The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-09-21
THE SUMMER LAND.
The Mountains, Air, Beef Cattle and
Tobacco.


Some time ago l noticed a paragraph
in which you stated that l had promise
THE NEWS letter from this place, and
l have great confidence in your veracity.
1 suppose, too, that there are some good
reasons for holding that the disregard of
promises Is Objectionable. At all events,
L am disposed in this instan nee, to con-
form to the popular sentiment i'm that
matter.
This is the chief town of Western
North Carolina. Ii lies on the French
Broad river, little more than 1900
feet above the level of the sea, and Is
now accessible bv rail from all direc-
tions. The gap between Asheviile and
HendersonvIlle, at the south, was filled
out about the middle of July. At the
east there is connection with the trunk
OF the Richmond * Danville system,
and one at the north with the f.. T., V.
* q. AT the west a road is operated to
a point near the State line, and the early
extension of il in the direction of fir-
mingham, Ala, is anticipated. The
connection with the Northwest is al
ready very good, but il is soon To he
greatly improved by the building of
some seventy-fve miles of new road,
which will shorten the distance to Knox
vile, Tenn, very materially.
This is the third time that have spent
July and August in Asheville, and the
third time that L have found the mid
summer climate here all that could de-
sire. There have been some hot days,
of course, but we have had no cheated
term" of long duration. On the whole,
L have been more comfortable here than
l was at Saratoga last year. Even when
the temperature was highest. it seemed
to me that the atmosphere of this eleva-
ted region possessed some vitaliZing
properties which precluded all debilita-
ting effects. But l should be willing to
suffer little general langour for the
sake of this glorious mountain scenery.
There are no awe-inspiring heights in
view, none that evoke the sentiment of
grandeur in its highest force. But there
Is beauty, beauty everywhere. There
are deep green, forest-clad mountains
near at hand. and overlapping these or
seen through gaps between them, are
more distant mountains, each of them
with outlines peculiar to itself. There
is a great variety of colors due to vary
ing distance, and such are the atmos-
pheric effects that the hues upon each
mountain side are constantly changing
Property owners here look upon the
business of keeping boarders as one
which promises the city rapid growth
and think they are justified in doing
SO. When Asheville had no railroads,
and the accommodations were poor COM
pared with what they now are, the nat
ural attractions of The place drew many
sojourners. AS might have been eX-
pected, every advance in accessibility
has been followed by an increase in the
number of hotels and boarding houses
The Battery Park Hotel was completed
and opened in July of this year. aud has
been practically full down to the present
time. For weeks many guests were
turned away every day. The house now
has capaity for about 300 guests, and 20
rooms are to be added to il Immediately.
1t stands on the highest ground i'm the
city and commands "A magnificent pros
pect. The charges are from So to $50
per week, while those at excellent pri-
vate boarding houses are about $50 per
month. The proprietors of the Battery
Park are going to try the experiment of
keeping open throughout the year.
am told there is no time ut which there
is not a considerable number of persons
sojourning here for health or comfort.
The great valne of this business To the
community lies in the fact that the
money paid out by visitors goes into the
local circulation. All the meats and
vegetables consumed are furnished 10y
the neighboring farmers, and the groce-
ries are purchased from the mt rchants
of Asheville.
Here is "A point, Mr.. Editor, on which
1 advise you to do great deal of preach
ing. The vast hotel business of Florida
is not doing what it should be made
to do for the general prosperity of the
State. Let our farmers make up their
minds that they will have some of that
Yankee money that is poured out so CO.
piously every winter. | believe that the
fattening of beeves, sheep and hogs
might be- made very profitable in Flor
ida. We need only the Introduction of
the best breeds and resolute experiment.
ing with a view to finding out what
crops it is best to raise for them. Col.
Owens, of Marion county, produces as
good beef as l care to see on beggar
weed pasturage. We ought, of course,
to feel ashamed when we see huge lots
of poultry arriving from the North. ana
there is no question about the possibility
of getting more money from the hotels
by supplying them with vegetables.
l place high estimate on the agricul-
tural possibilities of this region. The
soil is fertile and we'll adapted to all the
cereals anu root crops produced Dy
Northern farmers. Before the building
of the Western North Carolina railroad
was hindered by the great
cost of getting products to market. In
dian corn was relied on chiefly for
bringing in money, but it had to be con-
verted into whisky or fed to cattle and
hogs, which were then driven across the
mountains. Within the last few years
tobacco culture has been making rapid
strides. There have been some poor sea
sons, and great deal of such complain
ing about low prices as we hear among
producers everywhere, but the net re-
suits have been so encouraging that the
fast from year to year. and is now larger
than ever before. Those who seem to be
best informed express great confidence
in the industry, and ascribe such failures
as have taken place 70 iniudicious man