The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-02-03

peaches, preserved hGs ana pearS--oe-
sides raise his long staple cotton Tor
the "hoodle.
In the above enumeration I have
only mentioned products that are &C
tuallv raised here, and ;tre common to
most of the Southern States-and not
such as arc peculiar to Florida alone,
and are yet in an experimental state,
in the hope that fortunes may be
made from them. Our rich gener-
Gus soil here is emphatically mother
earth--generous to the last degree
when kindly used and when we re-
gard her surroundings OF garden,
orchard, and field as our home.
Large plantations have not been
homes-but merely machines for the
production of so much material to be
converted into gold, and the laborel
has been part Of the machinery.
So long has this been the case, that
the Old population Of Florida have
heretofore regarded the thrifty farm
er from the North aud West, work
ing with his own hand, as little better
than the neglo laborer-but all that
has now changed, and the Florida
planter is now glad to learn of the
Northern methods and machinery fol
making crops. South-Florida is be-
ing rapidly settled up by these thrifty
Young farmers, from the North and
West. They are an Intelligent and
genial people, prone to criticise every
thing Southern-tull of bombastic
yaperings, yet always willing to i'm
part what they know, and they are
teaching the people thrift and enter
prise.
The negro here is like tie negro
everywhere, when intelligently guided,
! he is an excellent servant to the set
tier, and as the number OF farms and
gardens are increased they are becom.
ing more and more distributed over
the country, thus rendering them
more tractable under the dicipline q
the whites.
This letter is not intended as a
source Of general information about
Florida. In the future I will select
such subjects as I think will most III
terest your readers, and write them
up. Such subjects, for instance, as
the scenery and famous winter
resorts, and the many mad freaks that
nature has been guilty of in her ge-
ological formation of the State, the
wonderful lime sinks, crystal waters
of her round lakes, the sudden appear
ance OF large streams deep enough to
float a steamer, out OF the bowels O!
the earth, and their equally sudden
disappearance-thew weird deep shad-
ows of the dense lammocks where ma
ture makes al her own, and shades
are etcrnally grouped-the sleepy ~
rreSs, sc.
NoNse-wcsu~ssILsaassss the "CroaEers'
and am done A man who finds it
terrible task to cut down one pine
tree is not exactly thekind of person
to undertake the job of making a
profitable orange grove without plen-
ty of mouey-whilst it is a work that
cannot best be done by individual ef-
fort, even if men of the sturdy breed
OF the old pioneers engage in it, yet
every lick made by the propriety,
makes the grove that MUCK the more
profitable, inasmuch as it reduces the
expenses and saves the interest on his
money. I fear too, that the poetic vis-
ion Of orange groves breathing per-
fumed air beneath ever sunny skies,
have tendency to attract settlers
whose hands are not accustomed to
the helm of a wood choppers axe,
OF the handle OF a ditchers spade,
rather than the sturdy fellows fit for
pioneer work.
Florida has unquestiorably been
made the scene of vast lend-specula
tions that will not bear examination,
by which many have suffered, and
many rascals have proited. Never
theless it has advantages that many
visitors and settlers have found sub
stantial, and the ill-success Of a few
misdirected experiments, while valua-
ble as warnings, ought not to preiu-
dice people against a careful examin-
alton of the many and great adyantag-
es offered by the State. Many have
reaped already rich harvest from
the orange grove by honest effort and
labor, and although, as yet, little more
than experimental I believe that
oranges viii remain as they now are,
the prime factor in the wealth and
prosperity Of Florida However as.
business, tie eee::::.5c ee2.E;c-iis1ll IS more ilvit-
ing to the capitalist than to the poor.
Let me close this rambling letter,
in which I have nicely succeeded in
what I intended, viz: tell nothing
defnitely-by saying for the benefit
CT those OF your readers who may have
interests il Florida, that the orange
trees have been but little, if at all in
iured, and the recent cold weather,
while it has been in a measure disas-
trous by driving away great deal of