The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-01-08
LETTER FROM j. III. SHELDON.
VI NdHdItt, T IUTIUd,
December 2S, 1912.
DeC6WDeT 70, III
Editor The Citizen,

December 2S, 1912.
Editor The Citizen,
Dear Sir:-Belng a resident of
Preston, Wayne county, and a sub
scriber of The Citizen, l have been
asked by frinds to write and ask you
to publish in your paper something
in regard to my trip to Florida. l
came here for my health and am re-
siding at Manatee where 1 wish you
would send me The Citizen until
further notice, instead of sending it
to Orson. We left Orson December
I'd with plenty of snow on the
ground. We stopped in Scranton
over night and left there on the
morning of the third and have not
seen any snow since that date. We
stopped over in Washington about
six hours. Washington is a very
nice city, the government buildings
there are very fine. We left Wash
ington at 9:45 p. m. and arrived in
Jacksonville, Fla, at o'clock p. m.
on the evening of December 4th,
with the temperature at seventy-one
degrees. 1t was very busy city but
l was not favorably impressed with
it. Through North and South Caro-
| lima and Georgia / did not like the
! looks of the country land. 1t look
| ed very poor with a great deal of
swamp, but saw some very nice pine
timber. After we left Jacksonville
on the east coast of Florida we be-
gan to pass through orange and
grape groves. We went through
many fine towns. One in particular
that attracted our attention was
Sanford, this being a vast trucking
center. At this place there is i'm
mense celery, lettuce and tomato
fields. We arrived at Tampa on the
evening of the 5th with the tempera-
ture at eighty-three degrees. We
found ourselves in a nice city and a
week, making tours out around the
surrounding country. We took one
ride of eighty miles in an automo-
bile. We passed through many
beautiful orange groves loaded so
with fruit that many limbs laid on
the ground. They are as fully loaded
with oranges as any of our apple
trees are with apples up north in a
| good season. We visited st. Peters
burg, twenty-eight miles from
Tampa, where we saw many beauti-
full residences, among them the home
of Mr.. Albright where we saw an
unique fence of shells. The frame
work of the structure is of iron
meshing and on this is plastered ce-
ment, while the cement was still wet.
Every shell was carefully placed by
hand. Two hundred thousand shells
were used in the making of this pc
culiar fence and over forty varieties
were brought into use. The idea is
an original one and the result is ef-
T fective. The shells they get here
along the coast are something Won
derful to those that have never seen
them. Manatee is twenty-five miles
: from st. Petersburg on the Manatee
river, a nice quiet town of about one
. thousand inhabitants. Bradentown
one mile away, is three thousand in.
habitants. This county has no liz,
uor license. / have not seen any one
? under the influence of liquor since
living here. In Pennsylvania we are
told that town without a license is
dead. l would like to have some oi
the high license standpatters visit
= these towns and many others in this
county; they will find them very
, much alive. Am much pleased witt
Manatee county. You will find here
growing bananas, pineapples anG
= abundance of citrus, and also i'm
, mense truck farms. l am informed
that the orange picking season will
last until May Nearly all fruit here
is sold through the Citrus exchange
= They keep track of the conditions
I of market and notify the packing
houses. If the market is dull the!
shut down until the market is clean
ed out, and then commence to picl
S and pack again. The uncultivateC
. land does not look very desirable al
it is thick with palametto and scrul
v brush but the scenery after the lane
q is cleared is grand, the beautiful
0 pine and palm tree growing nearl!
everywhere. There are some groves
of oranges here of over one hundred
S acres each. 1t is wondeful to lool
e at. The weather is fine here. thl