The Republican journal., 1912-04-11
! The Land of Flowers.

In the Land of Early Vegetables. y
w. AUGUSTINE, FLA, March %, 1912.
+ransjtion, in early March, from
lp' honnd Maine to the summer pleas
s'V" ,f North Florida is the miracle
u ':,b no matter how often repeated, is
SD ,,lirbt to the eye and the soul.
.e,s a reason" and it lies in man s
~ .;ros for soft airs, pleasing surround
'''' or3 to be rid, for awhile, of the
w ,rs of nature which exist, to some
Wv ,.ni in good old New England at this
s,,son In our home here we go to sleep
ths music of the wind soughing
S.,oob the palm trees and the distant
w.. a Of the surf on the beach outside; in
W. y, morning bright sunshine and the
W ladies of hooking birds are the well
D. If the day. So life runs on smooth
from morn to eve, with driving, water
and lawn fetes. 1t is the vacation
w of many tourists and they enjoy
", aasy life to the limit, the novelty and
,.of It giving them renewed life for
t,r home duties which must be all too
soon taken up.
rori3a has been aptly called the land
,a,u.er, and the Gland of sunshine"
y.tiyil suggest that the more ordinary
'.ls MI the land of early vegetables"
"a deserved one, and worthy one as
r.r 1t more nearly fits the everyday
,v;sterce Of the ordinary mortal. 1t is
nonler what progress has been made
:, tbis branch of agriculture in this State
hiring the past fifteen years and is now
,,po on in an icreasing ratio each year.
hiring the past few months investiga-
tns have been in in progress in Con-
,,sss to ascertain where the blame lies
The schemes of various land companies
# marketing more or less worthless
rorida lands on purchasers who were
n,sbe to see and know about the land
tsg were buying. From the fact that
l,rd in the Everglades. reclaimed by the
Gate had been included in some of these
deals, it was thought by many that the
ssts va, a party, in some degree, to
,sese receptions. However it may turn,
h is certain that in buying farm land,
and ANYTHING else so far as possible, it is
,v3ys better to see what you are buy
Ag anil to know, through experts, the
ms.jty Of soil and all matters in connec-
Mon winch are necessary to make sue
essa farming a certainty. There is
gsat amount of practically worthless
hand in Florida, much of it wouldn't
raise thistles-but l hazard the guess
hat some of the most valuable and
wf-able farm land in America is in this
wT State. Land in the citrus and celery
@t r this list. In California and the
vest good orange and apple orchards, n
hsrng, are worth 81, 900 per acre and
uFa-s. In Florida the same. Round
about Sanford the vegetable industry is
nmeue, the celery crop being the lead
e. learned of Virginia farmer who
gnl 3wn to Sanford about year ago
gd his record is something out of the
us. He bought small farm and set
g5y space 1870 by 80 feet which he
nsgae-d for celery The crop was
Lm:eq and nursed through the many
barry spills of the fall and winter and
vy brought up to point of maturity
m- detection that readily created f.
market for it. Twelve hundred
atlmF crates were sold at So. so per
Gaie while forty-three crates of culls
hlgt 81 % per crate, making q total of
s--j53 b for the product of that small
r8 his was the first experience
d tbs farmer in raising celery. The
Msaon Is frequently asked: what is
Sl!GJ irrigated land, in good state
Gt.age. worth per acre? This must
= hard question to answer when an
Ut will produce at the rate of $3.50
la as in the above case. In this in
EsD:e the rate of production was 1896
bats 10 the acre, the cost of produc-
tM$lIl, while the gross returns amount
g'O 1926, leaving net profit to the
'HDer Of S2849, which is equal to per
eAt interest on an investment of $685.
V This is pretty good work on sand
lfhsuIa, like Florida, where much Of
&Iand isn't worth ten cents an acre!
1.-THE southwest part of the town is
Interesting walk through suburb
MNunds familiar to the ear; it is call
> Llncolnville. The likeness ends in
Gname, as it is the home Of many of
GNlored people of the city and their
aafches and schools are pleasing indi-
aaon of the good influences being
raght to bear. In opposition to these
Atces of moral uplift are the numer-
NThiskey shops seen and smelled near
%homes of the black people. In Lin
FM7llle is an oyster-canning factory
'ach ii is worth ones time to visit. The
pliers, found in abundance nearby, are
'Nlght in boats, loaded on cars and run
y an oven heated by steampipes,
Rfe they are parboiled and then read
extracted from their shells by the
a'mgers of those experienced in the
Wiz, Afterward, canned and sealed,
ep arc .rool,, e., IL. x,xl,a+ IT, A..