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THE I^I^>5IMMEE 
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 SOUTHERN- COLONIZATION 
 C O M P >I ivj Y 
 
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Copyriglit 1910 by Southern Colonization Company. 
 
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 issimmeeirairie 
 
 ITS RELATION TO THE REVERSAL OF THE DIKECTIOH 
 OF MICKATIOri AND THE FOOD SHORTAGE 
 
 I 
 
 T is perhaps fortunate for America — certainly 
 it is fortunate for the present generation — 
 that the development of the South has been 
 held back so long. Had not the slave system, 
 the Civil war, and the mistakes of reconstruc- 
 tion discouraged immigration, investment 
 and development, the South, with its mild cli- 
 mate, its fertile soils and its abundance and 
 variety of agricultural production, would have been so alluring 
 that the subsequent settlement of the colder North would have 
 been very difficult. But, as it was, the stream of settlement 
 flowed North and West, with the result that that portion of our 
 great republic in which nature is the sternest and the conditions 
 of living the hardest, has become densely settled while the 
 South still has vast areas of unsettled lands, and nat- 
 ural resources that have been little more than touched. The Day of 
 The prejudice born of habit has been so strong hereto- the South 
 fore that half a million American citizens have migrated 
 to Canada within the last fifteen years, and have in many in- 
 stances paid more for land than they could have acquired good 
 land for in the southern states. 
 
 But now the times have changed. The South's time 
 has come. The historic routes of migration have been 
 changed and even reversed. The south-bound trains these 
 days are filled with northern and western people going 
 
Public Sc'hool Building^, Kissinunee. 
 
 South to buy land and make investments and till the soil. The 
 1909 school census of Texas indicates that that state now has 
 6,000,000 people, a gain of 2,500,000 in a decade. Northern peo- 
 ple have been pouring into that imperial state at the rate of 200,- 
 000 a year. And now the tide of immigration is revivifying the 
 old South. On every side there are signs that since the southern 
 white people are again in thorough mastery in their own home, 
 there is about to set in for the Southland such an era of prosper- 
 ity as no other section of America has ever experienced. This 
 
 reign of prosperity has come with a rush and an enipha- 
 I ne oouln sis that were not known in the West, because the West 
 Is Ready was a new country. It was without capital, and it had 
 
 everything to provide that goes to make up the economic 
 basis of civilization. In the South, however, the main work, the 
 foundations of prosperity, have been accomplished these many 
 years. The railways are built, the steamship lines are there, 
 great market towns exist, there is already a large population, 
 commerce and finance are thoroughly organized. There is re- 
 quired only the presence and activity of more people to utilize 
 to their limit the business machines and organizations already 
 at hand. It took the West three decades to get ready to get 
 rich. The South is now ready to get rich, and there remains 
 only the turning out of wealth, the minting of the gold as it 
 were. In this last phase there is an abundant opportunity for 
 men of the North. Having wrested wealth from the inhospita- 
 
Osceiila County Court House. Kissiniinee. 
 
 ble North, they now have an opportunity, ready-made, to repeat 
 their successes in the genial South. 
 
 The farmers of the South have just put into their pockets 
 the proceeds of a billion-dollar cotton crop. The southern 
 lumbermen produced $440,000,000 worth of lumber in 1909, 
 the southern mines produced $358,000,000; altogether the 
 southern farms yielded up $2,550,000,000. The South has 
 now invested in manufactures $2,214,000,000, and its national 
 banks alone have individual deposits aggregating $700,000,000. 
 With all this accumulated wealth there are untold latent re- 
 sources waiting to be turned into consumable wealth. Only 
 two-fifths of the tillable land of the South is now under the 
 plow. 
 
 Of all the old southern states, no other state has Plorida is in 
 gotten so well started in the new era of development as j_J^g Van 
 Florida. A number of circumstances have united to 
 attract northern men and northern capital to this great state. 
 In the first place, it was sparsely settled, it has even now 
 only 750,000 people, though it is the second largest state east 
 of the Mississippi River; in the second place its delightful 
 climate has long made it a national resort and playground, 
 and has thus given the state wide advertisement; in the third 
 place, the large amount of railway building in recent years 
 and its strategic location with respect to external and internal 
 water transportation and its proximity to the Panama Canal 
 
Egg Plants, O'Bery Kancli. Kissimmee. 
 
 have deeply impressed the northern investor. The State of 
 Florida has all the advantages over the North that other south- 
 ern states have and some that none of them have. Generally 
 speaking, Florida can raise everything that is raised in the 
 North and much that cannot be raised there. 
 
 Success in 
 Florida 
 
 Clark Howell, the famous editor of the Atlanta 
 Constitution, says: "The man does not live today who, 
 if energetic, capable and honest, cannot make a suc- 
 cess in the South, and there are more fortunes to be made 
 here than in any other part of the continent." This is more 
 true of the State of Florida than of any other southern state, 
 for there, in addition to its superior advantages, the way has 
 been blazed. The man who takes up life in Florida today needs 
 make no experiment. The experimentation has been done by 
 others — by people from the North. All he needs to do is to 
 follow in their footsteps, do what they have done and profit 
 by their example. Nature is so kind and so fruitful in Florida 
 that it has been too easy to make a living there. In general, 
 fortunes are made by those who have acquired invaluable 
 training in making a living. It has been so easy to make a 
 living in Florida that the natives in the rural districts, lack- 
 ing stimulus, have not made fortunes. But the man reared 
 under other conditions desires more than a mere living. He 
 wants to Hxtrart tho utmost comfort and luxury and the 
 
Our Automobiles on the Prairie. 
 
 highest possible standard of living from the favorable condi- 
 tions provided by nature. Another thing that has held back 
 the development of this fortunate state until recent times is 
 the fact that most of the land opened up by railway and water 
 transportation has been covered with timber, and the labor 
 and expense necessary to prepare it for cultivation have been 
 an impediment to rapid development of large areas. 
 
