^ech'ofi RAWLINS & WILSON, CITY AND COUNTRY ] ^ Rehl EsTi^T E Bought md Sold. ^ [ 25,000 Acres of choice Hummock and Pine Lands, lying In all parts of Alachua County, for sale, Contractors and Builders of Orange Qro^es. proiiipl'fi^ ciltcnbcb Yo. Visitors to Gainesville are invited to make our office their headquarters during their stay. ' FLORIDA AND OTHER PAPERS KEPT ON FILE- L. K. Rawlins. P. F. Wilson. '^"riiv/i TH E Eden of the South, DESCRIPTIVE OF THE ORANGE GROVES, VEGETABLE FARMS, STRAWBERRY FIELDS, PEACH ORCHARDS, SOIL, CLIMATE, NATURAL PECULIARITIES, AND THE PEOPLE OF Alachua County, Florida, TOGETHER WITH OTHER VALUABLE INFORMATION FOR TOURISTS, INVALIDS, OR THOSE SEEKING A HOME IN Tine Orange Belt, Thie Lake Region, Xlne Vegetable Section, and. The Railroad Centre of Klorida. — 7-''^*%£a: By "CARL" WEBBER, Author of "Old Naumkrag," a history of the old "witch town" of Salem, Mass.; " Secrets of the Service," " Hard Li'ck," AND other works. NEW YORK, 1883. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, BY C. H. WEBBER, IN THE Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. Leve & Ai.den's Publication Department, 107 Liberty St., New York. SAVANNAH, FLORIDA & WESTERN RAILWAY. The ONLY KOUTE to all WINTEE KESOKTS in America. Florida, New Orleans, Texas, New and Old Mexico, Arizona, California and Cuba. The management of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway, " Way- cross Short Line," desires to pi-esent to the traveling public a concise descrip- tion of the new, improved, and extended system between the North, East, West, and the South. The completion of the extension of the Savannah, Florida «fc Western Railway to a connection with the Pensacola & Atlantic Rail- road, opens a direct all-rail line from all Eastern and Northern points to Pen- sacola, Mobile, ISew Orleans, Southwestern Louisiana, Houston, Galveston, Austin, San Antonio, Eastern and Mi^ddle Texas, New and Old Mexico, Arizona and California. The Charleston & Savannah Railway (under the same management as the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway) has been put in thorough condition, with a new IRON BRIDGE over the Savannah River, and the entire road laid with steel rails. The "Waycross Short Line" gives to Charleston and the East a con- tinuous steel-rail line to JACKSONVILLE, FLA. The consolidation of the South Florida Railroad, now in operation between Sanford and Kissimmee, with our system, insures its completion to Tampa by or before the first of January next. Upon its completion to the Gulf, it is the purpose of the management to place a line of steamships on the route between Tampa, Key West, and Havana, built especially with a view to safety, speed, and the utmost comfort and luxury. The time betv.een Tampa and Havana will not exceed twenty eight hours, and between New York and Havana about three days and a half. At Tampa, connection Avill be made by coastwise steamer for all points on the Manatee River, Clear Water Harbor, Anclote, etc. The elegant service of Pullman Palace Buffet and Drawing-room Sleepers, inaugurated from New York and Washington to Charleston, Savan- nah, and Jacksonville direct, having met the unqualified approval of the travel- ing public, has been extended to New Orleans by the new line, via Chat- tahoochee, making but ONE CHANGE OF CARS BETWEEN NEW YORK AND NEW ORLEANS, at Savannah. For Time-Tables, Guide-Books (new Guide to South Georgia and Florida will be issued October next), Rates and General Information, by All Routes, Rail or Steamship, address FLORIDA HEADQUARTERS, 271 Broadway, cor. Chambers St., New York. JAS. L. TAYLOR, C. D. OWENS, Gen'l Pass. Agt., Savannah, Ga. General Agent, N. Y. JOiNAH H. W^HITE, Eastern Pass. Agt., Sept. 18, 1883. 271 Broadway, New York. INDEX PAGE. WHYS AND WHEREFORES 5 AI.ACHUA COUNTY : Its general Attractions 11 Alachua's Natural Curiosities 16 Alachua County Products 23 Alachua County Lands 28 THE LAKE REGION : Gainesville 32 New Gainesville 45 Waldo 49 Micanopy and Evanston 56 Hawthorne 60 Fairbanks and Yulee 61 Melrose and Banana 62 Campville and Magnesia Springs 63 Gruelle, Lockloosa and Tarver 64 Flora 65 AGRICULTURAL SECTION : New uansville 66 Archer and Palmer 71 Arredonda and Hummock Ridge 77 Lacrosse, Gordon, Sugar Grove, Jonesville, Trenton, Frankland, Wacasassee, Fort Fanning, Suwanee, Worthington Springs, and Fort Clark. 80 Fort Harley 81 Wayside Notes 82 East Florida Seminary 84 Legislators, Judges, and U. S. Officials 87 Representative Horticulturists and Agriculturists 89 Florida Long Cotton 99 THE RAILROAD CENTRE 102 ADVERTISEMENTS 104 14 ILLUSTTRATIONS. DREDGING SANTA FE LAKE, UNDER THE SUPERIXTENDEXCE OF NED E. FARREL. THE COLEMAN HUU5E. WALDO. INTRODUCTION. Land of the orange and beautiful flowers, Where the rieli-clustering grape encumbers the bowers, And the old Spanish moss festoons the broad trees, With beard long and gray, as the " Old Man of the Sea." Land of the lemon, the date and the palm. Where old ocean soothes the rough waves to a calm, As the swift-flowing tide to Mexican seas Warms the cold Avind to a tropical breeze. Land of the holly, magnolia and bay, Which fills the March breeze with the fragrance of May. As through the deep woods, in the halo of sheen, They speak to the heart of perennial green. IN presenting to the public the Eden of the South, I desire to acknowledge my thanks to the many kind friends whose names are mentioned therein. I desire, also, to state that it has been my endeavor to present my subject in a plain, matter-of-fact way, without elaboration or exaggeration. The contents are not made uj) of glittering generalities, but are solid facts gleaned ffom the people who should know the most about them. Overdrawn pen-i^ictures of Florida tend only to cause feelings of revolt in the mind of strangers when they enter the State. Florida is attractive enough as she is, without the aid of imaginary creations. The State is not a flower-garden ; the St. Johns River is not tlie Hudson ; the scenery here is unlike that of New England ; the woodlands are not like the dense jungles of Africa ; the soil is not rich and friable, but what would be commonly termed sandy; the ways of life are not metropolitan ; oranges and other fruits cannot be plucked from the trees here, there, and everywhere, without permission from the owners ; nor can one live liere without labor unless he is able to do so elsewhere. The great boast of Florida is of her adaptability to the growing of tropical and semi-tropical fruits, cotton, and early vegetables ; her attract- iveness as a winter resort ; her freedom from devastation by the elements, and her climate— which is, without doubt, the most charming in the world. As she is, all in all, grand in Nature's adornment of simplicity, the soul of tliat man is dead who cannot bask in her delights. "Carl." RESIDENCE OF COL,. H. F. DTJTTON, AT GAINESVILLE, FLOPIDA. In boring an artesian well on these premises in June, 1883, gold was discovered at a distance of VJ2 feet below the surface. cr'V-trJ^-Ti "^^^-1r*-*C-J"^ Midland Florida, ^*i^ THE ^ Eden of the South. WHYS AND WHEREFORES. §DEN is the Hebrew term for delight; therefore, when we term Midland Florida the Eden of the South, we mean that it is, all things considered, the most delightful portion of the ^' Southern States. That the original Garden of Eden was a place similar to Midland Florida, we have ample proof. Figs grew there, and figs grow here. Because the people here do not resort to fig-leaf clothing after the fashion of our primitive ancestors, is no proof that the climate is not sufficiently charming to admit of such a luxury. Snakes dwelt in the original Eden, and snakes may be found in the Eden of the South. The original Eden being the most charming place which God saw fit to create as an abiding place for man, it is natural to suppose that there can be no place worthy the name of Eden, unless there be a snake or two about the premises. Unlike the snakes in the original Edeu, the snakes in the Eden of the South are not meddlers with other people's business. They keep within their own social circles, enjoying their own company, and are but seldom seen by the ladies of the present generation. In fact, so rare are they in the Eden of the South, that Judge Bell, of Gainesville, has been paying high prices for them during the past year or two, as specimens for the Smithsonian Institute at Washington. Civiliza- tion is extending so rapidly that the time is not far distant when the only venomous reptiles in the land to be feared will he such as may be found at the national capital. Owing to that early dilficulty between old mother Eve and the serpent, nearly all mankind have been compelled, until recently, to 6 THE EDEN OF THE SOUTH. inhabit places where the cold in winter is intense, or the heat in summer oppressive. The eyes of our first parents having been opened disobediently to a knowledge of good and evil, they were driven from the Garden, and their eyes were blinded. There are many to-day with blinded eyes who look upon the soil of Florida as poor and unproductive, unable to detect the difference between rich Florida soil and beggarly Northern sand. The Seminole Indians, however, long ago saw the richness of Midland Florida, and they preferred to suffer the severest persecutions rather than be driven from it. As one visits the different points of interest in Midland Florida, the most of which are in their wild, natural state, he will dis- cover many things suggestive of his mental conception of the Garden of Eden. We doubt, if on the entire face of the earth another such place can be found, where in summer and in winter, among such forests, and by such shady brooks, and on such silvery lakes, can be experienced delights which so charm the soul to con- tentment and ease, and harmonize one's thoughts with Nature's balmy influences. There is but one Florida on the face of the earth, and it is to be wondered at that her charms, her bounties and her pearls of great price, were not long ago discovered and enjoyed by others than the uncivilized redmen. Florida was discovered, as everj^ geography, history and Florida pamphlet informs us, by Juan Ponce de Leon, of Spain, who, in search of the "fountain of perpetual youth," which he was led to believe existed here, landed on its eastern shores on Palm Sunday, in the year 1 512. Palm Sunday was called by the Spaniards in those days Pasqua Florida, or Flowery Easter. The shores of this new- found land was covered with palms and roses, as if the earth, recog- nizing the day, had prepared for its observance in accord with the Spanish custom. Thereupon de Leon gave to the country the name Florida, signifying Flowery Land, or, as it is now more commonly termed. The Land of Flowers. Ponce de Leon penetrated the upper part of the State to Wakulla Springs. Here he saw the clearness and purity of these waters, and felt certain of having found the object of his search, a plunge into which he believed would restore to him his youth. It is needless to state that he was very much surprised and disappointed when he came up out of the water, but no more so, perhaps, than many who now visit Florida under the impression that orange groves, fruit orchards and vegetable farms grow spontaneously, without the exercise of human skill and care, and that game of every description THE WHYS AND THE WHEREFORES. 7 comes around to the doors of the inhabitants at meal times begging to be slaughtered and cooked. Florida has a history covering a period of nearly four hundred years, and yet, in spite of her unequaled natural advantages, she has to-day a smaller population, in proportion to her size, than any State in the Union, except, perhaps, Nevada and Colorado. Ever since her discovery she has been in an unsettled state. Her colonies have been massacred. She has been conquered and reconquered, ceded and re-ceded, and harassed by Indian wars. Just as she was entering upon a period of stability and prosperity she was plunged into a civil war, which decimated and impoverished her people. Under such discouragements and drawbacks it is not, after all, to be so greatly wondered at that foreign and domestic immigration was not earlier attracted and turned towards her limits. Florida now is no longer an unknown country. The war brought both Northern and Southern soldiers to her shores. New discover- ies were made that have directed the intelligence of the whole world to this land. A constantly rising tide of immigration is now flowing in. There has been a surprising increase in the number of inhabitants during the past ten years. The increase in the next ten years is beyond estimation. Thousands annually come down for pleasure, health, or to make new homes. Other thousands will come when they are truly informed of the advantages and attrac- tions of this beautiful and productive region. Florida is one of the largest States in the Union, with an area of nearly sixty thousand square miles. Although covered with lakes and rivers and streams, yet, in proportion to its size, she has as large an acreage of productive soil as any of the other States, ex- cept the prairie States of the West. She is the most southern of all the States, and, unlike the otliers, a peninsula, projecting south between the Atlantic ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The peninsula portion of the State is some 300 miles in length, averaging about 100 miles wide, gradually narrowing from north to south. So re- cently has the attention of land operators, fruit growers, agricul- turists and others been directed hither that it will be several years before the entire State will be in the hands of private individuals. Many of the very choicest localities are still in a state of nature, and there is room for an additional million of busy and prosperous workers. Visitors to Florida for the first time make Jacksonville their ob- jective point. In fact, to the average new comer, Jacksonville is Florida, and Florida is Jacksonville, when in reality that greatly ^ THE EDEN OF THE SOUTH. favored city is but little over the Georgia line. Visitors are often surprised to hear people in Jacksonville talk of "going down South" as freely as if they were in Washington or New York. Florida soon becomes Florida to the stranger, however, when he learns that the State extends further south six degrees of latitude; then, in order to satisfy his desire, he is as apt to take a bee-line for Dade county, with its Indians and its swamps, as to visit Alachua, tlie most healthy, fertile and productive county in the State. Available information concerning this State at Jacksonville is very meagre and unsatisfactory. This the writer knows from his own experience. Great competition between railroads and steamboat companies makes information from such sources reliable only so far as it relates to their own business interests. In the whirlpool of con- flicting reports concerning the various parts of the peninsula, nine strangers out of every ten will follow the stream of travel regardless of whether they are seeking health, pleasure or a new^ home. They will, therefore, make the "grand tour " by the " regulation route,'' viz., up the St. Johns river to Palatka, Enterprise or Sanford, either of which places will be represented by some over-anxious informants as about the only place in Florida fit or safe to live at. But, of course, the stranger, who has by this time learned of the darkly mys- terious Ocklawaha, will be anxious for an excursion up that river, and he makes the trip, very few ever leaving the boat. If by this time he has not seen a place suited to his fancy, he returns to Jack- sonville, maybe visiting the very attractive, ancient city, St. Augus- tine, and thence out of the State, under the supposition that he has seen Florida, that it does not come up to his expectations, and that it is not what it has been represented to be. Means of communication and of transportation to tlie better por- tions of the interior of the State have, until recently, been attended with great difficulties, expense and hardships; therefore the tide of travel has been, by force of circumstances, turned in the most avail- able channel — up the St. Johns river to some one of the many pretty watering places that line her shores. These trips will ever continue to be charming and delightful to the pleasure-seeker, or as a bit of recreation to the invalid; but for those seeking homes, or a business through the resources and natural advantages of the State of Florida, disappointment will result from their wanderings in that direction. There is no part of the State that has not greater fertility of soil than its general sandy nature would suggest to the new-comer; but in a State so large and variable, there must be some portion that can MIDLAND FLORIDA. 