The Florida agriculturist., 1885-02-04
Florida and DeLand.

There have been published many des-
criptions of Florida, but we have not
been fortunate enough to find one which
does the subject Justice. One has to
travel through Florida-and he must
travel slowly and take time to see its
wonders-if he would understand this
strange and bewitching land. It's climate
is unique. There is nothing just like it
in this country or in Europe. However
hot it may be-and you will find it quite
warm even in the winter months--there
are almost constant breezes, soft and
balmy, from the Atlantic and the Gulf.
Invalids can live outdoors and thrive
The portion of Florida of which we speak
(and that is the only portion of which we
are personally acquainted) is that extern
sive ridge between the st. Johns river
and the Atlantic ocean. This is high and
dry. The soil is sandy and there is no
stagnant water. Hence it is a very
healthy country. Thousands of invalids
flock here, and the number is increasing
every year. Rev. David Moore, D. D.,
himself living testimony to the virtues
of this climate writes: ''Florida will yet
become one vast sanitarium. Its eli
mate alone is enough to make it a rich
and prosperous State. But it has i'm
mense resources, which are only just be-
ginning to be developed"
Ii we except small sections of Louisi-
ana and Texas and California, Florida is
the only State in which oranges can be
raised with profit, and only on about one
| eighth of it's surface can this be done
With the rapid growth of population ant
the opening of every section of tn
country, enabling the Florida shipper tt
put his fruit in a day or two into the mos
remote towns and cities, the demand fol
oranges is likely to equal the supply, al
least for many years to come. And if we
are correct as to this, there is likely to be
an ever increasing tide of immigration
! to Florida from the older States. For
/ ten years there has been no receding
wave, and the conditions were never so
favorable for great incoming tide as at
present. We no longer hear of the
''Florida bubble" So much capital and
so many people have taken up their
! abode in this favored land that scarcely
any room is left to question the great
future which lies ahead of Florida.
We have been led to write on this sub
ject at this time by the large and imposing
advertisement to be found upon the
fourth page of this issue. Mr.. DeLand
has gotten so used to doing things on
grand scale that when he sends us an adj
vertisement he makes it so large that he
leaves scarcely any room for other adj
vertisers. Read the advertisement and
tell your friends that
DE ELAND is THE PLACE.
And a adelightful place it is. There are
more good people there than you will find
in the same number in any town in the
country. DeLand is destined, we think,
to become the great educational center of
Florida. 1t has advantages to be found
nowhere else, and there are men work
ing at this who know how to accomplish
what they have undertaken.
The winter of this portion of Florida is
very much like our (Virginia) Indian
summer. DeLand is only twenty-five
miles east of the Atlantic ocean, while
the st. Johns river is only five miles
west of it; hence the soft, balmy breezes
which flow gently in during the bright
clear and sunny days of the winter
months. 1t is not strange, then, that,
as the fierce Northern winter draws near,
constantly increasing number from
that region seek the genial cline of Fla.
While the winters of DeLand are so
pleasant, owing to its contiguity to the
ocean, and its pine forests and sandy
soil, the summer months are likewise
very pleasant. The heat of summer does
not prostrate as farther north. All
through the summer, the invigorating
salt breezes pour in from the ocean, and
hence the DeLand region has never yet
had case of sunstroxe. We are assured
by some of its oldest inhabitants that they
preferred summer to winter in DeLand.
1t has been but six or seven years
since the first house was built, in dense
forest, which then stood where this
beautiful Northern city now stands
The following year, Hon. IL. A. DeLand
happened to visit this region and made
some investments. After two years he
returned and determined to develop not
only his lands, but this entire portion of
the State. That was little more than
three years ago, and now in the place of
a wilderness is a city, full of life and