 In central Florida there are great stretches of the j^^ Florida 
 finest prairie in the world. These Florida prairies Prairies 
 combine the ease of cultivation of the Northwestern 
 prairie with an incomparable climate. Imagine the Red River 
 Valley of the North with the climate of Florida! Iniagine the 
 plains of Alberta with a climate that permits three or four crops 
 a year from the same land! Consider the astounding develop- 
 ment that has come to those northern prairies in recent years 
 with their hard climate, their remoteness from the sea-board, 
 their single crop a year, and then calculate what is coming to 
 Florida with its favorable climate, its perpetual crops, its 
 nearness to markets and its cheap water transportation to the 
 great population centers of the South and East. And then, 
 realize that land — prairie land, fertile land — can be bought on 
 these southern plains for far less money than on the northern 
 plains. 
 
On the Kissimmee at Turkey Hammock. 
 
 Kissimmee '^^^ most extensive and best of the Florida 
 
 The Beautiful P^'^iries is the great prairie of the Kissimmee Valley, 
 commonly known as the Kissimmee Prairie, which lies 
 ou either side of the Kissimmee River in Osceola, De Soto and 
 Polk counties This prairie is clad in a rich growth of grass, 
 green the year around, with here and there a clump of trees to 
 give variety to the scene and with enough slope to give good 
 drainage. Being remote from rapid and reliable transportation 
 and being dependent on teams or slow river boats for freight- 
 ing, there has hitherto been no incentive to capital to exploit 
 this great valley. But now two railway extensions are to 
 be pushed into it, and a complete transformation is at hand, 
 from a great almost uninhabited prairie wilderness to a dis- 
 trict of dense population and cultivation. Perceiving the flow 
 of capital and population toward Florida, the organizers of the 
 Southern Colonization Company — men with wide and varied 
 experience in land development and colonization in Minnesota. 
 North Dakota, Montana, Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan — 
 went to Florida with a view to ascertaining whether there was 
 in that great state an available tract of smooth prairie. What 
 they wanted was the contour of the northern prairie land, with 
 which they were familiar — land ready for the plow. Great was 
 their satisfaction when their automobiles rolled out from the 
 pine forest on the north onto the wide, green prairie of the Kis- 
 simmee. Here was what they wanted — the land of the North, 
 
street in Kissimmee with Live Oaks. 
 
 the climate of tlae South. Their next step was to take up the 
 transportation problem. Having assured themselves that at 
 least one railway would be built through the district as soon 
 as it was needed, they purchased practically the whole prairie, 
 odd and even sections, solid. 
 
 Tills purchase of nearly 500,000 acres has been the A History- 
 gi-eat commercial event of the year in Florida. The Making Event 
 people there realize what it means to the development 
 of tlie state to have a body of practical, northei-n men of long 
 experience, get behind so large a tract. The purchase means 
 that Florida will now have what it has never had before — the 
 systematic marketing of an immense tract of first-class land by 
 a high-grade company. There has been need of the handling of 
 large tracts by a big company of reliability and standing. It is 
 now possible for syndicates and local companies to buy tracts of 
 any size, subdivide it among tliemselves or retail it, as they 
 please. The 10-acre lot business is praiseworthy, but there was a 
 demand for a company actively engaged in selling large i>ieces of 
 its own land. Tliere are many different companies engaged in 
 selling small lots, but the man who wanted to buy a quarter 
 section, a section, or 5,000 to 10,000 acres did not know where 
 to go. He had to go and hunt up the owners and then dicker. 
 The Southern Colonization Company comes to siuli men. It is 
 its business to find them. 
 
"*' j^w 
 
 
 A laiileman — A "Hammock" In tlie Background. 
 
 PC A trip to examine this beautiful prairie tract — 
 
 r rom onow 
 
 , \/ J from the cold North to the warm South, from snow to 
 
 to Veraure 
 
 verdure — is nothing less than a delightful outing. 
 
 Leaving Chicago at night on one of the luxurious and com- 
 fortable through trains, Jacksonville, the metropolis of Florida, 
 is reached thirty-four hours later. It is worth while to spend 
 a day in Jacksonville in order to get an understanding of the 
 new commercial South. It is a city of fine hotels, towering 
 office buildings; modern, well-stocked stores, and manifold 
 business activities. However, within two hours after reach- 
 ing Jacksonville, a comfortable train can be taken over the 
 Atlantic Coast Line railway to Kissimmee, which will bring 
 the traveler to the latter place by the middle of the afternoon. 
 The train runs through the towering pine forests, the trees of 
 which are everywhere tapped for turpentine, through orange 
 and grape fruit groves, through neat, carefully tilled truck- 
 gardens, by beautiful lakes; past cypress swamps and groves 
 of live-oak, draped with Spanish moss; by pretty villages and 
 lively cities, past the picturesque outside-chininey shacks of 
 the natives, and comes to the beautiful little grove-embowered 
 City of Kissimmee on the shores of the beautiful lake of 
 Tohopekaliga. Our automobiles will be waiting to take the 
 traveler for a drive around this little city of 4,000 and a tour 
 of the surrounding country, giving him an opportunity to visit 
 innumerable citrus groves and truck-farms. He will be amazed 
 
Lake Tohopekaliga. 
 
 at the excellence of the roads, surfaced with marl and as 
 smooth as asphalt. These Klssimmee people are great believers 
 in good roads and are spending $1,500 to $1,800 a mile on 
 their roads, roads over which one horse can pull an incredibly 
 large load. Several thriving northern colonies are established 
 near Kissimmee. At St. Cloud, ten miles east 2,000 people have 
 settled within eighteen months. Every train brings its quota 
 of permanent residents. 
 
