Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1894-11-29
FROM THE SUNNY SOUTH.
Florida, the Land Of the Orange and
Pineapple.

GAINESVILLE, FLA, Nov. 10, 1894.
Would the readers of the NORTH
WEST care for letter from this sun
nv southern land of oranges and
pineapples and winter cabbage and
lettuce, this land that with proper
application of energy and brains
might almost literally be made to
flow with milk and honey2 Or if not
with milk and honey then with pros
perity, ease, comfort and long life.
We left Cincinnati on the night of
that fatal 9th of November when the
political wind was blowing up so bit
terly cold and arrived at Chatta-
nooga next day at noon where we in
vested in q coffee and a morning pa
per, the former to brace us up after
a fourteen hour ride in a O & Q coach
the Wabash ''bobbien would be
ashamed of and the latter in quest of
election news. The news was there,
and such news; hardly fit for publica-
ton but it was there. Fortunately
enough the coffee was hot and strong
and perhaps aided our muggy brain
somewhat in its efforts to arrive at
an understanding of the causes of SO
much uneasiness in Republican cir
cles Immediately preceding election.
Leaving Chattanooga we passed
Lookout Mountain, crossed Chica-
mauga creek, under Missionary Ridge
through q tunnel. by occasional re-
mains of breastworks that have his
tories written in blood and tears, and
by night found ourselves in Atlanta,
made famous as much by the old song
Marching through Georgia" as by
the part it played in the stirring
scenes through which it passed.
From Atlanta to the Sea-" or at
least SO much of the way as lies be-
tween here and Jacksonville, was
passed in the night. A miserable
passenger service that renders posi-
tive information as to the coming and
going of trains an impossibility COM
pelled us to hurry through jackson
Vile and old st. Augustine with only
short stops instead of stay of hours
as we had expected. Both are beau
tiful places, interesting and historic
as well, especially the latter. We ar
rived here late in the evening carry
ing with us a villainous accumulation
of grease and CRIME from half doz-
en- states, sick, sore and sorry; sick
headache, sore toes and sorry we
didn't come by some other route. But
we soon found soap and water and
later bed and slept a long peaceful
sleep and dreamed sweet dreams of
orange blossoms and Italian skies.
Sure enough, when we awoke we
found roses in front, oranges over
hanging our side porch and plums
and bananas blooming in the back
yard. And such climatel An at
mosphere as balmy and a sky as soft
as ever enjoyed on any May morning
on the Maumee. But it wasn't all
one-sided, for barring fiower-pots and
shrubbery our front yard was little
desert, barren as any desert of any
size. Front yards here are all alike
in that respect; no sodsanywhere ex-
cepting now and then loose sod of
short, weedy grass. Gainesville is
largely q northern city, many of its
citizens and most of it's business men
having come from northern states.
Sharpers have come here to play
their tricks, solid business men to in
vest capital, invalids seeking return
of health and farmers to gain the ad-
vantage of long seasons and diversity
of crops. / rode over one field yes
terday in which had been grown dur
ing the past season, corn, cotton,
oats, cabbage, beans, tomatoes, egg
plant, pie-melon, cantelopes, sweet
potatoes, cucumbers and perhaps
other crops. Almost any crop may
be grown if only you fertilize suffic-
iently and itdoesn't frost. But there's
the rub. Very little of the land will
produce vegetable crops suitable for
the early markets without the addit-
ion each planting time, or at least
each year, of about $50 worth of fer
tilizer to the acre. But that $50 in
vested may enable the acre of land
to return a crop worth 800. 1t often
does much more than this. Five crops
may be and often are grown on the
same land within the year; the last
crop being one of beggar grass hay
which grows without planting, makes
fine feed and natures in few weeks
of wet weather, yielding perhaps two
tons OF hay worth in the market here
about $8 ton. Cabbage and lettuce