Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1896-04-07
es..se FROM FL ORIDA. T
- r. 5Ez@s.: -s-.- - T. 80
A Warning to Prospective In
:.' migrants to the Florida,
- 49, Fruit Gardens.
Editor WILLMAR TRrB11Nn.2. j..

Editor WILLMAR TRIBUNE? 70: -. ) :
II lean say anything to prevent
poor people, with little means from
going down thereto be disappointed
and deceived by those land sharks
and real estate agents, I:shall be glad
to do SO. We did not visit the Talla-
hassee region, where the Clark Syndi-
cate Companies land is located, and
which they are just now booming up in
Farm & Fireside, so we don't claim
that there is no fertile land in that
region. but as Farm & Firesidc says
their colony land is all pine land, we
do say that we saw enough of
Florida pine to judge something OF
it's fertility. They are not only boom
ing Lion County, but all middle and
western Florida. Hear what the Flor
ida State Commissioner of Agricul-
ture says, in order to induce settlers
to come there: 1.-The pine lands are
divided into 3 classes, first, second
and third. The soil Of the first class
is remarkably fertile, producing goo;
crops On the same soil from Is to 20
years, without fertilization, 40 bu. OF
corn, 10 to so oats, 200 to 400 bu. of
sweet potatoes, to 2 tons of hay.
etc. Now if this be true, why in the
name Of truth did not we, in going
from Tampa to the Northern bounlry
ofthe state, on the Florida Central
Railroad, see some Of this rich pine
land. We saw nothing but pine land
cyprus swamps. and l looked in vain
for e change i'll the appearance Of the
soil, but it all looked like that around
Tampa, the same poor white sandy
soil, all wild and uncultivated with
the exception Of the dead orange groves
spoken Of in my former letter. II it is
as rich as they pretend, why did we
not see at least some cultivated farms;
with peach and pear orchards etc.
The writer in Farm & Fireside further
says that the swamp land is easily and
cheaply drained, when it makes the
richest land in the world, SO my broth
cr went into one Of these swanps,
and he says it was lower than the land
around it. and q perfect mat Of pal
metto. He thinks man could not
afford to clear it for less than 500
an acre. and how could it be drained
unless the water will run up hill? A
writer in Farm & Fireside further
says: In no other state in the Union
can q man got such profitable returns
by using brains and MUSCLES Who,
with halfcommon sense does not know
that that is a lie? He further says.
"As q poor mans country West Flor;-
da leads the list; little money is need
ed. ETC., to make q fortune.' If he
had said it leads the list in poor men,
he would have come nearer the truth.
l do not say there is no productive
land in Florida, for the agricultural
products of the state proves that there
is, but do say, THAT [ believe a man
will work harder trying to make q
living by farming there, than in any
other state in the Union that | have
visited. These railroad land spcou-
lators, will take q man down there on
3 day excursion at half fare. take him
him to a good hotel, drive around
18th him to see the best farms, tell
him big stories as TO what the land
will produce, give him no time to look
around and see the dark side, and if
he comes from the north where the
mercury is down to zero, and in n
hours lands in q country where it is
60 or 20 degree above, he is very apt
to think it q delightful climate, and q
paradise, but let him stay through the
long summer, and endure the mosqui-
tos. sand flies, the blighting veSeta-
ton, the lnalarial disease, the war1n
drinking water, and many Other draw
backs, and think he will wish him
self back where he came from. The
land in southern Georgia looks very
much like that Of Florida with the ex-
ception Of the palmetto. The soil is
white sand, and in some Of the cotton
fields, the last years stalks were not
more than one foot high, and in the
corn stubbles, the stalks we're not
larger than your finger, not more than
5 Or feet high, and only one in Il
place about 3 feet apart in a POW, and
feet the other way. You can judge
| for yourself how, mnch such corn
would go to the acre. If a native
southerner, especially a poor man,
can get plenty of corn-bread and
bacon, he will not complain, and I
know Of some in Florida who did not
complain when they could get corn
bread made with cold water without
the bacon; but people from the north
do not like to live that way. With the
exception OF Jacksonville and St.
Augustine, Tampa is probably the
largest towns in Florida. There -four
meal, corn, oats, hay, and Irish potatoes
are shipped in from the North. Il the
land is as productive as the land
spectators pretend, why don't they
raise SUCH stuff there? We went into
a meat shop in Tampa and inquired
the price of beef, Northern beef, Ar
mours, best cuts rs cents per ID.
Florida beef, best cuts, 3 lbs, for %
cts. Now there was just as much diff.
ference in the quality as there was in
/ the nrice Now have given Won the