9 boast of a superiority, and that portion is Alachua county, in Mid- land Florida, as we design to fully show. The settlers in the differ- ent parts of the State are honestly prejudiced in favor of that portion where they have located; but, above such prejudiced opinions, we have, at all times, in such matters an authority not warped by per- sonal interests, nor by the honest views which emanate from a love which one naturally bears for that which is one's own. A PRETTY FLORIDA HOME. Alachua county is the midland portion of the great peninsula, sit- uated midway between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean, likewise midway between the southern and western extremities of the State. Italy is said to resemble the form of a boot, with the foot turned southward. Florida has somewhat the same resemblance, with the foot turned northward. In this resemblance Alachua county occupies the position of the ankle-joint, and is, therefore, the natural centre of the State. It likewise is located upon the southern extremity of the high lands which extend from the northwestern 10 THE EDEN OP THE SOUTH. portion of the State, like the impression of a shoemaker's last inside the boot. There are three natural divisions under which Florida must always be considered. These divisions may be classified as temperate, tropi- cal and semi-tropical Florida. Semi-tropical Florida is situated be- tween the twenty-eighth and thirtieth parallels. North of this is the temperate, and south of it the tropical division. While the tropical fruits will not grow to profit in the temperate division, nor the tem- perate fruits in the tropical division, in the semi-tropical division, or Midland Florida, the products of all three of the divisions will grow side by side. Here may be found the orange, lemon, guava, fig, citron, grape and the innumerable garden vegetables growing for profit the year round. Cotton, rice, cane and all field crops pay largely, although in the southern or middle portion of the semi-tropi- cal division, corn, wheat and live stock are noticeably less productive than further north. Alachua county is peculiarly located and most remarkably favored. Situated in the northern portion of the semi-tropical division, she has all the climatic features of the tropical division, with the breezes from ocean to Gulf sweeping over her in the most delightful and ex- hilarating manner, while the nature of her soil partakes largely of the peculiarities and fertility of the temperate division, making it, for all kinds of temperate, tropical and semi-tropical products, the most productive county in the entire State. In sanitary matters this peculiarity of situation operates most advantageously, so that it is likewise, as it is freely admitted to be, the healthiest portion of the State. The many lakes in the eastern and southeastern portion of the county, in conuection with the other favorable features, may have something to do with the healthfulness and productiveness of Alachua county. By the above it will be seen that what may be true of one of these divisions of the State of Florida, as regards cli- mate, soil or products, may or may not be true of the others; hence the conflicting reports concerning the State, which, as before re- marked, is one of the largest in the Union, extending through six degrees of latitude. 11 ALACHUA COUNTY. ITS GENERAL ATTRACTIONS. ,C% BIRD'S-EYE view from the top of the Arlington or the Varnum |^|/ houses in Gainesville, the county seat of Alachua county, d^ presents a wonderfully rare and beautiful sight. Directly beneath the eyes is nestled the court-house in the centre of Court- house Square, which is surrounded by the business houses of the city. Outside of this scene is a grand circle of tree-tops stretching away at every point as far as the horizon. At this elevated position one feels as if standing upon the inner edge of an immense wreath of ever- green, formed by cutting out the centre, into which had been planted a hive of industry, inside of which busy human bodies are moving from point to point, hither and thither, across the Court-house Square and through the streets, appearing and disappearing, like the changing scenes of a kaleidoscope. Over and above all this the sky seemingly rests upon its apparent edge at the horizon, like an immense bowl turned upside down: the whole forming a charming picture, which, like a scene at sea, is grand in its absence of variety. Within this charming circle, of which Gainesville may well be termed the "Hub," as she is of the State, rests Alachua county, sitting like a queen upon the southern brow of the hill portion of the State, nearly 200 feet above the level of the sea, surrounded by her sister counties, who bow reverently before her with due homage and respect, because of her richest of all God-given gifts, healthful- ness and productiveness. Natural beauties, fertility of soil, perfect water sheds, regular un- derdrains. a light, dry and invigorating air, the best of water, good society, a liberal, free-minded people, and the highest educational advantages, all of which are conducive to the healtli of both mind and body, are the chief characteristics of Alachua county. Here the Indian in the early days revelled in his delights, and lived in the greatest health and strength and happiness. Spaniards, En- glishmen and Americans, for the past three centuries have selected this county as the Eden spot of the South, and have found it at all times to be a natural sanatorium. During the past decade the "orange fever" has attracted thous- ands of visitors to various parts of Florida, the larger portion of them being distributed by force of transportation facilities up the 13 ALACHUA COUNTY. St. Johns river, and into the southern portion of the State, the great impetus being occasioned by the seemingly fabulous tales of great wealth and sudden riches secured through small expenditure by patient waiting for the growth of trees whose fruit look among their foilage like lumps of solid gold — which some erroneously imagine they represent more fully the further south they go. During this vast influx of wealth, enterprise and new ideas, Alachua county, owing chiefly to her many advantages not pos- sessed by other counties, together with her capabilities to grow oranges equally as well and as profitably as any county in the State, has had a steady, persistent, and healthy growth, out-numbering all her sister counties, excepting Duval, of which the city of Jacksonville is the county seat. This growth, added to Alachua's previous pop- ulation, ranks her next to Duval, the largest county in the State. Situated mid- way between the Atlantic ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, the wind currents from these opposite seas temper the heat of day in the most refreshing manner, even in mid-summer, while the nights are, without doubt, the most delightful in the world. Many people at the North desire to know if it is safe to visit Florida at any other season than winter. To the writer, the most enjoyable part of the year in Florida is the summer months. Many of the northern people who have settled in Alachua county freely declare that they prefer the summers here to the winters. The fre- quent cool breezes so temper the atmosphere through the day that there is seldom, during the hottest season, more than an hour or two when the heat is severely felt, and even then it is not so in- tense or so oppressive as the writer has experienced it in New York and Boston. The nights are so perfectly delightful, beginning as soon as the sun goes down, that one can willingly submit to an hour or two of heat in order to enjoy the remaining hours under such delightful atmospheric influences, and when sleep is a perfect feast to the soul. There is no particular time of day when the hottest period may be predicted for a certainty. Sometimes the morning will be quite warm, and a "scorcher" predicted, and, yet, in less than an hour, a cool, refreshing breeze may spring up and the re- mainder of the day be most delightful. It is always cool in the shade, no matter how insignificant that shade may be. Many people, too, desire to know about the healthfulness of Florida, in the summer season. The writer believes the State of Florida, even in the summer, to be as healthy as any State in the Union, and Alachua county is freely admitted to be the most healthy county in the State. Portions of it, nlore especially in and about THE OLDEST SETTLEMENTS. 13 Gainesville and the lake region, are as healthy as any part of the United States. Fatal bilious fever is rare, except under great ex- posure to the malaria of low hummocks, rains, etc. Chills and fever are more frequent, but are of the mildest and most easily managed types. Physicians all testify that diseases are less stubborn and less liable to terminate in death than the same kind of diseases in higher latitudes. For a territory of about 1,400 square miles, the death rate is exceedingly small. The pine lands of Alachua county, which are universally healthy, &re nearly everywhere studded at intervals of a mile or two with rich hummock land varying in ex- tent from twenty to forty thousand acres. Residences only half a mile from cultivated hummocks in any part of Florida are notably free from malarial diseases, while residences on even the high hum- mock lands in Alachua county are generally found to be healthy. The oldest settlements and the densest population of Alachua are found in the eastern half of the county. This was a favorite part of the State with the Indians and also with the Spaniards when they held possession of it. It includes the well-known " Arredonda grant," declared to be the richest body of land in the entire Slate. Gainesville, Arredonda, Micanopy. Palmer, Fairbanks, Yulee, Gruelle, and Tarver are located on the Arredonda grant, while just outside of it are Waldo, Newnansville, Archer, Hawthorne, Mel- rose, Campville, Magnesia Springs, Saludia and Lockloosa. The lands all about this section, for natural fertility and durability, are inferior to none in Florida. The railroads connect with all of the above places, and in and about them large and small bodies of select lands are for sale by various companies and by the Government at prices ranging from $1 to $100 an acre. Individual property in well- selected locations and generally improved, is held at the highest value. The other towns and settlements in the couutj'^ not mentioned above are La Crosse, Gordon, Frankland, Trenton, Jonesville, Wa- casassee. Fort Fanning, Sugar Grove, Joella, Suwanee and Fort Har- ley. Lands about these places are not largely taken up. They are excellent for both vegetable and orange culture. The population of Alachua county at the late census (1880) was 18,697. During the past two years in general with all parts of Flo- rida there has been a healthy and steady increase. The population at the present time (1883), cannot be far from 20,000. This increase has been of white people from the more northern States. The colored people have heretofore held the majority in Alachua county, which fact is fast becoming a matter of the past, but it is of no par- 14 ALACHUA COUNTY. ticular advantage to either political party, as the colored people are daily becoming more intelligent, and, learning to think for them- selves; they are fast assimilating with both parties. The colored people prevail most largely in the county outside the towns and trading centres. For the most part they are law-abiding, industri- ous and prosperous, some of them having acquired great affluence, and no great social evils have grown out of their proportionate num- bers. The white people of Alachua represent every State in the Union from Maine to California, and are in their moral intellectual status of the advanced classes from the old States. Intelligence predomi- nates in all the essential avenues of business, and in the principal occupations of life. The colored people have caught the spirit of advanced enlightenment and enterprise which prevails, and show remarkable traits of character, keep up their churches and are good citizens. There are to a slight degree distinct classes of society, the same as found elsewhere, but there is no ostracism of settlers from other places, as the county is now largely composed of people who, within the past twenty years, have themselves settled here from other States. The future growth and prosperity depends upon an increase of such settlers who bring, with new ideas, a new spirit of improvement and increased wealth. All worthy new-comers are heartily welcomed and will meet with well-wishes on every hand. The only division of the people is political, the same as elsewhere, but the same candid expression of thought and the same freedom of rational si^eech is allowable here as in New Eng- land. Previous to the introduction of the Free School system in 1868, the enjoyment of educational privileges were vouchsafed only to the rich. There are now in the county nearly 75 public scliools with an average attendance of over 2,250. There are more than this number of white children of school age in the county, and more than twice that number of colored children. That there are many who do not accept the privilege is conclusive, but the system is in its infancy, and there are numerous private schools which draw pupils largely from those who are able to pay for private teachers. As the advan- tages secured throughout the public schools are more generally realized, they will, as elsewhere, absorb the private schools, and will become the pride of the whole body of the people. Experi- enced and skillful teachers are all that is wanted to make them equal to those in any State. Separate schools for the white and colored children are universally established. In no cases are the children ITS GENERAL ATTRACTIONS. JjS; of the white and colored races in attendance at the same schools. The East Florida Seminary, a State institution, is located in this county, at Gainesville, and is one of the most important factors in the educational interests of Florida. It is more fully spoken of elsewhere in this work. There are in Alachua county, like all places of mixed people, representatives of nearly every sect in the Christian religion, and in the larger places a goodly sprinkling of Jews. The churches, how- ever, are principally Baptist, Episcopalians, Methodivsts and Presby- terians, all of which are well supported and presided over by able preachers. The houses and the mode of living in the larger part of Florida appear strange