Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-01-19
THE PEN|HSULAR STATE.
ALLIGAT0Rs MIXED IN WITH B0QUETs
Mr.. A. C. Bennett, Wintering in Florida,
Sends Interesting Notes.-The Orange
and Pineapple Industry.

1
with his wife, is sojourning in the
| land of flowers, fruit and winter sun
shine. He promises later to say some
| thing about the political situation of
the colored population and the dark
side of Florida generally, subjects sell
dom touched upoft Mr. Bennett is a
careful observer, makes a study of
| these things for lls own benefit, hence
we are certain that all readers will be
glad to receive his conclusions and to
get report of his experience and in
vestigations made while enjoying the
advantages allotted to so few of US
travel and sightseeing. We received
this week the following:
Defuniak Springs, Fla, Jan. H.
A. L. Fontaine, Grand Rapids, Wis.,
Dear Sir: AS you request it / will
send you letter or two occasionally
which may be of interest to some, as
everyone coming south observes differ
ent things. Perhaps | need not tell
you that long before reaching Florida
the man of color becomes a prominent
object, especially around the depots
where they outnumber the whites
two to One, and in several cases by
actual count five to one not counting
such as were getting off and on the
cars. The travelling public are mostly
white. The colored people ride in
seperate coaches, go to seperate schools
and churches, and live in seperate
parts of the cities.
The next sight was the old fashioned
chimneys built on the outside of the
houses of brick, stone or sticks, the
sticks being chinked with clay or
plaster. In many places one-half of
the houses have the chimneys on the
outside, with porcheS and balconies
everywhere, sometimes on all sides of
| the houses.
The soil generally looks poor and
sustains a growth of pine and scrub
oak such as can be seen along the
Green Bay railroad west of Grand
Rapids, but the pine, even when dry,
| is as heavy as the oak and full of
pitch, it makes splendid fire in the
fireplaces and NJ. ~ here thinks of
building a house without them.
Stoves are out of style except for
cooking purposes. At Pensacola, Fla,
we had our first view of the Gulf of
Mexico, like old ocean everywhere, the
ever restless waves beating against
the shore told us it was salt water.
To the east of Pensacola we passed
through the turpentine belt of thou
sands of acres. The pine trees are
cut about One-fOurth off, then shaved
up several feet about one inch deep,
then cup shaped space is dug out
into which the pitch flows and is
gathered by dippers and placed in
barrels in the woods like sap, then
drawn to the diStillery where it is
heated in tight ovens, the turpentine
being separated and collected in watts,
the rosin remaining is put into barrels
and shipped in carloads.
The state of Florida is level and low.
Defuniak Springs is said to be the
highest point in the state and it is
only three hundred feet above sea
level. On landing here one wonders
where the springs are. They are
located in the bottom of lake eighty
| feet deep, one mile in circumference
and as round as a dollar Its banks
slope on all sides to the height of
twenty or thirty feet above the lake,
then slope back again on all sides for
miles away leaving the lake on top of
the hill without inlet or outlet except
as the waters soak through this en-
| bankment forming many springs on
the outside.
Sweet potatoes and corn are the
principal products Of this place.
Peanuts are also grown here. [ saw
load for sale in town in sacks, /
asked the price and was told one dol
| lar bushel The man said, ''when
the ground is too poor to raise anything
else we raise peanuts and they grow
twenty buShel to the acre" Many
plant them and let the pigs gather
them, then the land is well prepared
to plant again. All fields and door
yards have to be fenced for the razor
back, slab sided hogs are everywhere
and goats and COWS claim all outside.
This part of the earth's crust is
warm clear to the surface and / should
think had never been frozen or cooled
off since it's creation. All through
Florida water taken from wells or
springs, though soft and clear. is
warm and is set in shady place to
cool or is cooled during the night
There are artificial Ice factories at
various places, one of which we visited
while at Orlando, one hundred and
fifty miles south of here. Orlando is
the neatest and handsomest place we
found in Florida with its sidewalks of
cement and hard streets or clay roads
as they call them, leading out into the
country for twenty-five miles Thir-
teen small lakes are wholly or partly
within the city limits with fish, ducks
and alligators in them. The alligators
| are small trvo tn foIIr feet lOnU IT iC