Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-06-15
AN IOWAN IN FLORIDA
S. M. stoutfer's Letter to the Sac Sun

1t a the privilege Of this writer
before leaving Florida for a return to
h north to make Il visit to the in
terror of the state and to get a
glimpse of the agricultural develop
ment of which so much is said In
the literature OF real estate boomers.
There can be no question that
Florida is attracting an increased per-
ane population, though it must
be recalled that the census of 1910
was taken in April, before the ran
tsient population from the north had
all returned home. If the eager census
enumerators sometimes counted Win
ter residents among the permanent
settlers perhaps it was not altogether
unfair; for a state that has a climate
sufficiently alluring TO call back year
after year for four to six months the
same people from the north deserves
to nave some credit for it.
Much of the land surface of Flor
ida. perhaps most of it. until recently
was covered with virgin pine forest.
A considerable part of this forest
remains, but it is rapidly disappear
ing. First comes the turpentine work
er, who drains the trees of their sap
year after year until their vitality
is gone. Then the trees are cut down
Where h trees We're cut years ago
forests of OAK and other hardwood
have grown instead. 1t is the cutover
lane that is purchased in large tracts
by northern syndicates at a cost per
acre insignificant II then. after judi
cious exploiting. resold to installment
purchasers from the north at prices
ranging from $25 per acre upward for
small tracts.
The mar who has spent a consider
able time in Florida and made a study
of the soils, fertilizers and adaptable
fruits and vegetables may be able to
buy intelligently of these s%yndicates,
hut the man of limited means who
buys without seeing is headed for
disappointment and probable financial
loss.
There is a wide diversity of soils.
Perhaps all of them may be made to
produce something; but that does not
mean profitable cultivation. If the
soils were all of equal value there
could be no question about Florida's
furnishing agricultural attractions for
little of the land is cultivated. San
ford is the center of the earlier efforts
to develop trucking of the
state. and 1t is claimed that a larger
percentage of land acreage is
under cultivation there than at any
other place in the state. 1t is dis
played on large posters at the San
ford railway station that in the vicin-
ity of the celery CITY, no less than
$500 acres are cultivated. Consider
ing that over 800 square miles of land
lie within a radius of 10 miles of the
city and noting that less than 10 of
them are cultivated. one can readily
see that there is plenty of room left
and no need to hurry about buving.
They do raise vegetables in Florida,
and that in quantities so large as to
surprise n but the most credulous
believers of the real estate exploiters.
Coast railway was blockaded for sew
eral weeks with tomato trains from
the Everglade country. So pressing
was the demand for. transportation
that cars and men and even engines
were borrowed from other railways,
but the lack of sidetracks on a rail-
o that hitherto has had no need of