 After a comfortable night's rest the traveler finds By Auto to 
 the automobile waiting for him again, and he is the Land 
 off through the stately pine forest, southeast to Kis- 
 simmee Prairie. The built roads soon end, but the natural 
 roads are good, and the auto goes humming in and out through 
 the trees, through which the glorious sunlight streams, light- 
 ing up the openings and casting deep shadows across the road. 
 Everywhere in the woods, which are almost entirely free from 
 undergrowth, graze cattle and sheep, and now and then a graz- 
 ing sow, half-wild, scurries across the trail with her squealing 
 brood. Perhaps a glimpse may be caught of a herd of deer or 
 now and then a wild turkey. Birds, some familiar, some strange, 
 flit from tree to tree and startled rabbits dodge in and out of 
 the clumps of scrub palmetto. Three hours after leaving 
 Kissimmee the forest thins out and then ceases. 
 
 There to the south lies the prairie, grass-clad and as 
 uniform of surface as any prairie of the North or West I 
 
on llie Road to the Prairie. 
 
 1 he F ar-F lung After the somber forest, the broad-stretching prai- 
 
 Frairie rie flooded with sunlight, the grass swaying in the 
 
 breezes, the fleecy clouds drifting lazily, a palm ■ham- 
 mock" in the distance, great winged cranes and herons flapping 
 lazily overhead, seems a very Elysium. A few miles back the 
 settlers were burning or pulling out stumps, jerking great trees 
 out of the ground, raking and burning to clear the land, but 
 here, except for an occasional tuft of palmetto scrub, the land is 
 ready for the plow. Back there in the forest it costs 525 to $5u 
 an acre to clear the ground; here the work has been done by 
 forest fires which centuries ago cleared the land, and since then 
 annual prairie fires have kept out the timber. There are sev- 
 eral varieties of wild grass on the prairie, which make excel- 
 lent feed on the root when green and can be cured for hay. 
 Wherever the ground is plowed and left to itself this grass 
 springs up in remarkable luxuriance and abundance. It is 
 worth $15 to $20 per ton as hay at the railway points. Here 
 and there, giving a little touch of picturesqueness to the level 
 prairie, are little clumps of palmetto shrub, standing from one 
 to three feet high, and now and then a grove of palms. 
 
 Seeing the Being now on this grand prairie, the chauffeur 
 
 Great Prairie gives the machine full speed ahead; and with nothing 
 
 but a trail for most of the way, the car rushes straight 
 
 south at a speed of twenty miles on hour, arriving within an 
 
ii II ' '" 
 
 cloud Water, Abundant Forage, Fat Cattle. 
 
 hour at the Company's inspection camp in the heart of the 
 prairie where good food and comfortable beds invite him to 
 tarry and rest. Everywhere on the prairie are grazing cattle, 
 cattle that never have any attention beyond branding, which 
 usually consists of grotesque ear-clipping, and are made ready 
 for the market at a cost of a dollar or two a head. Occasion- 
 allv a drove of hogs may be seen wildly scampering for shelter. 
 
 The rest of the day and, perhaps the next may be yj^^ Gamp in 
 devoted to a more minute examination of the land, ^^ Prairie 
 and possibly, to a swing through that portion of the 
 prairie lying west of the Kissimmee River. At the ferry, the 
 traveler may chance to meet the steamer Roseada, Capt. John- 
 son, busily engaged in distributing and collecting" freight. 
 Certainly during the day the landseeker will come to the home 
 of Julian Montsdioca, at Turkey Hammock on the east bank of 
 the Kissimmee River, who is superintendent for the Lee-Par- 
 sons Cattle Company. Julian usually has fresh venison on 
 hand, and blessed is the traveler who is invited to partake of a 
 meal with him and his family. He has a splendid grove of 
 oranges and grape fruit and verily believes that nowhere else 
 is there such country as the Kissimmee Prairie. The tour of 
 examination may take the land-seeker to the village of Bassen- 
 ger in the southern part of the prairie. Here he will find 
 oranges, grape fruit and gardens, though the distance from 
 
Sunrise on the Kissiinmee. 
 
 markets has discouraged large plantations on fields. Having 
 completed the inspection of the prairie, the tourist may return 
 to Kissimmee by the same or another route. 
 
