The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-02-11
FLORIDA Land schemes.
[Cleveland Plain Dealer.l

Florida Land Schemes.
[Cleveland Plain Dealer.l
Among the greater swindles of
the day, by means of which a large
class of persons are defrauded, are
the various Florida land schemes.
A few capitalists purchased a large
tract of swamp land and pine bar
rens, and with flaming advertise
ments invites the attention of the
public to the unrivalled attractions
of their beautiful (on paper) cities.
The New York Herald has taken
pains to send a reporter into there
gion where these paper cities are To-
Gated. In a series of articles pub
|lished from day to day has been
graphically described the situation
and PROJECTS of the loudly adver-
tised cities. Although ten Dr. more
of these eligible sites for homes,
where the orange fourishes and
nature is ever prolific of beauty,
were visited, no words of commen-
dalton are given. Most of the land
lies SO low as to be from one to two
feet under water during the wet sea
son, and at all times the universal
diet is quinine. Even with the con-
tinual use ofthis drug it is impossi-
BILE to keep the S'shakes" at a re-
spectacle distance. The higher
land is composed ofsand banks, in
which nothing but pine will grow.
No amount of fertilizing will ever
make muchof this land productive,
and no amount of drainage will
make any part of it healthy. Some
of these paper cities contain two or
three houses and a corresponding
population that has been deluded
by lying advertisements into seek
ing homes in a climate freed from
the extremes of heat and cold. All
+ waiting anxiously for the
arrival of a "sucker,"to whom they
may be able to dispose ofthe small
property they have acquired and
seek homes where to a genial eli
mate may be added healthful.
The utter condemnation ofthese
paper cities, and of the unscrupu+
lous shyster who are selling worth
less lots and farmsi in an unhealthy
and nowise attractive region, should
not be taken as a condemnation of
the entire state of Florida. That
there is much good in that country
of flowers is as true as that there is
much that is bad. Yet persons who
contemplate looking for homes in
that region will do well to- take
nothing on trust. Land should
never be purchased until it is care
fully viewed by the purchases, and
to learn concerning the healthful-
ness ola section ofcountry it should
be visited when at its worst. The
worst in Florida may be so taken
at the wet season. If at that sea-
son the country is not under water
it may be habitable.
A resident in Florida during the
past two year went to hat state
from the Black Hills region enamor-
ed with the prospects. He is now
preparing to return to the region of
Billiards rather than enjoy the fa-
bled bliss of a climate where frost
is almost unknown. In his south
ern experience he has learned that
scarcely anything can be raised
without heavy fertilizing; that the
expense of bringing orange groves
to a bearing condition is too great
to insure reasonable profit that the
raising of vegetables is not prefi-
table because ofthe excessive freight
charges; that the pouring rays of
the sun upon the sand produce a
temperature that cannot be endur-
ed by a person more accustomedto
a more northern climate. Taken
altogether this person sees more at
fractions in the blizzard of the
Black Hills than he has experience
among the flowers of Florida.
a winter home for persons of
means Florida possesses many at
fractions, but as a home from years
end to years end it is largely over
rated. The general impression that
a region so favored by nature would
possess many large cities is mis-
leading. In the entire state of
Florida there are no more than six
and towns with more than
LOCO population.