The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-08-26
Former Resident Of Pensacola
Compares Escambia Co. With
louisiana Soil.
WEST FLORIDA LANDS THE FIN.
EST IN THE COUNTRY FOR THIS
INDUSTRY, ATTENTION TO
WHICH WOULD RESULT IN
GREAT PROSPERITY FOR THIS
SECTION AND STATE.

w L. Creath, a former resident of Pen
sacola, who is now general agent of the
Wisconsin Life Insurance Company, with
headquarters at Baton Rouge, La, now in
the city on short visit, is very much i'm
pressed with the advantages possessed
by West Florida lands, over those of
Louisiana and other sections, for growing
sugar cane, and to a representative of
The Journal had the following to say
upon the subject:
81 am a visitor in your city and ac-
cepted an invitation from friend to at
tend the debate Monday night between
your governor and Mr.. Beard for and
against draining the Everglades In this
state. The debate was an able an inter-
esting one and 1 stayed until the last
word Of it was spoken, for 1 enjoyed it.
among the many good things the
governor alluded to was the value of the
lands of the Everglades for sugar grow
ing purposes. He did not value these
lands too highly, If a thorough system of
drainage will be accomplished there.
Every word he spoke about the produc-
tive qualities Of the lands is also largely
true, but before sugar cane will grow it's
best in any soil the soil itself must first
be put in proper condition to suit the
peculiar requirements of the plants. The
soil of the Everglades for the first few
years after draining these lands will be
sour and mucky and almost unfit for
sugar cane in many places on this very
account, and unless properly drained
wherever sugar cane is planted, these
crops would always prove a failure. But
drain these lands properly and work the
sourness out Of them for a couple of
years or so by planting rice or other
crops on them, then undoubtedly the old
Everglades can boast Of being the best
and most fertile lands on earth.
"The people of Pensacola and Escam-
bia county, however, do not have to go
to the Everglades to raise sugar cane
profitably, for suitable lands for profit
able sugar planting are right here within
the corporate limits of the city; also
thousands of acres suitable for success
full cane growing lie adjoining Pensacola
and for many miles around. This is a
broad and important assertion, but it is
true. No doubt many people here will
be very much surprised to- see such an
assertion put in print and published to
prised than was when first discovered
these very things assert here, and that
convinced me of their correctness against
my will and wishes.
Better Than louisiana.
Il have lived in Louisiana near the
center OF the sugar growing district for
many years and left there hardly more
than ten days ago, and 1 know whereof
l speak when saw there is just as large
sugar cane and as fine in every particu-
lar growing right here in Escambia coun-
ty as can be found anywhere in Louisi-
ana or any Of our best cane lands The
patches I saw are small, it is true, but
they are numerous, and this in itself is
visible proof, and the fact cannot be con-
tradicted. 1t positively proves what can
be done on larger scale if it were only
tried.
Right here in your city at the present
time is small patch of sugar cane
growing in negros. back yard, worked
and cultivated with nothing but a hoe
which, If the large sugar planters of our
section could boast of such crops on saw.
from five hundred or more acres at this
period of the season, it would mean a
clear profit in cold cash of from forty to
seventy-five thousand dollars at the end
OF the grinding season. The soil of Es-
Gambia and surrounding country Is such
that failure to grow profitable crops of
sugar cane each year is almost an impos-
sibility. Why is this? 1t is because a
sandy loan soil is the best possible for
sugar cane growing anywhere It is more
reliable and nearly always the same. It
beats the black, mucky, buckshot land
In Louisiana, or anywhere else, because
this sort of land is hard, sour and very
cold and clammy in winter, and cane
buried in this sort of land in the fall of
the year for planting purposes the follow
Ing year will sour and rot, especially If
the winters are cold and wet, as was last
winter. And even IL the winters nrova
just right for preserving the buried cane
In these black lands, then IL the sprine
and summers are not just right also. the
cane crops on such lands are bound tn
be failures and no amount of fertilizine
and cultivation will save them. This is
the condition of sugar cane crops in
Louisiana to-day. Failures of both plant
and stubble cane on black lands and s,,c
eesses on sandy loan lands for both
plant and stubble cane
Escambla Soil Leads.
During the past and also previous
winters nearly all cane buried in October
In black, heavy lands for planting pur-
poses the following year rotted. whereas
that which was buried in sandy loam
soil was fresh, sound and sweet even in
the following February and March. when
dug up for planting purposes. Wet and
cold winters cannot effect plant cane
buried in the sandy soil of Escambia
county as 1T can and does in the black.
heavy. buckshot lands of Louisiana.
The young cane plants have to be
fertilized freely in nearly all the Louisi-
ana black lands each year, and thousands
of tons of fertilizers are used each year
In Louisiana for that purpose. No doubt
but that reasonable amount of fertil-
izers used on Escambia soil would also
help the cane planted here very much.
the same as it does elsewhere. Again
many thousands of dollars have been
spent on some of the big Louisiana sugar
plantations for drainage, and hundreds
OF dollars, and in some cases. even now
thousands of dollars are being spent an.
nually on bitches and canals for drainage
purposes. Very little expense for ditch
ing would be required here, for the lands