 The Virgin Soil The soil of the prairie is generally a sandy loam, 
 which can be easily broken and plowed, and even with- 
 out humus or fertilizer will produce bountifully. Somewhat 
 light colored beneath the surface, it soon becomes black again, 
 and is underlaid with clay. Here and there, in the timber and on 
 the prairies, are what are called hammocks. The word '"ham- 
 mock" is supposed to be derived from the Indian, and is said to 
 signify "where hard wood grows." These hammocks are usu- 
 ally surrounded with a belt of hard wood, and sometimes there 
 are sloughs or ponds around them. The top-soil in them is a 
 little heavier than on the prairie proper. Along the lakes, riv- 
 ers and sloughs another quality of soil, characterized by a large 
 amount of decayed vegetable matter, is found. This sort of 
 land, when properly drained, is especially adapted to truck- 
 farming. 
 
 At one time the Florida prairies were doubtless under wa- 
 ter, and, to quote the words of the Florida Department of Agri- 
 culture (Quarterly Bulletin, July, 1909), "approximate in char- 
 acter, texture of soil and period and mode of formation to the 
 swamp lands, differing only in being practically destitute of 
 
Fat Cattle in the Branding Corral. 
 
 timber." The same bulletin describes the swamp lands as "un- 
 questionably the most durable rich lands in the state." The 
 prairie is simply land that was formerly swamp, but which, 
 through some geological change, has been provided with nat- 
 ural drainage. It has the richness of the swamp land without 
 its drawbacks. The prairie soil throughout is mixed with "more 
 or less clay, lime and organic matter." The lime is derived 
 from the remains of myriad forms of marine life laid down 
 through the geological ages. The soil is perfectly suited to the 
 climate. In the moist climate of Florida a heavy clay top-soil 
 would be practically worthless. The soil that nature has pro- 
 vided is exactly suited to the environment. It is easily drained 
 and yet it can easily be so handled as to retain moisture. It is 
 friable and makes a perfect seed bed. 
 
 All who live on the prairie testify to the excel- Mild, Equable 
 lence of its climate. It never gets so hot in the sum- Climate 
 mer as on the northern prairies and rarely, if ever, 
 does the temperature get below the frost point in winter. 
 The heat of the summer is tempered by balmy breezes. It is 
 always comfortable in the shade, and the night almost 
 invariably calls for warm covering for comfortable sleep. The 
 husky, well-nourished, healthy looking people of the prairie 
 attest the salubrity of the climate. The average elevation of 
 the land is about 50 feet above the sea-level. According to the 
 
IN THE BEAUTIFUL ANE 
 
 Tveward of a Day's Angling on tlie Kissininice. 
 Young Grape Fruit Tree, O'Bery Farm, 52 Fruits. 
 Shaker Colony "Pinery" — IS-tlj. Pineapple in Foreground. 
 Graystone Hotel, Kissimniee. 
 
 Pecan Tree in Foreground, Bananas to Riglit, Oranges to 
 I.,eft, and Truck Between. 
 
FRUITFUL KISSIMMEE VALLEY 
 
 6. Pine Forest Korlh of llie Prairie. 
 
 7. Celery Plantation — ?2.000 the Acre. 
 S. A Little Lake. 
 
 9. Grape Hammock, Kissimmee River. 
 
 10. A Critical Kxamination of the Prairie. 
 
Flowing Artesian Well, O'Bery Farm. 
 
 report of the Commissioner of Agriculture of Florida for the 
 year 1907, there was no killing frost during the whole year in 
 this district; the highest temperature was 98, the lowest 40 
 and the mean annual temperature 73.7. The rainfall was 
 47.20 inches, the greatest monthly precipitation being 9.43 
 inches in June and the least, .24 inches, in March. There were 
 180 clear days, 141 partly cloudy days and 4 4 cloudy days. 
 
 The State of Florida has a lower death rate than any 
 other state in the Union. The climate favors an out-door life, 
 which is always promotive of health. Notwithstanding the 
 state's southern location, flies, mosquitoes and insects generally 
 are not so numerous or bothersome as in the northern states. 
 
 Perpetual ^^ *^'^ climate the careful, thoughtful farmer 
 
 Harvest keeps his ground producing all the year around, taking 
 
 off from one to four crops. Every month is a growing 
 month. This enables the Florida farmer to "aim" his crops 
 to mature at times when the market is barest of what he pro- 
 duces. He may alternate crops with a view to proper rotation, 
 or he may bring on the same kind of crops. He may plant 
 Irish potatoes in the winter, and then when they are dug, plant 
 sweet potatoes. Or he may plant Irish potatoes again in 
 September and October and harvest them in December and 
 January. In January the truck farms are green with lettuce 
 and celery and other young crops. Strawberries come on in 
 
Kissimmee Truck Garden and Orchard. 
 
 December and continue until March and April. Oranges may 
 be gathered from November till June; grape fruit from Novem- 
 ber till February; lemons in June and July; kumquats from 
 December to February; plums in February; mulberries in 
 March and April; bananas in April; dewberries and peaches in 
 May, June and July; blueberries in June; watermelons and 
 cantaloupes in June and July; grapes, figs and guavas in July, 
 August, and September; Japanese persimmons in September 
 and October. Among the crops not mentioned above are 
 asparagus, egg plant, tomatoes, cucumbers, peanuts, onions, 
 peppers, corn, Kaffir corn, oats, sugar cane, cassava, rice, 
 velvet beans, peas, beets, squash, cow-peas, string beans, cauli- 
 flower, pineapples, avocadas, pecans, and a number of grasses, 
 native and imported. 
 
