The Russellville Democrat., 1881-04-28
THE OLD SOUTH"


 THE OLD SOUTH"
 1 What Mir. Jay Gould Saw and Learned in
 Ills Trip to Florida.
 | New York World
 Mir. Jay Gould who returned yesterday morning from his Southern trip of two weeks, was found at his residence last night by Horld reporter, to whom he gave cursory account of his trip. When he spoke of the south as whole. Mr. Gould said: .On this trip l saw what may be called the old South as dis tinguished from the Southwest, which I visited recently. 1 went and returned through Virginia and the Carolinas, l keeping pretty close to the seaboard; that is, took the most direct route to Florida and though I did not return by exactly the same route 1 did not leave the sea- board states at all. There are several ob- 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 op- portunities for immigrants are not so great as they are in vastand new region forexample, like Texas: the,cost of keep ing up the fertility of long g-worked lands is much greater than that of reclaiming virgin soil. Railroad travellers, to-, pass necessarily through great extent of territory which is low, marshy and un- attractive, and the railroad facilities are not go good as they are in the Southwest. But if you take into consideration the long established ideas and old habits of the people, their forward movement is l obvious and remarkable. The old South ! h t, ha anf1a1t,r ,te 1 face toward the rising sum- not in any political sense, bnt in it's new and visibl appreciation of industry, economy and enterprise. That perfect order reigns is clear from the way in which Eastern capital is going in there. find the whole 1 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.
 MT. Gould replied: No, they certainly are not. The railroad facilities for reach | ing Florida are not as good as they should be. They will be materially improved, | however. by line which will be com | pleted in about two weeks, and which will be of great value, especially to in- valids, as it will save about ten hours | from New York to Jacksonville The 1 railroad I speak of runs from Savannah to Jacksonville. At this point you enter the region of the orange plantations For 300 miles south from Jacksonville, along the St. Johns river, and still fur 1 ther north and east the country is dotted over with orange groves of from twenty 1 to twenty-five acres in extent. It takes about five years for an orange grove to mature so as to produce fruit for the market, but nevertheless new groves are constantly planted, and are looked to as a source of revenue. When an orange grove begins to bear fruit it apparently never wears out. I 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 grove?"
 "As said" replied MT. Gould, they vary in extent from twenty to twenty five acres and are worth from $50,000 to $l00000. But they yield handsome percentage. For instance, Mir. Hart, who lives just above me here, owns grove of about twenty-five acres, and he informs me that it yields him a net in. come of from Sl5,000 to $20O00 q year."
 "ls this interest growing?"
 Decidedly so, and l think that within the next five years Florida ought to be able to supply the entire demand of the Eastern United States for oranges, 1 be- lieve that the sweet orange is not a na- tive of Florida, but has: to be graftedupon 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 grafted, but it is interesting and pecu- liar to a Northerner to see these fruits growing on one tree. IL suggests horti- cultural paradise.
 ''Is orange growing 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 Mir. Gould | smiling and evidently thinking of his al- legged alligator farm"
 "But is the alligator q sufficiently val 1 uable animal to make his cultivation re- munerative?"
 No; his hide Is the valuable portion | of him, and even that is worth compara- lively little, though 1 believe they make | it into boots in England"
 But does Florida cultivate these rep- tiles?"
 That is not necessary The alligator | cultivates himself and produces quickly | ana numeTOuSlF. The WnOIe swamp ana | river country is filled with them"
 And are they dangereus?"
 "Well," said MT. Gould, 'it is as well not to get in the way of their tails. I think they strike their victims chiefly | with their tails. Nevertheless, the ll-inch jaws of some of them are not at- tractive. My son killed one which re- sembed whale on four legs. Our party killed over thirty of them, whether l killed any or not myself Is difficult question for me to answer. saw some live ones just before fired and some dead ones just afterwards; but as several rifles went off at the same time cannot assume that 1t 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 | yet the ripe golden fruit was there too. The oranges ripen in the fall, but they can be left on the trees for six months | without injury"