The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1912-06-07
LETTER FROM FLORIDA.
". |. Clifton Writes Of the Wonders
Of the Semi. Tropics and Judge
MCledn'S Orange Farm.

WVLVuu y VtusuSV VI Ws
As noted in the Sentinel of last week
DIR. w. L. Clifton has recently gone Il
Sutherland, Florida, where he is at. thu
head of a very large and prosperous
college. The editor is in receipt OF tn
following letter from him dated al
Sutherland May 80, which the Sentine
feels sure will be read with interest by
his many Grenada friends:
The kindly letters of appreciation
that have come to me when l have
written to your paper in the past, cause
me to think that some might again bt
pleased to read a few words from my
pen. shall not attempt to tell al
about Florida, for | do not know much
about it yet. Some really good jokes
were told me as l came from Jackson
vile to Tampa; l give you two. One
man on the train said to another" This
is a fine grazing state. That grass
right out there makes a good pasture,
but one must be careful to see that
there are plenty of small bushes scat
tered oyer ground to be grazed." The
other mar asked, "Why the bushes?"
The reply was that the grass was so
tough that a cow had to wrap her tail
around a bush in order to be able to pull
off a bite. Another man, pointing to
some thickly-grown land, said: THAT
land is worth $lOl per acre. He re-
peated this several times and somebody
naturally asked, ''Why do you put on
that extra dollar so persistently?" He
replied, "Well, you see. it takes 500
per acre to clear it and it is worth 81
after you get it cleared"
do npf yyanf fn vnoEn tho ipoproc-
sion that this represents Florida. To
one who does not understand, appear
ances are at first against the state as
one rushes along on a train. After you
have gone further and looked closer,
you find that the situation is quite diff
ferent. AS have been here but a lit
tie over a week, l shall not attempt to
give figures for the melons, celery, to-
matoes and other vegetables, grape
fruit, oranges, phosphate etc., that
the state produces. l will say, how
ever, that on ten acres, Southern Col
lege has this year made three car loads
of watermelons, which WI shipped day
before yesterday and today. 1t would
be the proper thing for me to end this
part of the tale by saying that this
was a bad year for melons, too. That
would not be true, however; it was
rather exceptional with the college.
What was of great interest to me,
and may be to your readers also, is the
fact, it is true, that Judge w. c. Nc
Leans grove is about a mile-may be a
little more from Southern College.
Last Monday l was very much sur
prised when the little son of the Meth
odist pastor here came and said: 'Papa
says be ready at 1890, as he will be
here with a buggy to take you out to
dine with one of your friends from Mis-
sissippi." l could not imagine who it
was, and the boy would not tell. l
wondered, Mr.. Editor, if you had &C.
cepted my invitation so promptly and
had come down and wanted to see me
at a hotel first before coming to the
college. Well, we drove out a little;
way and left the main road and directed
our horses nose toward n of the
prettiest orange groves have seen in
Florida. When we had arrived and
hitched our horse, we approached a
man painting a new house and the
preacher asked if Mr.. Mclean was
about. The Judge was "snoozing' in
the breeze, l think; but he walked and
cam out extending his gracious well
come. The austere judge had forgot
ten his severity and $ simply did he
deport himself hat | came within a dot
of saying, Hello, Mac" l swallowed
1t in time and rer. RENDERED who my dis
tinguished host was and tried to carry
myself accordingly. My! what a din
ner; equal parts of city things from
Tampa and of rural products of his
W raising. He is camping, az it
were, but do not think that he is with
nv1t lI1yirioc Tho SEaoo., ,<;o oolo
me come near forgetting again, and
when he had gone back to his sitting
room and | began smoking one of Tam
pas best pure Havanas, which he pro-
vided, | forgot myself and made the
fatal slip and let out the too familiar
"Mr. Mac" l looked at him too quick
to note the effect, but l believe his
good nature forgave it at once, as he
recognized that he was responsible for
making me feel so good and easy."
We tramped over one of his groves,
eating all the oranges and grapefruit
we wanted, and spent some minutes at
the "other end" where his well and
trout pond are. He has truly a we'll
arranged and well-cared-for grove and
one very expeditions feature of his ir-
rigation system is his own invention.
With all his deliberation on the bench
however, and with all his GOODNESS in
court, Judge Mclean is a rash man,
You won't believe it, Mr.. Editor, but
it is true. Would you believe it? he
insisted repeatedly that Mrs. Clifton
and l must go and get during the whole
season all the oranges and grapefruit
We can eat. When you consider we
can eat about three grapefruit a day
and l do not know how many oranges,
YOU will begin to see the point. For
his grove to remain a profitable piece
of property, his manager will have to
save him. | really do think, though,
that we shall trespass quite as often
upon his fine well of sulphur water as
upon his grove. I
Now a few words about the college,
! believe that Methodists of Florida
mean to build a great school here. The
property is now worth about $3.50, 600, ;
c~onservatively estimated, and this sum-!
- I'LL l. ~~0