and of a primitive nature to the minds of a new- comer whose days have been spent among the tinselled scenes of metropolitan life in the North, and where the greatest enjoyment of the majority of the people consists of walking brick pavements and admiring huge buildings which are owned by other people. Florida life-scenes and ways soon become familiar, and their simplicity is charming. Houses built in the simplest manner are the most com- fortable ; scant furniture is a luxury and the plainest walls and floors are the most agreeable and inspiring. Stylish clothes are burdensome and largely ignored, while the mind and body seeks abandonment in ease and natural comforts. The life of the great body of people in Florida is a sort of pioneer life, spent among Nature's scenes in the most delightful climate upon the face of the earth. The further one gets from the transportation connections with the great national marts, the less likely are the conveniences and the invented comforts of business and social life to be found. Necessity, however, is the mother of invention, and necessity in Florida has caused the invention of many conveniences and comforts of which the people further north are ignorant. Her climate and her wonder- ful resources have rendered her in a measure capable of providing for herself independent of the rest of the world. In the western part of Alachua county may be found people as independent of the world, outside of their own neighborhood, as it is possible for human beings to be. They raise their own food, make their own clothes from products raised by theii-own labor, and think, talk and act as they please in accordance with their own tvell-regulated social laws. Some of these people look with disfavor upon the building of new railroads through their localities, because of their occasional killing of a hog that unfortunately stops upon the track too long. 16 ALACHUA COUNTY. Railroads, nevertheless, are being constructed through every section of the county, in penetrating the southern parts of the State ; so that with means of transportation and travel, Alachua county is the most highly-favored county in the State. ALACHUA'S NATURAL CURIOSITIES. Alachua county can boast of some of the finest lakes in the State. The principal ones are Alachua, Newnan's, Orange, Santa Fe, Alto, Levy's and Lockloosa. There are but two rivers in the county, the Suwanee and the Santa Fe. The former constitutes its western boundary, the latter the northern boundary. The Santa Fe is navigable only about thirty miles from its junction with the Suwanee, while the latter is navigable for steamers to Cedar Keys and the Gulf. Springs, sinks, natural wells, and an immense natural bridge are among the leading physical peculiarities of the county. The springs are mostly mineral springs. Some of them are impregnated with iron, others with sulphur and magnesia. There are also deep blue springs and springs of transparent soft water. The largest sulphur springs are the Worthington, situated north of Newnansville on either side of the Santa Fe River. The two largest of these springs throw up jets from a long distance beneath the river's bed that makes the basins boil like huge pots over a hot fire. These springs are considered beneficial for people suffering with rheuma- tism, and are favorite resorts in summer. Magnesia spring, near Hawthorne, has been found to possess a curative property in diseases of the kidneys. An analysis of the water of the spring shows prin- cipally sulphate of magnesia and iron with a strong trace of lithia. Persons who have resorted to it have been healed of diabetes, stone and other complaints, and one gentleman, it is said, has been recently cured of Bright's disease of the kidneys, a disorder heretofore con- sidered incurable. It is also said to be a cure for dyspepsia. One of the great peculiarities of Alachua county, and a natural wonder, is that large streams are suddenly lost in the gullet of a big hole in the ground, popularly termed a "sink;" while others as abruptly put in an appearance from deep recesses, going and coming from nobody knows where, but leading to the belief that underneath the ground there are innumerable springs, streams and mighty rivers flowing as perfectly and as regularly as those upon the surface. Two lakes in the county, Alachua lake and Lake Tus- cawilla, are known to have been created by the clogging of such sinks. About five miles north-west of Gainesville is what is known NATURAL CURIOSITIES. 17 THE LARGEST ORANGE TREE IN FLORIDA. as the "Devil's Hopper" or "Washpot." It is a physical phe- nomena of like nature as the sinks, but with more wonders. It is formed like a deep washbowl and is at all times filled with water at a certain height, which neither lowers nor increases, notwith- standing the fact that some twenty streams are pouring their con- 18 ALACHUA COUNTY. tents into it continuously. Another strange feature in this great wonder is, that these streams pour out of the sides of the earth at various heights above the water's level, coming from no one knows where, as there is no sign of a stream anywhere upon the surface for miles around. The Devil's Hopper is a great resort for visiting strangers, who are taken thither by carriages, which may be secured in Gainesville at a reasonable price at the livery stable of Hon. J. B. Dell, opposite the Arlington House. The natural cave is another wonder in the same vicinity. The natural wells of Alachua county are also great wonders. They are most frequently found in the western part of the county, though there is one in the very centre of Archer, from which the inhabitants draw their water supply. These wells are as round and as perpendicular as if they had been cut through the rock by the hand of man. The most of them contain water, but some of them are dry. In diameter they are about two and a half feet, and are from thirty to forty feet deep. The walls are of solid limestone. The water in them contains lime, and in summer is quite cool. The dry wells are perfectly safe to enter. In one, at least, parties can go down in it a distance of thirty feet, and then through an under- ground passage can come up out of another one a mile away. Near Santa Fe lake, a river springs directly up from the earth, and only a few hundred feet from where it first makes its appearance the water flows swiftly enough to turn a mill. These numerous sinks, springs and wells are among the greatest of Florida's natural curiosi- ties, and yet there are but few of the visitors to Florida who even know of their existence, and fewer still who ever see them, because of their location in Alachua county, which has made no great boast in the past of her many attractions. Like the original Garden of Eden, Alachua, with her numerous lakes, streams, sinks and wells, may truly be said to be well watered. Across the Santa Fe river, about nine miles north-west of New- nansville, is a natural bridge, formed by the sudden whirl of the water into a capacious cavern, from whence it breaks out again to the surface about two and a half miles below, the covering of earth and rock above it being termed the great Natural Bridge. The river is about two hundred feet wide where the water disappears. The great ship canal which is to be built during the next two years across the peninsula, from the Atlantic ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, will, it is thought, be pushed through Alachua county. This canal, according to the estimate of Gen. Stone, of Egyptian fame, will cost to be built about $40,000,000. If it penetrates Alachua county it THE GREAT LAKES. 19 will open up this entire stretch of country, making it the most valu- able in the Southern States. The principal lakes of Alachua county are all in the eastern and southeastern part. These lakes form the larger portion of what is known among travelers as the lake region of Florida. This region averages an altitude of about 150 feet above the level of the sea,. So desirable and attractive is this section of the country that its popu- lation has most wonderfully increased within the past ten years. The lakes abound in fine fish and furnish admirable opportunities for pleasure excursions. The celebrated Alachua lake, sometimes termed Payne's prairie, is the largest. It lies directly south of Gainesville about two miles. It is nearly nine miles long by four miles wide. Its borders are lined with some of the most extensive and most profitable vegetable farms and orange groves in the whole State. The celebrated 1,000 acres, owned and cultivated by the Hon. J. T. Wall, ex-U. S. Congressman and the richest and ablest colored man in the State, are situated at the extreme eastern end of the lake. The noted Orange Point grove, owned by H. F. Button & Co. and L. A. Barnes of Gainsville, are situated further to the north. In this vicinity, at Rocky Point, Bevin's Arm and at the Sink, numer- ous other Gainesville citizens own extensive and valuable possessions in the shape of A^egetable farms, orange groves or fine virgin hum- mock lands. Among the owners might be named L. A. Barnes, L. K. Rawlins, P. F. Wilson, Phillip Miller, H. C. Denton, J. A. Car- hsle, W. C. Mowry, M. Fitch Miller, G. W. Holden, J. H. Roper, Dr. J. D. Cromwell, Crawford Brothers, J. Simonson, P. H. Young, Ed- ward Howell, W. H. Bracy, Roth Reynolds, G. D. Younglove & Son, O. D. Morris, J. D. Avera, J. E. Dodd, W. C. Sunderland, W. S. Land, W. A. & C. A. Colclough, Mrs. J. C. Veeder, Lawrence Jackson, Dr. P. G. Snowden, P. M. Oliver, T. O. Shackelford, J. B. Mixon, Geo. H. Rich, T. B. & R. Stringfellow, and others. Fish are exceedingly plentiful in Alachua lake. Trout are caught weighing 25 lbs. , black bass weighing 15 lbs. , while among the other species are the silver- fish, the brim-fish, warmouth, cat-fish, jack-fish and hickory shad. Eight years ago what is now known as Alachua lake was a large and beautiful prairie known as Payne's prairie. It took its name from King Payne, an old Seminole chief of the early days. This prairie was the great grazing ground for the Indians' cattle, and in later years was devoted to a like purpose and for tillage by the whites. In those days thousands of cattle and sheep could be seen to NATURAL (;URIOSITiEi>. at any time enjoying the richness which mother earth here supplied, The overflow of Newnan's lake, which lies to the north of it, formed a stream which wended its way through the prairie and emptied it- self into one of the largest of those characteristic curiosities here- about, which has been described as a sink. Thence the waters found its waj^ into some subterraneous passage whose mystery has not as yet been solved. A few years ago this sink became clogged and the waters were forced to remain upon the surface. It overflowed the prairie, cover- ing roads, cultivated fields, grazing grounds and homesteads, cre- ating an additional lake in the county, which is now one of its natural curiosities. The locality where the waters became CiOgged is still known as the Sink, and it is one of the most romantic picnic grounds and pleasure resorts in the State, situated about four miles south of Gainesville on the line of the Florida Southern Railroad. About this prairie and among the lakes in this region was the Indians' favorite hunting and fishing grounds. On either side, about equi-distance from the prairie, at what are now known as Micanopy and Newnansville, was an Indian settlement. The site of the home of old King Payne is situated at the fork of two roads leading to Micanopy, about a mile and a quarter east from Wauberg lake. Here, too, old Micanopy, an old noted Indian chief, and the noble young half-breed chief, Osceola (Powell), revelled in their palmy days in all their native pride and glory. The sink at Paj^ie's prairie was called by the Indians "Alachua," meaning a "big jug," into which the waters continually flowed with- out filling it. Hence the name of the county. Alachua, by the Indians, was pronounced Ala-ciie-ah, a much softer pronounciation than the present Ah-loch-u-a. Soon after the flooding of Payne's prairie, an effort was made to drain it by a canal, which was projected, leading from the prairie creek south of Newnan's lake into the northern portion of Orange lake, six miles further south. The legislature of the State, however, passed an act making the waters of Alachua lake navigable, and the canal project was abandoned. A line of steamers, for freight purposes principally, now navigate these waters, owned and operated by the Alachua Steam Navigation and Canal Company. This com- pany are preparing to build wharves and warehouses at eligible points around the lake. They connect with the Transit Railroad at Bevin's Arm and with the Florida Southern Railroad at the Sink. A canal which they have built connects with Wauberg lake, a small body of water south of the southeastern corner, which is surrounded THE SMALLER LAKES. 21 by numerous very large ponds. This company have had a small steam yacht, the "Geo. W. Harris," the steamer " Chacala," and two barges at %vork during the past vegetable season, and have just completed a new steamer, 66 feet long and supplied with engines, which will be ready for the coming orange season. The acreages of both vegetables and oranges about these lakes is fast increasing, by reason of transportation facilities afforded by this company, the officers of which are, Andrew Howard, Pittsburgh, Pa., President; W. D. Phil- lips, M.D., Vice-President; J. T. McMillan. Treasurer; B. F. Jordan, Secretary — the last three gentlemen of Gainesville. It is designed by this company to clear the passage connecting Newnan's and Alachua lakes, which can be done at a small expense, when they will be able to navigate both lakes, making a complete course of nearly fifteen miles. In the opinion of the writer the time is not far distant when a four-mile canal Avill be constructed to Orange lake, and Orange creek dredged from Orange lake to Ocklawaha rivei-, thus furnishing a fine excursion route from Newnan's lake and from the Sink to the St. Johns river. The boats would likewise serve as feeders of vegetable and fruit freight to the various railroads along the line. Gainesville, thus by growth towards the lake, would have a water front communicating with the St. Johns steamers. Quite a settlement of northern people is located about the border of the pretty little Wauberg lake, and a number of Gainesville peo- ple own good tracts of land there. Among them are W. C. Miller (the Leitner place), R, M. Witt and the officers of the Navigation Company. Levy's lake, south of Alachua, and Ledwith's, south of Levy's, will soon be connected with the Alachua, so that the course of the com- pany's boats will be extended further south a distance of five miles, to the southern boundary of the county, opening up thousands of acres of new agricultural lands. Levy's Lake is about five miles long by three wide, and Ledwith's is about two and a half miles long by one and a half wide. Tuscawilla lake, about a mile wide in either direction, is situated about three and a half miles east of Ledwith's, its southern border extending very nearly to the southern border line of the county. This lake bears the name of the wife of the Indian chief Micanopy, the town of Micanopy being located upon its northwestern border. Like Alachua lake, Tuscawilla lake was created by the clogging of a sink, with the following difference: The sink was small, so that in rainy weather a lake was created which would gradually disappear in a dry season. Desiring to pre- 22 • NATURAL CURIOSITIES. vent a temporary clogging of this sink, the owner of the property some years ago endeavored to open the