The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1881-05-31
A Tal,ah.s.eean Abroad.
INTERESTING LETTER FROM AN OCCASIONAL
CORRESPONDENT
H..

INTERESTING LETTER FROM AN OCCASIONAL
CORRESPONDENT.
NEW YORK, May II, 1881.
Editor WOrididn In common with all cii-
zens Of Florida and of Leon county especially I
am deeply interested in our industrial and com.
mercial welfare, and thinking anything novel or
interesting to which my attention has been
drawn might also prove equally SO 10 others, the
following is submitted to your editorial consid-
Grafton
A planter, formerly of Georgia, now of Wes-
tern Florida has adopted the following system Of
labor, which seems to solve the vcxed rental
question:
The planter wished 10 cultivate some paying
crops as for instance, sugar corn, vegetables, &c.
and at The same time cultivate cotton and corn,
and retain his cheap negro labor. The plan is
this Rent to the negros wife, fifteen or twenty
acres of land TO be planted solely in cotton, and
the rent to be paid in cotton, employ the negro
at fifty cents per working day. With this en-
ployed labor the planter will cultivate his paying
crops. In this manner he will save Sunday and
rainy days, and the wages paid is sufficient to
induce negroes TO accept such work The plan
ter also contracts to furnish the negro all sup
plies and the cotton planter her mule Advance
menls thus made instead of being nuisance
become q source of profit. The planter holds
the mans wages and the womans cotton as secu.
rites. With the hired labor, instead of plant
ing cotton at a profit Of two dollars per acre,
plant corn at from $40 10 $25 per acre, sugar
corn from $25 to 800 per acre and vegetables
for much more
CHANGING at various newspapers, one notices
the household and general working departments
wearing happy faces and smiling over Florida
delicacies- All our fruit and vegetables are
eagerly bought.
The manner in which our planters boil their
sugar cane juice to syrup is very destructive to
the sugar it contains, and materially lessons its
value. High heat Injuries sugar, alters it to the
less sweet principle, glucose. All this is due TO
imperfect boiling. The following described pan
is cheap, easily manipulated and yields an ex-
cellent syrup. 1t is used in the largest sorgham
districts of Delaware and Maryland II is usu-
ally cold with the press but presume could be
bought separate from any of the large dealers.
An oblong tank four feet wide, ten feet long and
two or three feet high. From the sides alter
n3tely proJect IRON plates tnTce ana nan leet
long and foot apart. 1t is laid horizontally on
supports, q fire built at one end, smoke and heat
passes under the tank its entire length and al
lowed TO disappear at the other. The tank has
its supply at the fire end and by faucet is al
lowed to escape good thick syrup at the other.
Thus prepared Florida syrup will always find
market and become by-word of typical syrup.
AS the production of silk cocoons is becoming
more or less one of our industries, the following
notes may be of interest: visited one of the
large silk factories of New Jersey, having an in
vested capital OF $25O,OOO. The owners informed
me that The machinery necessary to obtain the
silk from the cocoons is very expensive and that
the laborer is poorly paid. The operators in
France earning about IA cents per day. The
American mills obtain their raw silk from Italy
and China. There are about 1888 silk factories
in the United States. All the cocoons grown
here are shipped TO France. This is done sim
ply because We can't compete with its educated
cheap labor. However. it will always pay to
produce the cocoons The labor is light and
pleasant apd would be splendid work for ladies.
H. v. RS