The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-01-23
|MPRESS|ONS0F
A NEWCOMER
FROM ILLINOIS
DR.. w. H. CONIBEAR WRITES LET.
TER TO HIS HONE PAPER
REGARDING LAKELAND.


OF Vegetables and fruit in recent let
ter to his home paper in Illinois as
Follows:
Lakeland, Fla, Dec. l3.
IN ms last | spoke OF the prospec-
tive straw berries. They are here
now and you can see them IN the
stores for sale. Better still, we can
20 out in our own patch and PICK
ripe ones. 1t is astonishing to me to
see how fast everything grows here
when it is fcrtilizcd and cultivated.
Everything needs some fertilizer. es-
pcrially potash. because of the deep
sandy loan where there is de-
iiciency Of potash. as there is in IL
linois and where they have the same
conditions, such as the Tampico re-
gion in Oglc county.
Yesterday we discovered that our
entire dinner consisted Of food We
had raised since We arrived mere on
Aug. 10. The menu consisted Of fried
chicken, new potatoes. green peas,
beet greens with pork. radishes, on
ion and pepper salad, chow chow.
with guava jelly and oranges Tor
dessert. We have an abundance OF
other things that are good to eat
that were not included in that din
ner. such ~ cabbage, k0hlrabi. pkfa.
lettuce. emdivc. tomatoes. Otc, So
YOU zee there Is no necessity for ono
tc starve here If he only plants and
cares for. J
There Is another feature Of the
soil here that ! have foMnd from &C.
tual experience and that Is the ease
Cf cultivation. find that II takes
about One-fOurth as much labor to
cnltiva.o the soil as II does in I'LL
nois. know that the difference
would pay for the fertilizer that you
have to use here, ii not more. The
up-to-datc farmers are getting ready
I. nut out their spring crops. Many
plant their Irish potatoes In January
and start their tomatoes in cold
frames. and such other things az
might be injured by possible frost
during January They tell me that
n is very seldom we have frost after
January. SO the work Is in fun hast
in February.
have some young men getting the
land ready TO set out 10000 ar w.
600 Bermuda onions that | have
raised from the seed and are now
ready to set out After raising our
sets we do not have to wait until
another season to set them out, but
just take them up and trim the tops
and roots back q little and set them
TO make large onions. II only takes
onion seed one week to come up here
! We do not have weather cold enough
: to check their growth. and the same
, with beets. turnips. rape. peas and
lots OF other things
| We had cool wave yesterday. In
. the morning Il was 52. al noon 81
! and at night SO. but II Is warm and
pleasant today.
The exchange has shut down THEFT
lacking house here until Jan. be.
cause of the overloaded condition Of
the northern markets The citrus
fruits. with the exception Of A few
early varieties. can he kept on the
trees from three to six months afte'
they are ripe. without loss unless In
jured by wind. which Ii quite dif'
ferent from apples. peaches. etc This
peculiar property gives the producer
. a chance 10 wait for better market
: for he knows that after his fruit II
picked and put in IL mus, be dis.
e POSED of In two or three weeks or t
will all be spoiled.
: We are all we'll and enjoying the
I Florida climate.
4 W III cO<ipFaR