The Osceola times., 1881-05-14
THE OLD SOUTH.
What Mr.. Jay Gould saw and Learned in
His Trip 10 Florida.
New York World.

New York World.
Mr.. Jay Gould who returned yesterday
morning from his Southern trip Of two
weeks, was found at his residence last
night by a World reporter, 10 whom he
gave q cursory account Of his trip. When
he spoke of the south as whole, Mr.
Gould said "On this trip ! saw what
may be called the old South as dis
tingaished from the Southwest, which
visited recently. | went and returned
through Virginia and the Carolinas,
keeping pretty close to the seaboard; that
is, | took the most direct route to Florida
and though did not return by exactly
the same route | did not leave the sea
board states at all. There are several OBJ
vious reasons why the old South should
not be, comparatively speaking, as pro-
gressive as the Southwest. In the first
place, it is more thickly settled; the OPP
portunities for immigrants are not so
great as thew are i'm vastand new region
for example, like Texas: the,cost of keep
ing up the fertility of long-worked lands
is much greater than that of reclaiming
virgin soil. Railroad travellers, to, pass
| necessarily through a great extent of
territory which is low, marshv and un-
hAiihtAiNN, anu Ailt sdilibdNl ldilllAlCS are
not 60 good as they are iuthe Southwest.
But II you take into consideration the
long established ideas and old habits of
the people, their forw rd movement is
obvious and remarkable The old South
seems to me to be actually turning its
/ face toward the rising SUM- not in any
! political sense, but in it, new and visible
appreciation Of industry, economy and
D A..
clear from the way in which Eastern
capital is going in there. lind the whole
country dotted with industries, backed
by capital from the East"
"You say that the railroad facilities
are not as good as in the southwest"
asked the reporter
Mr.. Gould replied: "No, they certainly
are not. The railroad facilities for reach
ing Florida are not as goodas they should
be They will be materially improved,
however, by a line which will be COM
pleted IN about two weeks, and which
will be of great value, especially to in
valids, rs it will save about ten hours
from New York to jacksonville. The
ra,road speak of runs from Savannah
to Jacksonville. At this point you enter
/ the region of the orange plantations
For 500 miles south from Jacksonville,
along the st. Johns river, and still fur
ther north and east the country is dotted
oyeI with orange groves Of from twenty
To twenty-five acres in extent. " takes
about FIVE years for an orange grove to
L,a'ure so as to produce truit for the
market, hut nevertheless new groves are
constantly planted, and are looked to rs
a source of revenue When an orange
grove begins to bear fruit it apparently
never wears ont / heard of one tree
which bears annually from six to eight
thousand oranges, but that is above the
average"
what is the cost of an orange grover"
"As said, ," replied Mr.. Gould, they
vary in extent from twenty to twenty
five acres and are worth from $4,000 TO
100000. But they yield a haodsomc
percentage For instance, Mr.. Hart,
who lives Just above me here, owns a
grove oiabJut twenty-five acres. and he
informs me that it Yields him q net in
come of from SO 900 to 10000 4 year
rs this interest growing
Decidedly so, and think that within
the next five wears Florida ought 10 be
able to supply the entire demand Of the
Eastern United States for oranges, ] be-
lioye that the sweet orange is not a ma
tive of Florida, buthas.lo he grated upon
the tree whica bears the sour orange. On
one tree you sometimes see oranges,
lemons and lines growing together. OF
course the several fruits have been
grated but it j, interesting and pecu-
liar tJ NoithoTner tO see these fruits
growingon ouatree 1t suggests horti-
cultural parsdie.
'ls orange gr3wiug the chief industry
of Florida"
by no means. Not to speak of cotton
and live oak and the like, you must not
forget the alligator" said Mr. Gould,
smiling and evidently thinking of his al
legged alligator farm"
But is the alligator a sufficiently val
liable animal TO make his cultivation re-
muncrative?'
"No; his hide is the valuable portion
of him, and even that is worth compare
lively little, though | believe they make
it into boots in England"
But does Fl9rida cultivate these rep
tile>?'
That is not necessary. The alligator
cutiy9esshimself aud produces quickly
aud nu neroasly. The whole swamp and
river c6untH is filed with thcm.'
And areFthey dangerous"
"Wel, ,Ilid Mr.. Gould, 1T is as well
not 10 get IN the way of their tails. |
think they strike their victims chiefly
with their tails. Nevertheless, the
ll-nch Jaws of some of them are not at
tractiye. My son killed one which re-
sembled a whale on four legs. oar party
killed over thirty Of them, whether ]
killed any or not myself is a difficult
question for me to answer ! saw some
live ones Just before | fired and some
dead ones Just Afterwards; but as several
rifles went of at the same time cannot
assume that it was my gun that killed
an alligator. But alligator shooting was
not what interested me in the South; the
blossoms, our wedding blossoms of the
North, YOU know, were on the trees, and
set the ripe golden fruit was there too.
The oranges ripen in the fall, but they
can be hit on the trees for six months
without injury
Physical Geography.
Here is another one from our boarder,
theschool- -teacher-Anderson llecame
in again, with a smile upon his face; and
anon, after variety Of nervous facial
phenomena, he burst into a hearty laugh
Of course we knew there had been some
thing funny in school, and he must tell
the story, which he did, in his own quiet
inimitable way.
We will give it as a whole, beginning
at the beginning; for, as Anderson had