The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1878-07-03
THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIsT

lected. In one of my calls l found
myself in the home of a genuine
"cracker." His wife told me that the
family had been living for some time
on berries, for their corn had run out,
and they had no money to buy more,
Last of money is a general COM
plant, it is true, but here it is appar-
emily absolute. There is literally no
money in circulation. so far as l can
hear, and consequently recent visits
of the Revenue Collector have left
many persons without even the osten-
sible means of living that they had
before. Many places of business
have been peremptorily closed, their
proprietors being unable to take out
a license, and l understand that IN
some instances the arbitrary conduct
of the Collector will be likely to
lead to work for the lawyers. How
far this kind of thing is polite may
be a question for discussion else
where
In conversation with practical men
| find that some arrangement has
been afforded by an article quoted
in the Union of the 10th inst. from
the Florida AGRICULTURIST. N 9TH
ing is more natural than that our
friend at Volusia should like to air
his West India experiences, but he
need not have travelled even to
Jamaica to prove that the popular
idea that flour is the staple of life is
a delusion. Surely the slender mate
rial that keeps togather the body and
soul of colored man in Florida
would have served his purpose. But
it appears to people who have to live
on the soil, and not merely to sit in
an editors chair and write about it,
that friend Codrington altogether
misses his mark. He does not tell
the victim of the land warrant how
he is to live while his food is grow
ing; and that time is not so short as
theorists suppose. Indeed l am told
that the President of the farmers
Society, which holds weekly meetings
at Waldo, has expressed the opinion,
derived from experience, that new
land cannot be got into reasonably
good order in less than three years.
find that most others about here
agree with him, and from what l
have seen | certainly think he is
right. One person who had read the
Colonels instructions for living in
Florida, remarked, "What is the use
of telling us to grow cassava :?
What we want to know how is to grow
| it, when to plant it, and how to get
it," This is true. Probably not one
in ten of the new settlers ever heard
of cassava till they came to Florida.
What they want to be told is not
only what they ought to do but how
they are to do it. A lady whose
husband had bought a section of
land in the Lake region got into con-
versation about the resources of the
county with one of the local crack
ers." "Do you ever have mutton
here" she inquired. Mutton NUT
ton I" he answered, whats that p"
Yet this ignorance of the native
Floridian as to the meaning of NUT
ton is nothing more surprising than
that, say, a machinist from New
England, should not know how to
grow cassava or even sugar. There
is vast difference between editorial
preaching and pine woods practice.
The shipment of produce this
year from Alachua has been vastly
less than it might have been, if there
were proper facilities for transporta.
ton and sale. Large quantities of
vegetables have been allowed to rot
ON the ground because of the risk of
sending them North. By sending an
agent to New York in the interests
OF the transportation companies, an
effort has been made to show that