cavern and keep it open by log barriers. During the operation his logs caved in and the sink be- came permanently clogged, and the lake consequently permanently located. About two miles east of Tuscawilla lake is the northern arm of Orange lake, about one-and-a-half miles wide at this point. Only about three miles of this lake is in Alachua county, but on either side it is bordered with rich hummock lands and the finest orange groves in the country. Lake Lockloosa, about four miles at its widest point, is situated just northeast of Orange lake, with which it is connected by a deep navigable stream about one mile in length. The same steamers oper- ate on both these lakes, engaged in the carrying trade connecting with the railroads at several different points. Large quantities of oranges from Micanopy and elsewhere are annually shipped from these lakes to all parts of the country. Santa Fe lake is a most delightful body of water, and can boast of some of the finest residences upon its borders, as well as many mag- nificent orange groves. It is about nine miles long and four miles wide at its widest points. A steamboat canal has been built from this lake to the enterprising town of Waldo, passing through the beautiful Lake Alto and forming transportation connection with the Transit Railroad. Lake Alto is about a mile east of Waldo. It is about one-and-a-half miles long by one wide. Santa Fe and Alto lakes are the highest bodies of water in the county. Situated upon the high ridge or back of the peninsula, they have outlets extending both east and west to the Atlantic ocean and to the Gulf. The Santa Fe Canal Company has the town of Waldo as its base of operations. It operates one steamer, the " F. S. Lewis," which was built at Waldo in 1881, for use on the canal and connected lakes (Alto and Santa Fe), between Waldo and Melrose. She is nearly 100 feet long by 20 wide, and has room for 200 passengers on excursions. The route accommodates a section of country which, for its adapta- bility for orange culture and vegetable production, is excellent. It brings within access of market over 100,000 acres of first-class farm- ing and orange lands, in one of the most healthy and desirable sections, among rolling hills and hundreds of beautiful clear water lakes. The canal was built about a year or two ago. The officers of this company are Geo. C. Rixford, president ; H. Binder, vice-presi- dent ; W. H. Stager, secretary and treasurer ; Ned. E. Farrell, engineer and superintendent. EARLY VEGETABLES. 28 Newnan's lake, five miles east of Gainesville, and between Santa Fe and Alachua lakes, is one of the prettiest bodies of water in the State. It is destined in a few years to be a most popular water re- sort, to which horse-cars will be run from the Gainesville hotels, and from the Hygienic hotel and sanatoriums of New GainesWlle. Newnan's lake is about six miles long by two-and-a-half miles wide, has a good, sandy beach, and is surrounded with delightful hum- mock lands and groves. Between and about these lakes, already de- scribed, are situated innumerable small lakes and ponds, among which northern, western and foreign emigrants love to settle. All of the lakes of Alachua county are of very attractive appearance, and about them are growing large orange groves, while thousands of trees continue to be set out yearly, and vegetable farms flourish most wonderfully. ALACHUA COUNTY PRODUCTS. All along the lines of the railroads, where they run through the lake and orange-belt region, hundreds of settlers are engaged in raising all kinds of vegetables for the Northern markets. Thousands of crates of green-peas, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, onions, cab- bages, cauliflower, spinach, celery, lettuce, beets, etc., and car-loads of watermelons and strawberries are gathered and shipped to all points North in January, February, March and April, bringing really fabulous prices. Vegetable raising is an industry which in Alachua county has grown to wonderful proportions within a few^ years, paying large profits of several hundreds of dollars per acre for crops that fortu- nately ripen and reach the markets at the right moment. This por- tion of the State will undoubtedly produce the greatest variety of marketable and profitable crops of any region in the county, and yet a large portion of the visitors to the State go up and down the St. Johns river without dreaming of the productiveness of this re- gion, and, like Oscar Turner, go back home without having seen it, and declare, unwarrantably, that " Florida's sandy soil is too poor to raise even a disturbance on it." The leading vegetable products of Alachua for the year round come in in about the following order: Cabbages very early in the spring, then beans, then cucumbers, then tomatoes, then corn, then long cotton, to say nothing of oats and the multitudinous other pro- ducts of the earth. In fruits the strawberries come first early in February and often in January, then the Japan plum, then the com- mon plum, followed by blackberries, peaches, nectarines, figs, 34 A.LACHUA PRODUCTS. grapes and pears in their order before the first of July. Then comes the Japanese persimmon, the quince, etc. , ending with the orange, banana, grape fruit, etc., all of which furnish fruits and vegetables for the table the year round. Alachua county is embraced within the orange belt, and furnishes the greatest proof, by the big orange' tree at Fort Harley (a cut of which is given on page 17), of being the greatest natural orange region in the State. Thus the de- lightful occupation of raising orange groves in a healthy country is a rare inducement for settlers to seek its many advantages. THE TRANSPORTATION BOAT ON LAKE SANTA FE. Orange trees bear all the way from 1,000 to 10,000 oranges annually. Of garden truck, Judge Cessna, of Gainesville, gives the following as a fair average crop per acre from Alachua county soil. Tomatoes and cucumbers, 200 bushels; snap-beans, 100 bushels; Irish potatoes, from 50 to 75 bushels; English peas, from 75 to 100 bushels; cabbage, from 50 to 100 barrels; bush-squash, 100 barrels, and often 200 barrels; Boston marrow-squash, from 50 to 100 barrels, and often 150 barrels; melons, from 500 to 1,000; strawberries, 2,000 quarts easy, and often 4,000 quarts. Of strawberries, the Judge THE FROST QUESTION DISCUSSED. 35 says he has picked 114 quarts from less than half an acre at one picking, and the vines picked every other day. Further on in this work we show what is done on some of the representative farms and in orange groves and nurseries. A good idea of what may be accomplished in Florida may there be gleaned. People from the North often ask if a frost may not some time come and destroy the business of orange culture. Certainly, it may, and so may the waters of the Atlantic ocean some day rise and sweep Nevv' England from the face of the earth. Danger to life and property all over the world is possible at any time from scourge, pestilences or the ravages of the elements. The frost danger to tropical and semi-tropical fruits, however, is on a par with the frost danger to vegetables and fruit in the North, only, if anything, much less so. No one at the North would hesitate in the buying of a farm, or of planting fruit-trees adapted to that climate through fear that some very severe winter might destroy the next year's crop. There is the remote contingency that a severe frost might damage the crop once or twice in a century, but how many times in the last twenty- five years have the wheat crop and the apple and peach crops in the North been seriously damaged. Everj^thing upon the face of the earth has its enemy, but on this account we do not hear of the business of raising wheat and fruit in the North being ruined or abandoned. There is no doubt of the fact that orange culture here in the " orange belt " of Florida is one of the substantial industries of the "vvorld, and those who engage in it soonest will take the lead and hold it, as the older the trees, when properly cared for, the greater is their bearing capacity. That many of the leading financiers of North America, success- ful merchants, bankers, and railroad owners, are notably forw^ard in making investments in this State, is a fact that should not be over- looked. It may turn out that these experienced business men have some financial foresight. Concerning some of the conflicting reports on Florida, one fact should be taken into serious considera- tion. Florida is to-day to a large degree a land-operating State. Land is the marketable stock, and in this market, as in the markets of Wall street. New York, there are the "bulls "and the "bears." Those who have lands to sell desire to ' ' bull " the price of it up, and those who desire to buy do what they can to " bear" the price of it down. Supply and demand, either real or imaginary, controls the prices of Florida lands the same as the prices of everything else is controlled. The real healthy growth of Florida will depend upon the immigration to her shores of men of moderate means, skill and 26 ALACHUA PRODUCTS. energy, who will be contented with the purchase of ten, twenty and forty-acre farms and groves, and, locating upon them, pay strict attention to the cultivation of the same. To such men Alachua county offers good homes the year round, an assured livelihood and possibly a fortune. The great mistake which many make is in buying more land than they can properly cultivate or handle. Large vegetable farms are risky property, and immense orange groves owned by parties who make their homes out of the State are not conducive to the growth of the population or to the financial growth of the State. An increased population is what adds power and influence and financial strength, and these facts should be properly considered by every new-comer lo Florida, who should like- wise remember that no man in this country can be more than one of fifty million, and every additional one tends to create a necessity and a demand for better conveniences and stimulates a desire for greater worldly comforts, and by competition cheapens them as well to the advantage of the whole. The importance of market gardening to the State of Florida is al- most incalculable. It was first started but a few years ago as an experiment, but is fast becoming a leading industry. Orange groves may be planted on the same land with vegetables, thus securing for the man of small means a future period of independence and enjoy- ment while present needs are being provided for. It is an industry that should be in every way encouraged, as it is attracting to the State a class of immigrants whose intelligence and industry is rapidly converting the great wilderness heretofore existmg into most valuable estates, adding greatly to the growth, prosperity and power of the State. A perfect net-work of railroads is covering the State, and steam- boats are ploughing new waters, seeking freight and traffic from every locality. Reasonable freights, refrigerators, well-ventilated cars and compartments furnished by railroads and steamboat com- panies, will soon place Florida in advance of Bermuda, the West In- dies, and the Bahama Islands in supplying our great country with early vegetables. In buying new lands the first thing to be done is to clear it of its natural growth. Hummock land can be cleared and made ready for planting at from |25 to |3o an acre. Many get ready at a less price by merely clearing the underbrush and girdling the trees, allowing them to die where they stand, and it is not a rare sight to see vege- tables flourishing in fields filled with towering dead -tree trunks, look- ing like a forest of naked masts. This latter method is not advisable A LIST OF THEM. 27 where groves are to be planted. Pine lands may be cleared most easily and with the least expense by digging down to and chopping off the roots of the tree and causing it to fall. This method gets rid of all stumps at once, and makes land that yields most abundantly. Some settlers, with lands which they are in no great hurry to clear, operate by the above method, except that they only chop off the lateral roots of the tree, leaving the tree to fall and tear up the tap root by the force of the wind, which invariably does its work in the course of a few days. By this method the trees may be gradually removed at one's leisure. The land in Alachua county is of such a mellow nature that it is seldom uecessary to subsoil. Lands requir- ing fertilizers are very suscei3tible to them, and are easily wrought up to a high degree of richness. The pine lands are often benefited by them, and yet no great amount of fancy fertilizers are used by the farmers here, except in extensive vegetable growing. Still it is a well-known fact that whether in the North, South, East or West, the lands where fertilizers are most judiciously used are the most pro- ductive. The same care given to land in Florida that is given to land in New England will produce far better results and at a less expense, as it is more easily tilled and labor is less expensive. The following are among the many fruits and vegetables that are successfully cultivated and grown in the Eden of the South: Oranges, pomegranates, grape fruit, bananas, lemons, peaches, ap- ples (rare), Le Conte pears, figs, grapes, guava, blueberries, black- berries, huckleberries, strawberries, rice, arrowroot, cassava, coon- tie and other starch plants, Irish potatoes, sweet-potatoes, tanyas, cucumbers, egg-plant, cabbages, onions, pumpkins, squashes, turnips, okras, tomatoes, cushaws, melons, radishes, parsnips, peppers, cot- ton, tobacco, sugar-cane, field-peas, gubers, chufas, peanuts, walnuts, pecan-nuts, grasses of various kinds for hay, millets, beggar-louse weed (a substitute for clover which will not grow here), oats, rye and Indian corn. At the Atlanta Exposition in 1881 Florida took the first premium for upland rice, the greater part of which was raised in Alachua county. Vegetable growing, here as elsewhere, requires great care, and in packing and shipping the exercise of good judgment, in order to have the products reach the markets at the earliest possible moment and in good condition, when they then bring the very highest prices. Cotton with the native farmers is the main staple of the county, but the new settlers turn their attention to the edible vegetable produc- tions with greater and most wonderful success. Sugar and syrup is largely made for home consumption. Very little is exported, but 28 ALACHUA PRODUCTS. the time is not far distant when sugar-houses will be established here, when, with the most improved machinery, all classes of com- mercial sugars will be made for export. Cotton factories are found to be most successful when operated where the raw material grows, and it will not be long before their hum will be heard all over the Eden of the South, as they are now heard at Gainesville. The cotton grown in this county is of the Sea Island or long staple variety, and has no superior. Alachua county is not "below" that mythical "frost line," a belief in which is nearly exploded ; therefore truck farmers and orange growers do. at times, have to contend with frosts. Proper attention and care, however, easily averts such rare danger. Some of the largest and most successful oiange groves in the State are in Alachua, and the oldest and the largest tree is in the extreme northeastern part of the county. A nrmber of wild sour groves, which are most hardy, have been transformed, by budding, into the sweetest of fruit, while the many j^oung seedling groves, coming into high bearing all over the county, attest their power to with- stand severe frosts like those of the