The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1912-02-28
Chadman's Florida Letter.
PuNTA GoRDA, FLORIDA, Feb.

~ ~ wv ~N'h hol VI ouu
have jus come in from harvest scene.
j mopped the ever exudng sweat from
my Apolo-like cervlx and remarkably
high brow, and sought the grateful cool
of the outrageous orange and the grace
ful cabbage palm as came. A thousand
birds sang their sweetest summer carols
and fitted hither and tbither through the
verdant msngrove and the sun drowned
palmetto. A halt dozen hammock land
mosquitoes, with two inch suckers, ac-
companied me to the corporation limits,
and the perennial bumble-bee hustled
from flower to flower.
must say l like these harvest scenes
in February. They are fine business and
deserve commendation and encourage
ment. They are muchly to be preferred
to the frosted ear, the CONCEALED palanges,
and the nervous, excitsble chilblsin.
Some may prefer the frostbite to the mos
quito bite, and 1t is none of my concern If
they do. have nothing to say on the
wisdom of their preferences; l shall not
commit myself; the courts will attend to
that in due course. do not think II is
posi- BILE to escape both. but know that a
well.timed migration will escape the
rigor and roar OF old Boress and defeat
the avarice of the most energetic coal
man. Likely, in southern Florida, the
poor mosquito we shall always have with
us, or until the Everglades. the imprsc.
ticsble say grass marsh, the soggy slough,
the soggy prairie, the wet prairie, the low
places, the hummsck lands, aud the
scrub marshes shall be drained.
And considerable progress has already
been made with tie drainage canals
Billy Bryan, the great Common Dlvisor,
says the Everglades and the mammoth
lake, 0keechobee. can be drained and the
richest sugar cane land in the world
opened to cultivation. But along comes
Frank Clark, a member Of Congress from
Florida, and squesls that be has found an
irregulsrity of two dollars and forty cents
in the expenditures of the engineers, and
the investigation is On at Washington. /
am told that Mr.. Clsrk's elevation since
be came to Florida was rapid, and good
many people down this way feel like
elevsting him still higher r,-lending the
toe of boot.
1t is suggested that these drainage ca
mails be run across the Atlantic and con-
meet with the Suez, thence to the canals
on Mars; also that they be made part of
the Panama dig and get in on that sppro.
pristion. These are very good sugges-
tions; may be they can be carried out;
certainly it is possible to attempt it, and
there is nothing under The sun this nation
is incapable OF attempting.
But am wandering from the harvest
scene 1t is habit have where strenu-
Gus work is going on. II might not be
called harvest up our way, and distinct
ly remember that, on the big farm in
Center county where learned the finesse
of agriculture, we called it raising" the
potatoes. But here it is Harvesting the
Irish potatoes. Doctor Stone, formerly
of York, Pa, sent out word that be need.
ed a number of men to aid in harvesting
his potato crop, and | Immediately re-
sponded hoping 10 get out TO the farm in
time to o-to-see how potatoes were gath
cred in the South in February. saw all
about it. Fine red d-cheeked potatoes that
ran about two hundred bushels to the
acre and expected 10 fetch 81 80 bushel
They rolled out easily from the soft sand
as bright and clean as cherries. l do not
know how many picked; l know 1 got
sufficient to make the alligator in a near
by pond duck his head and make for his
tunnel in the bauk.
Now this harvest scene will occur three
times year on this farm, as it will on
most other farms in this vicinity. Very
little grain is grown here in this (Desoto)
county, but potatoes, cukes bers),
and all vegetables thrive and mature in
four or five months. Indeed, thisiis the
land of the perennial harvest; whoever
has the harvest bug we'll developed should
come here and harvest all the time. There
is always something ripe or ripening, and
there are no leaves to rake in the fall.
This county contains $3.50 square miles
and has a population of 1900 You
could put nine counties the size of little
Forest into it and have some to spare, 1t
stretches from the Gulf of Mexico over
half way across the state and touches lake
Okeechobee on the southeast 1t is settled
only along the west coast, the Punts
Gords bay region and the Peace river dis
trict. There /. room for all the oyerplus
in the world here; there are sunshine and
flowers and star sheen and moon glow,
without snow or frost, but somehow /
banker for the rhododendron, the honey
suckle, and the speckled beauties along
and in little old Tubbs creek.
WALLACE CHADMAN.