The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-06-22
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
JUNE BREEZES IN FLORIDA ARE
DELIGHTFUL
And Calls Forth on Unusually Intere
esting Chat.

heat is not oppressive. have been IN Iampa
end Punta Gorda anl Fort Myers this week ena
hsve not suff red. IN fact. found the brsezes
from the gulf delightful at the,Pors Tampa lao
and at Fo,t Myers nobody comp'a'ned of excess
siye heat. I saw several pretty girls 81 Myers
riding bicycle RACES cn shell road about !
O'Clock D. u. Tamca is hot of course, during the
day, but the nights are cool. Here ct Lakeland,
which is 1he high s. point between the Atlantic
and the gulf. had to let down one window
So. b and pull up the cover to be comfortable
And this is Florida in June. Ridlr1 in the
hot cars abou. midday is the most unpleasant
feature OF my tour, for there is always SONS
dust and llghtwood smoke, but get in a
smoker and pull Of my coat and let down the
window and try t. be aim and serene On
arriving at Pun's G La founl it WAS not
boat day and 50 l had 10 ta';e the mail hack
twerty-six miles through the pine woods fol
F RI Myers. was the only passenger, ut the
one-arned driver was good talker and told
me many things did not know. 1t is great
cattle range and VIC Wee hardly ever OUT OF
SIGHT OF them. There were generally twenty.
FIVE or thirty In q bunch, as they call it. and
asked the driver why they didn't scatter more.
The 1i s. tie flies sald he. "There ara
jus. 81 many flies to the square yard al through
these woods and they would eet up coY that
got off by herself. You see. that 500 flies on
one COW would he mighty bad, but 100 di-
and they can ra> : gelher and switch their
tails .ainst ech other and keep them Of"
Tnsr, IS cattle king down there whose
name is King and he ownS abaut $4,000 ard
Other kings own from 81 600 10 20, ,000. I saw
scores of young calves with their mothers Ihs
cowb vs. will &c round soan ard b, and them.
We Jumped u!on- over the pine roots and I
got iolted and twisted until was sore. For
| TWEEN: y. two miles there was no human habl-
la 70 VA -
had passed. BIT the flowers we're beautiful.
| plueSed Soy, nteen different kinds in little
| SPACE aud eat good bal. OF whort!eberrles be-
| side BY and by We reached the river and saw
| the town and the orange groves on the other
| side. The river is Il, le and half wide and
| has quite vrsi5le current. We crossed in
little dirty sail boat with stiff breeze behind
| Us, and drdn' like j. much. nor did sing "a
| Life on the Ocean Wave The tarpon were
| Jumping around and showing their silver lin
ings, for this river is their home and they &c
up in schools to lay their spawn and nurse
| their Young brood As many as 1C0 have been
| landed here in day by the sports. But the
| sport is all. They &re ft for nothing but to
make compcs. for Tie orange trees. Mr.. King
| told me that he had 5000 pounds In one pen In
bis barnyard But ab, those oran.e treesl
They did look so lovely il their beautiful green
clothing that hal not even been sole BY the
| IL
! grown fruit: so also are the grape fruit II ees
and the lemons The lines were killed and 80
were the guavss, lus these are sproutlng up
vigorously and will soon be all right. The
| Roral Pi nccanua was nipped in the eztremities
but he large limbs are all putting OUT a new
growth. and 50 IS tine aV calo or alligator pear
| and the mangoes. 1t seem that all the region
on that side of the river was just below the
! belt. The CatooSahatchee was the rublcon
that the freeze could not cross.
Fort Myers is an attractive place. u
has possibilities and probabilities In the
near future. All it lacks is railroad
and a hotel largo enough 20 accommodate
! the tourists. Ellison. the fam - lnVen'or,
| has winter home here and a l'ho atory. Dir.
