Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1921-07-08
HASTINGS, FLORIDA.
Seeing Her Great Irish Potato Fields.
BY JAMES FAUX.

party making an auto IOur OF Tue
great Hastings Potato fields. Here
we wv Irish Potatoes in the early
part Of March with vines over foot
high. They told US they would be
digging them in another week and
we noted that they were already get
ting crates distributed out to the
farms. The land on which these
potatoes were being raised was for
merlv low marshy land from the flat
country contiguous to st Johns river
and tributaries there. They have
drained out the ponds and marshes
with a complete canal system which
| has its deep main canal with the lat
eral branches reaches up into the
farms ON either side. In places they
have arteslan wells for irrigating the
potatoes in case of drouth. Thou
sands of dollars are wrapped up in
single farms, of many acres. You
look out over broad expanses of acres
and acres of the green growing spur
tops, They hill the rows up the
highest of anywhere that we have
seen Irish potatoes grow. We pass
| one farm which we are told belongs
to negro and he has a fine two sto
| ry house on it and a nice automo-
bile house and we notice the family
just gong in from drive as we pass
and they look prosperous and happy
and not stuck up either or spoiled by
their success In money making.
Our car-host calls attention to this
of how deserving thrifty negro can
amass wealth in the South by know
ing his place and staying in it and
ATTENDING to his own business and
thus securing the cooperation and
friendly spirit of his white neighbors.
! 1t was on this drive that we caught
the first scent of that pure delicious
odor of the orange blossoms. There
we're few orange trees about in
spots here. Not in the orange belt
proper but near enough to the warm
winds from the ST. Johns river to
raise them in a modest way How it
did delight our nostrls to Whit that
perfume with which the air was
laden for mile or so away before
we came to the orange trees where
the white blooms were sending off
this incense to delight the sons of
men. Down on the ST. Johns river
to which we rode before leaving this
section. we saw several pretty large
orange-sroves. They grow better
near the river. The river is very
wide along this place which is called
FederalPoint where a great sweeping
bend is made IN the river. Steam
ers come down from Jacksonville on
it. This river flows North as the
school boy and girl readers know and
its confusing to hear the people
speak of it as up the river meaning
towards its head when the correct
direction of the compass is diametri-
cally opposite of that.
This penetrating and pleasant
odor of orange Blossoms has opened
up an enterprise in Florida which
has a nation wide sweep. IL is the
chemical capture of such odor and
reducing it to face powder. In the
drug store show windows from Jack
sonvil.e and ST. Augustine all the
way down the peninsula to Miami
you see great displays of Orange
Blossom Powder" put up in various
kinds of pretty colored and decora-
ted design boxes and tins. And it's
q great seller. And of course it's
sold also in the North. if not made
there somewhere, though some of it
claims to be made 10 Jacksonville
We assume that 10 time it will grad
ually become placed all over tie
country as it has distinct flavor
in the perfume line which appeals
to raany tastes.
The party lett ST. Augustine that
night in the special Pullman train
made up there, the other one having
been discontinued at Jacksonville
but number of the same Pullmans
we're used with the addition of two
Others hooked on to accommodate
the others who had joined the party
/ by now. That morning we ran by a