The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-02-11
A vERMoNTER IN FLORIDA.
F. c. Little Writes of Conditions as He
Found Them.

!. F. c. Little Writes of Conditions as H
I Found Them.
Editor Times: Yesterday | sat dow
and wrote letter to friend in Yer
mont and resolved to fulfil my promise
as regards letter writing, but my cour
age failed me and, with your permission
| will have to resort to the columns o
your valuable paper.
On my way down here. stopped few
days in New York, and when | retired
at a. m. on Jan. !, 1915, after seeing
the New Year ushered in, / was firmly
convinced that New York would be nc
place for me to live.
My son, Arnaud, and wife accompanied
me from New York and soon after we
got out in mid-ocean / was taken with
the grip and was nearly sick in bed upon
my arrival here. But the bsliny Florida
air and sun soon made me as good as
ever, and to-day | never felt better in
my life. Weather just perfect sun
shines every day, mercury 81 to rs.
When | first took a stroll over my
grove and the woods, the little red bugs
gave me very cordial greeting and for
three or four nights thereafter | was
kept some busy, but after they found
+ had come to stay. with the aid of lit
tie dope they passed me by.
Clarence and wife are in Miami, as he
is setting up our large tractor with so
horsepower engine to be used up in the
everglades. Arnaud is trucking on my
brother flaws mari prairie. Leland
and wife are living here on my grove
home at Redland. He is working on the
citrus tree inspection. Floyd recently
got call to 60 upstate, $50 miles, to
Cocoa, and raise in his pay from $40
to 81 per day. My mother, who is near
ly 50 years old, is basking in the beauti-
full sun and enjoying fairly good health,
and your humble scribe has no strings
tied to him and does about as he has a
mind to.
| must tell you OF my trip of hunting,
fishing and inspection of the upper ever
glades, from Miami via Fort Lauderdale, |
0keelan, to Rita island, Lake Okeecho- |
bee, Moore Haven and return, a distance |
of over $50 miles, all by water In com. |
pany with my two sons, G.. r. and H. r. |
and their wives, / boarded my motor |
boat at Miami with a full equipment |
for camp life upon the water, including |
our guns, bedding, food and so gallons |
OF gasoline. Our bag of game consisted
of alligators, ruggards. Virginia rail |
(which is similar to, though much larg-
er, than our Vermont woodcockl, the
whooping crane, which stands three feet
tall, and two variety of ducks. One
could shoot the little coots on Lake 0kee-
chobee as long as he wanted to furnish
ammunition, We also caught catfish and
bass.
! feel that this letter would hardly be
fair to my readers unless described the
country around the southerly portion of
Lake 0keeehobee. The state has already
completed four drainage canals from the L
lake to the Atlantic. running several
hundred miles south and east, and IL at
present working on the St Lucie canal
at the northeast. This will be the main
river out of the lake and when complet- X
ed, together with the locks, will make
available for the pillow thousands of acres
IF black muck lands the most fertile i
and in the world Soil ANALYSIS 3 per $
'ent nitrogen, 30 per cent humus and So {
Der cent organic matter. t
We saw growing about every vegetable s
hat grows in our northern gardens. and {
ii the tropical fruits. The grains were c
Italia, Kentucky bluegrass, Soudan Il
'rass, Bermuda, Rhodes and all southern s
rasses. The forage crops are grown in
pring and early summer, such as kaffir e
orn, Jerusalem corn, oLra, sorghum, d
milo, maize, ferretta, eudyn, teasinte,
egg plant, soy beans, velvet
nd caster beans, COW peas, etc, also
sugar cane, sweet and Irish II
otatoes, sweet corn and different dent II
arieties of corn, peanuts, tobacco, rice, II
tc., all grown without a bit of fertilizer II
The soil, after il has been titled for n
me, works up like sawdust and unless
OIL handled it You would think You were
alking on SCOT. About now | hear you
,mark, Some soil, some climate, some
,untry." Yes, but don't think but that
lere viii be many, many obstacles, de-
-ivations and hardships TO contend with \
settling and developing that raw and u
country. and above all things
Ger clear Of Florids's greatest curse. br
e INSCRIPTIONS real estate man. While he
ey may not, in a way, misrepresent, so
ley will leave the one half for you to or
arm to your sorrow. Let me add this sa
UGH; The people Of Florida are learn be
2 the folly Of all truck, and are turn ia
g their attention to more staple farm tei
z. livestock, poultry. legumes, grasses. II
IN, etc. Wealthy men of the north tr'
We purchased vast tracts Of those muck an
nds for the above purpose and it is my tir
nest opinion that the near future will ba
e great development on those fertile me
Aries. tn
Thanking You in advance, Mr.. Editor. an
want to beg the invitation to come mt
ain. Next time about the fruits Of
e Florida Redlands. fel
F. G. Little. Gle
Homestead. Fla. Feb. G. 1915. get