Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-07-31
SAVED BY A BANK BOOK
HOW A GREENHORN CLEARED HIS
HOMESTEAD IN FLORIDA.


HOMESTEAD IN FLORIDA.
His Disastrous Experience Told by the
Survivor--A Committee of "CracEers,'
Eiadc an Important CAN on the set
urr-Hs Check Book to the Rescue.
II had been clerk in n city store ever
since | was old enough 10 work, and | was
green. There is no doubt about hat i'll my
mind now, though | spurned the thought
then. | had sold the stony little farm on
the bleak Vermont hillside which had
come TO me after my father had worried
himself into the grave trying to get rich ON
it, and had landed in Florida fun of guido
book opinions of the land of the cypress
81 took up a homestead on the long mar
row strip OF land that divides the Atlantic
ocean from the Indian river. did not go
to see it before entering for ~ at the land
o,nCc, because ! knew that was unueCes-
sary.
Il reached he spot by sailboat from Titus
ville Mt the head of the river, and was de
lighted to find that had neghbors not far
away, to the north and also to the SOUTH
They were Crackers That is the name
which one native Eloridan applies to other
native Floridians whom he docs not like
They had orange groves, to DO sure, but
they did not seem to be growing rich on
their crops This ! attributed to their
shittlcss method Of agriculture. Instead
Of clearing their land of the big pine trees
that numbered it they merely girdled the
trees and left them standing dead and
BARE a constant menace to passers by and To
the young orange trees which were planted
tl.f.ir
the landscape.
CLEARING Up.
81 determined to cut my trees down in
the good old New England fashion, clear
the land thoroughly and raise vegetables
between the rows of orange trees till they
We're old enough to bear golden harvest
First ] set to work on the underbrush, and
then came my first experience with PAL
metto roots.
"WeIl, by the time l had two acres ot
palmetto roots pulled out and a wilder
ness Of big trees down on top of them my
back was almost broken, my ready money
all gone and no prospect Of d crop in sight.
l had come down in the early fall and now
It was about Christmas. The season had
been Il pretty dry one, and the logs looked
SO full Of sap that | thought they would
burn, though too green to burn fast. So
set them n fire.
"1hat was the most disastrous fire ever
lit. ] forgot that the sap Of these trees was
mostly resin. The way the flame crept
along through that mass of underbrush
and leaped up every resinous pine tree it
met was terrific. ! fought it as long "a [
could move q limb and then dropped, ex-
hausted and despairing, and watched it
roar off through the woods like an evil
ia ~ 7 / 4 1
to control 1t was shutdown when I gavo
up the fight and could do nothing more
that night
1.-THE exhaustion made me sleep far into
tho next day and was awakened little
after noon By loud knocks on my door.
Opening it, was confronted by five or six
big, rough men all armed with shotguns
and with On ominous look on their faces.
They strobe into my cabin and shut the
door behind them.
Stranger, said the spokesman crafty,
! you have started a fire here In your darued
Yankee ignorance of fsrmin', and all tho
good ye've done is to burn che rawsun and
the bark OF a lot OF green trees and now
you've got a lot of black logs on yer hands
that are derned sight meaner to handle
than ever. But yer dorncd fire has spread
INFO the groves Of yer neighbors, where the
dead trees were still a-stsndin and they
have been burned 10 the ground as any
body but q natural born fool might "a
knowed they would, and our orange trees
is ruined with them. Such varmint as you
isn't ct TO live In this country. Say yer
prayers, mister, for we're going to plant
| you before We go back
CLEARING OUT.
| 81 was terribly frightened, for l could