FLORIDA AS A FIELD FOR SETTLERS.
FLORIDA is a sub-tropical Netherlands—without the dykes—so flat that, at an altitude of two or three thousand feet, and with a good glass, one might survey the entire peninsula from sea to sea. But the only way of reaching that height would be by balloon, the loftiest hills being lower than the tree-tops. The area of Florida slightly surpasses that of England and Wales ; it is furrowed with streams and gemmed with Lakes, and though its greatest breadth between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean is three hundred and sixty miles, no part of it is more than fifty miles from a tidal inlet, and it possesses the longest littoral of all the United States. The climate is practically winterless, the rainfall moderate, and the summer temperature lower than that of Pennsylvania and New York.
Albeit Florida was discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1512, and acquired by the United States in 1821, it was little known to the Americans of the last generation, and only since the conclusion of the Civil War has it become a field for free settlers and a sanatorium for sick Yankees. During the last decade, however, it has received increasing attention from Northern capitalists and fortune seekers, and its resources are being developed with magnificent energy. Ten years ago there were no railroads south of Jacksonville ; now they intersect the State from east to west and from north to south, and new lines are in course of construction ; "vestibule trains," exceeding in luxury and convenience everything of the sort in the Old World, make the journey from New York to the local metropolis in thirty-six hours ; fine steamers traverse the rivers and run round the coast, and Mr. Flaegeler, a thirteen times millionaire (in pounds sterling), has built at St. Augustine the two most splendid hotels on the American Continent. The Alcazar is a glorious Moorish
posada, which looks as if it had been transported bodily from the South of Spain before Bobadil el Chico looked for the last
time on the towers and minarets of his beloved Granada. The Ponce de Leon, built of native coquina rock in the style of the Spanish renaissance, is a veritable fairy palace, a dream in stone. People travel a thousand miles merely to see these buildings ; but perhaps the most marvellous thing about them is that, although the Ponce de Leon alone cost E600,000, and the charges are as princely as the accommodation, they pay as investments. At Tampa, Mr. Rockefeller, a colleague of Mr. Flaegeler, and said to be worth twice as many millions, is building a luxurious caravanserai with rooms for a thousand guests. But these gentlemen are, among other things, railway magnates, and they know that one of the Barest ways of creating traffic is to build hotels. They divide the realm between them ; one is developing the eastern side of the State, the other the south and the west. St.
Augustine is the future head-quarters of the American Riviera ; and Tampa, on the west coast, and the direct route between Cuba and the Northern States, bids fair to become a great emporium of trade. The meaning of this is that two of the most far-seeing men in America believe that Florida has a future, and that the "boom," which began ten years ago, will last. But the future will be of a different sort from that of her iron-producing Northern neighbours, or of the pastoral and corn-growing states of the Far West. For she has neither mines nor minerals, the cattle which wander in her water-prairies, and roam in her pine-woods, do not thrive, and stock-raising will never become a flourishing Floridian industry. Nevertheless, to men of energy, used to country life, with a liking for sport and a taste for gar- dening, Florida offers great attractions. The settler should possess a fair amount of capital; but even moneyless immi- grants often succeed in Florida. A short time ago the present writer met there more than one Englishman who landed in the country with only a few dollars in his pockets, and who is now in easy circumstances. But all are handy men, with great energy and mechanical aptitude. They can build houses and boats, run engines, clear land, plant trees, and make them- selves generally useful. A house-carpenter may earn from twelve to fourteen shillings a day, and live on four; he can soon save enough to buy a "lot," or a small orange-grove ; and with three pounds a week and three or four acres of
garden, a man is better off than he would be with twice as much in England or three times as much in the Northern States of America. Though clothing is dear, a little of it goes a long way in Florida ; three crops of potatoes or of grass can be raised on the same ground in the same season ; with irriga- tion, which is easily arranged, the settler may have straw- berries and vegetables all the year round—either for his own use or for sale—he may have wild duck, quail, venison, and other game for the shooting, and if he be near the coast, oysters for the gathering, and fish for the catching. On the Indian and Hillsbro' Rivers you can often catch thirty or forty pounds of fish in an hour, and shelled oysters can generally be bought for a shilling a quart.
