The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-12-18


beautiful when seen through hues of
sunset and so the west seems Utopian
when seen from this distance by those
who have been disappointed here and
who compare the splendid fertil-
ity of that with the comparative ster-
i!ity of this soil-and forget the rest.
The inhabitants of the state (Kansas)
that has attracted by far the greatest
number of emigrants the past year
have been obliged repeatedly within
the last ten years to call upon the
country to save them from starva-
ton. Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota
Iowa have been repeatedly devastated
by the locusts in whole counties and,
particularly where the country was
new and but little grain in, fol then
the insects would get it all. This is
not said to discourage emigration
west but merely as one phase of the
subject that it is worth the while for
man to consider who intends mov-
ing his family to new home.
Whether poor man will succeed
in Florida will depend much upon
what his object is. If it is to settle
in the pine woods and create an Or
ange grove out of nothing he will
probably fail. If he went west with
the intention of running a great
wheat farm he would also fail. Men
must creep before they fly and their
purposes must be according to their
means. If he comes with the inten-
ton of adapting himself TO the coun-
try and accepts the conditions be finds
he will probably succeed as he also
probably would west, and, 80 far as
it goes, the west has an advantage,
Sfe asfsef taKaG fet f5
they have been more talked OF. This
country to northern people is strange
in It's climate, soil and products and
perhaps for this reason more intelli-
gence is essential to easy success here
than west; but the climate is SO de-
lightful and the products of the soil
so delicious that it is easy to forgive
their being strange and hard to un-
derstand.
The term "a living" may mean al
most anything. There are many peo-
pie who would consider they had "a
living" if sweet potatoes and COW
peas with corn meal OF hominy and
Florida pork was on the table in plen-
tiful supplies. Outside the question
of clothing man can hardly be well
and industrious without being able
to provide such plain food in abund-
ance and that without waiting for the
acidity to disappear from new land
and without the expense of fertilizers.
If the new conner is fortunate enough
to get piece Of land already under
cultivation, as if he is willing to wait
a year, then few dollars will enable
him to buy fertilizers enough to make
a good garden, at least if he is at all
judicious in the selection he makes of
land. A patch of sugar cane and
few Irish potatoes or other vegetables
for the Jacksonville OF home market
will provide the few articles of cloth
ing and other necessaries if not some
little luxures. For anything beyond
such moderate living as this, man
must look to surplus cash or possess
unusual energy. Whether Florida
or some of the western states offers
the best inducements to an emlgrants
depends very much upon what he
wants. Florida is pre-eminently
fruit growing country, the west is
agricultural. If he seeks mild eli
mate and his taste runs to fruit cul-
ture, if he is not man of extraya-
giant expectations and is not misled
about the character of the country
before he sees it he will be suited
here. if HI is ambitious to have a
great corn field let him go to Kansas.
In the west without a team and agri-
cultural implements he stands no
chance Of being much more than
day laborer. Without either he can
here be an independent but small
fruit grower. Many people seem to
have confused the idea of living in
Florida at all with the idea of living
here and cultivating an orange grove
on a grand scale, Such people must
learn to draw line between coming
with such purpose and coming with
the more modest hope of cOmfoft.