The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-10

Florida-descended upon US, and the
startled herOns fed at our approach
On either side, seen through the open
ing, stretched wide the fields, now over
grown, that were once utilized in the pro-
ductiOn of cane and corn and rice. One
section of this fine place has at one time
clearly been river bed. Rivers involve
water, water fish, the latter such birds
as prey therGOn--a process of reasoning
by which l am led to believe that an i'm
mense bird roost once existed here, and
in which belief | am sustained by the fact
that the soil in question is undertake with
deposit of what is phosphate, and what
would have been guano had not the nitro
gen been washed out by the heavy rains.
1t was on this land that was raised the
cane for which the place was famous. 1t
can still be easily distinguished; the
grass that chokes its bitches is ranker,
the growth that borders it more impcne-
trable. Labor must have been lavished,
like water, here. My companion, who is
intensely practical, told me all this, and
declared that in our day at least $1,000
would be required to clear this plantation
of SOS acres.
Even as it is, $4,000 would no more
than put it where it was in the days of
old Hanson, the last man to cultivate it.
1t will be done some day. But the
money, " he added, with a smile, twill
hardly be dug up on the place." and he
pointed to certain rude cXca VatiOns that
had evidently been sCoOped out in haste
and repented at leisure
SOME OF TIE RUINS.
We had returned to the east side of the
plantation Before Outstanding gray
with its concrete against the dark green
leafage-rose the lofty column of the great
chimney OF the sugar furnace shattered
In, I
side torn open and dismantled. Near it
once stood the 'batterie' Of twelve ket-
ties, and hard by had been the dripping
watts. OF all these, the massive coquina
foundations alone remained; from
their crevices sprang slender sap
lings with glistening leaves, and
scattered here ana there-near the old
mill, by the great stock pool where an al
hgator has taken up his abode-were Wis
ible the mysterious excavations of which
l have spoken.
81 Treasure hunters" said my friend, in
answer to my look "But they never
found anything more valuable than In
dian arrow-heads, beads and suchlike
waste of the ages"
1t was probable Whatever money
there may be in this black mould is hard
ly to be got at by the futile frenzy of Wis
iOnarieS.
WHAT THE LAND Is CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
Later on we rode the entire length of
the deserted sugar farm, passing along
the spruce pine ridge that marks it on the
east, cutting into it again here and there
by narrow roads, getting a glimpse of its
wild orange grove and passing a small plat
in cultivation, whGre-stranges of sights
in FlOrida-was seen corn planted in
double rows, scarcely a foot apart in the
row, two in place and rank with tropi-
cal luXuriance, in spite of the cabbages
flung in at random
That was enough. After that ! had
little difficulty in believing that the land
was capable of producing without ferti-
lizer, and year after year, forty bushels of
corn, sixty Of rice, and sugar without
end
The ridge continued, the old plantation
was at an end and as we sped on we
soon passed the great vineyard of e. c..
Terry, who has 40 acres in White Mag
aras, and who Will this year ship at the
rate of so tons. This vineyard, with
those Immediately adjoining, embraces
over 20 acres, and lay in long green undu-
lations, spreading wide over the grea t
white clearing of glistening sand. The
old regime lay behind us; this was the
new, and, if it was not picturesque,
it was at least profit2ble; and, as my
companion sagely remarked, what more
do you want, nOwadayS8n