.—>iiii*-r-riirr_r_ii_-*rrri*fi
VOL. XXV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., DEC. 27, 1890.
NO. 52
BACK AND FORTH THROUGH FLOETOA.
Notea of a   Delightful   Trip Through a
Wonderful Country.
While attending' the National Alliance
convention at Ocala, Florida, December
3 8, we received an urgent invitation to
join the excursion, planned for the delegates, to various points of interest in the
State, and although it -was not our intention to be so long away from home, we
thought -we could not afford to miss the
opportunity; and we are glad -we mado
the trip. With the exception of the forenoon
of lirst day we had fair weather, and the
temperature -was just -what we would have
asked for if the matter had been left to us.
It was just right for out door on joyment.
Much of the time we had the car windows
open, and only occasionally was it necessary, during our six days journey to start
fires in the little stoves, that each car contained.
Before giving an account of our trip we
must tell something of
OCALA    AND    TIIE SEMI-TROPICAL   EXPOSITION.   •
This young and thriving city of 5,000 or
6,000 population is handsomely located
near the center of the State, and is ambitious enough to expect to become the capital city before many years. It has two
railroads, several good hotels, numerous
churches and school buildings, water
works, electric light,.street railways and
othercity improvements. Itissurrounded
by orange groves, and this beautiful tree
shades several of the streets and abounds
in privato y*>rds. Orange trees were to be
seen in every direction, and nothing could
be more beautiful, especially to visitors
from the North in the winter, than the
sight of their golden fruit, peeping through
dense foliage of darkest green. The exposition was visited repeatedly by tho delegates, who ■« ere provided with complimentary tickets, and wo venture to say
that never before were they more deeply
interested in a horticultural and agricultural display. Many of the best counties
in the State made separate exhibits of
their products, and the large building,
erected for the purpose, was entiroly filled
with displays of oranges, lemons, limes,
citrons, guavas, pine apples, sugar canes,
cotton, tigs, pecans, peanuts, etc., etc., all
arranged in the most tasteful manner.
The entire list is too lengthy for our space
We hesitate about referring to particular
exhibits where all were so commendable,
but if we should do so wonld have to speak
of the one superintended by Major Rooks,
of Summit county, a former Indianian,
who has one of the finest orange groves in
his section of the State, and is experimenting successfully with many other
fruits.
One of the most interesting displays was
a pyramid of
FHOSPHATIC KOCK
from one of the numerous beds in the vicinity. These phosphate deposits are being found and developed in several of the
central counties, and are destined to work
a revolution in the agriculture of the entire southern country. The mines seem
almost inexhaustible, and the fertilizing
-properties of the rock are so valuable
that an immense demand for it has sprung
up in England, and we heard of a single order for 200,000 tons to besent to that country
as rapidly as it can be got out and loaded
upon vessels. The price of the crude article is ?15 per ton, when it has been treated
to sulphuric acid and made ready for use
it is worth almost twice that sum. It is a
source of immense wealth to the owners
of the beds, and will eventually greatly
increase the value of the poor, sandy
soil that prevails throughout the State;
for all this soil is susceptible to a
high state of cultivation and production
of large yields of fruits, vegetables, cotton,
suj-s.r cane and many of the grains, fiber
plants, etc., when well fertilized. On our
first day's trip we stopped at two of these
beds and saw immense excavations covering an acre or more each, and 40 or 50 feet
deep the botttom had not yet been reached.
At one of these beds, some 20 miles southwest of Ocala, 1,500 men are employed in
mining, burning and loading the product.
The business is already immense aud it ia
only in its beginning. The finding of
these beds solves the question, "Why did
Nature make so many millions of acros of
wasto and useless land down there?"
This land was made to be the receptacle for
the phosphates in the beds which liejabout
in all directions and the reason the phosphates wore not spread uponjtho land by Nature herself was that man might havo something to do in developing the country, and
not become so pampered and lazy as to be
good for nothing, like the South Sea Islanders, a condition, by the way, toward
which some portions [of tho State have a
strong tendency. Tbe mollow will and the
long seasons of ^growth, renders; cultivation almost too f:isy,for whito men atleast.
They say that people do grow lazy in
Florida, and we aro prepared to believo it.
Where the soil is rich, as is the case in
hammock land, or marsh lake regions
which abound, anything almost, tbat one
needs for food or clothing, can be grown
with the least imaginable etlort. The natural consequence is, that as the people do
not work when theygdo not have to, they
grow out of the habit of working, if they
ever had such a habit.