 With all these fruits and crops at his disposal, 
 many of which can be matured at any required time 
 in the year, the Florida farmer has no trouble in keep- 
 ing himself and his land busy. Of course, if he did not liber- 
 ally resort to fertilizers his land could not stand such treat- 
 ment. The up-to-date intensive farmer believes in using 
 fertilizer in large quantities and making his land produce to the 
 limit. If he were raising small or less valuable crops, he 
 could not do this. As a rule, the fruit trees, even on the 
 richest soil, require the application of a certain amount of fer- 
 tilizer to get the best results. The fates have been kind to 
 
 High Pressure 
 Farming 
 
Florida, lor they have endowed it with immense phosphate 
 beds, from which are dug an important component element of 
 the fertilizers that are used to force her crops and reinforce 
 her soil. Practically every sort of fruit or crop named above 
 is or can be raised on the Kissimmee prairie. 
 
 Returns per ^'^^ Kissimmee Prairie is chiefly in Osceola and 
 
 y^cre ^^ Soto counties. The report of the State Commissioner 
 
 of Agriculture for the year 1907-8 gives data for the 
 
 following figures as to yield and value of the crops specified, 
 
 in one or the other of the counties: 
 
 Yield Value 
 
 Product. Per Acre. Per Acre. 
 
 Rice . 30 bushels $ -15.00 
 
 Oats .. 40 bushels -10.00 
 
 Sweet Putaloes 90 bushels 47.20 
 
 Velvet Beans . . I'O bushels 37.00 
 
 Millet - tons -10.00 
 
 Native Hay 1 % tons 30.00 
 
 Field Pea Hay 2 tons 36.00 
 
 Field Peas 15 bushels 22.50 
 
 Irish Potatoes 127 bushels 137.00 
 
 Cantaloupes 80 crates 320.00 
 
 Watermelons 125.00 
 
 Grape Fruit 240 boxes 480.00 
 
 Beets 200 crates 400.00 
 
 Cantaloupes 125 crates 150.00 
 
 Peppers... 100 crates 200.00 
 
 Squash 100 crates 100.00 
 
 Strawberries... ...2.000 quarts 280.00 
 
 Pears ... 136- barrels 430.00 
 
Kissimmee Sugar Cane Plantation. 
 
 The foregoing figures are actual averages made from the 
 entire cultivated area of one or tlie other of the counties, wliich 
 mil be greatly exceeded by tlie best farmers. For example, as 
 high as 800 bushels of sweet potatoes and 400 bushels of Irish 
 potatoes may be raised to an acre. 
 
 As yet but little intensive farming has been done 
 in the Kissimmee Valley, but speaking in a general 
 way, the following figures for a few products give an 
 idea of the returns from intensive farming: 
 
 Value 
 Per Acre 
 S 954.00 
 1,925.00 
 514.00 
 437.00 
 331.00 
 
 Product. 
 Lettuce . . 
 Celery .... 
 Cucumbers ... 
 English Peas . . 
 Beans 
 
 In consideriu 
 
 Intensive 
 Farming 
 
 Approximate 
 
 Cost Per Acre 
 
 $150.00 
 
 $200.00 to 500.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 200.00 
 
 50.00 
 
 crop yields and returns it should be 
 remembered that from one to four crops can be raised on the 
 same land eacli year. Field crops can follow vegetable crops, 
 and two vegetable crops can be made each year. 
 
 Oranges well cared for, should yield an average of $500 
 per acre, but there are so many old, neglected groves, that 
 the official statistics, which include every bearing tree, do not 
 make a favorable showing. . Almost every farmer has a few 
 
Shandibfrger Banana Pluniaiion. 
 
 orange trees, and usually the field-crop farmer does not pay much 
 attention to trees. The corn statistics show a rather small yield 
 to the acre, though 7 5 bushels may be raised, and it is worth 
 $1.00 a bushel. But practically all the corn is now raised under 
 slovenly methods, without cultivation or fertilization. 
 
 Water Supply Throughout the Kissimmee Valley, good drinking 
 
 and Drainage '^^'^tG'' ™^y t)e obtained by wells fifteen to thirty feet 
 deep. Artesian wells strike good flows at from one 
 hundred to five hundred feet. The fall of the prairie is suffi- 
 cient for good drainage, and there is no place on it that a little 
 ditching will not relieve of surplus water. On the other hand 
 the nature of the soil and sub-soil is such that even in the 
 dryest seasons sufficient moisture will be present for the growth 
 and maturing of crops. The dense growth of heavy grass 
 throughout the prairie shows that even untilled land retains an 
 abundance of moisture at all times. 
 
 Poult 
 
 ry 
 
 The climatic conditions in Florida are very favor- 
 able to poultry raising. One northern settler who 
 came to Florida five years ago now has 3,000 chickens and 
 realizes $13,500 annually from eggs. 
 
 Game and Fish The Kissimmee Prairie has many attractions for the 
 
 man who loves outdoor sport. Its advantages for 
 
 automobiles and outdoor games generally are obvious. In the 
 
 hammocks and even on the open iorairies dppr rniail ;in.i wih] 
 
/ 
 
 LlMitt 
 
 U. S. Dredge "Kisslmmee." 
 
 turkej' abound. Just east of the prairie is a tract of 104,000 
 acres in whicli thie owner does not hunt or permit hunting by 
 others. Here the wild turkey, deer and other game multiply 
 and their overflow restocks the surrounding country. The 
 lakes and rivers afford the best of fishing. It is but a short 
 trip to either sea coast with their world-famous hotels and 
 resorts. A visit to them is most exhilarating. In the winter 
 season the wealth and beauty of America may there be seen. 
 Train after train of solid Pullman coaches rolls down from 
 the north, bringing health- and pleasure-seekers, fleeing from 
 the wintry blasts of the north country. They may not find the 
 fountain of eternal youth, searching for which four centuries 
 ago hither came Ponce de Leon, but they do find a new lease of 
 life and a new joy of living. 
 
