The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-02-25

aE EVENING TELEGRAM, LAKELA
which will cost very nearly $2,0OO,OOc.
and when it is all completed ! know
what JOY it will be to drive from
our home city of Tampa, visiting all
these places and returning home the
same day. The Ridge was just as
beautiful, the lakes glimmered just as
brightly, the air was just as balmy
and the pines scented the air just the
same when there was nothing in the
way of roads through here other than
snaky sand trails, but one could not
enjoy the drive; the mind was ever
on the road, and the possibilities OF
stalling or burning up the engine
Now all is changed and there are no
better roads anywhere in the country
than those completed in this section
and the whole system will be fin
ished by another winter.
Besides the cities and towns men
toned, Polk County has some fine
cities in Lakeland, Barlow, Fort
Meade, Winter Haven, Florence Villa
and Eagle Lake. Smaller communi
ties are Lucerne Park, Homeland
Dundee, Waverly and Crooked Lake
Loughman is saw-mill town, and
Galloway and Kathleen are straw
berry centers. Polk County is one oil
the leading phosphate producers in
Florida, and no small percentage Of
the strawberries shipped from South
Florida are raised in Polk County
The Ridge itself is not big producer
of anything but citrus fruits, but
there are trucking sections about
some of the other places mentioned
notably Barlow and Fort Meade.
The high land, the good citrus sol
and the many lakes which NEAR
comparative immunity from frost, al
tended to bring about the prominence
of Polk County as a producer of citru.
fruits, but as Frank l.. Sicily so apt
ly says, "The cheapest thing we pu
into box of fruit is the fruit itself.
The package itself, the wraps. tn,
quality of the pack, the freight ant
the expert selling are necessary, ant
in Polk County as whole we fin,
the science of packing and marketin,
brought as near perfection as ha
ever been attained in California O
any other State with any commodity
Polk County may be said to be tn
birth place of the Florida Citrus EA
change. Here lived the honore
founder and first president, DR.. II
man, and here lives President ]. H
Ross, the active head of the Exchang
,, today, and say, advisedly, for thougl
the good Doctor is over seventy year
old his brain is as keen as ever, an
; he is all the time engaged in hi
plans for the conduct of the bushes
OF the Exchange, through the boar
OF directors and the business mana
ger. The Polk County Sub Exchang
is indeed fortunate in having as it
manager Charlie Walker, of Barlow
a man known far and wide for hi
efficiency, tact and good fellowship
and man who knows citrus frui
and citrus marketing from Alpha t,
Omega. He has built up the larges
sub-exchange in Florida, and the tim
is coming when he will have tn
handling of over one million boxe
OF fruit each season. There is not
weak link in Mr.. Walkers chain O
associations, and this is big facto
in the development of Polk County a
a citrus section and as an Exchang
stronghold. No man need hesitat
about starting a grove in Polk Count
If he uses ordinary care in the selec
ton of his land and then mixes som
brains with his fertilizer. There i
the soil, the water and the frost pro
lection, and there is at hand the bes
marketing organization ever inaugu
rated in this country or any other.
endorse all Mr. Whitman says in hi
stories, and they in turn confirm wha
have said about these same com
munities in the past.