The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-02-24
THE SOUTH FLORIDA FlATwooDs.
What Good Fo- Burning Of Natural Products.
Strange Fruit.

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rolling piney woods and fiatwoods, with
an occasional interspersion of swamps
and hammock land. In Orange County
these characteristics are pretty evenly
balanced, but as the traveller goes south
ward he sees fewer hills, until the land
scape settles down. into one vast, UNI
broken stretch of fatwoods. ending in
the greatest marsh in the world-the
Everglades.
Much of this level plain is taken up
with cypress swanps, which wind about
and branch off like walls of grey and
green, but the greater part OF it is sus-
ceptibie of cultivation with little drain
age. A man who has spent two-thirds
of a long life here, says the flatwoods OF
South Florida will yet be more eagerly
sought after by vegetable growers than
even the much Wanted hammock land.
1t is certain that where this sort of land
has been properly put in cultivation
some fine crops have been raised.
The cattle men know the value of the
fiatwoods and are careful to keep their
cows and calves there as long AS posi-
bic. Ii kept loo long ON the high lands
the cattle are affected with what is
known as salt sickness, and the calves
rarely recover unless speedily taken
down into the grassy flatwoods. In the
rolling hills they suffer with holiow-hoTn
and sort of necrosis of the bones of
the tail, which sometimes causes them
to lose that useful member altogether
Some of the cowboys attribute these
curious diseases to the fact that cattle
eat the poisonous mushrooms found on
the high particularly one pecu-
llSiy nauseatlng variety known by the
classic and suggestive name of "buz-
zard bill" This is a sort of truffie,
which sprouts four thin red prongs,
Joined together at the top, which speed
lily decays, emitting an odor almost too
terrible for description. 1t is hardly
credible that a decent COW would think
OF using such thing for food.
In my last letter, | referred to prac-
tice, common among the cattle of South
Florida, of burning off the woods in the
early spring, in order to provide fresh
pasturage for their stock. 1t is in the
flatwoods that these fires rage the most
frequently and with the greatest violence
ON account of the large amount of wire
grass to be found there. | think as the
country becomes more thickly settled
the cattle ranges will move southwark,
and the necessity being removed, forest
fires will become of rare occurrence.
There are few, if any, Crackers who set
the woods afire ''Iust to see it burn;" it
is done for the benefit of their stock,
which often represents nine-tenths of
| their belongings. Still it is to be hoped
that the decreasing area of wild range
will cause them to spae the woods, and
transfer their operations to more thinly
settled districts
The South Florida flatwoods have also
been fine hog range, and many
gaunt, sharp nosed raZor-back may be
seen bohbing and Juggling at the buds of
the palmetto IN the more thinly settled
lowlarlds. In the dampest places they
iced ON wampee and Daint-root, and at
tain a moderate degree of fairness from
eating the acorns which grow on a dwarf
species of oak about foot in height.
Various roots and berries contribute to
the support of these piney woods root
ers, and there Is species of nettle, hav
ing a mealy, sweetish sort of root, for
which the rooter will sometimes dig for
! as deep down as two feet. These hogs
are turned out in the fiatwoods for their
living directly after they are weaned,
and no more is thought of them until a
| mess of pork is wanted. Then they are
| driven into pen, fed week or two on
corn and potatoes to ''harden their
| flesh, and then led to the slaughter.
The berries of the saw palmetto also
| form staple article of diet for the Flor
| ida hog, and it is claimed that their use
renders the meat uncommonly rich fla
| vored.
| But hogs are not the only animals that
like the palmetto berries. In the inn
mense stretches of flatwOods in the
| lower kissimmee valley the berries grow
to an unusual size, being about as large
| as dates, full of savory sweetness, and
| or In ltSl NV ha old
hunters and cattle rangers.
| 1t is fruit that one can scarcely en-
| dure at first on account of its strong
nlusky flavor, but after the first dislike
is overcome, an appetite is formed for it
which amounts to positive craving
| with some people. A young Cracker
remarked to me the other day that he
would rather have quart of saw pal
| n, ette berries than dozen of the finest
peaches. The best palmetto berries are
to be found in the region of Lake Okee-
| chohee, according to Jimmie Yates. He
says there they grow to be considerably
over an inch long, and so full of sweet
ness that drop of thick honey exudes
and hangs from the under side of the
berry when it is thoroughly ripe.
This saw palmetto, which exists in
untold quantities all over the South
Florida fiatwoods, has always been con
sidered a terrible nuisance by the home
steader, as land covered by it is very
difficult to clear, every trunk being
firmly nailed to the ground by long,
why roots which succumb only to tn,
ak and grubbing hoe. Some of tn,
trunks are six inches in diameter ans
ten feet long, and may have been grow
ing thousand years FOR aught / know
as they die off behind and grow on be
fore. In this way have no doubt bu
) some of them have travelled many mile
from where they nrst started. Whel
| burned these trunks yield ashes that i
{ | a superb fertilizer, although it must b
q carefully applied, on account of tn
large amount of salt it contains. Thes
ashes will tan leather nicely, and th
stems and leaves are full of fine. stron
!, fiber, while the snowy flowers aboun
in honey. The saw palmetto is not sue
. a nuisance as is generally supposed.
;, Various small fruits thrive best in I'll
y black, tenacious soil of the fiatwood
: Prominent among these is the bea
berry, a large, rongh-skinned berry tn;
grows on a stem only ten or twel,
$ inches in height, and has a rather il
n sipid taste. Vast quantities of the
!. grow in the poorer spots, and indeed
is considered useless to make much
ie~l land on which it is found growing. Sc
OK eral kinds of huckleberries, most
10 them of dwarf nature, abound in L
more elevated portions, and seem espes
ally delighted in growing near old 10
and stumps. They ripen in early SUI
mer, and continue but a few weel
The mockingbirds soon make way wi
them.
le But the finest wild fruit to be foul
=, IN the Florida fiatwoods is the biueberr
In places where the fires have been Ike