The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1892-06-25

better in every shape and form. Farm
houses Sre more plentiful and the owners
tare white. sociabe and well-to do. An
other thing the roads are solid and excel
lent Scarcely sand bed is to be found.
1 One can scarcely look in any direction
without seeing old or new tobacco barns,
huge in dimensions, and not far distant
the growing crops that will eventually
Ian them: provided no more hail storms
leone along. The last one did great dam
Iage, causing the farmers to cut down the
stripped stalk. and now the sucker is
taking it's place. We counted forty new
land partly built barns, then quit con-
tract too large Along the road we met
wagons loaded with tobacco barn lumber
and emp wagons going to the saw-mills
for more They get good rough lumber;
not what is termed rough-edge, but mer-
Ichantable boards. undressed, for IS Der
Thousand. and do their own hauling,
Barns can be put mp cheap at these fig
ures. The carpenter work is done by
the proprietor, generally speaking, with
the assistance Of a few saw and Ratchet
carpenters CD and the job is soon COM
pleted. We met farmer in the woods
getting out sticks at 30 cents a hundred,
and he said he made good wages when he
cut down good tree. These sticks are
made of heart pine, and it seems to us
are cheaper and preferable to Iaths and
will last much longer
One farmer claims that cupola or Ven
tilation of some kind on top Of each barn
is highly necessary. Another who COM
mences hanging at the bottom and spears
upward after the sticks are united, says
it is not necessary, SO those who have not
yet built their barns can govern them
selves accordingly.
The syndicate has some fine tobacco
growing on the Concord road, short
distance out from Quincy, aud we heard
of other fields that we did not see.
Some farmers with whom We con-
versed claim that cutting will commence
in some places inside of twenty days.
The Owl cigar factory is The busiest
place we have ever visited in Middle or
West Florida beats Clark's thread
works at Lake City. We saw cigars be-
ing manufactured by machinery; in fact, |
much Of the work is done with the aid Of
steam. But they have one department |
that steam or machinery is not likely to |
cut any figure in. We refer to the as
sOrter of cigars. No machine will ever |
take his place, without one is invented |
that can distinguish brown from dark. |
The machine, if invented. will have To
have brains or something else put into it
TO think, see and distinguish. besides it |
must not be color blind
Barely one cotton field was all that We
saw during our trip to Gadsden, but |
when we crossed the Oclockonte aud |
headed for our Leon county home, fields |
of IL could be seen as thick as three In the |
bed and two n the middle.
We ASKED one old African what he was |
goinE to get for his cotton: '.Nothin'. |
sar." wa the reply. Then we thought |
1t the height Of some people, amb ton to |
labor III the broiling sui eight hours in |
the forenoon AID eight i'll the after
noon growing cotton 70 get nothing for
it.
On this trip. like former one. we lost |
big money by not having cattle to Craze
on W. r. Wilson, big river bottoms.
At the happy home of Wiley Shelter |
We We're socially entertained. He has |
the happy faculty o. making one at home |
without any ceremony He is an all |
around farmer, believes in mixed crops
and has them in high state of cultiva- |
ton. In fact he makes good use of The |
land. His tobacco fields caught the hail |
storm and much damage was done. but |
he ben: the riddled stalks Gown and the |
sucker l. coming in fine shape He will |
yet have fine crop, but it will probably
be little later.
In the vicinity Of where he lives the |
people s'e all white aud are farmers
worth Dragging on
What is known as Coon Bottom. in the |
Hinton, Darsey, Cox. Sharon, Fletcher |
and shelter neighbarhoods, is hard to |
beat for first-class tobacco growing lands
This is our third visit to that section, and |
we like the way things move on better
each time. To use western expression,
1T smells like home"
Mr., Shelter - b okkeeping sort Of
| farmer; the kind we s, often urge all
farmers to become. His son is his book
keeper. and, with the aid of his brother,
his books how the cost of raising theft
crop Of oats, corn. tobacco and other
cereals thus far, and when sac day ar