past year or two. Judge Cessna, with others, from extensive observation is satisfied that the cold, so much talked of and feared, is beneficial than otherwise to orange groves. The cold is sure death to the insects that ravage the trees, and while it causes the trees to throw off their leaves, the fruit is much better for it the following spring. A terribly severe winter, like those of 1835 and '69, is, of course, an exception. ALACHUA COUNTY LANDS. The whole State of Florida lies upon a vast bed of coral, raised in the sea and covered with a stratum of sand, largely mingled with pulverized or decomposed coral and sea-shells. Beds of drift and coral rock and petrified wood and bones are found in various parts of Alachua county, as is also a sandstone used in some cases as a substitute for brick and in others as a fertilizer. It contains a large per cent, of phosphoric acid, and when pulverized makes excellent food for fruit and vegetable growth. Blue, yellow, red and white clays are found near the surface in many parts of the county; also green and white marls and chalk. That there is gold beneath the surface of the middle portion of Alachua is no matter of speculation or of doubt. In sinking artesian wells in the public square and at Col. H. F. Button's home in the centre of Gainesville, rich gold-bear- ing quartz were brought up on the drill from a depth of 176 and 190 feet. The first knowledge given to the world that gold was to be GOLD BENEA.TH THE SOIL. W found in Florida was in 1516, when Diego Miruelo visited the Gulf coast section and obtained pieces of gold from the Indians. Rock containing iron ore is found near the Suwanee river. At Arredonda and at Magnesia springs there are large and remarkable deposits of phospliate rock which will, no doubt, be placed upon the market as a fertilizer for orange and other trees. It has been analyzed and surveyed, and there are millions of tons of it, enough to last for a period of 200 years. The area of Alachua county embraces about 80(5,400 acres, or 1,206 square miles. Of this nearly 40,000 acres are improved, and there ALACHUA SINK— "big JUG "—NEAR GAINESVltXE. are about 2,078 acres of school land unsold, which, with the lands for sale by railroads and other companies, offer ample inducements to those who are seeking homes or safe investments. The lands are divided into six classes, as follows : First, second and third-class pine lands, high and low hummock lands and swamp lands. The fertility and durability of even third-class pine lands has been amply proven, and in our chapter on Waldo we even show that pine swampy land is not without great value. That which appears to consist of a white sand soil on third-class pine land^is not all sand 30 ALACHUA LANDS. which is seen by the eye. There is a mixture of finely comminuted bits of shells, or carbonate of lime, which furnishes the plants of such region with potash, one of the most important elements of plant food. All second-class pine lands are productive. Underlying the surface is clay, marl, lime, rock and sand. These lands are easily accessible, productive, cheaply fertilized by cattle, and, by reason of their supposed healthfulness above Immmock lands, are most readily settled upon. The fertility of first-class pine lands is indeed wonderful, while the limit of their durability is still un- known. The surface for several inches is covered with a dark vege- table mold, beneath which to the depth of several feet is a chocolate sand loam, mixed for the most part with limestone pebbles, and resting on a sub-stratum of marl, clay or limestone. The hummock lands are the most productive. Both the high and the low hum- mocks are generally admixed with lime, and the streams running through them are impregnated with it more or less. High hum- mocks do not require ditching or draining. Low hummocks gener- ally require ditching to relieve them of a superabundance of water, especially during the rainy season. They have a deeper soil and are generally regarded as more lasting than high hummocks. Low hummocks are especially fitted for the growth of sugar-cane, as is also the swamp lands, which are held to be the most durably rich lands in Florida. In Alachua county hummock lands predominate, more especially in the belt of land running through the centre of the county from the northwest to the southeastern portion. This belt includes the notable and most beautiful San Felusco hummock, a drive through which, from Gainesville to Newnansville, is one of the most romantic woodland drives that can be conceived of. The open hummock lands are hilly and pebbly, the soil is a dark loam underlaid with a chocolate-colored fiiable clay. On the high mixed pine and hummock lands most of the oldest, largest, and most pro- ductive plantations are situated, although some of the old planters preferred the first-class pine lands for general cropping, using for fertilizers cotton-seed and pea-vines, by which means annual pro- ducts were greatly increased. Every section of Alachua county, as before remarked, is well watered, except a small portion lying be- tween Newnansville and Cow creek. It is a difficult matter for some to understand how land is divided up and designated under Government surveys. It is the old Roman method, which, under our Government, has developed into the most perfect system of land partition which has ever been devised. The system consists in dividing the land into equal squares by lines run- A VERITABLE EDEIf. 31 ning north and south, east and west. One of these squares, the unit of the entire system, is called a township, and is six miles on each side. The township is divided by lines, one mile apart, into 36 sections, each of which is one mile square, and contains 640 acres. Each section is again sub-divided into quarter sections, containing 160 acres. These townships, sections and quarter sections, are all run out upon the ground and marked by appropriate monuments, and correspondingly numbered upon the Government maps. The initial point from which the numbering commences is always fixed at some prominent land mark. A base line is drawn from this point east and west, and a line running north and south called the princi- pal meridian. The lines parallel with the base line are termed the township lines, those parallel with the principal meridian the range lines, and numbered accordingly in squares from the initial point. In the division of Florida lands, Tallahassee, the capital of the state, is the initial point, thus bringing Alachua county between town- ships 6 and 12 and ranges 18 and 33 south and east of Tallahassee. In the creation of Alachua county, Nature seems to have done her very best in the admixture of pine and hummock lands, mottled and streaked with lakes and ponds and streams, under a tropical sun, the heat of which is tempered with constantly flowing sea-breezes, to produce a spot where man might live and enjoy the bounties of the earth with perfect safety to health, life and happiness, and with com- mensurate renmneration for the toil of his hands and brain. Eden was the creation of Nature's wisdom, not of man's inventive genius, and if Alachua county. Midland Florida, is not a veritable Eden, then there is no such place this side of the Great Hereafter. THE LAKE REGION. Op HE LAKE REGION is the eastern half of the county; it in- ^^ eludes the city of Gainesville, AValdo, Hawthorne, Fair- d^ banks, Micanopy, Saludia, Melrose, Banana, Gruelle and Lockloosa, and other small settlements. It is far away from the bleak, damp atmosphere of the coast, and free from the malarial fogs of the large rivers and prairies. There are no real malarial and miasmatic diseases m this section of the State, and, all seasons to- gether, it is as healthy as any soot on the continent where people can live and make a living. The land through all this section is high, slightly rolling, with pine, oak and hickory growth inter- spersed. Where the land is not rich enough for vegetable products, it is excellent for oranges and other fruits, and thus it is inter- spersed as if made to order. GAINESVILLE is the largest and most important city in the State, excepting Jacksonville, Pensacola and Key West. Jackson- ville is the largest of them all, but, situated just over the Georgia line, is only recognized as a distributing point and a shipping i^ort on the St. Johns river. The many new railroads fast being con- structed down the peninsula from more western points will soon take from her a large amount of the travel heretofore compelled to go that way. These new railroads will all touch or connect with Gainesville, which must eventually become the railroad centre of the State. Pensacola, by its extreme western location, is more like a portion of Alabama than of Florida, while Key West, an island at the ex- tremity of a long reef of keys in the extreme eastern part of the State, is almost like a foreign port. Gainesville, therefore, by its peculiar central position on the great peninsula, is destined to be- come, by actual necessity and convenience, the most important city in the State. By reason of this gradually-admitted fact, and the easy means of communication, Gainesville must ere long be made the capital of *the State. It can, to-day, be reached quicker and at a less expense from all parts of the State, than any other city in Florida. It is now the county-seat of Alachua, and the trading centre of the most populous and productive scope of county, enclosed within town- ships 6 to 12 and ranges 16 to 23 S. and E. Its population is about THE LARGEST COTTON-SHIPPING STATION. 83 4,000, which is rapidly increasing, more so at the present time than ever before in its histoiy. The city covers an area of one nnle square, with a new addition known as East Gainesville, while the new town of New Gainesville, closely connecting, with its Hygienic hotel, cottage sanatoriums, and fine business and building lots, will rapidly increase the power, importance and influence of the place, The U. S. Land Office, and the East Florida Seminary, and the Military Academy, are already located here, and it is likewise pro- posed to locate the State Agricultural College in the centre of this great agricultural region. The experiences of the early settlers at Gainesville were fraught with great danger from the Indians, as the whites from Georgia had long been in the habit of entering this section over the Alachua trail and running off the Indians' cattle, which grazed principally on the great Payne's prairie. "Bod" Higginbottom was the first settler here. He came when a young man about the year 1825. His log cabin stood on land now owned by Mrs. Bevill, on West Main street. Here the Indians frequently attempted to burn his cabin, but "Bod" was ever on the alert for them, and their efi'orts were vain. " Oak Hall " was the first house of importance built in Gainesville. It still stands facing East Main street, and is occupied by the U. S. Land Office. It is a large and imposing structure, surrounded by mammoth water-oaks, and must have been, when new, very hand- some. It was the residence of Tillman Ingram, who carried on an extensive plantation at Hog Creek, northwest of the town. Gainesville is the largest cotton- shipping station in the State; the firm of H. F. Button & Co. alone handle one-fourth of all the cotton raised in the State, for which they pay out to the growers annually over .$600,000. Cotton from this firm has the reputation of the very best in the market, the Willimantic (Conn.) Thread Co. being supplied exclusively by them, also other well-known leading establishments. The machinery used in its preparation for the market comprises in- ventions used nowhere else. The cotton ginneries of H. F. Button & Co. are the first great attraction wliich meet the eyes of the trav- eler as he approaches the city on the Transit Railroad from Cedar Keys. They consist of a number of large, substantial-looking build- ings, situated near the depot. The iron foundry of J. Boig, one of the institutions of the city, is also situated near the depot. The mercantile business of the city is centred on four sides of a public square, in the centre of which stands the county court-house — a gloomy-looking building, no great credit to the town, but one in which the records have been kept and justice meted out for thirty 34 GAINESVILLE^ years or more. Diverging from this square, the town is regularly laid out with broad, well-shaded streets, running north, south, east, and west. The town is built upon a slight elevation, on what is known as a black-jack (dwarf red-oak) ridge. These ridges are well known to be healthy, and th e water pure. On these accounts they are sought as favorable locations for settlement. Gainesville is sufficiently removed from the surrounding rich hummock lands to assure good drainage and w^ater, and it is especially recommended by physicians as the most healthful city in Florida. Between the tw-o ridges on which are situated Gainesville and East Gainesville, is an excellent branch of water, known as Sweet-Water Branch. This will doubtless be utilized some day as a natural sewerage or for a water supply. The buildings in Gainesville are principally wooden structures, as they are all over the South, except in metropolitan cities. Hon. L. G. Dennis has a very noticeable two-story brick business block, nicely ornamented, substantial looking, and a credit alike to the enterprise of the owner and of the city. The Council Chamber of the City Government is located in it, where the Mayor's court is also held. It is also occupied by stores and offices, the very prettily furnished office of Capt. Dennis being situated in the northeast corner. After the burning of the old East Florida Seminary building early in the year 1883, the school occupied the uf)per jjortion of the Dennis Block, awaiting the building of the new Seminary. The public square served the purpose of parade ground for the military department, at the four corners of which the bugle calls were sounded each day, giving the city a slight appearance of being under military discipline and rule. The new Seminary Building, situated on East Main street, is a fine brick structure, built at a cost of about $13,000, a large portion of the money having been appropriated by the city, which was bonded for $12,000 for that purpose. Mr. L. A. Barnes has also a fine brick business block in the heart of the city, occui)ied by stores and offices. The County Jail is the only other brick structure in the city, although the front of the Varnum House above the first story is built of that material. The jail occupies a secluded spot just east of the centre of the town. It is two stories in height, of an impos- ing appearance, ornamented with a cupola, and is, interiorly, a well arranged and comfortable affair. This fact, of course, is an assur- ing one ; for while it is not desired that new-comers to Alachua shall be of the class that court the hospitalities of such an institution. PROMINENT BUILDINGS. 