The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-10-13
FACTS ABOUT FLO RIDA.

id Recovery from tho Crop De-
stroYing Frosts of Last Year-FruiJ
not the Only, nor Greatest PrOfita-
bic Industry.
BELLoNA, n. Y, September 90.
To the Editor OF The Intcr-Ocean.
In travelling through the North l find
but few persons who have not visited
Florida who know that IL is the most
prosperous State in the South. AS the
Liter-OcedA is a representative paper,
anxious TO give TO the world everything
of a general interest, have concluded to
say a few things that / know from close
observation. The orange trees have 80
far recovered from the severe weather of
last winter as TO present more than half
a crop, and the quality will be much
better than ever before turned ont. One
thing the cold freeze" did, and that
was to rid the groves of the scale, which
it did effectually in Putnam county.
The orange crop is considered by many
people in the North as the leading, and
by some the only important crop IN the
State, and when tina great freeze came
last January and destroyed the crop il
was thought by these same persons that
Florida Us a producing State had been
wiped out. AS one enterprising paper
put it
IT WOULD TAKE FIFTY YEARS
to recover from the calamity, and the
inhabitants would be compelled to call
upon the charities of the world 10 relieve
the suffering and misery of the orange
grower" a year will soon have glided
by and instead of the plea of the oraEEe
grower for aid he has with generous lib
crafty extended aid TO other portions OF
the world where drought or cyclone or
earthquake had been "a greater calamity
than the freeze in Florida
The orange crop is not the largest in
dustry in the State, yet it is, with all its
failures and draw backs, the most profit
able.
The assessment returns 20 the capital
show that the products for the past year
amounted to $45, 900, 900 in round fig
ures, or 1925 per capita. This showing
becomes remarkable when it is known
that 40 per cent. of the inhabitants are
colored, who seldom produce beyond
what immediate demands require, and
10000 out of the BIZ, 900 inhabitants took
up their residences within the past five
years, and not more than half of them
have been there long enough 10 be- pro-
ducers.
Still more remarkable is the increase
in assessed values during the past six
y "
S3l ,157, $50 this year shows
THAT 1T MORE THAN DOUBLED
in six years. or had reached 127 per cent
being so, G67 .f5S. The averaged assessed
wealth is S20G.63 per ca ita.
The railroads of State is an index of
its prosperity In 1880 Florida had but
52S miles. On the LIST day of Aplil she
had ,6SS, an increase of 21S per cent.
The State bonds held outside of the
State amount to $472, 200, and are il de-
mand at 1925.
Lumber is the largest industry, and
considerable capital is being brought
from the North To run this branch of
trade. Cotton, LONG staple" is put
down at s., 200, 600; tobacco, corn, oats
and hay, 50, 500, 600 cigars, So, coo, coo !;
oranges and lemons, 81, 500, 900 cattle,
&, 600, 600; sponges, $500, 900; vegeta-
bles, $500, 600; cotton seed, S40O Goo,
etc, etc.
The new industry of mixed groves is
Just now creating much interest. a. il
promises to be more profitable than the
orange alone, besides, il brings III money
all the year round. y mixed grove is
made of oranges, peaches, pears, plums
and Japan peTsimmons, and a variety of
nuts. The Peen-to peach comes into
market the first of May, and brought net
this year as high as 80 per bushel, and
some of the very first brought 81 per
dozen. The Honey peach follows two
weeks later. Both of these varieties ma We
attractive peculiarities that sell them.
They are
EARLY AND PROLIFIC BEARERS.
The writer gathered a crop this year from
trees set out last season. Plums follow
peaches in June, pears in July and Au-
gust, persimmons in September, oranges
in October and the winter months.
Strawberries Iipen in January and con
tinue till July. The January berries
bring from 81 to So per quart. Dewber-
ries and huckleberries in May, blaCkber-
ries in June and July.
The native cattle run at large the
whole year. Ii is a growing and very
profitable industry. There are several
large cattle men who own coo head,
and L. King is the posSessor OF so, COO.
He sells in the Cuba market from Is, 600
to 90, 900 annually. The cattle are small
in size and poor mixers, but they cost
nothing to keep. In the northern por-
ton, especially in Putnam and Duval
counties, the stock is being improved by
the introduction of Jerseys and Hol-
stiens. These two breeds DO best, and
preference is given to the Jersey, ~ they
easily acclimate and soon relish our
grasses. Sheep do remarkably well, and
are considered very profitable iii some
localities.
General attention is being paid to field
crops, and much land was planted this
year to wheat, oats, rye. barley and mil
let. The latter has made TWO fine crops,
and the others make fine showing.
One of
THE MOST REMARKABLE CROTS
IS the Cassava, root that often grows
in one season as large as a stove-pipe
Governor Spafford said recently in an
interview that fifteen tons can be raised
TO an acre, and one Florida paper con-
tains statement that a farmer raised
last year twenty tons. Ii contains the
same per cent of starch that is found in
corn, and the yield is equal 10 500 bush
els OF corn to the acre. Six to ten tons
can be raised on the poorest land with
ind i-rarart % 70 Il l. rcrE- -.nIn.-I IL