McGrrggor, the president Of lie STANDARD on
Company, also has home here. From this
point up TO Fort Thompson is a rich land re.
| gion and full of orange and lemon groves and
eocoanuts aud other trop cal fruits. There IS
cannery a: the town that cans suaya Jelly on
g. large scale General Hancock waS stttloned
| here in 1856. saw he dwelling be occupied
and where his little daughter was born. She
diea in New York when eighteen years old. It
almost broke his heart He revisited tie fort
in 1873 ard seemed very sal with his memo
res. Old Major Evans told me that the gen.
eyal sad that d ar girl was my hearts treas
ure. She was all that my hopes or exp cta-
living here nearly fifty years and IS a book OF
Indian history. He told me much Of Osceola
and Billy BoHlegs and TIGER Tail and ether
| chiefs. The s:ragglins Seminoles still come
here occasionally to trade their deer and ot"er
skins, but the tribe is doomed. They number
now about $40 and their negro slaves have
| nearly all left them. The everglades, where
| they live, ar only thirty miles distant. vlsi:
| ted the experiment station that is just ont OF
| town. 1t is sustained by the state and has be-
| gun its work in earnest The pineapple patch
was flourishng and the plants or suckers are IN
| demand. But the finest pinery is at Punta
| Gorda. Conductor Davis has improved one at
! his home in that town. He has several varie.
| ties and even sent to Honolulu for some plants
! of the finest variety known the world. They
| we're four months on the way bNt we're sound
and are growing be ut fully. From this little
| match of less than half an acre he has already
! sold $500 worth of suckers. These suckers
| sprout out from the base Of the apple and
number from ten to twenty On each pant.
| When pulled off more come to take their
places. As tho pin app'e plants north ot
| this latitude we're all killed By the freeze:
CAPTAIN D.v.s will make far more money
| in selling plants than selling the fruit
He raises some that arc 4 foo; long and or
! deep golden color and their meat is fl for the
| gods. Twenty OF the plants in fui! fruit Will
| be s.nt to the exposition. Puma G2rda did
not come up to my expec'asi Ms. No orange
! groves arc in sight anl 10 shade trees adorn
| the sidewalks. It IS great shipping point
and has q fine bay and sie'mboa.s ply It's Wa.
ters. One hundred and f.nr thousand tons OF
| phosphate were shipped from there IN lSsa; ~
There were shipped # m Port Tampa l66 O00
to. during that year AMI the business IS
steadily increasing. Tampa is a wonderful
| little cit. Is population has double within
FIVE wears. It now has 81 ,0C0 people and one
third of them are Cub ms. The wage money
| mid ont by the banks amounts to S60GpO
week. inst th nix Of il. Ten thoUsGnd dollars
n day and the mast OF it is spent III Tampa.
| The product that Dr.n s most Of this money ls
| burned mp by the men AMI boy5. am burning
| one now while write. hut il was given to me.
! Ike those kind. l n: vrr smoked until l was
| th.rtv-five ye. RS oil and there was war gong
N. I wish that every boy would wait that
| long. l har1 great respect for Young man
! who does not ute tobacco.
But th" most amusing and I'm que curiosity
saw il Tampa was t!:e little midget, General
Abe Sawyer. of Key Vest. He is thlry-ons
| years old AMI thirtv-seren inches high and OF
numerical form and good features and we'll
| informed on the # irs of the day. He has
II rtv Of cht ck or stlf-conileues AMI enjoys
INK "a speech before Ill audience Of ladies
anil Gen l. m H. He has ideas and opinions AID
da.cs TO express them. IL is very choice of
lis fr.onls. II. t6nk u fancy 10 Mr.. Patton,
the travelling passenger agent, Of the Plant
system, and Wake ahout with him in q fra
rerual wav A. Mr.. Pat'on is six feet two
n-hes tail tn, contrast was very amusing. He
i. to 90 TO the exposition AMI distribute Mr..
| Plants circulars. Now if any mriher vii! pat
! the var. Stick TO htr tNo-ye r-oll boy she Will
! re,l'za how small this gent eman is. The
Children enjoy him srea ly H s.ys he is o
coldbug because silver is too heary for him.
HI wears fine clothes end claims to be an Q is
i to.ra.. Is,w Tum Thumb 70: years ago at
| Barnums auh an sue that General Sawyer is
not so large or .al'--Bii.L ARP in Atlanta Con-
! sti.u:icn.
Drums OF Aluminium.