The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-07-26
FLORIDA FOR
CORN AND
LIVE STOCK
YEAR BOOK OF AGRICULTURAL
DEPARTMENT GIVES SOME
SURPRISING FIGURES.

We have before us the Year Book
for 1911. issued by our national
agricultural department. kindly sent
by Hon. w. w. Wedemeyer. repre-
sentative in Congress from this dis
trict, the statistics of which are based
Oh the census of 1910, which pre-
sents instructive details from every
State, and We have been greatly sur
prised at the disclosures in regard to
Florida.
People generally think of it as the
land OF the orange and the vine.
VI here flowers ever blossom and sun
beams ever shine. with delightful
climate for winter visitors and tour
lists, who are the most profitable for
lie State of anything found or grown
within its borders.
Who thinks of Florida as pro.
ducer OF corn? OF course, 1t is not a
corn State. But the Year Book shows
that 636,O0O acres of Florida land
were devoted to raising corn in 1911,
and this is exactly the same as the
combined acreage Of what is known
AZ the far western group of States.
eleven in all, including California.
Colorado. Oregon, Washington, Ida
l.o, etc. II is also more than the COM
l'ined acreage of all the North Allan
tic States, emitting New York and
Tcnnsylvania.
The money value of the Florida
corn crop for 1911 exceeded in
amount that of the entire New Eng
land States, the region where Amer
i'an jOhnnycake achieved early re-
II wn. and where corn grown by the
Indians saved the Pilgrim Fathers
from starvation during their frs:
Lard winter. that of lG2O-21, after
landing at Plymouth Rock and max
ing it the barney stone of America
Florida is entitled to a few further
comparisons; for the value of its
corn crop. about which little has
ever been said. as it is an insignifi-
cant matter in the products of the
State. was about fOur-and-a-half
times that of California. and nearly
double that of North Dakota 1t was
four tines that of Vermont, where we
were fed on rye and Indian breau
threc-quartcrs of II century ago, or
oi Massachusetts,. and ten times that
OF New hampshire
The same Year Book also gives the
total number of cattle of all kinds in
Florida on the first of January, 1872.
ard the figures show that ii has NOR
cattle than any of the southern
State. with the single exception o:
Georgia. bordering upon the west
shore OF Crooked lake in Polk coun-
~, lives a Florida farmer, Mr. Stokes.
who was visited by Fred ID yelling
Oi .Iach on and others at Il sugar
cane grinding festival in the month
cf November, 1911. and who is the
owner of over two thousand head o.
attle, who's" range, summer and
winter. is the Florida Hat woods.
Tho book also shows that Florida
raised G,or" hog, in 1911 than any
u the South Atlantic States except
'corsia and North Carolina. and
early AS many as the combined far
f.st"rn group, omitting California
thd Oregon. or sheep the number is
,reater than any of our eastern
states except Maine, New York and
When 1T comes To vegetables. Gu
umbers, melons, berries and truck OF
nat sort, with its ample rainfall of
iity-three inches year. South Flor
Oh Is the earliest i'm the market and
,cts the biggest prices from con-
nmers in northern cities. We have
he statistics of 10000 acres of Flor
da potatoes. grown in 1911. the
verage yield OF which was ninety
'cshels per acre, and the farm price
IA March. 1911. about the time that
lorthern shipments begin. was s1.45
. bushel, making the average money
alue per acre S130.5O.
Arostook county, Maine, is the
loSt noted potato growing section OF
he United States. but the fame of
florida in this regard has been
fatted TO that northeasternmost