The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1885-11-19

,ivs l.tIe ~ of theirs. and saw, more than once
their old slouched hats come looming through
the smoke IN to the very top OF the eathworks.
Indolcnt people dom. make practice o. that
sort Of thing
Dissvsik oT psrposs Is the main featuEe % be
introduced into farming operations IN Middle
Florida So diverse are the interesss that recent
experience u demonstrating ~ practicable here,
that the difllenlty seems niher 10 Determining
which 70 reject than in selecting those that may
most certainly Insure success
The coil of Leon couny b generally CON-
posed Of q fefru9inous clay, couiaining much
degree Just sufficient to induce thorough drain
age and prevent mud In vet or baking in dry
weather. This character Of soil varies from four
10 twenty fset In depth and y overisid, whether
In old fields thrown ont or virgin forest never
cleared. with q covering of hams OF varying
thickness, induced by the decomp ssitiou OF an
nual crops of vegetation.
The great friability Of this soil. is drainage.
exemption from baking or clodding. with con-
sistency enough to retain manure and avoid
leaching makes OF II a. fne . receptacle Tor
crop seeds as can well be imagined, and when
well broken, and subjected to the long season Of
sun shine, with summer rains enjoyed hcre, pro
daces, think. quite equally with anything
Bssns "a 5rass., however, is coadisioa TO
which Il has scascsly ever been sutbecaeds ssd
good p.osss and proper sscf aIsm are the agent:
yet 10 be employed here for the rejuvcnation OF
the old plantations
Corn is grown here by every one. Where good
land is used, twenty five to thirty I've bushels 10
made to the acre, but by far the greater portion
of the land planted produces less .han htteen
bushels per acre. This crop is planted IN Feb
ruary. The land 10 neucr broken up fret Weeds,
stalks grass or any stubble on the ground is rst
burnt of. Then little cast turn plow, (made
expressly for the Southern marketD attached TO
q very small mule or OK, the latter often OF such
dimensions, as, II tatted to scegh $50 or 400 po~nds
gross, is used 10 throw two shallow furrows
together, or rather close enough together TO lap
the dirt, and cover up the unbroken balk be-
tween them. In one of these burrows the corn
Is dropped in hills about four feet apart one stalk
in q hil another furrow is turned on this and
the crop left to come up. 1t finally accomplishes
this. and is run around" when about two weeks
sometimes the middles between them are then
plowed out often they are left to the nezs and
last working, which is given in late May or early
June. How much corn would be gathered from
. crop handled in that way in New York, Ohio.
Illinois, Indiana, or Missouri? Not seed enough
to replant the ground, and yet it is fact that
large population and great numbers OF work and
other live stock has been fed for fifty years here
by exactly this process and none other. The
lands are still productive, have never been ma
nured, seldom rotated, and corn is worth to-day
in Tallahassee market, shelled, sacked and de-
livered, only thirty five cents per bushel At
the same time II is fetching from IS cents to 81 %
in East and South Florida, where the poor, sandy
soil will not produce it, and where a large and
growing population will always be Dependent
for all grain themselves or stock consume-upon
this and more remote sections Of the country.
One OF the most profitable crops that VIII ever
be grown on these natural corn lands will always
be Indian cOrn-when people here adopt the
better methods of making it. The crop next in
importance is oats. Middle Florida lands seem
specially suited to their production and they ars
becoming a leading product. Rye also does
finely, and learn from several practical men
that as winter pasture for all their stock It Is
quite indispensable to good farming.
Barley and wheat are not extensively made
use Of But no one seems TO think either would
not prove we'll adapted to conditions here.
But the matter of chefest importance in all
farming schemes is grass A capacity to produce
grass OF several NEST excellent varieties both for
field, hay CROP and for permanent meadows. Is,
think, the feature that Outva!ues all others In
this section. What may be done here with
clover, timothy, blue grass, or other domesticated
varieties familiar 10 Us at home, l am not pre-
pared to say. l have seen several small
paintings of these that were not very snowy, but
the treatment they have had would have made
the like show anywhere else. But do not
think that of the slightest concern, so long as
harder, more luxurious and productive natice
varieties, OF equal superior quality, can be GER
tainly and cheaply produced, and of the latter
possibility have had most convincing proof in
examining the great barns full of "crab grass,
"crows foo" and beggar weed hay" ON seve-
raj of the better managed farms Excellent hay,
and plenty of it, can be cut at almost any time
during June, July, August and September,
four months of open weather during which
to house these crops, which come wher
ever the land is broken and narrowed, and a sue
cessiOn of crops can be regulated at will by SIM
ply breaking and narrowing ut intervals to suit
your purpose.
1t does seem to me that this 4 Vantage here OF
being able to make excellent hay without cost or
trouble of seeding, for so long an interval, at a
season of they ear when the whether is propi-
tious, and little else is needed to be done ON the
farm, and that this hoy can all come OF tho OGt
stub6e land, which need only be broken up and
narrowed after the oat crop comes of, TO insure
an immediate crop of hay, is one OF itself sufh
cient to thoroughly fix this section 40 the place
for u farmer. And when in connection with
these facts, is considered the further one that
every work animal and milch COW in the great
sandy peninsula of South Florida now gets, and,
unless supplied from here, will always get their
hay rations from the North, and pay from $15 to
SIS per ton for it, the conclusion Is inevitable.
The prOductien of succulent roots seems to be
one of the cheap and certain resources Of pro-
dgous amount of excellent feed for man and
beast
Sweet and white potatoes. turnips and mangels
produce enormously. The former is planted
from March to August, the two latter during
August, September and October.
All the milets and sorghums are well suited
to conditions here. Several varieties Of each will
bear cutting more than once, and represent per-
haps the very cheapest source of supply for win
ter fodder, which, together with the always
available green bite in the rye and oat fields,
makes the keeping of stock through the
sixty or seventy days of the temperate winter Q
matter OF scarcely any cost.
Sugar cane cotton and tobacco are all three
NEST excellent and necessary crops on any well
conducted farm; where few acres, I've or ten, of
the two former are thoroughly eaFiched the cul-
tivatiou Can be accomplished without at all in
terfering with other work, ill up time of regu-
larry employed help, and the money value climbs
up in the neighoorhood of 800 per acre-a nice
little sum to stuff in q crack and stop leak with
on any farm. Tobacco produces from 100 to 900
pounds per acre, and is worth from Is 10 Is cents
per pound.
So much for the main field crop features Of
mixed farm. Handled in conjunction with
tine early fruit and vegetable branch Of the bust
ness. Of which will Try to give you some idea
in my next letter, the advantages here begin to
make themtelves apparent.
The JacksOn Ne,s ;sssssi,,,io,a 81 va