St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-03-08
SARAH A. STEVENS
CONTINUED from last week.
Florida State Fair.
JACKSONVILLE, Feb. IA, 1878.

JACKSONVILLE, Feb. IA, 1873.
Editor of Caleaonian
This morning opened lowery, with fire.
quent showers, Irregular Fair weather,)
but about noon it cleared up, and after
dinner / found my way to the grounds
The attendance was much larger than
on either of the preceding days, the
main hall being rather crowded till sun
down. During the forenoon Gov. Drew
and staff visited the grounds, and in
the afternoon the visiting members of
the sanitary commission, composed of
the mayors of several Southern cities,
arrived at the exhibition.
There was three entries of "HOrned
CATTLE" viz: one Durham COW, one ma
tive cOw-bOth small-and native
steer from Levy county, said to be seven
years old. l asked when he would get
to be an OK; but the person in charge
said that haG "got him there-ask me
something easier" l should think he
would weigh nearly 200 lbs. There
were three horses in the stalls. There
were nineteen exhibits of hens, and one
of ducks. The hens were very good,
including Plymouth Rocks, White Brah-
mas, Polands, Dark Brahmas, Red
Games, and Silver POlands.
In the main building was quite
show from Mandarin, the Florida home
of Mrs. H. b. Stowe. l noticed large
shapeless root something like an over
grown ruta-baga, weighing about Is
lbs. 1t was the root of vine called
the Spanish potato, or "Old man of the
woods" Then there were sweet pota-
toes IL inches long. Weight three lbs.
and color of a carrot West India sweet
potatoes, shorter and whittier; Guinea
corn, 10 feet high. The Florida AdUer-
tiSer was published here. Then came
rice; Valencia lemons, very large, light
color, with nipple at the bottom sweet
Seville oranges, double oranges, hops,
olives; four large yellow oranges on a
stem One-eighth of an inch in diameter,
weight of cluster three lbs. Messina
lemons, several very fine collections of
flowers from Miss Lizzie Speer of Talla-
hasee Japan plums lot of oranges
from il seven years old Seeding tree,
height of tree 20 feet, spread of branches
IL feet, diameter of trunk seven inches
concrete from Cedar Keys; prolific
Egyptian cotton; Strawberries very
large; and very large collection of
white coral from Cedar Keys.
Orange county was better represent
ed than yesterday. | noticed a pyra-
mid of very large lemons from H.
Brantley's weighing from IL to 16 Ozs. J;
two large oranges measuring l41 inches
in circumference lot of cut flowers :;
ruta-baga turnips; cabbages; English
turnips rust-proof oats; pears from
Clear Water; patent tree pruners, sweet
potatoes six lbs. weight, ETC., etc.
The floral department was filled with
the usual collection of quilts, patch
work, flowers, needle and crochet works,
etc. l noticed among other things a
boys jacket made of palmetto, glass
case of flowers made entirely of the
plumage of Florida birds. l saw very
curious quilt covered with fruits, flowers
and birds raised and stuffed.
AT tha vast anI of tha ban ,,,oe 9,
table covered with large collection of
vegetables, all raised on Oak Bluff farm
five miles from Jacksonville. There
were 35 varieties of table vegetables.
Duval county had on exhibition a lot
of Florida sugar about the color of good
stirred maple sugar; pickles made of
watermelon rind and preserved in
orange vinegar; sour orange jelly sour
orange preserves sour orange marma-
lade, ETC., etc.
Some of the premiums offered were
quite liberal, viz. Best display offruits
grown in Florida, diploma and 800
Best orange, diploma and $40. Best
Seeding orange SIS. Best peck of
oranges from one tree, offered byssBid-
well, $50. Best collection of cut flow
ers, 800. Best display of vegetables,
$25. And there were two or three that
might be offered at our fair with good
results in my opinion, viz: Best map
drawing from copy by pupil in any
school. Best map drawing from men,
ory. Best cabinet of minerals. Best
cabinet of insects.
The hotels and boarding houses were
full for the first time this season. Gen.
Young of Georgia, one of the Paris
commissioners, was there to see about
some exhibits for the French Worlds
falr. Yours truly, FL. K. IDE.
:. Possible epitaph of this great repub-
he: "Died of too much Congress. p