 Florida is now covered with a network of admir- TransDortation 
 able railway systems. Kissimmee is on the main line 
 of the Atlantic Coast Railway between Jacksonville and Tampa 
 and enjoys a passenger service of three trains a day each way, 
 and excellent miscellaneous and fruit-express service. The 
 Kissimmee Prairie is at the present without a railway — and 
 that is the sole reason that it has waited till now for develop- 
 ment. Forty miles is not a great distance for an automobile, 
 but it is too far for wagon transportation, and the service 
 rendered by the river steamers has been too irregular and 
 leisurely to provide the sort of transportation that is required 
 
 23 
 
Scene in a Kissinimee Rice Field. 
 
 for settlement and commerce. Now, however, a railway is 
 assured, and by the time those who now purchase the land are 
 ready to develop their selections railway service will be pro- 
 vided. The coming of the railway, which is to be built south 
 from St. Cloud junction, as shown on the accompanying map. 
 will of itself double and treble the value and the price of this 
 prairie land. Hence the present lack of transportation is for- 
 tunate for the man who invests now. Another line of railway is 
 to be built from Haines City southeast, and will afford access to 
 that part of the prairie that lies west of the Kissimmee river. 
 The right-of-way for this extension has already been obtained. 
 The United States government is now making a survey of the 
 Kissimmee River, and the government will soon spend $oOO,- 
 000 improving the channel. So, in the future, the river will 
 be used much more than now, especially for heavy time- 
 freight. At present it is the means of transportation for prac- 
 tically all of the supplies brought to the prairie and for all of 
 its products that are shipped out. 
 
 Fine Wagon Osct'ola County is planning to extend its splendid 
 
 Roads system of wagon roads to the prairie. These roads are 
 
 surfaced with a sort of marl, deposits of which are to 
 
 be found at several places. When such a road is built from 
 
 Kissimmee to the prairie, two hours will easily suffice for the 
 
 trip in an automobile. 
 
Home of a New Settler. 
 
 The Lee-Parsons Cattle Company has marketed a Qf-ggt Future 
 thousands of head of fat cattle from the Kissimmee 
 Prairie, and Mr. J. M. Lee, the active manager of the Com- 
 pany, has had extensive experience in general farming and 
 citrus fruit culture, his grove at Southport, near Kissimmee, 
 being the largest orange grove in that part of the state. Mr. 
 Lee does not hestiate to say that with transportation facilities 
 the Kissimmee Prairie will have a great future. He is a great 
 believer in diversified farming. "The man," he says, "who 
 takes 160 acres of that prairie and handles it right will soon 
 be on the high road to prosperity; Raising forage crops and 
 feeding his cattle instead of leaving them to shift for them- 
 selves, he can easily take care of fifty head. We don't claim 
 that Florida is a corn state, but we have raised seventy-five 
 bushels to the acre on our place, and with the right sort of 
 cultivation, it should be easy to produce good corn crops every 
 year. Then the Kissimmee Prairie farmer should keep some 
 hogs, and some chickens. Add to his livestock and corn, hay 
 and other forage crops, a few acres of oranges and grape fruit, 
 and some truck farming, and you will have a combination that 
 can never be beaten by any turn of the weather or the markets. 
 The drainage problem is easily solved on this prairie, the land 
 having a good fall; and water for domestic and irrigation pur- 
 poses can be easily and inexpensively obtained. I haven't pre- 
 tended to enumerate the products that may be raised on the 
 prairie. I have just sketched some of its possibilities." 
 
Perfe<_t Orange Grovf Near Kissiinmee. 
 
 "No Better ^^ Whittier, a little settlement two miles north 
 
 Country in the °^ ^^^ prairie, there are many farmers, and they all 
 World" agree that for oranges, grape fruit, pineapples, 
 
 potatoes, vegetables of all sorts, corn, sugar cane, etc., 
 there is no better country in the world. Mr. Williams, who 
 conducts a store and is the Whittier postmaster, is especially 
 enthusiastic over cane raising. He gets from ten to fifteen 
 barrels of syrup from sugar cane and each barrel is worth at 
 least $12. "We haven't done much in this country outside of 
 cattle raising," he says, "but that is because we have had no 
 market, being without a railway. But we have done enough 
 to show that anything you would think of raising in Florida 
 can be raised here with the greatest success. Our people are 
 fond of taking it easy, but any man who has the ambition to 
 make more than a living, can do it here with very little effort. 
 The other kind can make a living without any effort. No man 
 needs to starve in Florida. Most of us are content with plenty 
 to eat and a shelter, but for the ambitious there are riches in 
 store throughout the Kissimmee Valley. The climate is 
 pleasant and healthy. I came here from Tennessee and I 
 much prefer this climate to that of Tennessee." 
 
