The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-05-11
WRITES FROM FLORIDA.
F. c. Little Describes Some of His I'm
pressions.

| Editor Barre Daily Times:- AS | sat
down to the desk having in view writ
| ing to friends in Vermont, my thoughts
turned to The Times as the best and by
| far the easiest medium by which / could
reach them and ] trust you will pardon
me for thus intruding upon your time
and space.
My sister, Mrs. S. +. Drew, and the
writer babe my aged mother short
farewell at l0l st. James avenue, Bos-
ton, on April rs, and Immediately sailed
on the steamship City of Atlanta for a
/ ,000-mile voyage to Savannah, Ga. For
the first 10 hours the sea was compare
lively smooth, after which it became
apparent that we were to have al
don't know what you would call it, but
rock-a-by lullaby, / guess-and in the
morning | dressed with the avowed in
tention of going out to my sisters berth
and thence to breakfast, but alas! Be-
fore / got my shoes laced, all my fond
hopes for breakfast had vanished and |
was doing, as | found out later, what
all the passengers and part of the crew
were doing simply having good attack
of sea sickness. / rang the bell boys
two at time and finished up by call
ing the purser He had no dope, no cure,
no pay, and informed me / had simply
got to stand it, and to my great sur
prise | am still alive and feeling fine.
We finally reached land and saw a
little of the dirty part of Savannah
and next day went to Jacksonville, Fla,
and with day spent there began to see
some of the beauties of a partly trop-
zeal climate. Taking the Pullman from
there, we found ourselves next morning
nearly 400 miles south, along the east
coast of Miami, arriving at our objec-
tive point at 1880 a. M, April 80.
Now word of advice for those who
are contemplating taking the trip.
was advised TO include in my medicine
chest blackberry cordial, salts, brandy,
pills, pickles, etc, but as all the above
would prove fatal in sea sickness, | had
no use for them and they only added
weight to my grip.
| found myself transferred suddenly
from % degrees above zero in Vermont
to the tropical garden of the United
States, or nearly the southern point of
the United States. You will ask what
found down there. 1t would take a book
to tell you. 1t is wonderful. The coun-
try south of Miami was opened for set
Element with the completion of the f. Z.
G. Ry. to Key West, six years ago, and
townships and even cities are springing
up like magic. Eastward to the bay
are the prairie lands, or properly, the
glade lands; then westward, reaching
out to the Everglades.
In the country between are located
the Redlands of Florida, consisting of
coral rock and reddish soil, and here is
where the 5000 different species of
shrubs. fruits, flowers and all tropical
plant life are thoroughly at home. l
saw pineapple plant, planted nine
months ago in little hole in rock,
with a good sized pineapple on it.
Land has been cleared rapidly and is
being set out to citrus trees. This
month people will finish picking their
1918 crop and also their 1914 tomato
crop. Two hundred and thirty-ive car
loads were shipped this season from this
little station in the woods called Home
stead. The climate here is just perfec-
ton, neither hot nor cold the year
around. / saw a large flock of quails
and several cottontail rabbits yesterday.
Now, Mr.. Editor, / realize that this
trash is calling for too much of your
space and thanking you in advance, I
remain,
Most sincerely,
F. C. Little.
Homestead, Fla, May 4, 1914.