The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1909-08-06
CULTURE
IN PORTO RICO
Cornelius ChristianCy Will Inform
Tribune Readers of Conditions
FORT PIfRCf'S FUTURE
Predicts Population of 10000 on AC-
count Of Back Country-More Trouble
in Porto Rico Than flOridians Meet
Port Orange, Fla, July 81, 1905

Port Orange, Fla, July 81, l9O9.
Editor TRIBUNE.
shall leave here next Thursday, the
9Th of August, so please change my
subscription from Port Orange, Florida,
to Box 294, San Juan, Porto Rico.
shall take my wife and baby boy
with me, and we shall spend few
days visiting in Baltimore, Washington
and New York city and week on Cape
Cod at the old Howes home, and then
we sail on the steamer Coamo on the
the 2lst of August from New York city
for San Juan.
shall be glad to write The TRIBUNE
after get over there and feel sufficient
ly well acquainted with conditions to
form an opinion, of how that country
is going to effect Florida growers. and
am going to take particular pains to
tell them the disappointments which
they have over there, because the aver
age grower in Florida gets the idea
that he is the only man on the map that
has troubles.
expect to gain largely from the ex-
perience | shall have there, and as my
own interests lie here on the East Coast
and from end to end of it, and my heart
and soul are wrapped up in its pros,
perity, ! want to see 1t grow and all
the problems that seem so vexatious
now to be settled by time and changed
conditions.
We are always inclined to think that
the "berries in the other fellows patch
are Just little redder and larger than
ours" and ! am great believer in
getting down to first principles and
solving the difficulties that confront
one without blaming the Fertilizer
COMPANIES and "cussing out" the rail-
road for every little trial that comes to
us in the growing and marketing OF
our crops. :.
They have three competing steamship
lines in Porto Rico with rs cent per
crate rate to New York and will ven
ture that they can tell you in two Ian
guages over there more troubles than
the average Florida growers have ever
met up with.
Human nature is the same the world
over, and the man who will tell you
that he can grow apples in New York
or wheat in Minnesota, or prunes IN
Oregon with less difficulty and greater
financial returns than he can grow pines
in st. Lucie county is just dwelling. on
the past crop here; knows nothing
about the failures others have in other
lines, and has forgotten that he made
any money last year, and does not be-
lieve in the future.
The only thing that st. Lucie County
needs right now is good roads and not
lust good road from the Sebas ian
river to the st Lucie, but good hard
surfaced road back to the westward
and open up all that fine country which
alone is going to make Fort Pierce a
town of 10, 600 people, with or without
the railroad shops. There is nothing
to equal the solidity of town that has
good country behind it, and if every
pineapple grower had a"garden patch
west of town he would look upon the
pines as his wife's pin money. Rail-
road shops come and go, so does ship,
ping and manufacturing, but good land
that will produce variety OF crops Will
keep on forever and grow better as
time passes. With kind regards from
self and wife, Yours very truly,
CORNELIUS CHRIsTIANcY.