 Ni/ii- _ At Bassenger near the southern edge of the prairie, 
 
 o Killing . , . , , . , , 
 
 ttr " there IS another considerable settlement, where the gar- 
 
 r reeze 
 
 dens and the groves bear ample testimony to the 
 
 adaptation of the locality in soil and climatf '<> ].i;ui icnilv all 
 
 20 
 
'^m- 
 
 Tomatoes and Peaches — A Sweet Corn Crop Preceded Tomatoes. 
 
 the crops of Florida. The people here, though largely occupied 
 with cattle raising, do not hesitate to testify to the fertility 
 of the soil and its great possibilities after the prairie is opened 
 up by a railway. The same evidence is obtainable at the 
 various settlements along the river, where there are orange 
 groves and grape fruit plantations that were not affected by 
 the great freeze of 1895, which was disastrous to most of 
 Florida, thus proving that the Kissimmee Prairie is below the 
 danger line. 
 
 One of the finest small citrus groves in Florida 0»l, 
 is that conducted by Julian IMontsdioca at Turkey 
 Hammock, who uses almost no fertilizer on his trees. Mr. 
 Montsdioca is a cattle-man, but he is enthusiastic about the 
 agricultural possibilities of the Kissimmee Prairie. He has 
 made some experiments with Para grass, and has found that 
 it will produce three heavy crops a year, thus adding another 
 hay crop to the prairie's resources. 
 
 Another staunch believer in the Kissimmee Valley is 
 Capt. Johnson, who operates the steamboat line on the river. 
 He has been traveling up and down the river for years, and has 
 transported almost everything that has come into or gone 
 out of the prairie. He declares that a large part of the 
 prairie is well adapted to sugar cane culture, and expects to 
 see the day, when large amounts of sugar cane will be raised 
 in this region. 
 
 er Opinions 
 
 27 
 
J'"isliing (111 lilt' Kissimmee. 
 
 C. A. Carson, merchant and banker, of Kissimmee has 
 been long familiar with the Kissimmee Valley. He is very 
 sanguine concerning its development on diversified farming 
 lines. "Let a man locate on that prairie," he says, "with 
 anywhere from forty to a hundred and sixty acres, get cattle, 
 hogs, sheep, poultry and raise forage crops, and nothing can 
 stop his rapid progress toward wealth and prosperity." 
 
 Prices and The men who make up the Southern Colonization 
 
 Terms Company have been engaged for years in the important 
 
 work of making large tracts of land available for settlement. 
 In dozens of instances we have taken over large acreages from 
 corporations or individuals who were merely holding them 
 and have rapidly placed them in the hands of small coloniza- 
 tion and retailing companies or have retailed them directly. 
 We are content with a fair profit for our services, which are 
 as necessary in land selling and settlement, as those of the 
 wholesaler and jobber in merchandizing. We delight in open- 
 ing up an unsettled district. That's the fun of our business. 
 As in all our past enterprises of a similar nature, we plan to 
 divide the fruits of this enterprise with those who co-operate 
 with us. We purpose to retail and wholesale Kissimmee prairie 
 lands at moderate prices and reasonable terms. These will be 
 quoted on application. 
 
Hllllard Home Near Kissimmee. 
 
 We are not resorting to the auction plan of sell- "peeing tne 
 
 Seeing tht 
 Land 
 
 ing our land, and we are not donating town-lots. 
 We sell to bona fide investors and settlers, and we want 
 them to inspect the land before they buy. We are taking our 
 patrons to Florida on the regular excursion days. We are well 
 supplied with automobiles, have a comfortable camp on the 
 land and are fully prepared to make the prospective buyer's 
 trip comfortable and delightful in every respect We shall be 
 glad to give full particulars as to railway rates, routes, etc., on 
 application. We would suggest that, if you are interested, 
 you should act at once. You might as well be among the first 
 as among the last buyers, and judging by our past experience 
 the interval between first and last will not be long. The 
 largest and quickest profits are for the early buyers. 
 
 An acre in Florida will produce as much as an Investment 
 acre in the irrigated fruit districts of the West. Yet Points 
 raw land in the favored Western valleys sells as high 
 as $200 an acre and improved land — that is with orchards — at 
 from $500 to $3,000. In Florida cultivation and fertilization 
 take the place of irrigation in the West. The net profit from 
 Florida acres is as great as the net profit from California, 
 Washington or Oregon acres. Why then the difference in 
 price? Simply because the Florida people do not know what 
 they have. They haven't yet had the courage to price their 
 
lands at their intrinsic value. The time is near at hand when 
 that will be done. The conclusion is obvious. 
 
 The Prairie's The prairie has a great advantage over the rest 
 
 Advantage of Florida in the fact that, not having to be expensively 
 cleared, it is adapted to farms. The man who has to 
 spend $50 an acre clearing his land is disposed to content him- 
 self with a few acres and then make them produce to the 
 limit. In other words, he raises fruit and garden-truck exclu- 
 sively. ' But Florida lands produce great corn and forage 
 crops, and where broad acres can be obtained there is great 
 profit in diversified farming. On the Kissimmee Prairie a 
 man can buy a quarter section for about what it would cost 
 him to buy and clear twenty acres in the timber. He can have 
 his truck fields and his orchards, and he can have hay and 
 corn and other forage crops and cattle besides. He does not 
 need to put all his eggs in one basket. Whatever happens to 
 the market or to the crops, he is tolerably sure to play 
 Oattle, nogs safe. The Kissimmee Prairie man with his cattle, his 
 and oneep hogs, his sheep, his chickens, his hay and forage, his 
 corn, his truck-gardens and his orange and grape-fruit 
 groves is independent. Some men do not care to raise truck; 
 they prefer to farm extensively. Most northern farmers have 
 been trained along the lines of cattle-raising and field-farming. 
 A farmer with such experience has a golden opportunity in 
 Florida, for most of his fellow laborers are farming intensively. 
 Florida does not pretend to be a corn state, but thirty to 
 seventy-five bushels of corn can be raised to the acre — and it 
 is worth $1.00 a bushel. If a farmer puts up more hay than his 
 own stock can consume, he can sell it for $15 to $20 a ton. 
 This last season a ranch on the Kissimmee River sold 500 bales 
 of hay at $20 the ton. Of course, it is obvious that while the 
 Kissimmee Prairie makes large farms practicable and profit- 
 able, it is just as well adapted to the man who prefers to operate 
 ten or twenty acres. 
 
