Middletown transcript., 1893-02-18
Way DOWN IN FLORIDA.
AN INTERESTING LETTER FROM A
FORMER TRANSCRIPT EDITOR.
The s'Funny Mans Looms up in New
Role-A Description of a Land
Where Summer Now Prevails.
w. Scott Way Greets His Old
Friends and Readers.
PALM BEACH, DADE Co., FLA. |
February Z, 1898.
DEAR TRANSCRIPT

Z =
: try 10 tell your readers something {
this charming southeastern corner
Uncle Samuel's ranch, where th
!..sything song of the coal grale is nevt
heard and man has never to swear a
the perversity of the cellar furnace.
Get a late map of Florida and ru
your eye down the east coast line {
latitude 26o 40. There is located tn
most beautiful as well as the most troI
ical part of our country. A strip o
very fertile land, less than mile wide
is washed on the cast by the Atlanti
aud on The west by the far-famed LAX
Worth, an enchanting picture in it
frame of perennial green. The lake il
about twenty miles long and perhap
a mile wide, and much of its eastern
border is covered by tropical growth
and the handsome homes of Northern
people. The cocoanut palm, the mos
graceful and most beautiful of al
the palm family, is here on,
of the most conspicuous objects
and blooming as we'll as ma
turing its fruits every month in the
year, it is always an attractive feature
To Northern visitors. Here is also found
III full bearing, maDgoes, sapadilloes,
guavas, sugar apples. avocado peas,
figs, dates, bananas, maumee apples,
lines, lemons, oranges, clLrons and
other tropical fruits. All the tender
garden vegetables are grown in ,real
abundance from January till June, aud
The pineapple, the best of all fruits,
may be had almost every day in
the year, though the main crop is ripen-
ing from April till July. On the west
side OF The lake are many fields of Ibis
tempting fruit, running flom two 10
forty acres in extent. This is a new
industry here and is expected TO be d
very profitable one. pines" come in
10 bearing in less than two years from
planting and 5000 per acre is not con-
sidered large yield fir Jm the first crop.
The labor of cultivation is not great,
and here where frost is almost un-
known, the crop is considered ''safe''
one.
This region enjoys wonderfully line
climate. The guilt stream, which at
Lake Worth approaches to within a
few hundred yards of the shore,
aud does not vary in tempera-
ture Two degrees the year
round, brings, with this Southern lati
tude, the soft and equable climate
which has made this new paradise
famous. Fires are needed only for
cooking. and you can wear your light
est summer clothing in January, ex-
cept when there is a "Norther," which
occasionally comes down this way,
the mercury to drop below 500.
During the passing winter, which
you probably know is not any fool of
winter, the lowest temperature record
ID here was 43o above. But that was
cold enough for us.
Sea bathing, sailing and rishing are
he popular winter pastimes at Lake
Worth, and the hotels on the lake are !
illed with Northern people now engag-
ID in these recreations. The fame If
ibis region has attracted so many that
he hotels cannot properly accommodate
nearly all of them, and just now it is
lot unusual to find an M. G. sleeping |
IN a cot over the kitchen or Cover
lor on an improvised bed in the hall.
larger hotels will probably be built be-
ore the opening of another winter 50
hat all come there may be cared for.
At present the ''Cocoanut Grove
House," kept by Captain Dimick, "a
pioneer on Lake Worth, a.commo-
|ates large number of guests, while
'ther hotels and boarding houses care
or several hundred more.
The Lake Worth country is without
oubt one of the most healthful reg
ons to be found anywhere. The only
octor here has more time than he
wants to go fishing, and an old inhab-
tant tells me they probably never
you'd have got graveyard started, if
man some years ago, had not got
Rheumatism, catarrh, asthma, con-
umption, gout and bronchitis are
nocked out in one easy round. l do
ot state this from personal experience,
s did not come here with any of the
bOve diseases for the climate to prac-
ice on. But if my appetite is worth
nything as pointer" 1 will bet five
D one on the climate, against any. of
ne diseases named, and give the dis
aSe Inc choice of corners.
Lake Worth is within three or four
lilies of the Everglades, which the
;hool geography used to tell us, among
umerous other lies, was an Immense
wamp." We have lived to find out
this late day that there is very little
swamp" connected with the ever
ladies'" But there are many clear
Ikes and streams, among which are
odies of very fertile land, where the
live and hunt and raise fruits
nd vegetables. They used to raise
cain generally along time ago, making
lis part of Florida very unhealthy for
eople who wore store clothes, but now
lings all are changed. The Seminole
ONES almost daily from his Everglare
ONE and sells US wild turkey for fif-
,en cents pound Or saddle of veni-
On for twelve and-a-half cents. 1t is
nlawful to kill deer at this season. but
ae Indian can't read the law and We
Ke Venison, so We let it go at thai.