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PUBXjISHED ) tt/^t T TWICE A MONTH. / V Ulj. 1. ATLANTA, GA., AUGUST 15, 1882. No. 20. Written specially (or tbe Southern World. HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA, BY HELEN HARCOURT. IHrit Paper. ‘•Where shall I Settle ? ” A little bird has come tapping at our study door, bearing in its beak a message from the North, East West and Southwest, which reads thus: “We have read of Florida’s oranges, of her cotton, her cane, her climate; we have heard glowing accounts of what has been and can be done through all the length and breath of the the noble “Land of Flowers,” but no where have we read or heard of the thousand and one details of the every day life that must be met and lived by the set tler, before he attains the grand sum total of independence. How do he and his wife live, and work,—and pass their time, what do they wear, what do they eat, what does it cost, what can they raise? Tell us of these things, so that all the thousands of us who are coming to Florida seeking homes may know to what we are coming, and see some clear rays of light shining through the obscurity of vague generalities. Things known to you old* settlers are unknown to us,—things familiar to you are enigmas to us, we know {hat your ways are not as our ways, but we do not know the details of the difference, nor how to prepare to meet them. We are thirsty for information of the little things that go to make up the daily life of the settler; give as to drink of tbe fountain of knowledge, that we may be strong to meet the life we must face in our future homes.” And so, having been taught that it is as impolite to ignore a message, as to refuse to notice a verbal question, we “take our pen in hand to let you know” of Florida house keeping, “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” Florida’s climate has been spoken of and justly, by the most eminent scientists, as one of the finest, and, away from the mi asms of the swamps, as one of the most healthful in the world, and we, who know her well, know that site has no need uf ex aggerated statements to plead her cuuse, and we propose to make none, in these papers on her home life, of which this is the initial number. We do not intend to paint the Italy of America in rose tints; to our mind, that is, the last thing her true friends should do; it is easier to excite great expectations, than to fulfill them, and to picture all manner of delights while “distance lends enchant ment to the view,” but when all these glow ing colors are dimmed by the full glare of the sun, and a closer approach reveals the thorns amongst the roses—one’s first impulse in the revulsion of feeling, is to cast down the roses and trample them under his indig nant foot, and then, alas! “how great is the fall thereof 1 ” Human nature Is apt to fly to extremes, to expect too much, and then not finding it, to shut the eye to the good that really nes tles amidst the evil. And so it has fared with hundreds who have gazed on highly colored p*ctures of Florida life, pictured tinted with rainbow hues, not a shadow or a flaw anywhere, and so gazing, have hastened there with pockets empty, yet full of anticipations of a quick and easy fortune to be obtained with out time, or work, or patience, or depriva tion, and then finding that Florida is only an earthly country after all, not a Paradise, and that orange trees are so unreasonable and willful as to decline to grow up, in crease, bear, gather and ship their fruit of their own volition, while their owner sleeps, they turn their backs upon the prospective golden fruit, and draw a black brush over the rainbow hued picture that had drawn them Florida-ward. We hardly know what our own ideas of Florida life were, until the realities were be fore us, for in fact, (like many another, doubtless) we hardly had time to think about it at all. Jack and GUI went up the hill, To get a bucket of water; Jack rolled down and broke his crown, And Gill came rolling after. And never stopped rolling until they landed in the midst of a young orange grove, which some day, will surely carry Jack and Gill up hill again, in a gold and green char iot, if only they are patient and energetic. But there were some of us, we remember, who thought the trees had only to be stuck in the ground, anyhow, and then let severe' ly alone for two or three years, when they would be found full of glorious fruit, visions of special steamers to be chartered, of whole trains of cars loaded with the produce, floated before the glowing imagination, and as for vegetables, they were to be had for the scattering of the seed, all the year round, if indeed they did not spring up and grow of their own accord. It is curious to find, in collecting the pre conceptions of “Florida fever" patients, how wildly just such ideas as those, obtain ere' dence, very rarely indeed do we find a set tler who has not formed impossible expecta tions, and is therefore “gwine to be disap pointed,” and in the rebound, to see his fu ture home in darker hues than it deserves. And all this comes of the unwise laudations of the enthusiastic friends, who have done more actual harm to our beautiful state, than all her foes collectively. To clear away the mists, and throw in the shadows that all earthly paintings must accept as part and parcel of themselves, and to tell the honest truth, is the earnest object of these homely .papers. Throughout the length and breadth of these United States, north, south, east and west, there are at this moment thousands of hearts turning wistfully towards Florida, as a haven of refuge and of hope, from finan cial storms, or from untimely death and disease. These inquirers are eager to know the real, substantial advantages she holds out to those who elect to cast their lot in our midst, and the Floridian who sets forth these advantages, side by side with the ever attendant disadvantages, giving publicity to facts and not to “vain inquirings,” will do his State more real service than he who wilfully misleads by false statements, impossible to be credited by any reasonable, thinking being. We hold that our beautiful State has no need of exaggeration; no need of that which is bright, to be painted brighter, she only wants the truth to be known to mark her out as thrice blessed among her sister states. She has her drawbacks, and deprivations, of course, though these are fewer than those of any other new country that we know of— take notice that we use the word “new,” for there are those who come to Florida, ignor ing the fact of its very recent opening up to settlers, and then grumble because things are not conducted in the old well known grooves they have been accustomed to in their old homes, whose rescue from the wil derness dates back for many years, even to the hundreds. There are plenty of such unreasonable, unreasoning, impractical people in tbe world, and occasionably