The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-10-06

Acreage of Groves in Lake. County,
Tavares, Fla.,-No country can be
come richer than its lands. And It'll
lands can become no richer than WI
make them.
Opportunity of the town, the coun
try,the state, the United States lie:
in the country. The country can ge
along without the town, but no towr
ever has or ever will be permanently
prosperous without the country. The
town is built on farm profits; on what
farmers produce in excess of theil
home needs.
To sound the wealth and prosperity
OF Polk county the Lake County
Chamber of Commerce endorsed q
notorcade to our good neighbors tc
the south-who are really part OF
us, as they are farming on the same
fertile ridges, studded with clearwater
lakes, known as the Backbone OF
Florida
They have turned their soil into
gold; they have mixed energy and
brains with the sand; the land has
responded generously.
To the writer, Polk county and its
deeds were nothing new. No surprises
greeted me, for that country and its
people was known to me as an open
book.
Travelled the lands of Polk fifteen
years ago-spitted and sputtered over
sand roads in an old White steamer
which was carrying so much excess
steam that it was a question wheth.
er to be burnt up by the blistering
sands or blown up by contrary en-.
CINE. ! was guests of a land-grabber.
who was picking up choice spots at SO
to 50 an acre-thousands of acres for
a North Dakota corporation. Now I
see those lands cut into symmetrical
tracts, and laid out with rows upon
rows of orange and grapefruit trees
some years into bearing, others car.
rying their first fruit, and others
fledglings proud of their first few
emerald leaves. have seen these
acres metamorphosed from a wilder.
ness worth mere pittance to groves
worth from $1,000 to $4,000 an acre.
There was no magic in the physic.
al change-nothing but good com.
mon sense. Every grove a factory"
has been the slogan of the growers.
They have planted, and cultivated.
and fortified and gathered and mar.
Neted their fruit with approved and
scientific methods.
Iney nave co-Operated in MANY
ways. They are helpful one unto the
other They hold weekly meetings
and discuss ways and means, and
grapple vital points in open discus.
sian They are neutrality-suspicious.
rificing. They never want to sacri.
flee the team by trying to fatten their
own batting average.
And what Polk county has done we
can do in Lake.
We have 100000 acres of citrus
land in Lake waiting for intelligent
cultivation. Acres of soil that would
command a princes ransom if locat
ed in Polk, or Hillsboro, or Pinellas,
or DeSoto-acres on steep hills sides,
descending in gentle slope to spring.
fed crystal lakes sun-kissed and rain.
bow tinted. We have climate that
Is tempered by 14O0-odd lakes in the
county, and unlike most rolling coun-
try the air-drainage of our valleys is
such that cold air cannot settle. and
one plants right to the waters edge.
We have countless thousands of high
pine-land, virgin timber that exeffes
the admiration of the lumberman; !
land that is clean as a park and as
enticing.
And so, we challenge our good
neighbor to the/south of us, to look
out for its hurels. In years gone by
Lake has lead in many things; it now
lea9s in some things, but Lake
Leads" has been raised aloft as our
sonfalon, and we shall lead in all
Kings. We shall create wealth from,