One of our party, of anjinquisitive and
practical turn, gave us some facts ho
learned about the prices of food and forage in the Ocala market, that will interest
Northern readers who think of going
there to live. Hay, he was told, was
worth $S0 per ton; bran the same; oats 75
cents and corn ?1 per bushel; beefsteaks
from Florida cattle 10 cents por pound,
Chicago beef 20 cents; Irish potatoes ?-,
onions the same; eggs 35 cents per dozen;
butter 35 cents per pound; wood, drj pine
tops, $10 a cord; coal $10 per ton.
We saw Bermuda grass growing iu
many yards, and it seemed to do well,
and we were told that crab grass grows to
a height of live or six feet in.fhammock
land, and makes excellent hay, henco it is
surprising that Northern bay should be
sold there, when it costs so much. We
are not surprised that Florida beef brings
only half as much as that from the North,
for it is not fattened at all. The cattle
live there on the sparse wiry grass of the
pine woods, but that is ail, they do not
fatten, nor can they give milk. We found
one northern man who managed to have
plenty of cream and butter—and no doubt
thereare many like him—by growing rjo
and millet for feed. A small patch of
pearl millet, which can be mowed several
times in a season, furnished rich feed for
his Jersey cows a good portion of the
year.
One would think that eggs and chickens could be produced cheaply and easily,
but we did not find any ono who has had
much success in this line. There is a flea
that is very injurious to poultry, and Nature does not provide sufficient food,
either animal or vegetable, for fowls. If
one goes into the chicken business, he
must grow millet, sorgum, or some other
food for them.
At Ocala, as at most other places where
we stopped, we were surprised and delighted at the magnificent oleanders, the
castor been plants—often 15 or 20 feet high
—the towering magnolias with their dark
evergreen leaves, tli3 live oaks, covered
with green moss, the roses in bloom,
honeysuckles and various kinds of shrubbery. It is a land of beauty and delight
to the Northern visitor.
THK  EXCURSION.
We left Ocala,six carloads of us, on Mon
day morning the 8th, by the Silver
Springs, Ocala & G ulf railroad, for a visit
to the Dunellen phosphate beds already
referred to, and Uoinosassa, on the Gulf.
A heavy shower was falling when we
started, but the sun i-ame out in a short
time, and we had pleasant weather the remainder of tlio week. At the second station out, Martel, three barrels of fine,
large oranges were put aboard the train,
and colored servants were busy the rest of
the day distributing them, free to all,
through the train. From this timo forward, we never had to buy nor even ask
for the delicious fruit. It was heaped into
our laps. We had more than we could
eat. Tlie oranges given us, wero tho largo
varieties, such as we seldom buy in our
Northern fruit stands, aud pay double
price for when wc do.|
liesides the phosphate bods, we stopped
at Blue Springs, ani Crystal river as well
as Uoinosassa. A spring in Florida is not
the little rivulot that goe3 by thut name
here. It is a deep, rushing river, often
large enough to float a steamboat, as is tbe
"case at Silver Springs, six miles east of
Ocala, whieh we viHittd one afternoon
during tho previous week. Wo should
like to describe tlie last named river, for it
is nothing less from the very start, but it
is beyond onr power to give an adequate
idea of it to thoso who havo nover seen
A FLORIDA Bl'RINU.
Tho water comes boiling up through tho
white sand, 50 or <>0 feot below its surface,
so clear tbat a silver quarter could be
easily seen at tho bottom. It Hows with a
rapid current, through a doep, narrow,
choked channel, between cypress and palmetto trees, a distance of soven or eight
miles Into the Ocklawaha river. Wo wont
down tho stream some four miles, on a
little, narrow steamboat, to a large orange
grove, where wo took lunch and helped
ourselves to oranges.
At Crystal river we were met by tbe hospitable people o. the plaee and vicinity, and
conducted to a hall where a bountiful
lunch had beon provided at short notice.
At this place is a saw mill where cedar
logs are cut up into thin slabs for making
into pencils. This mill and one at Codar
Keys, near by, furnish most of the cedar
for the pencils of the whole United States.