Yet even to the man of mechanical aptitude capital is a great advantage; to the ordinary settler, absolutely necessary; and if he propose to engage in orange-planting, the most popular and profitable of Floridian callings, the more money he has, in reason, the better. He should have at least £500, and. be able to wait a while for the first fruition of his hopes ; or, as a long-headed American observed to the present writer, "sit on it" for a twelvemonth and look about him. The accept- ance of this advice need not, however, involve a year of idle- ness either for himself or his money. In Florida, a high rate of interest is not incompatible with good security, and he could spend the interval in learning his future business. For a knowledge of orange-growing does not come by light of Nature, and many a newcomer has bought a grove in haste only to repent at leisure. Buying orange-groves without special knowledge and trustworthy advice is as risky as buying horses without warranty.
You can either buy a grove or make one. The best land for orange-raising is hammock-land—that is to say, virgin forest, with a heavy growth of live oak, hickory, magnolia, and forest-trees. Land of this description, suitable in other respects for the purpose, costs from 210 to 220 per acre, to which must be added the cost of clearing, fencing, and planting, about 220 more, making a total cost of some 235. Five acres of good hammock-land, fenced and planted, with well- budded trees, and fairly started, are worth from 2200 to 2300 and upwards, according to situation. live years later, if well tended in the meantime, they will be worth from 2800 to 21,000. When ten years old, the grove should be in "good bearing," and bring in, at a low estimate, 12s. per tree net, equal to an annual income of 2350. At this stage the five acres would be worth from 22,000 to 23,000, according to the condition of the trees, the situation of the grove, and other circumstances ; and as an orange-tree is young at ten years old, the yield, and therefore the value, would go on increasing for many years.
Therefore, whether a grove be bought or made, capital is necessary. Most settlers would probably prefer to buy, and groves may be purchased which will return 10 per cent. from the outset, and with average luck and good husbandry improve year by year until they return 30 or 40 per cent. The management of an orange-grove is analagous to that of an English orchard. The ground must be kept free from weeds, the trees clean and properly pruned, the fruit gathered and packed in due season and sent to market. Or the planter can sell the oranges on the trees, and leave the gathering and packing to the purchaser. Pine-land may be bought and cleared at considerably less cost than hammock-land, but as the oranges it produces are of inferior quality, and it has to be continually fertilised with artificial manures, it is land to be avoided. Next in importance to the quality of the soil is the situation of the grove. -Unless it be within easy reach of a railway station or a navigable stream, all the profits will go in what the Americans call "haulage," labour in Florida -being costly and the roads indifferent. The only foe much feared by the orange-planter is frost, a visitant which not only rains the ripe fruit, but kills the younger trees. As, however, there have been only two killing frosts since Florida became a State (one in 1836, and another in 1886), the probability of disaster from this cause is remote; and frosts never occur until January, by which time half the orange crop is generally gathered and eaten. But groves in the north and west are not desirable investments ; the finest oranges, probably the finest in the world, are those grown on the rich hammock-lands of the Indian and Hillsbro' Rivers.
In addition to other advantages, Nature has bestowed on Florida an admirable system of underground water-works. By boring a hundred feet and putting into the hole a pipe, you may have an ever-flowing fountain with a jet of from eight to twelve feet, according to the diameter of your pipe. True, the water smells slightly of sulphuretted hydrogen; but cattle like it, and for irrigation it is as good as the best. As touching climate and health, Floridians have every reason to be thankful. The thermometer seldom falls below forty, and the mean temperature of January, the coldest month of the year, is nearly sixty. The maximum temperature of summer is ninety-seven, and even in the height of summer the nights are generally cool. The lowness of the death-rate (twelve per thousand) bespeaks a genial climate. Nevertheless, new- comers are apt to suffer from malarial fever, especially in the hot season, when the swamps dry up and westerly winds waft noxious vapours from the interior to the Atlantic coast, where oranges are mostly grown, and unacclimatised settlers would do well to spend every alternate summer in the mountains of Georgia or in making a trip to the old country. On the other hand, Florida enjoys complete immunity from many diseases which are rife in northern dimes, and according to the last census returns is almost, if not quite, the healthiest State in the Union.
It will thus be seen that a young fellow of spirit, with capital and a stomach for work, might do worse than pitck his tent in Florida. He would not be likely to "strike oil" or- make a fortune at a stroke, but he could confidently count on a fine climate, a pleasant occupation, and a sufficient income_ In country districts—and Florida is nearly all country—a bachelor can have board, lodging, and washing for five or- six dollars a week ; and a family with a house and garden (which need not cost more than three or four hundred pounds) • are "passing rich" on two hundred a year. But life is rather rough ; white servants are not to be had ; even coloured helps are not easily obtained, and when.obtained are often neither- trustworthy nor efficient, and people who object to black their own boots and cannot dispense with some of the refinements of civilisation, had better stay at home.
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