The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-01-17
Letter From Florida.

Mr.. EDITOR: AS you thoughtn,y de.
parture from my old, native home was Of
sufficient importance as to make mention
OF it in the columns Of the INTELLIGEN.
GER, will be glad if you will publish in
the same columns my Impressions of the
"land Of aligators, snakes" &C., as you
are pleased to call this State. And 1
will say at the outset that I will not in
dulge in fancies, but state facts just as |
find them, as they are stated to me by
persons whose veracity can not be ques-
toned.
I have so many friends in Anderson
who are anxious to learn something of
this country, and who wish me to give
them my impressions Of it, that it will
be impossible for me to write to each and
every one of them, and if you will pub
lish this, and a few others I may send
you, you will assist me in complying
with my promises.
shall have nothing to say of Florida
in general, but of Columbia County in
particular; for I have seen none of the
State, except this County, save that 1
passed through in coming here. So what
may be said of this County cannot be
truly said Of other portions of the State,
and I wish my friends to remember that
I Ispeak Of Columbia County alone.
I came here with some fear and trem-
bling. came fearing that might not
find it the country it was represented to
be. lam glad to report that it far ex-
ceeds in beauty, in fertility, in the NOR
ality of the people and general intelli-
gence, my most confident expectations.
Here every thing seems to be abundant.
Corn is plentiful, selling at 60 cents per
bushel. Isee as fine pork hogs here as
/ am accustomed to see in Anderson ;
meat is worth six cents gross. Cotton is
selling at 40 cents per pound. Don't
this appear to your readers an extrava-
CANT assertion? The best of your cotton
in Anderson has not been sold this Fall
for more than ten cents, ,'perhaps and
yet here it is selling for four times that
amount. But it is Sea Island cotton, and
the crop Was short this year. I am told
by reliable men that it always sells for
two and half and three times as much
as the short staple. So while the people
here cannot raise as much cotton to the
acre as ws can in Anderson, yet they get
three times, and sometimes four times
as much for it.
The average yield of cotton is bale
to FIVE acres, and hand ordinarily makes
three bales, and let it be remembered no
fertilizers are used.
Tho average yield Of corn is ten bush
els to the acre. An acre we'll fertilized
and worked sometimes yields 40 bushels,
but the average yield is only ten. This,
think, is good comparison. The
prices of land here in Columbia County
range from $500 to $1,000, according to
improvements. A Northern man said to
me yesterday, and he has been living
here for IA years, "If the people here
worked like the people in Illinois, it
would be the best country in the world.
See here, all you have to do is to deaden
those pine trees, enclose it under fence
and put your plow in it,
This is true. Yousee no underground ;
no grubbing is to be done; deaden the
trees, and it is ready for the plow
When look at these tall gigantic trees.
clear of limb or knots for perhaps 70
feet, if of no use here to the planter
I often think what fortune it would be
to the people, and especially to the san
mill men of Anderson.
I see here large bodies of the best rec
pine timber in the world deadened, rot
ting and of no value here, but would be
of great value to other portions Of the
country. What pity it should thus be
destroyed when it is so much needed anc
of so much value elsewhere.
This part fythe country is not low
and fiat as great part of Florida is
The country is gently rolling, sufficiently
go for the water to run of.
The plows can move an hour or two
after the hardest rain falls, and that, too
With no injury to the land. The country
is not one perpetual saud.bed, as many
people imagine. 1t is true in some
places the sand is deep and heavy, but
generally the ground is hard and the
roads, except here and there, are simply
splendid, almost as firm as the clay roads
in Anderson. In my next letter I viii
tell your readers something about the
fruits in Florida.
w. D. HATToN,
Mt. Tabor, Florida.
The American Hog.