35 yet it is well for all to know that, should they by any unf orseen cir- cumstance be unjustly forced to occupy this one for a brief period, they will be cared for in a comfortable and humane manner. Hill's Block, with its annex, the post-office building, is the most conspic- uous wooden structure for business purposes. It contains a large hall in the upper story together with business offices, with a grocery on the ground floor. Roper's Hall is the principal amusement resort in the city. It has a seating capacity for about 500, has a good stage, a drop-curtain, and a small amount of scenery. The most conspicuous building in the city is the County Court- house, previously spoken of. In exterior appearance it is not w^orthy of its prominence ; but a new structure, to be of brick, with fire-proof vaults and other conveniences, has been recommended and strongly urged, and active measures are on foot by the Board of County Commissioners for its erection at no far distant day. It is already suggested by leading minds that it occupy a new position east of the centre of the city, thus leaving in the centre a handsome public square, which might be easily beautified and provided with seats and fountains. The hotels in Gainesville are the Arlington, Varnum, Gainesville, Bevill, Magnolia and American. They are mostly small, and in spite of their number are not adequate to the great demands of the place. The Arlington is the largest, and is a fine and well-kept house, with pleasant rooms and a table suppli^l with the best that the Northern and Southern markets afford. It is one of the best hotels in the State, where i)olite attention is the rule, not the exception, and with capacity for about 200 guests. Many of the rooms open directly out on the broad piazzas overlooking the public square. Here enjoyable hours may be spent ; or, if too cool in the winter season, the large, well-warmed parlors, billiard-halls or reading-rooms offer attrac- tions among refined and agreeable company. Many visitors to the city seek rooms at boarding-houses, and take their meals at the res- taurant of Roth Reynolds, on the corner of East Main street and Alachua avenue, which, though not aspiring to hotel fame, does a large and increasing business the year round. There are many very handsome residences in all parts of the town of various styles of architecture, the larger portion of them being surrounded by fine orange groves and gardens in which temperate, tropical and semi-tropical fruits, plants and flowers grow side by side. The handsomest residence is that of Col. H. F. Dutton, of the cotton-buying and banking firm of H. F. Datton & Co. It is situ- ated on Liberty street, and has a most beautiful garden with lawns 36 GAINESVILLE. aud walks about it, and fountains playing from an artesian well, in the digging of which gold was discovered in goodly quantity at about 190 feet below the surface. Among the other fine residences in town are those of Judge Gillis, Judge T. F. King, J. B. Brown, Geo. W. Sparkman, Mrs. B. H. Thrasher, W. K. Cessna, L. L. Hill, Hon. J. B. Dell, C. F. C. Sanchez, J. H. Goss, Mrs. P. Brown, M. Endell, T. Foster, Mrs. Z. B. Dawkins, Saml. Burnett, Mrs. Singer, Mrs. R. Scarratt, L. A. Barnes, H. C. Denton, J. A. Carlisle, Wm. Austin, W. W. Scott, J. C. Eastman, James Doig, Andrew Howard, Keeler Bros., R. C. McClellan, Mrs. W. J. McCormick, J. R. Post, Dr. Gusten and others. The principal streets of the city are East and West Main streets, running east and west, and Union and Liberty streets, running north and south. These intercept each other in the centre of the city, forming the public square before alluded to. Around this square are clustered the business places of the merchant kings of Alachua, from the doors of either one of which may be seen at a glance the proceedings in the entire square, excepting such portion as may be hidden by the great central object, the court-house. This is the great trading mart of the county, and upon each Saturday this square is filled with the people from the surrounding country who come here to sell tlieir products and to lay in their supplies for the following week. To strangers from the North this is a new and curious sight. Home-made vehicles of every description propelled by mules : lone cows harnessed with ropes into rudely-constructed shafts of primitive-looking go-carts, and driven, maybe, by a buxom- looking country girl in holiday attire and the ornamental accompani- ments, designed, no doubt, to enrapture the heart of some suscept- ible one of the opposite sex. Oxen, loaded with heavy yokes, be- hind which, in a heavily-wheeled oak cart, among boxes, barrels, bags, and numerous unmentionable articles, may l>e seen j^rotruding the head and shoulders of a grim- visa ged mammy or grand-mammy and a half-dozen pickaninnies of every age, size and complexion. Long, vegetable teams, drawn by four or six mules, upon one of which is seated a native Floridian, flourishing his long-lashed, short- handled whip in his peculiarly dexterous manner. Long-legged, aged countrymen in white pants, frock-coat aud tall hat, astride of some cadaverous-looking donkey, loaded additionally with baskets and bags well filled with rich products hanging each side of the saddle, the whole looking, at first sight, as if the man was endeavor- ing to steady the donkey and liis burden with his feet, which nearl}" tou("h the ground. Then women and children of every age, size and MARKET-DAY SCENES. 37 complexion, from the blackest black to the whitest white, from miles around, enjoying this their weekly gala day, talking politics and religion on the corners or in groups in the streets, lounging around upon the curb-stones, and dining at the improvised Satur- day eating-places, here and there located upon the top of some dry-goods box, and attended by the proprietors arrayed in snow- white aprons. These and many other sights greet the eyes upon the streets about the square on Saturday, and are richly enjoyed by visitors who are THE ARLINGTON HOUSE, GAINESVILLE, unused to them. Such quaint-looking sights, however, are fast dying away, by the advent of a new class of people with new ideas and higher ambitions. Engendered by the increased wealth of the natives and their neighbors, and freely scattered among the above described ancient-looking turnouts may be seen the finest styles of northern can-iages, drawn by dapper-looking spans, or buggies with sleet, well-bred horses, accompanied by prosperous orange and vege- table growers, with fashionably-dressed members of their own family or friends ; also gentlemen and ladies in riding habits, seated upon excellent saddle-horses, radiant with pleasure recently enjoyed in cantering over the hummock roads from their happy southern homes to the city. Here around the square may be found the post- 38 GAINESVILLE. oflEice, the bank, the business offices and the stores of the enterpris- ing dealers in all kinds of goods; also, as elsewhere where money is freely dispensed, the incommensurable establishments which exem- plify the biblical declaration that "wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging." To the credit of the proprietors they are well kept and orderly, and minors are not admitted. By the newly-established laws of the State, liquor saloons are placed under the most rigid sur- veillance, whilst the excellent local government and the spirit of morality which pervades the civil and social atmosphere tends to warrant a continuance of peace and quietness even though they should fall into evil hands. Gainesville boasts in mechanical operations of the cotton gins of H. F. Button & Co., the iron and brass foundry of J. Doig & Co., the i^laning-mills of B. C. Drake, the printing-offices of the Bee and the Advocate, with carpenters, masons, etc., and the house and sign-painting establishment of the Keeler Bro- thers. Another planing establishment is to be erected east of the town, also a fruit-canning establishment and a vegetable- crate manufactory, while there is room for many more such enterprises, as well as for a paj[.er mill, an ice manufactory, a fur- nitui-e establishment, machine shops, cotton mills, etc., all of which would find remunerative business under most favorable circum- stances. Among the leading business people of the city are H. F. Dutton and Walter Robinson, of the banking house of H. F. Dutton & Co.; James Doig, founder; B. C. Drake, mill owner; L. G. Dennis and Leonard WalUs, lumber merchants; Philip Miller, grocer; Rawlins & Wilson, real estate agents; T. Foster, grocer; J. C. Ryder, proprietor of the Arlington House; General Varnum, of the Varnum House; McClellan & EUis, furniture and hardware dealers; P. M. Oliver, proprietor of the Oliver House and Oliver Park; J. B. Dell, stable-keeper ; J. C. Eastman, stationer and periodical dealer; Siegler & Phiefer, grocers and dry-goods dealers; C. B. Dodd, tinware and housefurnisher; Dr. A. J. Vidal, druggist; Mr. and Mrs. F. X. Miller, dry and fancy goods and milliners; W. N. Wilson, confec- tioner; C. A. Sheldon, grocer and fruit dealer; Hampton & Jordan, insurance agents; End el & Herman, clothing dealers; Finley & Hampton, attorneys-at-law ; Roth Reynolds, caterer; Dr. McKinstry, and Dr. Phillips, physicians; Miss Maggie Teabeau, private teacher; B. Klein, grocer and dry-goods dealer; Halliday & Rush, real estate agents; Robb, Lambeth & Seigier, of the Alachua, Florida, Improve- ment Co.; C. L. Fildes, Henry Varnum and J. C. McCreary, journal- ists; J. R. Post, jeweler; McMillan & Miller, druggists; Matheson & PROMINENT PEOPLE OF GAINESVILLE. 39 McMillan, dealers in real estate ; Crawford & Jackson, meat and provision dealers; Stej)lien Ross, shoemaker; Keeler Bros., painters; G. K. Broome, general merchandise; Chestnut & Clinton, grocers; P. Martinez, cigar-maker; Mrs. Roth Reynolds, under- wear and patterns; M. Endel, dry-goods dealer; R. E. Shivery, tailor; J. O. Cromwell, dentist; E. C. McMahon, brick mason; P. H. Young, architect and conveyancer; T, Droomgool, cigar dealer; and others. Among the most influential of the legal and public men of Gainesville are: Hon. T. F. King, Judge of the Circuit Court; Hon. J. C. Gardner, Judge of the County Court; Hon. J. B. Dell, of the State Senate; Hon. L. G. Dennis; Hon. B. Rush, and Hon. M. M. Lewey, members of the State Assembly; L. A. Barnes, Register, U. S. Land Ofi&ce; Hon. Samuel Burnett, Mayor of the city; H. F. Dutton, President of the City Council; Prof. E. P. Cater, President of the East Florida Seminary; Hon. J. H. Roper, President of the Seminary Board of Education; J. A. Carlisle, Clerk of the Circuit Court; Judge W. W. McCall, the leading criminal lawyer in the State; Samuel Winges, Assessor; H. C. Denton, Collector; H. F. Day, Agent of the Florida Transit R. R. , and Chairman of the Board of Health; Reverends F. Pasco, W. H. Waugh and E. Ferguson. These and many others whom the writer would mention with pleas- ure, did space permit, are among the leading citizens of Gainesville. They all have the interest of Alachua county at heart, and letters addressed to any one of them would doubtless receive in response a hearty endorsement of the many facts mentioned in thia book, and would lend valuable additional aid and information to encourage those seeking homes in Florida. The larger portion of the peojDle men- tioned above own orange groves or vegetable farms in various parts of the county. This city can boast of as skillful physicians, as able lawyers, and as conscientious, God-serving clergymen as any in the South, while the educational institutions in its midst furnish a goodly sj)rinkling of professors in the various branches of learning, and have created a community well disposed and ambitious for the highest attain- ments; likewise attracting a class of new^ people who delight in ethical advancement. In educational facilities no other city in the State stands so high. There is the East Florida Seminary (elsewhere spoken of), Eastman's Chateau-briant, Miss Tebeau's School, Miss Johnson's School, the public Schools for white children, and the Union Academy for colored children. 40 GAINESVILLE. The Chateau-briant is the private enterprise of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Eastman, the latter having been a prominent teacher in the city for several years. A very handsome building has been erected on Gordon street, 42 x47 feet, with a piazza at the south, west and north sides. The interior is arranged in every way for convenience as a Ladies' Boarding-school. The rooms on the first floor are a parlor and a class-room, which can be used as one for entertainments, examina- tions, etc., with two similar rooms across a wide hallway, the largest for the study-room of the older scholars, the other for the Kinder- garten department. On the second and third floors each, are eight dormitories for the young lady students, all of which have means of heating either by fireplace or stove, and a room for the resident lady teachers. The house is built and furnished in the finest man- ner, and the institution is a creditable one to both the city and the State. Miss Tebeau's school is likewise a private school, where boarding or day pupils are received in the primary, intermediate and colle- giate branches of an English course of education, with music included. Miss Tebeau is a successful teacher, enterprising and thorough. The Union Academy, the leading school for colored children, is situated in the northern part of the city. It was established at the close of the war by the Freedmen's Bureau, the land upon which the building stands (one acre) having been pur- chased with money contributed by the colored people. It will accommodate 300 pupils, and is supplied with five teachers. Through the efforts of Hon. Matthew M. Lewey, member of the Legislature, from this county, a normal department was estab- lished, and is supported by an annual appropriation of |3,000 from the State. In the county there are thirty or forty other schools for the colored children exclusively, supported by the State, and principally taught by colored teachers. These schools manifest great progress, and are forerunners of great good. The colored population in the city, are, for the most part, of the advanced intelligent order. They are good citizens, industrious, orderly, and self-supporting. Among their number are able lawyers, teachers, merchants, tailors, boot and shoe-makers, bakers and cigar-makers. All but the first three have a monopoly of their respective trades. The interests of public education are in charge of a Superintendent, and a Board of Public Instruction. The Superintendent, Prof. Sheats, is located at Gainesville. SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 41 There are four churches in Gainesville, at whose shrine the whites worship. They are the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Episcopal. The present Presbyterian church was erected on the 1st of December, 1859, |1,200 having been raised in Florida and South Carolina for the purpose. It was dedicated the following year, and for a year or two was the only church-building in the town. The civil war paralyzed the mission enterprise, which was not revived until the fall of 1864. No Presbyterian Church had been organized here until March, 1867, when thirteen persons were enrolled with two elders, Dr. W. S. Dudley and Mr. Joseph Spencer. Since then, the ruling elders have been Messrs. J. B. Brown, J. D. Matheson,W. Wilson; the brothers, Lackey, Wm. Bryant, E. P. Cater, J. C. East- man, C. A. Sheldon and Dr. J. A. Vidal. Dr. Vidal, Prof. Cater, Captain Sheldon, and Messrs. Eastman and Matheson now consti- tute the Court of Christ. The Rev. W. J. McCormick, who had long been doing missionary work in the State, was regularly chosen as pastor in the spring of 1869, and filled the office until his death in July, 1883. Services are held regularly on Sunday morning and evening with Sabbath-school in the afternoon. At the last meeting of the Presbytery of Florida, this school was called the banner school. The superintendents are Messis. Mathe- son and Cater. The singing at tliis church is the finest in the city, the choir consisting of Messrs. Fitch Miller, Orville Bailey, Misses Bessie and Sophie McCormick, Miss Tadje Bailey and Mrs. McCormick, led by Mrs. French, teacher of music at the East Florida Seminary, and accompanied by a