The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-12-10

Extracts from letters received from
+. r. Northrop, Who Is at Ava, Fla
We left New York at 3:45 p. M,
November 1888, The City Of Columbus
Of the Savannah line left the dock Just
ten minutes ahead Of us. ] took d snap
shot Of her. rs she left the pier,
We reached Charleston, our first stop,
at III o'clock last evening November IS,
and stayed there until noon today. We
visited some Of the old historic places
Of the city, among them st. Philips
church, in tile yard Of which j 9. Cal
houn was buried, We went into the
yard and to the spot where there Is a
large monument erected TO his memory.
From there to the postoifice, directly in
front OF which stands old st. MichaePs
church, in which are pews which George
Washington, Robert Lee, and many other
famous men Of that day used We Wis
tied the old market place, where they
used to sell slaves. The building is now
used as meat and vegetables market.
We are now getting far enough South
to notice quite 4 change IN the tempera
tnre.
we arrived at jacksonville (l,i50
miles from Barrel at Q O'Clock this morn
ing and came directly 10 the hotel, after
which we took the electrics out 10 the
Ostrich farm The cars run every eight
minutes from the city. requiring fifteen
minutes each way The farm i the
terminal Of this line, and 1t IL naturally
expected that YOU have come TO visit
the farm and its attractions. which are
varied and interesting Upon entering
the office and show room combined, you
find an elegant display Of feather goods,
eggs, souvenirs, etc AT the right as
YOU enter the farm Il tile menagerie,
consisting Of several species OF the mon
key, wild cat and raccoon AT the left
Is the ostrich enclosure, where the birds
can be seen in all their glory. These,
together with the pen OF sea lions, make
one Of the many attractions Of this beau
Itiful city.
Leaving Jacksonville On the elegant
steamer. City 81 jacksonville" our trip
up the ST. Johns river gave us an op.
Iportunity TO see much that was inter
esting and beautiful Our first stop was
al palatka, rs miles south Of Jackson
lville-at this point we retired, regset
ting that darkness shut out the view.
On arising in the morning We were sur
prised To find that we had left faF be.
1 hind the wire river and were slowly pick
II ing our way along the channel So mar
row that We could almost touch the
banks and oyerhanging trees on either
side. Here we got our first sight Of
the alligators as they lay on the banks
basking In che morning sun. II was
here also we saw the first orange groves
and with the sunlight resting upon them
it made beautiful picture.
! The country in general as far as the
eve can reach, Is covered with palmetto
and oak. with here and there a few
cleared acres set 10 groves Of oranges
and Crap fruit AS we proceeded the
river widens until it emcrges into Lake
Monroe, beautiful sheet Of water, the
terminal Of the steamboat transporta-
ton. at the head Of which Is situated a
ltvpical southern town, Sanford. As sou
ride through the country from Sanford
! to Fort Myers. a distance OF POO mics
or more. You would wonder what the
people Of this section do to gain a
| livelihood. The land is nearly all GOV.
cred with pine. We saw thousands OF
acres Of pine trees that had been shaved
10 allow the pitch TO run. This Is an
important industry all through this sec.
tion.
We saw many fine groves between
Lakeland and Myers. There are a good
many humber mills on this line The
waste from these heing run back some
distance from Che mill and burned. II
seemed queer 10 a Nermonter to see
great piles OF slabs burning as fast as
| IL IS sawed
Fort Myers, the terminal Of the g.
G. T., is a very pretty city. Here can
be seen vegetation characteristic Of the.
tropics, among which II the bamboo, date
palm, pawpaw mango. banana, etc Tine
city L. situated Oh the south side OF che
Caoosahatchee river. a stream in some
respects superior TO the st. Johns, rang.
inc in width from mile and q half
at its mouth 10 a narrow channel a few
rods wide This river is navimblc for
small craft nearly its entire length. The
time is surely coming when the work OF
hiNAluiEs INV ftiitduN htAAil nv tile gov
eminent, which when completed win
make this river one 81 the main thor.
oughfares Of navigation between the east
and west coasts.
The climate of this section Of Florida
Is certainly most delightful The thor
moneter registered on the average for
the year, ~ degrees. as recorded hy
a prominent citizen OF Ava The
weather for the past month has been
like that Of June in Vermont, only that
the air seems 50 soft and balmy that
| il is delight to breathe IT, At this
season Of the year, vegetation is pract-
cally dormant, excepting that Of citrus,
fruit and evergreen trees. Orange and
grape fruit picking Is now at is height,
many groves having been picked al'
ready.
This county (Lee) i fast coming to
the front in the growing Of citrus fruits,
Many who owned extensive groves in tho
north, having realized that the risk 81
fiosts was too great, have sold out and
come TO Lee county and engaged very
Extensively in the culture Of orange AMI
grape fruit The groves range from four
to FIVE hundred acres
g. I. Raymond, formerly Baptist
minister IN Montpelier, has a fine grove
on the river two miles below Alya. lie
took the first prize of sl00 cash on
Individual citrus fruit exhibited al the