The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-10-22

N5s3Or FioridSaa.; .Ds. Jaciene.n writing "a
the DeIAnd AgricnstsrisS under The significant
bead Of Failures Of . Settler" pIainhvely 10.
counts his expeldencs IL Florida. and his many
hiiures he dos not give his post ofacs address
bat We gather nom his letter, and from the re
marks Of the editor thereon, that be made the
serious mistake Of settling in South Florida in
stead Of Middle Florida He says: I'VE tried
the Northern method Of planting but several
costly trials proved that the sooner we conformed
TO native habits the better" This would seem
70 indicate that the Doctors was an aggravated
case OF knew too much" for which he wisely
prescrbed NE proper heroic " remedy.
OF Fertilizers he says: We lost heavily by the
use Of guano. cotton-seed meal and the like OF
.artihciai manures.' II concentrated, the plants
fired If diluted, 1t leached, aud the plants failed
to fruit" Now, IL Dr. Jacienc had settled In
Middle Florida, he would have found deep and
inexhaustible clay su6sea, which would not only
have required less fertilization than the thin,
sandy scils Of South and East Florida, but would
have Setasned, from year to gear, the fertilizing
effects Of good nianures, properly applied.
The Doctor bitterly complains Of the cost and
difficulty Of clearing heavily tmbered, wild lands.
It ls process costly and difficult everyw here
but in Middle Florida he could have secured any
number Of acres of land already cleared and under
cuHipGtion, for The same, If not much bscer price,
than his wild lands in South Florida originally
cost him, If he settled in that fashionable region
which 10 enormously and ridicuously called the
orange belt" by spectators and " live land
agents." who call ii SO because the lands they offer
TO the toO-confiding settler without the CLAM
our of this now exploded faIlacy would scarcely
recommend themselves to any intelligent and
uninfuenced purchaser.
"Dr. Jaciene reports the loss of many vaua-
BILE animals from eating some deadly plant
which fourished in bic pasture range We
know nothing of such things in Middle Florida
His fowls, of the finest breeds, attacked by chol-
era and roup, degenerated and died out These
diseases prevail everywhere, and doubtless the
Doctors failure 10 this branch of industry should
be put to the account of msmanagement, for it
is not likely the climate Of South Florida had
anything to do with it. In this section the only
serious drawback to poultry-raising is that too
many engage in it, the large majority practicing
this industry By nigh. AS to Horticulture, his
TO encourage him in This respect, because in Mid
die Florida few intelligent experiments with
Northern varieties of apples, pears and peaches
have been made, and those now in progress have
not had time 10 demonstrate the full extent of
the promised success. We do haze, though in
small quantities, both peaches and pears of fine
size and flavor, and old apple orchards in Geor
gia, just across the line, which have been success
fully cultivated for years, encourage us to hope
for equally good results in the way of apples
OF grapes, several kinds of which the Doctor
tried and failed with, we have some most excel
lent varieties, and il has been proven, beyond
doubt, that with proper culture they will sue
ceed
Figs managed to ripen and sour during the
rainy season." says the Doctor. Middle Florida
may be APPLY called the very Paradise of figs of
every variety. They can be successfully dried,
even in the sun, yielding product rot inferior
to the best imported fruit.
We planted corn in January, it tasseled dur
ing the drought in April, and the caring was
scanty; then we tried April and harvested a
double crop OF soaking corn and chills in Septem-
Der. How ii does rain when corn is to be taken
in!" In Middle Florida aside from cotton, corn
is our best hold" 1t is planted in March and
harvested in October, the fodder being saved in
June or July by stripping the leaves, tying them
in bundles and housing them in barns or stack
ing. As TO the chils we have them here too, but
we have never been able TO make South Florida
resident acknowledge that chills and fever pre-
vailed there-indeed, one of the most popular
arOu nnenfa uaed IN induca aoftara IN rr thara 10