The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-04-17

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wrote you twp. M3,tsup - II s1eaA i
passion .Qf nthnliAsn. ahoRt I'D and
country 81 i BOUNTY, which vas my
firaE objective point. DsfMnd, yoa know,
il almost . Kentucky eelOny. UudsF -
bright blne skies, and hatheA nAits MArn
atmosphere, I had no trcuhls il seeing
beanty in its heavy sarrcpndIng pine Tor 9t
est, broken only by young otanee gfoves
| and Che numerous lakes '4hO soil WAs
deep sand, hat Ibid net min1thaA Ferty
acres that bonght of itAt 1Ioper aore Ara
now worth 435, although not pine tree
| upon them has yet been touched. One
gets reconciled to a good deal Of sand
wAsn he finds II going up on his hands
| like that. 3aszpssg snss. SD zAs7gb sssx Z.
DeLand is wonderfully athrftys place,
growing like an exhalatiop, but should
never have thought it lovely bat for the
unvsrying Sunshine and the perfect tenn
perature. II b all pine trpes, sand and
osAagss. Not only oranges, hut yasioaa
1thsF sHhstfopic4i FRUITS ssfccgcd thcrcy
and will make fortunes for their iudicious
cultivators, but unless you are willing to
expend good deal of time, labor and
| money, you need not hope to have grass
plot in front of your house or kitchen
garden. behind it. @g .ss s.
1t was still under the glamour of the
climate that wrote subsequently in al
most unbounded admiration of the charms
of the Halifax-river country, on the At
lantic coast. Here / found richer land in
the hammocks, and, to my delight, sort
of grass that actually formed close elias
tic sod on the old Dunn-Lawton planta-
ton. The Halifax river really has ex-
traordinary attractions. The beauty Of
the river itself, the grand Atlantic surf
on the other side of the peninsula, the
superabundant fish and oysters, the va
riety of game, from bear and deer down
to quail and snipe, will make it great
resort in future for the tourist and the
sportsman. But though so different in
many respects from the DeLand region,
yet here, as there, the salient characters
tics of the greater part of the country
are
STILL PINES AND SAND.
This year, on my customary winter trip,
| made the experiment of stopping at
Thomasville, Ga, and thence proceeding
by stage to the chill country" of Flor
ida, part lying quite out of the usual
routes of tourist travel, which has been
entirely "unexploited as yet by the
land speculator and capitalist, and which
is terra imcognita upon most of the guide
books of the transportation companies and
prospectuses of the real estate agents. /
did not cry Eureka nobody does. l
believe, except in print-but thought it
in the vernacular: =" have found it
the cream of Florida!" ] am under the
glamour of the climate still; it is the same
glorious, balmy climate that belongs to
all Florida; but recognize clearly that
| mistook before in supposing that l had
seen all that was best in the State, and
had come to my last exclamation point.
On the contrary, here was new Florida
that / knew nothing ola revelation of
beauty and fertility of which ! had not
even dreamed. The soil was entirely diff
ferent-a rich red clay with just sand
enough to make it easy Of tith and to
prevent baking after rains; entirely
cleared except where occasional patches
of woodland have been left, or where
groves of live oaks and magnolias mark
where the wealthy planters lived in times
before the war. Here lay Lake Jackson
like great red-lipped smile upon the
beaming earth, its ruddy banks plunging
steeply down into the water. From each
new elevation, as the road wound over
hill and down dale, the far, expansive
view seemed finer than before. 1t was
new sensation in Florida to hear hoofs
clattering at a lively trot over a smooth,
hard road-bed. The grassy turf fringing
the roadside was new delight. We
left the country of sand and pine trees
behind us when we crossed the Georgia
line. Here, at least, was beauty unim
peachable, tender, gracious picturesque
ness, recalling to ones mind rural England.
or the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, or
the Piedmont district in Italy, to which
it has often been compared.
ROCKED IN THE CRADLE
of these smiling earth-billows of Leon
county lies Tallahassee, the capital of the
State. 1t is said to be 250 feet above the
level of the Gulf, which is twenty or
thirty miles to the southwark. The hills
about Lake jackson, in its immediate
neighborhood, rise still higher, hundred
feet or more above the surface of the
lake. The yellow fever-that scourge of
the Gulf coast-can not penetrate TO these
uplands, to which, indeed, the residents
of the coast in times of epidemic are ac-
customed to flee for refuge. All the phys
ical conditions of this favored region are
conducive in the highest degree to health.
The hillsides run cleanly down to the
lake shores, so that you can walk to the
waters edge and dip up the sparkling
fund in your hands without wettine your
shoe-tips. The altitude, although 90 near to
the Gulf, with its breezes laden with ozone,
the dryness and perfect drainage, the nu-
merons springs and streams, the great
preponderance Of cultivated ground that
has been cleared and sweetened by long
exposure to sun and air-all combine to
give Leon county it's clean bin of health.
The baby born here to-day is almost Ger
tain to live to maturity. During thepast
year there was but . single physician in.
Tallahassee to serve the needs of popa-
lation of 5000. As the current Joke runs,
you have to kill . man to start asgrave-
yard. eS M @ ae
s Before the war Leon and the adjoining
counties of Middle Florida were the
homes Of the cotton lords, the aristoeracy
of the State. Now you look almost ID
vain over the broad plantations for the
signs Of their habitancy. The great,
roomy mansions under the live oaks and
magnolias have disappeared or fallen into
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