The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-05-15
MIDDLE FLORIDA AND TAB.
LAHAS SSEE.
An Interesting Letter from 81 New
Work Editor

+hT w. H. McNlnStry, editor Oi the
Dunkirk (N. w. Jomnal, who was here
during the early days of April, was very
favorably impressed with our beautiful
city and magnificent hill country. Writ
ing from Tallahassee, under date of April
9Th, he says:
Florida, the Land of Flowers" has a
right to it's title, if we take the country
round about Tallahassee, and the beauti-
full town of Tallahassee itself, as a sample.
think | never saw gardens more over
flowing with beauty than they have them
here. The residents take an especial pride
in t1owerculture, and aided by the genial
climate, bring blossoms to perfection
rarely seen when in such great profuson.
In roses especially, which fairly cover
some of the houses, they have great va
rlety, and lilies and pansies are in their
glory at this season.
Tallahassee Is certainly pretty little
city, situated on the rolling uplands twenty
miles north of the Gulf, where it has the
luxury of the salt Gulf breezes tempering
the heats of summer. The place is built
very openly, with numerous squares, where
the old live-oaks spread their mantles of
shade, and the seven hills which the place
crowns break up the monotony of level
view, and you look down streets into groves
moss-bannered oaks and magnolia trees
on as PASTORAL scene as you could dream
of or was ever put in picture The
grass is green here and in thick velvet
turf, and after the red landscapes of Ala
bama or even the lush growth of anything
but grass on the sandy levels of Southern
Florida, the scenery Of Middle Florida
becomes the more beautiful in it's fresh
verdure. To any one coming from in
sight of Chautauqua hills think it would
be the most pleasant place they could find
in Florida to spend the winter. The seen
cry seems most like home when our own
hills and valleys are beautiful in the YER
dure of the early summer.
Oh. yes, Tallahassee has its romances
too, and stories of the. past, we'll fitting
the beautiful scenery and winding walks
and sunny skies. \ real live prince lived
here once and brought the princess here
his bride, and in the old graveyard yon-
der, where the flat stones on old cemented
vaults lie under a tangle of climbing
roses, two trim marble shafts show where
they lie They read, "Departed this life
April Is, lS47, Charles Louis Napoleon
Achilles Murat, son of the King of Ma
pies, and Catherine Murat, aged A. This
monument is dedicated by his wife Cath
crime in perpetual memory of her love"
And the other is "Sacred to the memory
of Princess c. a. Murat," who died in
ls47, aged Ga years. She was an Ameri-
can girl, daughter of the people who are
sovereign. and hence a princess in her
own right even before she took the empty
title which Nopolean had given to his
dashing General, whose son sought quiet
among these peaceful hills after the
stormy Napoleonc wars had ended in the
disaster at Waterloo. Except that he
was the son of his father there was moth
ing remarkable about him as / can dis
cover except that he could drink more
straight whiskey than any man of his
day and died without knowing whether
the water of Florida was good or bad.
He had not come like Ponce de Leon,
looking for the spring of perpetual youth,
and hence had no need to taste the water
lie had plenty of slaves, lived in semi
royal state, drank and hunted and fshed
and finally died. Up at the State House
one of the Judges Of the Supreme Court
had a chair belonging to the prince. 1t
has a heavy carved and gided frame,
bearing the lilies of France. or some such
insignia, and was upholstered in green
down in it but didn't feel any more
princely for it.
Then there is the Tallahassee girl. We
were told Of her and innocently asked if
there were only one of her. 1t appears
that some one has written a book about
her and the heorine lives here. AS we
have not seen the book We cannot tell
what she did. Probably she was hand
some. If SO we have seen many of her
on Tallahassee's walks.
Tallahassee has been the State Capital
ever since the Spanish territory became
one of the Union The State capitol is
dignified looking old building, whose
white pillars look down on a pleasant
square filled with shrubbery, trees and
flowers At one front is a monument to
front one to soldier who met his death
in the Seminole war;
A pleasant ride through the place and
in the surrounding country with Mr..
Dyke, editor of the FLoRIDIAN, gave us
most excellent opportunity to learn, for
we found him gentleman crammed full
of most valuable information on every
subject. We were particularly surprised
at the wide range of products which
Middle Florida has, embracing every
kind of vegetable which is grown in our
northern cline and most of the fruits,
while added to these are the products of
the semitropical climes. The orange,
lemon, lime, fig, date and banana, are
common fruits, while pears and peaches
are staple crop. While oranges do we'll
here with care against a possible frost,
they have not the orange fever, and de-
vote their lands more largely and with
great success to market gardening, having
an easy access to the New York market
two months before the gardens of the
North can bring their products to matu-
rity. This is found much more profitable
than raising cotton and brings quicker
returns, so that that staple has less acre
age in this vicinity than formerly. They
are running into mixed farming, from rice
and sugar-cane and cotton, to fruits, veg
etables, corn and potatoes. Irish potatoes
yield between two and three hundred
bushels to the acre, and our host told us
that on test he had produced 46s bush
els on an acre. They could be shipped
into the New York market by the first of
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