Evening star., 1898-01-13
AWAYFROM TOURISTS
Pleasant Paths Traversed Out of the
Beaten Track in Florida.
TOBACCO AND fURPENFINE CROPS
interesting GIimpses Of Rural Life
in the Far South.
NAMING THE MANY BABIES
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

1
IN THE WOODS. Gadsden County, Fla.
December 30. 1897.
A twenty-five mile drive from Talla-
| hassee over uncommonly good roads brings
| enc into the heart of Gadsden county, one
/ of the wealthiest counties in point of pro-
Guction in this state, but the planters as
! a class are poor working hard for bare
| subsistence. Many of them are the de-
scendantS of the first settlers, the hardy
pioneers from North Carolina and Vir-
ginia, who penetrated the primeval for
ests at the point of the AK, erecting where
| they anchored their bow-topped wagons
| that true type of the colonial mansion,
| the log house.
Their architecture has not been i'm
proved upon to any considerable extent.
| The exigencies of the climate are not such
as to demand more tnan mere shelter,
and the struggle to make a crop exhausts
all that there is of interest in confined
environment. which affords neither lucre
nor leisure for the cultivation of the
aesthetic. All the natural conditions here.
however, are favorable to honest endeavor.
The soil is rich sandy loan based upon
a sub-soil of red clay, which appears to
partake of the characteristics of the most
fertile portions of Virginia, with the ad-
vantage that II has not been exhausted;
much OF it requiring no fertilizers to in
cane and tobacco are the chief staples.
corn being raised principally for home
consumption. 'Pinders,'' the peanut, are
also extensively cultivated, and upon this
product the hogs are fed rather feed,
as they are turned into the field, and it is
d case of root hog or die
Much of the sugar cane is still standing.
The planter cuts as he grinds, and the
primitive horse mill is busy just now de-
vourng the care. few steam mills are
used, but the majority of the natives still
hold to the old and slow methods of past
generations From the mill the juice is
| carried directly to the boiler. Very little
sugar is made except for home consump
tion. the product being marketed as syrup.
which, like cotton, needs a Letter or
Armour and a corner on the market Just
now to boom it. as the ruling rate in the
Tallahassee and Quincy markets this week
is 10 cents per gallon. A cane beer is pro-
duced by fermentation from the skim
| mings of the boiler, which, if allowed to
stand long, becomes hard enough to en-
gender jolly Jag
A Sign of Intelligence.
Quincy is the leading tobacco mart. A
few years ago it enjoyed quite a boom. but
later yielded to the general financial de-
preston. Its cigar manufactory, which not
only gave employment TO numbers of the
| natives, white and colored, but also to the
ubiquitous Hungarian and Bohemian. was
closed. and the wheels of progress ceased
| to revolve. Nov. however, this city is be-
ginning to recover from its recent prostra-
| ton; tn" large factory is about to resume
OF eraticns, and three or four small firms
are now buSily engaged in converting the
lear into it's alluring forms. Another very
strong evidence that tie town is alive and
recovering from its to,por is the fact that
| clippings from TIE Washir gton Star APP
pear In the columns of the Quincy Herald
reminding one who is away from home
that 1.-THE world 90 move
The tobacco ''syndcates" are now en-
4
planters. the latter to make advanced
sale of the next crop at a uniform rate of
16 cents per pound. and the syndicate TO
| make cash advance of $50 on each acre
put into cultivation. This. it Is supposed
will facilitate the production. the want of
ready money 10 procure implements and
secure labor being the great drawback in
this community to increased and i'm
proved cultivation. The proposed plan Of
fers a larger announcement to capital than
labor. but any lift will move agriculture
from the rut.
Big Families the Rule.
the human crop never fails in this coun-
try. Early marriages and large families
are the rule. not :he exception, and the
problem of providing praenomens for a
brood of eight or ten is often difficult to
solve. They have not caught on yet to
Gladys, Gwendolyn Ethelwyn, leaving
the dead past to bury its dead; even George
Washington and Benjamin Franklin are
ignored, but the name of the living states
man flOurishes upon every olive branch.
One matron lately at a loss for suitable
cCgEomen for the latest arrival, consulted
her wade mecum, the newspaper columns,
and ran across Russell Sage. This struck
her fancy, she tells me, aS a beautiful anl
most uncommon appellation, one she had
'Lever heard before ar d, although some
of her neighbors tried to convince her that
the proprietor of the name was bold,
bad man." she persisted in her choice, and
row the infantile Russell Sage occu-
pies his time trying to get his pink. chubby
great toe into his mouth, in happy OBJ
liviOusness that he is the namesake of a
millionaire financier. who might well afford
to send him his autograph on a check
The forests of this state are rapidly
yielding to the ak, and it is a question
whether this denudation will not so mod
crate climatic influences as to endanger the
production of the early vegetables and
fruits which Florida now furnishes to the
markets of the world. and upon which she
so largely depends financially. But not
withstanding the active demand for lum-
ber one may travel miles through vast
belts of towering pines, stately and dig
nified, unruffied by the passing breeze.
Turpentine Production.
Across from Decatur and into Thomas
county. Georgia, fifty miles to and fro /
was driven the other day behind team OF
spanking bays. Three hours across coun-
try one day and three hours back the next,
forded a fine opportunity for observing the
production of turpentine. The owner of
the trees rarely gathers this product him
sell: He leases oIt the privilege of box
ing the trees for a period of three years.
The lessee selects the trees under the own
er's supervision, being allowed to make
one or more boxes in a tree, according to
It's circumference, generally only one, and
rarely more than three. the yield of 5000 |
boxes for three years constitutes a crop"
of turpentine. The price paid for the privf-
lege Is one to one and a half cents per box
for the three years time, and is paid when |
the contract Is entered into. The .box" is
made by barring the tree of its bark for |
several inches on one side, about a foot |
above the ground, and then cutting into the
tree between the bark and trunk below the |
hsred surface depression. forming a cup
or box. into which the exuding sap may |
flow. From one to three boxes are made |
in the circumference of the tree, according |
to its diameter, the owner being careful to |
limit the boxes to the size OF the tree.
Above the box and surmounting the barred |
surface lip of bark cut to point is left |
projecting, and it is within this overhang-
ing lip which keeps the surface beneath If |