Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-05-04
LAND OF FLOWERS.
MIR. James E. Hart Writes In.
terestingly of Florida, Land
of Fruit, Fish and Flow
ers.

the detail Oh SIX WeekS tidVeiiRS IL
Florida, which would be interesting
but I am not a newspaper writer o.
editor, but plain Travelling Sales
man." selling, shirts all day ant
catching midnight trains, and only
getting to rest on Sundays.
left Edgefeld on March 10th
going straight to Jacksonville
which is my headquarters. / spent
10 days in Jacksonville waiting fol
my sample trunks. Jacksonville il
the Metropolis of Florida, and is
quite large place, having close tc
75,o 900 population. All of the rail
road lines of the south touch here
besides the Clyde Line steamships
come in from New York and other
points several times a week. have
frequently had the pleasure of go,
ing to the docks to see them load
ing thousands of crates of oranges,
celery. grape fruit, vegetables, ETC.,
from south Florida point, for all
points.
One of the great curses to Jack
sonville is the whiskey traffic, which
is running many of her young men
and making the colorcd labor very
trihing. There has also been quite
a lot of gambling or betting on
horse races which Il am informed
by good business men) has COM
pletely bankrupted lots of young
men in jacksonville. This latter evil
has gotten so serious till | am told
they are passing laws to cut it out
for the next season.
[ began travelling regularly the
latter part of March, leaving Jack
sonville and going south westward
in the direction of the gulf coast.
One of the first places visited was
Waldo, where l met Alvin McLen-
ma formerly of Johnston. Alvin is
doing we'll, is in business and also
has farming, interests. When in this
part of Florida Invent to GAINESVILLE,
which lisa lovely little city, having
the finest schools in the state sEhe
gsited sStat les GO Tnment Is es sctS
ing ing a very fine build ding here, w flch
lis to serve as post office, land Office
and United States court house. This
part of Florida is largely made up
of South Carolinians, and it is sell
dom you see any of the older people
in western northern Florida who
were not from South Carolina or
Georgia.
Leaving the GAINESVILLE section,
and making a few other towns, l
am at Dunnellon which is right in
the heart of the phosphate mining
district. These strata of phosphate
rocks extend out miles from the
gulf and the rivers, and are supposed
to have been once under water. L
visited one of the mines out of
Dunnellon, which employs 1000
hands, and it was my good fortune
to sell a good bill of shirts to the
manager of the company stores.
Dade City is the next point of in
terest to me, as we are now getting
into the orange and grape fruit
country. Here l saw the first groves
of these fruits and at the hotel
where 1 stopped, they would go out
in the yard and pick the fruit to put
on the breakfast table. Dade City
is also a tobacco section, and a
company has so acres under cover,
which causes the leaves to grow fine
and thin. and it is used for fine
cigar wrappers, l am told that some
of it sells as high as $500 per
pound.
Leaving south Twisted a number
of interesting towns, and one OF
them is Brooksville. AT Brooksville
| met lot of fine people, and some
of them were Garys, cousins to
Judge Ernest Gary. Leaving Brooks
Vile we passed through many miles
of country where there are only cat
tie ranches, and ! am told that some
MON own IN 600 head of cattle i'm
this section. While in this section,
l met a very interesting character in
the person of Col. Spivy, Rebel
soldier now rs years old, who is
still active and takes part in all
business and political affairs. the
same as a young man. This Col.
Spivey was with Gen. Gordon, OF
Georgia, and l am informed that
his name is in history, and is called
"Gordon's Bull" rs he made the
charges for Gen. Gordon and below
ed like mad bull.
Tarpon Springs is the next place
of interest, which is on an inlet OF
the gulf, and is the greatest sponge
market in the world, unless it is
some Mediterranean sea point. The
sponge diving is done mostly by
Greeks, there being about 1000 OF
them here. / visited the sponge ex-
change, and for 25c you can buy a
large cup sponge in its natural