fine Estey organ. Repairs upon the church are contemplated, also the building of a parsonage. The Methodist Society was organized in 1854. Services were held in the court-house. The present church building was built in 1875, the previous building, built in 1859, having been so badly damaged during the war, by the U. S. Government, as to render it unfit for further use. The church lot was donated to the church by the County Commissioners in 1857. The following is the list of pastors: Reverends J. K. Glover, J. J. Seally, J. C. Ley, J. M. Bridges, Wm. Davis, O. A. Myers, J. G. Worley, J. O. A. Sparks, E. Crum, A. A. Robinson, S. Gardner, R. H. Burnett, O. Eady, H. F. Phillips, S. B. Smitteel, A. F. McCook, J. B. Johnston, J. P. DePass, and the present, F. Pasco. At the present time the membership of the church is 85. The First Baptist Church was organized in 1874. The present church-building was erected in 1875, through the efforts of Mrs. T. 43 GAINESVILLE. C. Ellis and Mrs. Judge Dawkins, on a lot purchased with money obtained by the sale of a lot adjacent to the M. E. church lot, which had been presented to the society by Dr. R. Y. H. Thomas. The only pastors have been the Rev. J. H. Tomkies and the present pastor, Rev. C. V. Waugh. The latter was called to take charge of the church in December, 1876, when the membership was but 19. The present membership is 70, and has been 96, which number has been reduced by removal and death. J. H. Avera and Robert Mc- EASTMAN'S CHATEAU-BRIANT at GAINESVILLE. Clellan are the deacons, the latter being also Superintendent of the Sabbath-school, T. B. Ellis is secretary of the society. In addition to the regular Sunday services, prayer-meetings are held every Tluirsday night. Connected with this church, are the Ladies' Benevo- lent Association, the Ladies' Mission Society and the Children's "Lottie Moon" Mission Society. There are four churches at which the colored people worship, two Baptist, one Methodist Episcopal and one African Methodist Episco- pal. The preachers are in their order of churches, the Reverends E. SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS. 43 Ferguson, S. Gray, Aug. Waters and R. E. Shivery. Churches of the colored people are scattered all over the county, averaging, at least, three to a precinct. Among the other societies and organizations in the city, are the Free Masons, the Knights of Honor, the Cemetery Society, the Gainesville Guards, the Eureka Fire Association and the Little Giant Fire Company. The Guards number about 30 members, and are commanded by E. P. Cater, captain, with J. A. Carlisle as first lieutenant. Their uniform consists of a red coat, blue pants, and a helmet. The Eureka Fire Association consists at present of about 50 members, with Matthew M. Lewey, president; N. M. Clinton, vice-president; J. Z. Feltner, clerk; and Irwin Haynes, treasurer. The Little Giant Fire Company is made up of the active members of the Fire Association, with J. A. Parker, captain; Walter Desverney, lieutenant; Jas. Roberts, foreman; Jas. McClel- lan, assistant-foreman, and other efficient officers. The Little Giant Fire Engine is a very pretty hand - machine. It was presented to the above organization by the Hon. L. G. Dennis, of Gainesville. A horse railroad comx^any has been organized under the title of the Gainesville Street Railway Company, with J. W. Ashby, presi- dent; R. L. Robb, general manager; and L. G. Dennis, as secretary. It will be one of the most valuable acquisitions to the city when in full operation, and when the line is fully completed will furnish winter visitors with fine trips to both Alachua and Newnan's lakes. There are numerous orange groves in the very heart of the city of Gainesville. Mr. F. X. Miller, one of the most enterprising busi- ness men, has the largest. Near his residence on Union Street, he has a small bearing grove of fine nine-year old trees, and next to it a three-acre grove just coming into bearing. Bej'^ond this he has another three-acre grove just beginning to bear. Adjoining that, a six-acre grove with three to eight-year old trees, and beyond that a six-year old grove, with trees from seven to nine years old, among which are planted Peento x^eaches, which yield annually rich crops. These groves are situated on high land, in dry soil, and are within a minute's walk of the public square; they are so arranged that public streets may be run through them without disturbing the trees. They are^under the best cultivation, and visitors delight in looking over them. He fertilizes with the cow-pea turned in with a plow; also with ash element and cotton-seed meal, one-half ton to the acre put about the trees. Mr. Miller looks upon his groves as a sort of 44 GAINESVILLE. life-insurance security for his wife and children, to say nothing of the benefits which he himself receives from it. Mr. J. A. Carlisle, the efficient clerk of the Ch'cuit Court, has a fine four-acre grove about Ms residence in the vicinity of Mr. Miller's groves. In addi- tion to the orange, he has some fine Red Astracan apple and Bartlett pear trees. Mr. Phillip Miller, a relative of F. X. Miller, in addition to carry- ing on one of the largest and most successful grocery stores in Alachua county at Gainesville, cultivates, near Alachua lake, 13 acres of land. Here, in the midst of a young orange grove, he raises strawberries, corn, tomatoes, potatoes and other garden vegetables for his own trade, besides making shipments to the North. While he is thus making money with the present products, a fine orange grove is growing upon his land, wliich, in a few years, will give him an independent fortune. He, too, is one of the most enterprising men of Gainesville. Mr. L. K, Rawlins, another young, rising and progressive man, in addition to his real-estate business in connection with P. F. Wil- son, at Gainesville, is an extensive vegetable grower. He plants eighty acres near the lake and has started a 10-acre orange grove and a nursery, and is constantly adding to his possessions. Mr. Rawlins came to Gainesville in 1880 to escape death from rapid consumption. He is now apparently well. Among the enterprises credited to Gainesville, is Oliver Park, a very popular resort for the people all along the line of the Florida Southern Railroad. It is situated near Alachua lake, in the vicinity of the Sink. It is the great picnic resort, and the proprietor, Mr. P. M. Oliver, leaves nothing undone in catering to the enjoyment of its patrons. Musical, dramatic, and variety entertainments, dancing, swinging, bathing, glass-ball shooting, and such other amusements are among the many attractions presented, while Nature has done her full share in making it a place where tired humanity can seek rest and recreation. Mr. Oliver is the proprietor of the Oliver House in Gainesville, and a large owner of fine lands and orange groves. Mr. B. C. Drake may be justly ranked as one of the most success- ful men in Gainesville. He came here from Massachusetts in Janu- ary, 1871, a stranger and almost penniless. He first engaged in journalism, which business he followed for about six years. In the meantime he started a planing-mill, and finally gave his time wholly to that. In spite of some losses sustained by fire and other- wise, he is now numbered among the most substantial business CITY OFFICIALS. 45 men of the city, and a living illustration of the fact that "industry- will thrive." He now operates a planing-mill, grist-mill, rice-mill, and jobbing shop. The converting of the Spanish moss, which grows abundantly from Florida trees, into a substitute for hair to be used in upholster- ing, is becoming quite an industry. There are several of these establishments in and about Gainesville. The local government of the city is in the able hands of S. J. Burnett, Mayor; H. F. Button, President of the City Council; L. A. Barnes, R. Shivery, J. T. McMillan, J. O. Cromwell, T. C. Gass, W. G. Robinson, N. M. Clinton, and W. K. Cessna, members of Council. J. n. Davies, Marshal. A. J. Arnow, post-master. NEW GAINESVILLE. ^XrVc EW GAINESVILLE occupies a most beautiful and healthy site, on high, rolling pine land, just east of East Gainesville. It is being rapidly built up and improved. The plan of New Gainesville, with its hotel and surroundings, is most artistic. The hotel in the centre, surrounded by blocks of cottages built in the form of a circle, with openings between the blocks at the four car- dinal points. Outside of this circle of cottage blocks, will be a circular carriage way 100 feet wide, to be known as the Arena, on the outside of which, on both the east and west sides, will be two blocks of buildings for business purposes. On both the north and south sides will be two parks, designated respectively Oak and Pine parks, on the south; Magnolia, and Orange park on the north; the hotel, cottages and parks forming a bird's-eye figure like the centre and two sides of a Maltese cross. Radiating from the centre are various avenues, eighty feet wide, and extending to the town limits, where they connect with streets forty feet wide, which bound the town on all sides. Running north from the centre is Denver avenue; northeast. Savannah avenue; northwest, Orleans avenue; southeast, Chicago avenue; southwest, Brooklyn avenue. East and west, ex- tending from the centre of the city of Gainesville, through the Arena, on either side of the circle of cottages, and thence on to Newnan's lake, is Alachua avenue, the i)rincipal street in the city. It is 100 feet wide, and will be the shell-road to Newnan's lake. Its entire length is four and one-half miles. The streets running parallel with Alachua avenue on the south are numbered South First, South 46 NEW GAINESVILLE. Sliii ma a3ftN3a 3riN3 / <;> 133Ui.S a . . ,Z>1, ■''■lliiiip fe LJ •^ (O => - < ^ THE HYGIENIC HOTEL. 47 Second, etc. Those on the north, are North First, North Second, etc. Streets running across the avenues in the opposite direction, or north and south, are lettered A, B, C, etc., commencing on the west or Gainesville side. These streets, like the avenues, are all eighty- feet wide, and are lined with building lots of 50x100 feet. On Alachua avenue, east of the Arena, there are a number of building lots 25x110 feet, for business purposes, in addition to those in the Arena. There are, altogether, over 600 of both sizes in the city, which are offered at from |25 to $800, according to location. These prices are, of course, only for the present. The hotel to occupy the centre of the circle described, is to be built at a cost of $100,000, and will be known as the Hygienic Hotel. It will consist of a central rotunda four stories high, with a cupola, and four three-story wings, extending north, south, east and west. It is designed for a health resort, and will be fitted throughout with all the modern conveniences for first-class guests. Outside piazzas and balconies will extend around the whole building for promenad- ing, and beautiful paths and lawns will take up the intervening space enclosed by the circle of cottages. These cottages will be sanitoriuin-annexes to the hotel, to be rented by the month, season, or year to individuals or families who desire retirement from among the general guests. A regular body of skilled physicians will be in attendance at the cottages and hotel, if desired. There will be one of each school of medicine, so that guests can have the best treat- ment, if necessary, under a physician practicing that system in which the patient has the greatest faith. Patients will be taken to board, and such treatment included for a specific sum per week, graded according to the selection of apartment. It is an institution that has long been needed, but has now become an actual necessity, as every year the reputation of this locality for health and sanitary purposes increases hither the travel of sick and ailing people. A large proportion of the people who visit here find it so beneficial to health, and the country so delightful, that they have become actual settlers. The building of the town about the Hygienic Hotel is a grand idea, which exactly meets the wants of invalids and pleasure seekers from all parts of the world, as here they can, in a locality selected especially for their needs, build them a home at a small cost, rent houses and live and engage in active business pursuits, where, in addition to climatic advantages, they can be under the care of the most skilled physicians. Just outside the town, commencing one-quarter mile from the hotel towards the lake, are 112 five-acre lots, which can be purchased 48 NEW GAINESVILLE. at from $250 to $500 each, for farming and gardening purposes, orange groves or nurseries. Thus persons can live at the hotel or in the town, regain their health and strength, while, at the same time, they can have fine gardens or orange groves growing within easy distance, which they can visit each day, building up a fortune whilst building up their health. Climatic benefits are here secured in ac- cordance with individual temperaments. All persons are not bene- fited alike in the same localities. The climate here is best adapted to persons of a nervous temperament and its combinations. There are many people who come to Florida who are not benefited as greatly as expected. These have always been people of lymphatic and bilious temperaments. The climate here is of a soothing nature. It is quieting to the nerves, subduing them proportionately with the rest of the system which is allowed to strengthen. Those whose nervous force is already weak, and the rest of the system strong, lose here even the little nervous force they have, and are thus likely to realize injurious effects. The site of this new hotel, with its surrounding town, is on rolling pine land within eighteen inches of being the highest point between Fernandina and Cedar Keys, which line crosses the very backbone of the peninsula. It is declared by the ex- perience and observation of old residents and physicians to be absolutely healthy and the water pure. It is particularly bene- ficial to all pulmonary complaints; and to those of a nervous tem- perament, if not too far gone when they make the trial, it is absolutely beneficial. The plan of the Hygienic Hotel and Sanitary Cottages were con- ceived and promoted by, and are in charge of, the Alachua Improve- ment Company, of which R. L. Robb, M.D., is president, John E. Lambeth is secretary, and Dr. W. L. Seigler is treasurer. The com- pany have a capital of $180,000, with the object of developing Alachua county in general, and Gainesville in particular, by encour- aging every creditable industry desiring to locate or become estab- lished here. A large canning establishment, to be located in the new town, together with the Gainesville Street Railway, were the out- growths of the efforts of this company. The line of the Transit Railroad extends along the western border of the new town, be- tween it and East Gainesville, and the point where it crosses Alachua avenue is the natural depot-point of all the railroads run- ning into Gainesville. The wisdom of the railroad officials have long recognized this fact, and the union passenger station will be there built. '4^' A DELIGHTFUL SECTION. 