The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-03-02
WHERE TO MAKE MONEY.
The Great Advantages of the East Coas
of Florida

| living" said u western Ohio farmer
| the other day to "a reporter of one of
| the leading newspapers of Cincinnati.
| Il can manage to keep ahead of the
world but 1t is a constant fight; the
crops are uncertain, the summer days
| are hot, the winters long and cold and
the doctors bills heavy-so I'm going
to pull up stakes and try my luck in
Florida"
The reporter demonstrated with him:
ITS a beautiful country down there" "
he said, but it strikes me that it was
made for only rich folks to live in. /
was down there four winters ago for
Il few days and was delighted with
Jacksonville and st. Augustine; but it
didn't strike me that Florida was any
sort of u place for poor man to make
q living in."
That's all because you don't know
about it," replied the farmer; 1--WE been
informing myself about Florida for the
past six months; l have written there
for reliable information and got it. See
here. tand the Ohio farmer pulled lot
of pamphlets, maps and letters from
his pocket, the Florida east coast Is the
country for me-" he added, land these
letters, etc, prove it,
They spoke of the Jacksonville, st.
Augustine and Indian River railway,
stretching out over $50 miles of fertile
country, dotted here and there with
cities and towns, all having a solid
business and beautiful winter tourist
hotels. This railroad runs from Jack
sonville to st. Augustine, thence to
Palatka, thence southeastward to Or
mond and after that it skirts the coast
southwark to Lake Worth, often paral-
leling the ocean for many miles in sue
cessiOn and penetrating the center of
the famous Indian river country.
The lands through which this rail-
road is built are wonderfully fertile.
Except in the region just south of st.
Augustine-where practically the whole
peninsula between the Atlantic and the
st. Johns river is capable of the highest
cultiVatiOn-the arabic land extends
back from the ocean only a few miles
from four to ten or fifteen: but the va
riety of its products and the profit
with which they may be raised and
marketed are attracting people there
from many quarters of the globe.
In and around Moultrie-not far
south of st. AuguStine-a colony of
western New York people has thou
sands of acres in grapes. the White
Niagara predominating. The fruit is
ready for shipment in June and early
July, and the yield is frequently from
three to five tons per acre. At the out
set the grapes bring from 30 to 40 cents
per pound in the northern and western
wholesale markets, and for the season
the price will average about 10 cents
yield of from 5000 to 81 800 per acre.
Rice culture. too, is very profitable or
the low lands lying on either side of the
Jacksonville st. Augustine and Indian
River railway, in st. Johns and Vo-
lusia counties.
There is hardly mile of the country
from Jacksonville to Lake Worth in
which oranges cannot be grown profit
ably, and in the sOuthermOst region the
lemon flourishes, yields abundantly and
brings high prices anywhere. The In
dian river oranges are acknowledged
to be the best in the world, and hun
dreds of men are getting rich in the
cultivation of groves in that portion of
the state.
From Titusville south is the home of
the pineapple, q fruit which is easy of
cultivation and which yields a crop
eighteen months after it's chanting.
Ankona, Jensen and Eden have some
of the most extensive and the finest
pineapple plantations in the world Ac-
cording to the reports of tourists who
have travelled all over the island of
Cuba, the best plantations of pines
there are not to be compared with those
of the east coast of tFlorida. The
profits are great, and it is now an even
race between the orange growers and
the pineapple planters there to prove
which can get rich the faster.
Trucking" is another profitable in
dustry prosecuted in this favored sec
ton, the fast freight trains of vesti-
buled cars run by the Jacksonville, St.
Augustine and Indian River railway
carrying tens of thousands of tons
northward every winter and spring.
The freight charges are low, consider
ing the excellent service and it Is gen.
orally understood that all the people
along the line of II. NJ. Flagler's rail-
way are considered his partners" that
is, they work together. the planters
and growers and truckers making the
crops and the railroad company trans
porting them to market-all on a fair
division Of the profits.
Bananas, lines, guavas, sugar cane,
persimmons, pomegranatcs, watermel-
ons, sugar apples, and great variety
Of other tropical fruits are also sue
cessfully cultivated on the East coast
and are making the husbandmen inde-
pendent.
The waters of the East Coast TEEN
with fish and oysters, and the railroad
is rapidly building up market for
them in jacksonville, Savannah, At
lanta, Augusta and other points farther
north.
As the people prosper the towns are
rapidly built up and improved, and
in even many of the smaller ones banks
have been established for carrying on
the business. Melbourne and Palm
Beach both have fine institutions of this
sort.
"The East Coast Is the country for
me-" repeated the Ohio farmer, as he
folded IN his papers and carefully re-
placed them in his pocket. 81 can get
rich in six or seven years down there,
while up here | shall be ready to die
by the time | have scraped together
enough to keep me comfortably without
work"
The Cincinnati newspaper reporter
went off as If he had learned something.
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