The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-05-05
From the same ONCE 10 Issued
THE LAKELAND NEWS
4 weekly Newspaper givilg . ~.
suAs Of local matters, crop oondi.
sions, county affairs. ste. Sent any.
who're for 800 per ysal.
HE SEES FLORIDA WITH
CLEAR VISION

Mr.. E. w. Barber, of Jackson.
Mich, who has spent the winter in
Crooked Lake in this county Is a
tourist full of intelligent apprecia-
ton of our State and it's advantages
hot one of the kind who can see
q knothole in barn door mile
off, but cant see the barn. His let
tiers back to his home paper, the
Jackson Patriot, fine metropolitan
daily, treat us so fairly AMI show SO
clearly the superiority of a mind
trained to comprehensive Obserya-
tion and accurate deduction that it
is a delight to read what he says
about us; and its excellence is
brought out in especially strong re-
lief when put in contrast with some
Of the stuff which disgruntled tour
lists write about Florida, after they
have enjoyed our climate and other
goci features all winter and can
find nothing favorable about us to
Eay. Mr., Barber believes in Florida,
both winter and summer, and from
one of his recent letters to the Jack
son Patriot we take the following:
FLORIDA is not at it's best during
December, January, February and
March, although then it is a grats-
full refuge from the wintry blasts of
OF the North. The rain, sleet, snow,
ice ami billiards Of February and
March, and the cold that caused the
thermometer on your front porch to
register zero and below, we wholly
escaped. At no time has the mer-
curry dropped below IS degrees,
When you got a cold in the head,
and hatei to venture out doors. what
. delight the worst weather here
would have been.
mot at all surprising Is 1t that
this State is gaining rapidly In pop
ularity. 1t would take columns to
describe its physical attractions, 90
many arc they. Its shady palms and
sunny beaches; it's tropical tangles
and open viEtas, Its beautiful inter-
Tor lakes and adjacent high lan1s
covered with balsamic pines-or
when improved, with ever-verdant
orange and grapefruit groves, fra.
grant when in blossom and rich with
yellow globes and green LEAKAGE
when loaded with fruit, the value
OF this seasons crop placed at ST.
100, 000-present a great variety Of
attractions to winter visitors, nearl.
all Of whom are satisfied.
Still many erroneous impression
prevail. Fashionable tourists see but
little of the State. Their objective
point is some high-priced hotel
They come and 60 in Pullman cars
sec the poorest of the flat woods, a'
the railway engineers seek the low
est and leveliest lands on which t
lay rails; they enjoy the climate ant
the social splurge; they admire thu
orange groves, the rose gardens, an,
the scented air; and, on returning
to their northern homes, they oftel
say the climate is fine, but nothin
will grow in the Florida sand.
Nothing will grow? They woul
think differently should they Sc
some of the Polk county truck farms
and notice the shipments from da
to day at Lakeland. Barlow, For
Meade and other railroad stations
and from the State generally. Why
1t is officially stated, Florida ha
more than 100000 acres of GU
tivable land. and in 1910 had onl
l,157,546 acres under cultivation
which produced Of field crops, $14
S12,S40: or vegetables, $6,S25.s12
Of fruit, $5,sO5.727; poultry an
products, $2.413.s40; dairy proc
ucts. s2,S51,479: live stock on han:
t23,967,501; other products, $135
435-a total of $56,712,734, againt
&2S.673,317 in 1910. Live stock o
hand in 1900 amounted to but IS
1915, showing an increase in te
years of nearly 800 per cent.
"And, with all this, when tn
North was snowbound. and Mich
gan wheat fields were covered wit
q smothering sheet Of Ice, those fol
tunate enough to be in Florida en-
1oyed balmy days ami serene night.
breathing and living and moving 1
. healthy outdoor air, except tn
few times when refreshing rains fe
upon the earth, and, followed by tn
warm sunshine. brought the will