The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-16
For the Fsrmer and he'
Bird of

lam Savannah TO Jacksonville the
-a,I-oad runs through the ugllest country
.rat my ives ever saw. All the waste,
o,d Isolation. of sparse cultivation,
',,b,nr to compensate for the absence
-, nouutain ranges. or heavy timber, al
r.ast such was the case in the latter part
~ March. before the spring had gotten
ar enough advanced for the floral wealth
ST and verdure to make amends Tor mn
and forest line so sorely missed. Dead
eued pine timber, waste flats. ana ever
recurring stagnant water aud swamp
land. made a doleful picture, not helped
one bit by the small cabins, ana sun
more curiously small cattle sprinkied
here and there by a sparing hand
Right out of the pine barrens you rush
into jacksonville. a city beyond all
doubt. thrifty. tidy and spreading abroad
all the hustle and life OF a place where
active humanity congregates. and lying
AT the brink of the peerless st. Johns,
as if to do most reverence to that glori-
ous river. | should recommend to all
travellers the Everett House. as a most
comfortable and satisfactory hotel, mod
crate in charge. and very pleasant,
n clean. dud NCll htDl. Oll JdOh1Ol-
willie aud Lake City, a little less than
half way to Tallahassee, the same ugly
country wearies the eye, though the
swamps are iull of Towering shrubs
and vines, and the staguant water a
mass of floating lily leaves, starred ever
and anon with the milk-white cups of a
water lily the flash Of a scarlet blossom,
or the sheen of q royal purple bloom.
After passing Lake City you come into
the hill country and the PROJECT becomes
p~rettier with each station passed.
Lake after lake, glints through its
fringe of trees or spreads away in sllvery
sheets of light, till you begin to fancy
that at least one eighth Of Florida land
Is water. l cannot say one word to
commend the H. Il system. 1t is SIM
ply abom;nable. The conductors are,
in my eXper ence, very kind, pleasant,
aud trustworthy gentleman but when
that is said. praise is ended. Schedules
are printed for the better misleading of
the public but the trains run with sub
lime disregard of fixed hours. on Il 90
as-yOu-please and Observation-Disclosures
choose system, which is beyond measure
eXasperating to the worn aud jaded
traveller, TO whom the distance seems
to lengthen from both ends. At last
through a long sweep of curve and hill,
slowly you near the capital of Florida.
Tallahassee, named by Madame Oc-
tavia Wilton lie Vert, when her father
was Governor of the territory, is truly
The Beautiful"
Only a village. tho the misleading
Biographies call it a city but oh such
II beautiful village. girded with lakes,
1t rests %serenely on lovely sloping hills,
aud is densely shaded with groves and
of live oak, water oak, magno-
LA, bay and other trees. The streets
are very good, the houses large, COM
Portable and pretty. and oh the wealth
OF roses, the wonderful. lavish album
dance of all sorts kinds and descriptions;
and the people are so generous with
them. All flowers seem to thrive,
masses of pansies, verbena, candy tuft,
and all manner of towering shrubs and
vines make the world and the garden
fair beyond expression. The curious
grey moss, so mixed and fantastic in its
dropping masses hangs everywhere on
tree, and sometime shrub.
heard a gentleman from Henderson,
Ky, say it could be readily propagated
N1 AAA1 lICCS III liz SctlIou VI COullI =
just by placing the mass on a tree; and
while talking of planting, a housekeeper,
and a very wise II too, told me they
always set out slips of tomato vines for
a second crop when the vines began to
fail, cutting off slips with joints aud set
ting them out like sweet potatoes, they
grow at once into fine plants and bear
abundahtly. That is worth a trial |
think.
The people could not be kinder or
more hospitable and friendly. They are
nearly all importations .rom the Caro-
linas, Virginia and Kentucky. Anative
FIoridlan being apparently a rdra dris,-
a state OF affairs not likely to continue
however. as the children are as numer-
Gus as the flowers, The season here is
just a month in advance of middle North
Carolina, and the climate, so far Is a
short residence enables me to judge,
very similar, equally uncertain and
tickle.
1t is very lovely, and if the mail and
railroad system was a little more up to
the 18th century standard Florida would
be perfect.
But the irregularity and delay in the
mails is unbearable. The people seem
content however. and of course until
they care enough to make a row about
II, no improvement will be made. But
to people not so fully saturated with the
dolce far Ntente of their lovely summer
land, even the multitude of kindly North
Carolinians whom you meet fails to quite
satisfy your long ing for letters from
home. II. &.