The littlo slabs are shipped north in small
boxes to the Faber, Dixon and othor pencil manufactories, to be filled with leads
and polished. Ilomosassa is near the gulf
and is an attactive resort for hunters and
fishermen, as there aro deer, turkey* and
other gams in the woods, and an abundance of fish, both large and small, in the
river. A shark was once hooked from
a window of the hotel. On an island just
below is a fine old orange grove, from
which several sacks full were brought to
regale our party on their return  to Ocala.
Further notes of the trip must be reserved till next number.
the credit would all belong; if they were
not successful then let him bear theblame.
If a two day's Institute is to be hold in
every county in the State annually, between the lirst day of November and the
1st day of March, it will take an energetic,
persistent worker to-lo it, and he will want
to be left to exercise bis own free will and
best judgment in the matter. Some have
suggested that the Governor be given the
power to appoint a superintendent, but
this would givo a political llavor to the
project, and the appointee might find himself laboring under disadvantages which it
would be Impossible for him to overcome,
no matter how he might conduct himself,
anil he would in many instances find it a
stumbling block in his earnest efforts to
discharge his duties earnestly and faithfully. At somo of the county Institutes held
undor tho lirst appropriation, resolutions
were adopted asking lhat $10,000 be appropriated annually for tho purpose of defraying expousos of Institutes. Half this
amount, wo think, would be amply sufficient for the purpose. One salaried man
is all that is necessary to conduct successful Institutes. W. W.Stkvkns.
Salem.
Appropriation for Farmers' Institutes.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Our Legislature will be asked again this
winter to make an annual appropriation
for the purpose of holding Farmors' Institutes in every county in the State, and in
all probability this request will be granted,
as under the provisions of the last general
assembly very successful farmers' meet! ngs
have been held in most parts of tho State.
We would suggest when anotherappropri-
ation is made that the power of appointing
a superintendent of Institutes bo vested in
the State Board of Agriculture. That is,
or ought to be at least, a body of representative farmers, with the farmers' best interests at heart. They of right ought to
know best what kind of material a man
should bo composed of to make him eligible and qualified for the place, and once
appointed the whole responsibility of conducting Institutes successfully should rest
upon the superintendent's shoulders. If he
conducted them successfully then to him
The Big Four Beef Trust.
Kditors Indiana Farmer:
Waaler's letter in the Farmkr, of the
20th, hliould arouse all truo patriots and
farmers to at onco redouble their ell'orts to
thwart tho giant of monopoly as so boldly
proclaimed by Nelson Morris of Big Four
(de)famc(atlon). When four men are allowed to control so important a trallic for
millions of people, as the beef and pork
trado is to tho people of this country, it is
only a question of time whon tho peoplo
will bo subject to greater tyranny than
ever befell the humble classes of tho most
despotic sovereign. But read further on,
and it is only what lias boen repeated
many times boforo, what is being dono
daily by tho board of trado by a single in-
dlvidal. Tho plan of those grand robbers
has beon perfected and legalized by legislators, so that it becomes an easy matter
to carrj* ou this infamous trallic without
fear or convkt;on. Tho talk of a probable
war in competition for buying live stock
by establishing new plants, is only so
much taffy thrown out, just at this time,
to calm the ever confiding producer. It
will never como to pais, without an array
of forces from the army of producers and
consumers, compelling them to {competition. The selling of a fow carload lots of
prime beeves at extra prices, is not because
they are obliged to pay it, but as a matter
of policy, to bo blowed up by every paper
tho land. There is no grading of slaughtered beet in a retail way to correspond
with the prices paid on foot. Tho oldest
man living, never witnessed the inequalities existing at the present time, between
corn and hogs, bred and fed for market as
they are being shipped daily, i. e. 50 cent
corn and three cent hogs. There is but
one market, Btrictly speaking, for all figures aro made in the ollices of the Big
Four by the Lake. Fifteen years ago,
there was a market, in a score or more of
towns in Central Indiana, that slaughtered
their tens of thousands of head oach winter. . Now all aro transported to less than
a half dozen points in tho great valloy
wost of the Alleghanies. O for a spark of
the fire that existed in the Boston Tea
Party of 1775! M.
An Error Corrected.
Editors Indiana Farmpr:
Through an error the circular issued by
Purdue University gives my address as
Middletown, Ind., when it should have
been Morristown. By kindly inserting
this correction in your columns your will
confer a favor upon the postmaster at Middletown as well as the undersigned.
Dr. C. A. Kown'son.
Morristown, Dec. 10.