The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-06-15
AN IOWAN IN FLORIDA
8. N. stouffsr's Letter to the Sac Sun.

It was the privilege OF this writer
before leaving Florida for return to
the north to make a 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-
manent population. though it must
be recalled that the census of 1915
was taken I'm April, before the tran
silent 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 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 have some credit for It.
Much Of the land surface Of Flor
Ida, perhaps most Of II, until recently
was covered with virgin pine forest
A considerable part of this forest
remains, but 1t Is rapidly disappear
Ing. First comes the turpentine work
er, who drains the trees of their saI
year after year until their vitality
Is gone. Then the trees are cut dowr
for the sawmill or the wood yard
Where the trees were cut years age
forests Of oak and other hardwood
have grown instead. It is the cutovei
land that is purchased in large tracts
by northern syndicates at a cost pei
acre insignificant and then, after judi
cious exploiting, resold to installment
purchasers from the north at prices
ranging from s25 per acre upward fol
small tracts.
The man who has spent a consider.
| able time in Florida and made study
of the soils. fertilizers and adaptable
| fruits and vegetables may be able tC
buy intelligently of these syndicates
but the man of limited means who
buys without seeing is headed fol
disappointment and probable financial
loss.
There is a wide diversity Of soils
Perhaps all of them may be made tc
produce something; but that does not
| mean profitable cultivation. II the
soils were all of equal value there
could be no question about Florida's
furnishing agricultural attractions fol
many millions Of people. AS yet but
little of the land is cultivated. San
| ford Is the center of the earlier efforts
to develop trucking resources Of the
state, and 1t is claimed that larger
| percentage of land acreage IL
under cultivation there than at any
| other place In the state. 1t is dis
ford railway station that in the vicin.
| fly of the celery City no less thar
$500 acres are cultivated. Consider.
ing that over 800 square miles of land
lie within 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 buying.
They do raise vegetables in Florida
and that in quantities so large as t
surprise any but the most credulous
believers OF the real estate exploiters
In March and April the Florida East
| 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 rail.
| road that hitherto has had no need OF