Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-05-31

good for fruit, or it does not seem to pos
ssss the Constituent qualities necessary for
fruit 10 thrive on. Corn. oats, cane, cot
ton, ETC., will do extremely well on 1t, and
with good cultivation, neither too much |
or too little, yield can Be obtained thHt
viii net q handsome profit. There are
tracts of farming land, in HillsoorouSn
that are Just rs good, but Hillsborough on
the whole, does not possess so good q farm
ing country as Polk. Hillsborough soil
can raise vegetables well, but good tertili-
zation will be needed to make the yield
large and very profitable.
Orange county seems to be mixture of
everything. There are spots Of good farm
ing lands, good fruit lands, and good
lands for raising frogs, but Orange county
cannot, As county. compare with the
other two. It is more fat, at least the
portion | saw Of it, and ponds, marshes
and swamps are numerically strong.
A system Of drainage would give to
Orange some fine farming lands, and fruit
lands in abundance. Hillsborough pos
sesses its fine sea coast, its magnificent bay
and accessories that always come from the
same. Polk possesses its beautiful lakes
and unequalled scenery; and Orange has
its portion Of the st. Johns river.
Your readers may not appreciate the
value of Orange county's possession, the
St. Johns river. It is what has made it,
what has built it up, and what has poured
wealth into it. 1t is means of connect
ing them with the outside world, the
means of transporting the produce to
markets, and means Of landing visitors
within their borders. Certainly HillsbOr-
ough possesses Tampa and its line of steam
ers, but Tampa bay is only at one spot,
while the st. Johns runs all through
Orange, and for miles and miles is a pub
lie highway to it. Polk is without either;
it possesses stores of wealth, but it cannot
develop them. Hillsborough, too, is the
same, notwithstanding its outlet at Tampa,
for that cannot obtain the products of the
interior, as there are no means of trans
porting the same to the bay.
1t seems very peculiar fact that Orange
county, which does not equal either Hills
borough or Polk, should to-day be selling
her lands at price that is simply enor-
nous to the price obtained in the two lat
ter. Land used for orange culture, with
ne crop or bearing trees upon it, sells for
more money per acre than the city lots in
Tampa. 1t is simply because Of their
ready means of transportation. Did Polk
and Hillsborough only possess a means OF
transportation snd travel, once opening up
their interiors, and connecting them to the
outer world, and to good markets, they
would quickly build themselves up to q
country full Of people and full of money.
The projected line OF railrosd, that the
people intend building from Tampa to the
st. Johns river, will realize condition be-
yond the most sanguinO expectations.
Here is a country primeVal in everything,
ready to produce proliically, and produce
4
fruits that the outer world will eagerly
buy, and at good prices; here is country
ready to do it, and the only reason why it
does not do it is because there is no means
to transport. But there will be very soon.
Your esteemed citizen and last Mayor, h.
P. Hepburn, Esq, has just completed the
survey for the route Of this road, and
preparations are being made to get to work
as early as possible and then speedily to
complete it.
Mr.. Hepburn has made many friends
here, and be can, on his return, tell you
how strangers are received here.
Just word about snakes. [ have not
seen rattlesnake yet, and Mr.. Hepburn
with his corps Of men, surveying over 100
miles Of country, walking, wading and
swimming through swamps, hAmmOcks
and creeks, failed to encounter or see one
of these tail purring pets. One can meet
with = mocossin occasionally but they
glide of as quick as possible at the slight.
est noise.
From Tampa to the st. Johns river is
about 110 miles. The route I have already
described, but must say few words on
the people you meet with on the way. ]
have met with visitors here who expect on
going out into the primsval country, away
from the towns, to find beautiful houses,
gardens, lawns and fruit orchards; to sit
down to table loaded with the choicest
of viands, etc., and they seem disappointed
to find the frontier house. The log hut,
in all Of its primeval nature, and to have
to take epi-gsstric exercise on pork and
hominy And yet the owners of that log
hut may be worth 100000. It is a
primeVal country, and needs that develop
ment which has Sc quickly psOpled the
West, railroads, immigration, energy and
capital. This is coming, and before many
years the dream of the visitor will be Fea-
lized. and the log house will be romance
of the past.
1t is gratifying to be agreeably surprised,
is it notF have met with such through
out my trips. At Barlow, at Orlando,
Maitland and Mellonville, 1 met beauty
and intelligence in the ladies, ingenious
ness and energy in the male portion, and
hearty welcome from al. You can re-
alize ones feeling, sitting in a room of a
hotel, away of in the woods, where your
ideas associate primordial civilization with
all that surrounds you, to hear from an ad-
joining room the music Of piano, deftly
executed, and q sweet voice pour ont some
aria from '"Traviste" in sweet and har-
monious strains. Then in eonversing, in
stead OF hearing about the crops, the pigs,
or other local chit chat, you are put to your
msttle BY receiving the opening Of an ar.
gument on the last theological problem,
the latest scientific discovery, or resume
Of those classical labors you haYs laid by
in years passed. You can meet ladies and
gentlemen perfect in all, in every town !
have visited. Although so many miles
from any large city, still they are familiar
with them, not only as they have stood
but as they live on day by day. So with
the great and glorious Union which they
love and honor, AlmOst every one