The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-07-17
CONTINUED from Ist. page.)


down the East Coast railway-that
wonderful monument to the far-sight-
ed F1agler-imbibes the idea that Flor
ida is all sand and saw-toOth palmetto
and pines But the man who has
seen the East Coast and imagines he
has seen Florida has another journey
coming to him before he reaches an
accurate conclusion And here hangs
another story Indeed, the man with
eyes in his head, questions on his lips
and ears that hear returns from Flor
ida with material enough in his mind
to fill library. That same sand is
readily fructihed in t o astonishing
yields. Fertilizer has it's necessary
place, it is true, but it returns large
profits on it use. Not only orange
orcharding and pineapple growing now
characterizes South Florida, but the
transportation facilities have opened
up market gardening as almost mar
farm the tourists somewhat on the
East Coast, but they also farm the
land A remarkable agricultural de-
velopment is under way, and it's pro-
gress will engross the close attention
of all rejecting minds that are con-
cerned with the creation Of fundament-
al wealth.
But there is soil as we'll as sand
in Florida. From Jacksonville take
over into the central part of this curl
ously-shaped peninsula that projects
into the Atlantic, in defiant fashion,
an insurmountable barrier against the
confluence of the waters of the gulf
and the ocean. Make your way south
westerly into the interior and then
turn down toward Tampa, that famed
port of Cuban shipping. When you
come to Marion county, midway be-
tween Jacksonville and Tampa, drop
off and study it's hammock lands.
What is hammock land? Possibly a
corruption Of hummock, but loca11sm
Of the South and a designation of the
richest soils. Hammocks are hard
wood lands in distinction from pine
lands. They are of gently rolling con-
tour, suggestive of the beautifully I'M
dulating blue grass lands of Kentucky
and Tennessee, a little more pro-
nOunced in their elevations perhaps,
but wooded thick1y with various species
of oak, hickory, magnolia and other
hard wood trees. And on such lands
you find the native orange groves
that covered the great stretches of
country with their vivid greenery be-
tore the hand of the inlprover with
graft and bud turned them into pro-
fltable producers of luscious fruit
Here is another chapter in the annals
OF this historic commonwealth
orange grove proposition. These ham,
mOcks are not sufficiently broken and
rugged to be called picturesque; they
are rolling enough to be called beauti-
ful and to deserve the word in all
its attributes. And they are fertile
spots, they are real farming land. Cot
ton, tobacco and corn are produced;
indeed it is difficult to name pro-
duct of the field that cannot be grown,
while the distinctly southern crops
luxuriate in rare abundance. The ma
tive grasses, even those in the pine
woods, possess a singular nutritive
value; and this brings us back to our
muttons- which in this instance hap
pen to be piney woods cattle.
Joe" Wing shall some day sketch
the history of the cattle industry in
Florida. His pen is best adapted to
It: If this fragmentary reference is
Disappointing to the reader, it is even
more SO to the writer, as the subject
tar exceeds present limitations. But
did you know that there are ranches
III the Peninsular state on which range
thousands Of cattle? That in addition
to those Of the pine woods, there are