they edify and amuse their wiser brethren by holding forth on tbe subject of imaginary grievances; Florida has seen a goodly number of them, and some of them not being known outside her borders, in their true character, have done her considerable injury. The very first question that arises, and im peratively calls for a decision, after the great question of “to be or not to be” a Floridian, bos been answered in the affirmative, is: "Where shall I settle?” In its narrower sense, the query is quick ly emphatically answered. “In the piny woods—never in the ham mocks.” In its broader sense, tbe answer is not so ready, and Yankee like, must be primarily answered by another question. “What is your special object? The best climate for a consumptive ? ” Then locate in south Florida, by all means. Do you want to raise oranges, lemons, guavas, bananas, pineapples? South Florida again. Is it merely your object to secure a cli mate less boisterous than that of the more northward Southern States, where you can raise peaches, pears, plums, and put early vegetables into the northern markets? Where you can raise the regular farm pro duct, oats, corn, rye and potatoes ? Then Eastern, Middle and Western Flori da will suit you just as well, if not better than the more tropical divisions, their soil is richer, as a rule, and the two or three hundred miles of distance saved in time and freight, make a respectable item in the bal ance of accounts. - And now, it strikes us that we have used the term of East, West, Middle and South Florida, and it is not likely than one in the ten of our readers will understand what these terms signify, let us explain: Florida is a very large State, embracing an area of over sixty thousand square miles, and all varieties of climate, from a tropical to a temperate, consequently the general term of “Florida” is too sweeping in its ap plication, and the necessity for a more par ticular descriptive title has been met as above. East Florida comprises the counties of Suwannee,Columbia, Alachua, Levy, Baker, Nassua, Duval, Bradford, Olay, St. Johns, Putnam and Marion. West Florida claims Escambia, Santa Rosa, Washington, Walton, Holmes, Jack- son and Calhoun. These two divisions might better, we think have been classed together as North Florida, which is more truly their geograph ical status. As we have indicated, these are the divis ions to suit the settler whose main ob ject is not the cultivation of the citrus fam ily. Here is the Florida for live-stock, corn, wheat, grapes, figs, peaches, and all the pro ducts of a more rigorous climate, and a few of the hardier southern fruits; but it is not tropical, it does not pretend to be, but it is beautiful, and more like tbe north we have left behind us than any other portion of the State, and better live-stock and crops, at so little expense and so great a profit, can be produced nowhere, than in East and West Florida. Frosts are no infrequent occur rences and the winters quite cool. Middle Florida lies between the twenty- eighth and thirtieth parallels, and its pro ducts arc those of the semi-tropics. Here one may see the vegetation of the temperate and tbe tropical zones growing side by side, only the long summer is some times hard upon the former, and an occa sional winter frost chills the ardor of the latter. The orange, lemon, lime, grape, fig, guava peach, and all garden vegetables grow and flourish, in close proximity all tbe year round, with the occasional mishaps before alluded to. Cotton, cane, cow-peas and rice pay best of the field crops, but wheat, corn and oats are less profitable than in the more northern portions of the State. Lakes are few, except in the central por tion, where, in the "Orange Lake Region” are a number of very fine sheets of pure, clear water, full of fish, and framed by bold beautiful bluffs. Here the large orange groves flourish, and hundreds of new groves are being set out, while settler after settler rolls up his sleeves, and goes to work with a will in the truck- field; sending on crate after crate, bar rel after barrel of green peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, onions, spinach, egg plants, celerf, lettuce, beets and the host of other garden vegetables, to the great North ern and Western markets, all through the months of January, February, March and April. It is a business, that as a rule, pays hand somely, although some seasons, owing to “cold snaps” or drouth, it fails; it is no un common thing to see from five hundred toa thousand dollars cleared on one acre of some special crop, that has matured and reached its destination at a fortunate moment. One of the special crops is the strawberry and often the profit on these little berries is so fabulous os to be fairly startling. And now we coine to South Florida where the semi-tropical and truly tropical produc tions stand side by side, here frosts seldom comes and when they do come, the damage they do is light. Every tree, plant and shrub of the tropics is at home here, especially, in the southern most parts; in the more northern portion, tbe counties of Sumpter, Hernando and Orange, some slight winter protection is given to pineapples, bananas, and guavas, a rude shelter of boughs, during two or three winter nights, when the thermometer threatens to fall below 36°. This may be necessary once or twice in several succesive years, or it may not be needed at all in sev eral seasons; it was not during that just passed, it was during the proceeding winter; of course, the further south one goes, the more can yearly tropical fruits be depended on. Key West and there abouts, is the home of the pineapple, banana, cocoanut, bread fruit, sugar apple, and the host of tropical fruits, but it is not the home of the orange, or lemon, or cane or cotton. Even from this cursory review of the dif ferent divisions of Florida, you can readily see that never was a greater mistake mado than to suppose, as so many do, that all parts " of the State are alike, in soil, climate and production. Why is it that Norfolk, Virginia, vegeta bles and strawberries find their way to the markets of New York and Philadelphia sev eral weeks earlier than they can be supplied from their own vicinity? Simply because Norfolk is severl hundred miles south of New York and Philadelphia, for the same reason Charleston beats Norfolk and East, West and Middle Florida leads them all. Look at New Jersey; at Cape May, Spring is two weeks earlier than it is at Orange, only one hundred miles distant. In New York snow and ice are on the ground in St. Law rence, while the trees are blooming in Queen's county, and where the fields are green at Chappaqua, Ogdenburg, two hun dred and fifty miles away, is shivering with a foot or two or snow on the ground. Now, Florida is nearly four hundred miles long from its southwestern-most point to its northern or Georgia boundary line, and who, after giving the subject even a passing