Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-31
FLORIDA FEATURES
Rapid Recuperation Of the State From
the Disastrous Freezes.
OUTLOOK FOR ORANGES and TOBACCO
Characteristics Of the State Cap
ita| and Surrounding Country.
INTER STING INCIDENTS

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla, December Is, 1897
The number Of Pullmans attached to the
train which bore me to the land of con-
slant bloom, oranges and the fragrant
pine evidenced that the tide of tourists
southwark has already set in, anticipating
the hegira which usually follows the holi-
days. For so early in the season the travel
is said to be exceptional and Is another
proof that We must be riding the wave of
prosperity, so long predicted. Many of our
fellow travel ers were destined for Charles
ton as stop over" but the majority
were bound for Florida, whose attractions
increase from year to year with the enter
prise which caters to the sybaritic Ameri-
can by affording him fresh opportunities
for the indulgence of his varying fancies,
and new food for the qualification of his
ever-palling taste for novelty and excite
ment.
Leaving Washington on a flying train,
we play Bo-peep with the Potomac
until we reach Quantico, glimpses of
the river here and there offering charming
vistas as We glide over the smooth roadbed
and rush onward in luxurious comfort.
What contrast to the ante-bellum Or
ange and Alexandria" You think of its
rumbling old cars, which 'jostled ones
uOIcS over lHo STONES ike tNc pauper s
hearse, and thank your stars that they are
one Of the mt morie3 of the past. Alexan-
dria always reminds Inc of the Orange and
Alexandria," because Alexandra changeth
not. She Is one of the colonial DANES and
whole chapter Of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, wrapping herself in
her ancient prestige and jOinting the finger
of scorn at the new woman over the river.
A ride Of twenty-one hours brings us to
Jacksonville, and here we begin to feel that
winter is a myth, and, like the ghost in
Hamlet, will only make occasional Interrupt
tfcnS. Roses greet us, the japOnica's white
bloom glistens amid its dark green foliage.
the air Is redolent Of spring, but the native
Is sh!verng. The morning was frosty so
the parlor fires were glowing, and we were
ushered into chamber with a cracking
flame climbing the wide chimney. The
warmth and fragrance of the burning pine
knots were cheerfully appreciated, not be-
cause we of higher latitude were cold, but
for its poetry; the "reminiscences it awak-
ened OF kindred flames long since expired
in childhood's home. The lavish expendi-
ture Of fuel in this land, where the frost
seldom pinches, is a sad commentary on
the lack of 1T where the piercing blasts
freeze the souls out Of the fireless poor at
our own doors.
RecupcratinE Rapidly.
Florida is recuperating rapidly from the
blight which Frustrated her three years ago.
The orange crop this year amounted to
nothing the year previous. An equal per-
centage of improvement will bring a yield
next year of nearly, If not quite, 2,OOO, 600
boxes, and this prospect Is already greasing
the wheels of enterprise.
The growing interest OF Florida, however
Is tobacco. Until this season scarcely more
than an experiment, 1t is now an assured
Industry; its cultivation bidding fair to dis
place that Of cotton. The small farmers
have given up all hope Of any improve
NnV.f in f1A Nrt1 49,
which has lost not only its original prestige
but has fallen so low In the commercial
scale that not even the Mckinley bill dared
lift 1T to industrial recognition.
Jacksonville is the great distributing
point for the throng of tourists who seek
health, pleasure or business chances in the
various sections Of the state.
Serving the syndicates.
Most Of those on pleasure bent wend
their way southwark, while business carries
many westward. where the cotton, tobacco
and lumber interests center.
This section of the state is penetrated by
the Florida Central, in local parlance the
''F. c. and p" In travelling one Is mys-
titled by the variations in the alphabet pos
sible to railroad lingo, and puzzled to un-
derstand 1t when 1t greets the ear. Leav-
ing Jacksonville We enter the great pine
belt. Here and there we encounter long
trains burdened with logs and lumber; saw
mills at intervals hum and buzz noisy with
the energy that reduces the forest to its
subservient purposes. Further on bundles
Of sugar cane, decorating the porches Of
Ethiopian habitations. remind us that here
Is another source Of wealth and profit, not
to the bone and sinew worn out in its pro-
duction, but to the trust and the syndi-
cate. The latter is the great octopus in
this country, grasping everything in its
far-reaching tentacles. The small farmer
or planter is it's victim. To dispose of his
crop he yields to the syndicate. They fix
the rate and sometimes the weight. I was
told today of farmer who carried, as he
thought, 1900 pounds Of tobacco to 1.-The
syndicate" and was paid for 100 pounds,
their estimate; SO that at $3.50 per hum
dredweight he netted a disappointment of
500, and this is an everyday tale. Cotton
only brings cents pound this year, and
the very cotton ties seem to grin through
their clasping teeth at the white staple, as
If e&ulting that they are not among the
royal unprotected.
Little has been offered to entice the
pleasure seekers to this section of the state,
which was the Mecca OF the early aristo-
cratic settler, many of whom hailed from
VIII ginia, and we find greeting US along the
railroad as we wend our way to the capital
of the state Monticello, Madison, Ligo and
other familiar names. Near Tallahassee
one of the sors-in-law of Jefferson pos
sessed immortal acres, and we remem-
bered that 1t was at Ligo, one Of the JEFF
ferson-Randclph estates Of Albemarle coun-
ty. Va, that Stockton. while loafing and
the Tiger"
II was quite a surprise to find this part
Of the state SO decidedly billy, as IL the
AIleghanies were stretching out their feet
to lave them in the gulf
Attractions of Tallahassee.
Tallahassee, like Rome, sits upon several,
IL not seven hills. Her capitol, surround
ed by majestic oaks, which give way here
and there to groups Of shrubbery and flow
ering portieres, boasts a Partheonic por-
tico. 1t is the center of an aggregation Of
villas-lovely homes ensilrined in blooming
grounds The legislature meets but once
in two years, and In June. Expressing
surprise that they should meet In summer.
I was told that the temperature Is very
pleasant throughout the year, the breezes
from the not distant gulf modifying the
heat Of summer.
1t was here that Achille Murat found a
home In his exile when the blazing meteor
Of the Napoleonic dynasty had run It's
course Here his bones rest, and the pill
grim to his tomb meditates on the muta-
billy of individual and dynastic glory.
Alexander, Caesar. Napoleon! How few
there are of US! Do their shades ever
meet and ruminate?
Tallahassee appears to have only one pre-
tentious hotel nothing to vie in this line