The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1883-02-14
From Florida.

/ The following article from the per
of Rev. d. Moore, d. d., of Geneva
N. Y, which appeared in the Nation
al Baptist a short time since, will
doubtless be read with interest by
those readers OF the AGRToULTURIs1
who know the Doctor personally, OF
are acquainted with him by reputa.
ton:
DeLand is in Volusia county, five
miles east of the St. Johns river. 1t
is situated about midway of ridge,
or, rather, an undulating swell OF
land, twenty-five miles long from
north to south, and five miles in
width, thickly covered with pine and
dotted with beautiful lakes. Six
years ago there was only one house
here with a few acres of clearing.
All else was an unbroken pine ior>
est. Now from the DeLand Grove
House you can count a hundred
buildings; and the sound of the saw
and the hammer, heard daily from
morning until night, tells you that
new buildings are going up in every
direction. There ale several fine
stores; a bank was opened last week,
and large hardware store will be
opened tor business in a few days.
The Baptists have commodious
and beautiful church, complete in all
it's appointments, and paid for. They
are wide awake, active and growing.
The able and faithful pastor, Rev,
Archibald Farr. gave the hand of
fellowship to seven new members a
few weeks ago, and the month pres
ll.xiops to seventeen, all coming in by
$;Sr "a JAs Baptis5E Oh q aFo6 s & 3
ternoons; but they are JUST finishing
a neat church edifce, and will sooi
be keeping house independently
Presbyterians and Episcopalians hold
service in the school. house, but con-
template building at no distant day.
All these churches have pastors; and
there is eptire harmony among them.
The public school has been doing
well; and select school has just
been opened which gives good prom
ise of being sustained. Educational
institutions of higher character soon
will be started.
AS to the population, nearly every
State in the Union is represented
here; but the bulk of the people are
from the North and West; and they
are of the very best class, being re-
markably intelligent and enterpris-
ing. The moral tone of society is
good. There is an uncommonly large
infusion of the religious element. This
is e church. going community, and
the Sabbath is quiet and orderly. On
Thanksgiving Day, I attended re-
union OF the pioneers, that is, those
who came in here in rs and '76. The
warm and friendly feeling manifested
was beautiful; they seemed just like
band of brothers, and l could but
feel that this is a good place to live
in.
The country for miles around is
rapidly settling. People are coming
in every week, almost daily, indeed.
In whatever direction you 60, you
see houses going up, and land being
cleared and planted to oranges, for
you understand, of course, that the
great business here is the raising Of
oranges. Everybody has AL orange
grove, if it is not more than an acre;
but usually the groves are from five
to ten acres. OF course, many are
much larger.
| o. N. Hull, ESQ.,, of Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, has 100 acres planted to orr
anges. Last winter, when here, with
true Western push,she transformed
20 acres of pine forest into an orange
grove in six weeks. Just now he is
planting an additional 5000 trees, so
that in three weeks from this time
he will have $50 acres in groves, conN
tanning over $4,000 trees. His largest
single grove is 60 acres. 1t is evil
dent that Mayor Hull has faith In
Florida and the orange business