 Land and the Population is outrunning food production in the 
 
 Food Crisis United States. The cost of food is becoming ruinously 
 high. Leading economic authorities predict that the 
 United States will soon cease to export food stuffs. The present 
 era of high prices is simply a demonstration that there is too 
 little production and too much consumption. We are really 
 face to face with an economic crisis. To re-establish the 
 equilibrium the number of farms must be greatly increased. The 
 food boycott is not a permanent solution of the matter of high 
 prices. The supply must be increased. To increase the supply, 
 there must be more farmers and more farms. That means a 
 great appreciation in the value of agricultural land. The 
 more productive the land the greater the increase. Florida 
 
 30 
 
Navel Oranges, Bryan Grove. 
 
 land, now ridiculously cheap, with its ability to produce two to 
 four crops a year and with its proximity to the great markets 
 (1,000 miles from New York and Chicago as against 2,500 and 
 3,500 for California) and excellent transportation facilities, rail 
 and water, will increase in value more than any other agricultural 
 land in America. In this booklet considerable space has been 
 devoted to pointing out the advantages of the Kissimmee Prairie 
 for stock raising. The present meat famine should lend special 
 emphasis to what has been said in that regard. The Florida 
 prairies are today the largest stock ranges in America east of 
 the Mississippi River, and in view of their ever-greeness and 
 freedom from destructive storms and droughts are probably the 
 best grazing land on the continent. 
 
 A few words should be written here regarding the The Men of 
 personnel of the Southern Colonization Company. It the Company 
 is composed entirely of men of high standing in the 
 business world. All of those concerned with the active 
 management are men of long experience in the buying 
 and vending of land or in colonization and the promotion 
 of immigration. They have operated for many years 
 in the lands of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and 
 Western Canada. They have never handled any but good 
 lands, and they have always acted on the theory that the 
 legitimate land business is one which is* of the highest 
 importance to the agricultural development and population of 
 
America, and that a sale of good land is a transaction alike 
 profitable to buyer and seller. In the space of fifteen years 
 they have bought and sold several millions of acres of land. 
 Mr. Frederick B. Lynch, the president of the company, has been 
 actively interested in the purchase and sale of many large tracts 
 of land in Minnesota and Canada. The companies in which he 
 has been active have been among the most successful of the 
 large northwestern land companies — companies with which 
 many who read this book are familiar. The others actively con- 
 nected with the management of the company — Mr. Nicoll 
 Halsey, vice-president; Mr. Albert J. Nason, treasurer; Mr. 
 Theodore M. Knappen, secretary — have long been associated 
 with Mr. Lynch, and are thoroughly familiar with the land 
 business. 
 
 In Review 
 
 In the foregoing, we have tried in a conser\'ative fashion 
 to give the reader some conception of the exceptional advan- 
 tages of the Kissimniee Prairie under our development plans. 
 At the risk of repetition, we would recapitulate those advan- 
 tages as follows: 
 
 First^ — Clear prairie. That means no e.xpensive clearing. 
 
 Second — A fertile soil, easily cultivat«d. 
 
 Third — Adaptability to practically every crop that can be 
 raised in Florida. 
 
 Fourtli — Tlie best all-the-year-round climat* in America 
 for comfort and Iiealth. 
 
 Fifth — Ownership of a large tract — 500,000 acres — by a 
 company of great financial strength and respon.sibility, thus 
 I>erniitting the purchaser to buy in any-size block ejisily and 
 with confKh'nce in titles and transactions. 
 
 Sixtli — I'lices so low, and terms so reasonable tliat large 
 profits are assured to the purcluiser utterly i-egardless of the 
 use or non-use of the land by him 
 
 We can say no more here. We would like to luive you do 
 the rest of the talking. If you will join one of our excursions, 
 and see the land for youi"self, we are sure you will tax your 
 vocabulary to its limits in your efforts to express your satis- 
 faction. 
 
 Southern Colonization Company 
 
 422-434 Endicott Building, - - St. Paul, Minn. 
 
 501-503 Atlantic National Bank Building, Jacksonville, Fla. 
 234-235 Monadnock Building • - • - Chicago. III. 
 719 New York Life Building, - - Kansas City, Mo. 
 
 715 Traction Terminal Building, • - Indianapolis, Ind. 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
 Fredericic B. Lynch, PrtiiJeni Nicoll Halsey, Cm President 
 
 Albert J. Nason, - Treasurer Theodore M. Knappen, Src'f. 
 
 M 
 
 i 
 
 32 
 
THE 
 
 H, W. Kl NQ8TON 
 
 COMPANY 
 
 OCAIflMIN* AMr> 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 
 

 
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