The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1906-02-02
FLORIDA LAND
FOR SETTLERS
An old Resident Tells of the ADJ
vantages of our County.
SOME TIMELY WORDS
misrepresentation have Hurt the State
More than the Great freeze. What
II lakes to Start in Florida.
Wabasso, Fla, Jan. q 1906.

EdltorS Tribune.
So much has been said and done by
land spectators in Florida, in times
past, to induce people to buy their
"wares" that it has had its effect, and
now prospective homeseekers are wary
of where they get their information,
and this is as it should be, the fair State
of Florida has suffered from nothing,
not excepting the 1895 freeze, as much
as this misrepresentation. There are
thousands of acres of land in Florida,
that serves but little purpose more than
to hold the rest together, and parts of
this very waste have been so repre-
sented to the unsuspecting, as to induce
them to part with their money only to
lose it, and what more natural than that
these suckers" should expose the fraud
to their friends, and has resulted in
setting Florida far behind what she
would have been, but for this. Pros
pective settlers in Florida should under
stand, that even if the State naturally
is the home of fruits, flowers and vege-
tables, that all depends on locality and
land selected to grow them that they
can only be turned into money, by in
telligent perseverance, and that when
this is applied, then, and then only will
Florida prove that she can and will give
the largest return, for the least invest
ment, Of any land in these United
States.
Prospective settlers again should know
that if they invest in wild land not i'm
proved, that it is going to take some
time to clear up that land set it in
orange trees or pineapples, or plant it
in crops, and that they must live in the
meantime on something besides climate,
in fact will have to eat as much on more
than they did before they came here,
so that it is not advisable for them to
invest unless they can see their way
clear for living for four years till
their orange grove bears, or two years
till their pineapples bear their first crop
and q shorter time if vegetables is their
dependence. Here in this northern part
of st. Lucie county are as fine orange
and grapefruit groves, pineapples and
vegetables of every description, from
sweet potatoes to celery and tomatoes
To strawberries, as the State of Florida
can afford and yet these industries are
still in their infancy, and there is great
room for enlargement, and no fear OF
crowding, either in population, or mar
ket. The land is here for any, or all of
these crops mentioned, and can be
bought now for $1,000 or $1,000 an acre
to actual settlers who will improve
their property; hammock land for
oranges, pine land for oranges and ridge
land for pineapples, the genuine red
soil so eagerly sought for by pineapple
men, shell land for vegetables; the land
is here and is as near perfect for the
growth of oranges, grapefruit, pineap-
pies and truck, as can be found. Every
year this section attracts more atten-
ton. and of course the land will advance
in value, with the increase in population
and Improvement, and to the intending
settler in Florida, who wants to grow
Florida products, | can truthfully, hon
estly and candidly say from residence
of 80 years in Florida you cannot do
better, anywhere than here.
E. A. HOLT.