Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-04-21
SOME FACTS ABOUT FLORIDA.

o the EQitOr Oh the EdSle.
Truth is said to be between the ex-
tremes and in writing about any new
thing or country the tendency seems to
be to diverge from the straight line of
facts and color the description either for
or against the true merits of the case in
point.
The attempt to boom the sub-trOpical
climates of both Florida and California
by interested land agents and railroad
companies by exaggerated stories that
all articles descriptive of those countries
have to be taken with due allowance.
While Iattempt to give to the EAGLE
some points relative to Florida, l have
no object or policy that calls for more
than plain facts. The great profits of
orange culture and truck gardening IN
Florida are best displayed on paper.
The facts are that moneyis made In that
country. as it is everywhere on earth, by
careful and persistent industry and econ
omy, and in no other way. 1t Is true
that the climate is as near perfect as it
can well be, and perhaps it is no stretch
of the truth to say it has no superior any
where. In the middle portion of the state
mercury seldom gets lower than forty
degrees or higher than eighty-five de-
grees the entire year. The old ideas
held by northern people that the sum-
mers are extremely hot, that the atmos-
phere is filled with deadly malaria, tile
ground alive with insects and poisonous
reptiles, ETC., is all myth. None Of this
is true. The air is constantly stirred by
breeze, the water is pure and soft.
'Tis true the sun is very hot at noon
time from April to September, but the
evenings are cool, the dews abundant
and refreshing. | have heard it claimed
that FLORIDA is the poor mans home
and the rich mans paradise" This needs
good deal Of qualification; in fact,
taken as it reads, it is misleading If a
man has little money, a fair amount OF
energy and good sense be can live there
easier than in very many places. If a
man is rich ali he gets in that country
more than his money will furnish for
him anywhere else is the evenness of the
climate He saves the sudden changes
in temperature that acts alike
on all The very poor man
is better off most anywhere
else than in Florida or California. Solid
comfort may be reached in Florida by a
man in moderate means. He wants
money enough to pay for his home,
whether it is large or small. He needs
no great mansion, furnished in style, but
frame house that he will not be
ashamed of, with room enough.
He needs no eXtrayagant cld1hing in
quantity or quality. He and his house
hold must not be ashamed of working
with their own hands in planting trees.
shrubs, flowers and vegetables and car
ing for them promptly and wisely. The
soil is good or not good, just as it is
treated, and cannot be neglected there
more than elsewhere if it yields crop.
Most people who go there will be sur
priSed at the vast amount of unoccupied
and unsettled country, but the next zen
years is sure to work greater changes in
that state than in any other perhaps.
Property is yet very cheap, except where
fictitious values have been placed on
improvements so called. backed up by
extravaganza stories about the immense
income from bearing orange groves.
Orange growing cannot be made profit
able anywhere without personal care and
constant labor. and in the most favored
lOCdllllcS' Lie lOIiS eSIAi VI Wal III
weather and not the excessive heat is
the one drawback of the country. But
as excessive labor is not required the
work of small home and its surround
ings can be done in the cool of the day,
and perfect rest enjoyed at night.
This then is about the condition of
things as | found them from close OBJ
servation and careful inquiry during the
Sojourn of a part of the year.
B. S. ".