The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1888-09-28
in THE EVERLASTING HILLS,
THE GREEN KNOWLS AND RED PATH.
WAYS OF OLD LEON.

Lands Rich and FabulOusly LOw-The Home
OF the Pear Wines that Tempt the
German Palate-HistOric
HOmesteads.
Staff Correspondence Of Times Union.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla, June elbow stale.
nat and Improbable seem all the uses of mere
words, when one must confine magnificent
landscape within the narrow meaning Of a hmm
drum language-sinking sublimily in svntax
and pounding panorama into prosody! So
thought the writer as he stood with Mr. Ball in
the courthouse tower and glanced down the
long streets bordered with mammoth magno]:as
and spreading oaks, and looked beyond the cir
cling hills over which spring was trailing her
banners of red and green and pink and White
all a'shimmer with bloom and fruit of peach and
plum and pear, and fragrant with the incense of
the closing day.
with what desire have l long desired" AZ
Tennyson puts 1t, to visit ancient Palestine, the
cradle of mankind sit under the shade of the
tree of knowledge and beg single twig for mem
DRY. There is something of compensation for
the loss to visit Middle Florida the cradle of the
Commonwealth, where the first parents and pio.
neers of agriculture began the conquest of a sec
ton then unknown. And it is unknown yet, their
descendants complain. But they will not have
to complain long. The tide will turn this wav
soon, and when once the outside world gets
sight of this splendid country, and breath of
its beautiful breeZes, this whole hearted peOple
can no longer hand down their rich estates to
their chldrens' children in long line of success
sion. l shout Immigration" too because it's
" in the PLATFORM" but l foresee the day when
Tallahassee will number thousands where now
are hundreds only, and the rich lands of Leon go
away upon beyond the reach of those who should
buy now, while they can
The trail of the serpent, as it were will be over
it all. He will invade even the quietest farming
sections OF the county, now reposing in quiet
and cOntentment and with grip" in one
hand and sprg from the tree of knowledge in
the other, expose to rustics their homespun de-
formity $50 called), and, for good round sum,
array them in broadcl0th and fine linen. Then
the young farmers will begin to part their hair
and their names in the middle, and rouge on
many country cheek will take the place of the
rose. Then little babies will leave their f1utter
mills in the dancing brooks, and go to dancing
schools" become as gods, knowing good from
evil" even in their teens And when the
stranger, riding by, calls to inquire the way of
some ten-year old with cigarette in his MOUTH
his tlmid " How are you, bud - will receive for
answer: Wipe off yer chin, old boss; you
amt no doctor. Does yer nanny know you re
out?"
Yes; it is bound to come, and soon Such
acres as these rich, like good o-stone, through
and through, producing such millet as Dr. A. B.
Hawkins grows q would hesitate to announce
the wonderful yield) and such clover-rank red
clover-as Mr.. j. c. Kemper, the enterprising
liveryman has on his pasture, will be overrun
with home hunters from North and South alike;
and, then, our people here will find themselves
uncomfortably crowded. Two, five and ten dol
lars per acre for land that produces from 800 TO
sou cannot be the rule much longer. Alas, the
steam horse will erewhe turn cold Jim " Out
to grass, and the voice of these singing waters
be heard no more. The fleecy clouds that can
opY these purpling hill tops will fade away be-
tore the black smoke Of the engine Tue theatre
will lean mp against what is now the handsome
country church. and other emblems of ''pro-
gtess and civilization" will crowd the busy
th"lougbfires. Gone-all gone These :" cool
sequestcred wales ot lie" will swo0n beneath
the hot and Sitting breath of the furnace and
the forge. The rustic spirits will walk no more
these mystic hills You keep running, more than
halfway with open arms and doors flung wide,
to meet the immigrants from New York and
Georgia, Ohio and Alabama, after your own
hospitablc fashion, and you'll get enough OF it
before you know it. In the natural order OF
things, 1t must come; and so must the mmi-
grants Wen, it you want 'em, let 'em
come. This is rich-an immensely rich
section, and the head of the army of
invaders is even now on the march. We are
bound to make room for progress" to give way
10 the husters." But | should like above all
things 10 see two three counties of Middle
Florida fenced off where few Old-fashoned
men, women and children c. uld still be reared
for in The inevitable fight between the husllers
and the home-spun I'm for the bome-spun every
time. If we can't do any more, let US try to
save The seed.
THE FLORAL CITY OF THE SOUTH.
Captain Duval has just handed me Georgia
pamphlet which announces that ThOmasvile is
superior to Florida as winter resort, and that
the cool spells which sometimes completely
destroy the orange crop of Florida, do not affect
the pear crop about brownsville" 1t might,
with equal reason, declare that the cold spells
which, once in fifty years. destroy part OF the
oranges in Florida, do not affect the brass door
knobs OF Georgia. In no sectio1 of Florida were
pears injured in the least, even by the hard
freeze Of 1885, Middle Florida is the favorilc
home of the pear so is West Florida. A drive
with Dr. Hawkins To the grove OF Mr.. John s.
Winthrop, near the city, found the young limbs
bending to the ground with the heaviest crop in
Leon county. The difficulty is how to minimize
the product. He will this season gather 1900
bushels from four acres: Pears sometimes bring
$500 bushel. If Mr.. Winthrop gets only
$3.50 he will realize 81 $50 on the four acres,
and the orchard is not yet at its best Over
1862 an acre on hand that sells for SIS and $40
But suppose pears bring but Is cents per bushel,
he would have 1914 an acre and what crop pays
better. except the orange, grape, or other spe-
cialty? Certainly not cotton. Colonel N.
orchard on Calhoun street; G. A. Lamb,
ESQ, Mr.. George w. Saxon, Colonel J.
B. Gamble and Others, inside the corporation,
like the inhabitants Of Utopia, also have
wealth of fruits and flowers comprised about
their very doors.
Prof r. Dubois is the proprietor OF the San
LUIS Vineyard, two miles west Of Tallahassee,
having six years ago purchased 500 acres for 3d.
0OO-$6 an acre for high, rch rolling lands, in