tropics, and perhaps richer
lands, will be the best for su-
gar, spices and fruits.
81 have now travelled by the
route | came here about $50
miles. Ny first impressions of
the country over which | have
travelled, with the exceptions l
shall mention, are anything else
but favorable. Nineteen-tYen-
tieths of the country is pine
sandy land, much like the coun-
try near Lake City, except that
it is more rolling, and perhaps
richer, People raised in the
rich black land States are apt to
look upon it with extreme dis
gust, and would not have fifty
miles square if given them
This is what superficial obser-
vers would say. 1t will not do
to thus Judge of country
AS poor and lifeless as the coun-t
try looks, (you may travel some
times ten or fifteen miles with
out seeing a bird or even a liz
zard,) whenever you come upon
g settlement, matters not how
poor the land may look, and
how much torn up by salaman-I
ders, whether upon a hill or in
a valley, you are sure to see
fiourishing orange and other
fruit trees, superb vegetables of
all kinds, and the sugar cane
in rank luxuriance, far
to the product on the
rich lands Of Louisiana. Sure
ly a land yielding such pro-
ducts with Indifferent cultiya-
ton, and no efforts to manure it,
must have some virtues. tt
comes to this: what we take to
be poor land, is not poor, what
sand, is not sand, but soil. The.
exceptions to this general rule
are the lands bordering on the
large lakes, such as Orange,
Griffin, Choka, Apopka.
and others. The lands on these
are rich, very rich. They are
held at extravagant prices, fifty
to one hundred dollars per acre
much, when Get out in orange
trees, high above these prices.
HernaGdo county is an excep-
ton to this. 1t looks compared
with the balance, like an oasis
in a desert. In this county a.
bout one-third of the land is
rich hammock--rolling - tim
bered with live oak, magnolia,
bay trees, white oak, ash, hick-
Dry, cedar, wild cherry, &c
many good springs = no sand
to hurt-good roads--clay soil,
&c. 1t looks much like the
country about Nashville, with
ont rocks. About one-third of
the country is first-class pine
lands, resting on a clay basis,
capable of being reduced to
high cultivation; the other one
third about like the pine lands
in other countries. The clear