Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-08-29

anu utughtefs waited TO greet me an
/. hear of my pleasant pilgrimage to oil
Virginia.
With kind regards and best wishe
to all my old friends, am, ms ever,
Yours Truly,
CornwelI, S, c., Aug. 70, 1885.
Letter from Florida.
To the Chronicle:
Lake Fay is no longer the desolatt
looking pine forest that it was littl,
more than two years ago, but is now
the seat of one OF the most attractive
neighborhoods of Marion county. We
have in our midst some OF the mos
energetic OF Tennessee and Kentuck,
citizens; and the once lonesome and
desolate is now cheered by the merry
laugh OF healthy children and the song
of the moclung bird, and where the
tall and stately pines once stood, now
may be seen extensive orange groves
which are second 10 none, comparing
age. There are now planted about
one hundred acres in the golden fruit
which will soon reward our labers and
zeal. The groves contain from two
and one-half to twelve acres, besides
an extensive nursery of about one hun
dred and City thousand young trees,
which promise the owner a handsome
little fortune. This locality seems to
be well adapted to the orange, lemon
and other semi-tropical fruits. l have
often heard people talk about beng
below the frost line, but my expert
ence teaches me that il you would
plant grove out of the reach of frost,
you must go above the frost line in al
titude as well as latitude. The high
warm lands are exempt from this I'M
welcome visitor. / have never yet
seen anything injured by frost here,
noteven bananas or guavas, which are
the tenderest of our fruits. | planted
a small crop of tomatoes which stood
all through the winter. The seed was
sown in December in the open grove
without any protection, the plants re-
planted in January and shipped my
first tomatoes in April. | can safely
say that tomatoes, egg plants, cucum-
bers, Irish potatoes, cabbage and other
vegetables, the finest ever saw, were
raised in Florida. / also planted a
small crop OF watermelons, which have
done well. never saw better and my
neighbors can testify the same. had
one that weighed forty pounds. The
vines are now bearing their third crop.
AS for sweet potatoes, they are almost
a spotaneous crop, and very good when
raised on pine land. And still there
are people who visit this country and
return with an evil report, many. of
whom have never seen anything but
the swamps surrounding Callahan and
Pensacola. But there is one thing that
| would have my readers to understand,
and that is that this is new country
and for the first year or two new pine
lands do not produce some vegetables
well. Also, people are SO absorbed in
the orange growing that they neglect
everything else, and the reason that SO
much feed for stock is shipped to Flor
ida, is because we can make more
money by raising other things and
buying our feed when we are so near
transportation; although, there is land
two miles from here that will produce
fifty bushels cf corn to the acre. Yet
| would not advise any one to leave
to come To Florida 10 farm
This is the land for fruits, not corn
crops. do not know any enterprise
that offers greater inducement either
to capital or labor than the orange cult
ure in Florida,
But am getting too far from Lake
Fay news. Lake Fay is rather quiet
at present, since so many Of our neigh
bors are visiting their friends in Ten
nessee and Kentucky But we shall
not take the hypI; we have not the
time, for when we have nothing else
to do, we go fishing. Yesterday |
drew out 80 OF the bronzed head brim
from Fig Lake. This is beautiful |
sheet of clear water, one mile wide BY
a mile and a quarter long, hes on the
south of this community, one mile
from my house. 1t is not necessary
10 say that all the lakes in this region
are clear water and white sand bed, so
The fish can be seen at a great depth.
Lakes Fay, Amelia and Davis, like sill
YER links, lie to the north, in sight OF
my house. On the west runs the Flor
da Southern Railway, on the banks OF
AXE Weir, two miles from us, and on
he northeast runs the great 0cklawa-
IA river. SIS,
Lake Fay, August, 1885.