49 WALDO. I ALDO is a thriving, enterprising town, about five miles from the extreme northeastern boundary line of the county, on the main line of the Transit Railroad at the junction of the Peninsula Railroad and the western terminus of the Santa Fe canal, 84 miles from Fernandina, 56 niiles from Jacksonville, and 15 miles from Gainesville. Its population at the present time is about 500, with a prospect of rapidly increasing, as it is daily being demon- strated that the lands in and about the corporate limits are as well adapted to fruit-growing as any in the State, while for vegetables of certain kinds it is also most productive. It has also the attrac- tions of water facilities, either for fishing, boating, or pleasure excursions, on the Alto and Santa Fe lakes. Its transportation facilities — provided by the Transit and the Peninsula railroads, both operated by the same company, and the Santa Fe canal — are unexcelled. The incorporated town comprises about 1,000 acres of high, level, piney land, surrounded by rolling land of the same nature, with here and there a cypress swamp. The soil is harder and less sandy than farther south, while in spite of the fact that a hard sub-soil is reached within a foot to 18 inches of the surface, oranges grow most abundantly, the trees attaining great age. The orange and lemon trees about Waldo have scarcely ever been injured by the frosts that have affected trees 100 miles farther south. The oldest and largest trees in the State, and one which passed uninjured through the severe winters of 1835 and 1869, are standing within three miles of the town, at Fort HarleJ^, under which head, further on, we give a description of the latter tree. The region about Waldo is the highest between Fernandina and Cedar Keys, and is therefore considered absolutely healthy. The majority of the people are whites from all parts of the country. Tliere are about six miles of streets, and one-fourth of the town is planted to oranges. The business portion of the town faces the line of railroad, comprising about a dozen stores, several boarding- houses and hotels, including the Waldo and the Sunnyside houses, a carriage manufactory and blacksmith-shop, a wheelwright- shop, cotton-gin and grist-mill, three saw-mills within three miles of the town, two school-houses, five churches, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, and Congregational, a newspaper, express and telegraph-office, a daily mail in four different directions, and a money-order post-office. Also a large cigar manufactory, employ- ing some 30 or 40 hands. The headquarters of the Santa Fe 50 ENTERPRISING MEN OF WALDO. Canal Company are located here, the engineer and superintendent, Mr. Ned E. Farrell, being one of the most enterprising of men, and a leading spirit in the advancement and prosperity of Waldo. He has a very fine residence within a short distance of the railroad depot, surrounded by a beautiful garden filled with luxuriant tropi- cal plants and trees. Mr. Farrell commenced here five years ago, and raised 1,000 orange trees from the seed; these he budded, and about 50 of them are in bearing. He has 100 LeConte pear trees, 100 peach trees, 50 Japan plum trees, etc., besides several varieties of grapes, and a nursery with 20,000 orange trees. From three acres of land he sold $1,000 worth of orange trees, besides raising thereon what are now in his own grove. He fertilizes with green crops, buckwheat, cow-pea, etc. He has one of the prettiest places in Waldo. Among the other leading business men of the place are Raulerson & Ambrose, David L. Ferguson, D. Hicks, D. L. Renault, M. D., and his sons, E. Renault & Bro. Raulerson & Ambrose do a fine business in general merchandise, and are heavy cotton buyers, pay- ing the highest cash prices. This firm and D. L. Ferguson are the leading merchants of the place and carry on a great trade in all kinds of goods, with the farmers for miles around. Mr. Raulerson is a native of Florida, and has been in business here since the close of the war. He also carries on a farm, raises cattle, and has an orange grove of six acres in the town, in which are some 500 seed- ling trees, eight years old. Mr. Raulerson, in caring for his trees, believes in allowing the lower branches to grow and shade the trunk, which is contrary to the ideas of many northern men, who believe the lower limbs should be trimmed so as to let in the air and sunshine. His trees are excellent bearers, yielding several thousand oranges and show what seedlings can do. He has the representa- tive seedling grove in this section. He uses only pea vines for fer- tilizer. His partner, Dr. Ambrose, is a native of Virginia, and has been in Florida since 1875. The first five years he was engaged in agriculture and merchandising in the southern part of the State, but his wife and children, natives of Florida, were such sufferers from malaria that he moved to Waldo for their health, where he has remained, his family being free from their malady since re- moval. Dr. Ambrose is a live, energetic man, and one of the influ- ential citizens of the place. Only a year ago he built a very pretty residence within easy distance of his place of business, where he has a good orange grove of vigorous bearing trees. These trees are ten years of age, and are as free from insect pests as any the writer has BUSINESS MEN OP WALDO. 51 seen. At the time of building his house the trees that are now in his front yard were covered with insects, but he soon stopped their ravages by washing the trees in a solution of ammonia, soap and kerosene. Another good wash for trees which he has tried is made of soft soap, carbolic-acid and lime. This forms a whitewash with which he whitewashes the trees. It is his belief that a little spider, which weaves its web in a cluster of fruit and leaves, creates a shell- back insect which is very destructive. There is also a mealy-bug and a red-rust which gets on the limbs, and is sure death to the tree THE RESIDENCE OF DR. AMBROSE AT WALDO. unless removed. The doctor is an excellent gardener, and among other things, has raised some mammoth onions, thirty-two of which make a bushel. If these could be kept until the fall he thinks there would be great profit in onion-raising for the home markets. Dr. Ambrose has a son about five miles from Waldo, who is carrying on a 200-acre farm, where he raises cotton and corn, principally, and owns about 100 head of cattle. Mr. D. L. Ferguson is a young man from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He came here only four years ago, and engaged in business. He is the successor of Fergu- son Bros., and does a large business and owns a young 10-acre orange grove which will soon yield him a rich return. He has also 52 WALDO. a good home surrounded by orange trees and other tropical fruits. His enterprise and success show what a young man with small means, but plenty of energy and pluck, can do in Florida in a short time. The stores here do an average business of about |3,500 a month. Mr. D. Hicks, the carriage manufacturer, is located near the depot. He manufactures all kinds of carriages adapted to the uses of this country, made of the toughest stock. He makes fancy carriages, business wagons and fami wagous with the greatest care, receiving orders from all parts of the State. Mr. Hicks is also a practical trimmer, and takes great pride in his personal attention to the trim- ming of carriages of his own make, as well as those brought to him for repairs. He has a blacksmith's forge in connection with his business, and his work compares most f avorably»with the best in the country. Like all the business men and residents of Alachua county, Mr. Hicks has a fine orange grove. He has some 400 trees on from 8 to 10 acres, most of which are in bearing, and which will soon give him a generous income aside from his regular business. Dr. L. Renault is doing much to build up Waldo and its beautiful surroundings. He is a physician and surgeon from the Faculty of Paris, France, but more recently from Missouri. He has a fine residence about one and one-half miles from the town, on the line of the railroad, also valuable property in town, where he carries on an apothecary store in addition to his practice. He owns a fine grapery and an orange grove containing 2000 trees, which are the results of four and one-half years of improvement of swampy land, which 'was so wet at the time of purchase that it was deemed by others to be worthless. It is now thoroughly dry and productive, and he receives an income from the products sufficient to pay all the ex- penses of the place. The doctor treats chronic and female com- plaints, furnishing accommodations for his patients who come from a distance. A large number of his friends from the West, through his instrumentality, are making arrangements to locate in and about Waldo. His sons carry on the city market under the firm name of Edw. Eenault & Bros. , and partaking of the enterprising spirit of their father, are valuable acquisitions to the town. The eldest has a 20-acre orange grove by the side of his father's filled with vigorous- growing trees. Among the other noted groves in and about Waldo, are those of C. K. Dutton, S. Z. Kennard, Thos. D.Williams, Dr. M. A. Gushing, Mrs. Sparkman, Robt. Campbell, S. F. Lewis, W. T. Jones, C. L. NOTED GROVES IN WALDO. 53 Thigpen, Thos. Smith, Messrs. Stager, Dale, Neal, Beck, Iram, Godbey, Atwater, Thomas, Fogg, Rixford, Richie, Muri^hy, Pettit, Geo. W. Munich, Capt. Cole, and Mrs. Chadwick. The Livingstone grove is one of the most remarkable in the county. The trees are only three years from the budding on two year stocks and are bearing heavily. The land of this grove (20 acres) was saw-palmetto and cypress swamp-land purchased by Mr. Livingston three years ago from the time of writing, for $G00. It has a hard-clay subsoil, only 18 inches from the surface, and was then uncleared. It is now blooming with rich-bearing orange trees of every variety. Usually, young, vigorous and thrifty growing trees are not great bearers, but Mr. Livingston is of a scientific and experimental mind, and spends the greater part of his time among his trees testing all sorts of new ideas; so much so is this betrayed in his work, that there are hardly two trees in the grove that are planted and cared for alike. Some are planted on the natural level, some on mounds, and some are enclosed in a sort of box arrange- ment, made of log sides with the earth filled in, with both hollowed and elevated centres w^here the tree stands. With some, the lower limbs are trimmed off, with others the lower limbs are allowed to cover the trunks, and yet all seem to do equally well except a few which are nearly killed by the use of some fancy remedy for insects. Those planted on the cypress- swamp land ditched, are doing won- derfully. He has some lemon trees of the Lemon of Genoa variety, thi-ee years from the bud, on seedling stock two years old, which show at one time four different stages of bearing, from the bud to the ripened fruit. Persimmon trees two years from the bud aver- aged eighty-five persimmons a tree, their average weight being one pound. The Homosassa orange does the best, showing good stocks and healthy. The Tangerine bear way into the stock. Only domestic fertilizers and corn-stalks are used. Mr. Livingston's grove may be properly termed an experimental grove. He is a careful and per- sistent worker, and believes that the groves will pay for all the attention given them by increased quantities of fruit. He grows with success in his garden the old New England crook-necked squash, and is experimenting with various grasses. Para Grass, Genuine Bermuda and Bermuda grass all do well, but no grass w411 grow here with exhaling glands which exhale the moisture. Mr. Livingston came here from Cairo, 111. Dr. M. A. Gushing is a man well along in years, but with a wonderful intellect, and hale, hearty and robust. His long silvery hair and beard, his one-story habitation, and his surrounding picket 54 WALDO. fences caused him, in his little clearing in the pine forest, to appear to the writer like a veritable Robinson Crusoe, but haj^py and con- tented in the enjoyment of his happy home in company with his estimable wife, who enters with all the zeal of a good helpmate into the enterprising spirit of all his efforts. Dr. Gushing is a native of Massachusetts, and came to Waldo in 1879, with very small means. He bought 40 acres of swamp land, and when he commenced to clear it and build upon it, it was remarked that the old gentle- man was going out there to starve. On the contrary, however, he made a good living on it from the first, and has now a piece of dry and valuable j^roperty, sliowing more conclusively what can be done upon the swampy lands of Alachua county than anything heretofore attempted. Dr. Gushing cleared and cultivated his land without assistance, and has never used a horse, mule, ox or cow to plow it, doing the work with an axe, a grub-hoe, and such hand implements, backed by energy, pluck, and a wise head, and l;e now has a grove of orange, peach, pear, plum, persimmon, lemon and date trees, besides quantities of various varieties of grapes, tea-plants, etc. He plants his trees on a ridge, and plants corn on a ridge between the rows and fertilizes by putting the cornstalks into the ditches between, and covering them with dirt. The first year he fertilized with cotton seed. His first trees were set out In 1880 (35). He has now 119 in all. On three fifths of an acre of peach trees, he got 60 bushels: 5 bushels of these in the spring of 1883, brought $9 a bushel; the remainder brought |5 a bushel. TJie doctor is so happy in his Florida home that he calls it Paradise, and we doubt if his wife could be temiDted to eat any forbidden fruit that would cause him to be driven out of it. Messrs. H. H. & Thos. D. Williams, father and son, are also from Massacliusetts. They purchased 56 acres of land on the banks of Alto lake, a mile or two from town, and at the end of three years have 1,000 orange trees, 125 pear trees, numerous peach, plum, and persimmon trees, a good house, barn and stable, with horses, cows and poultry. In purchasing and planting this j^lace and building they exhausted their means, but have made a good living each year. The fruits of their toil are now about to be realized by the orange trees which are coming into heavy bearing. This land cost them but $500. Its value now is way up among the thousands, and shows what a few years in Florida, with efforts properly directed, will ac- complish. They have a most delightful home, one of the richest of blessings to man, overlooking the beautiful lake; the younger Wil- ORANGE CULTURE IN WALDO. 55 liams and his wife both energetic and ambitious, the elder Williams and wife in their declining years most emphatically expressing them- selves "happy and contented." Mrs. Deshay, about a mile from the town, is a widow, and a native of Florida. She caught the orange fever some years ago and planted trees, but her husband, who was then alive, scofifed at her foolishness and ploughed them up to make room for cot- ton, otherwise she would have had one of the most extensive groves in the vicinity. Some few trees about the house she man- aged to preserve, and they now tower above the roof of the house, and their golden fruit yield her an annual income which places her above want. Mr. W. T. Cheves, one mile south of the tovrn on the Peninsular Railroad, had a tree which was burned. He cut the trunk off near the ground and budded it. The new growth now measures three feet three inches around the trunk six inches from the ground. It is 17 feet high and has 15 feet spread of branches. It bears 1,500 oranges. Mr. H. B. Heath came here in 1880 from Boston, Mass. He pur- chased a piece of land with 12 or 14 trees on it, but poorly cultivated. The first year these trees yielded an average of 1,000 oranges to a tree. The second year 1,500, and the third year 2,000, which shows the value of good cultivation. E. W. Hunt, from Massachusetts, came here six years ago for his wife's health. They had thought of going to California, but, counting the cost, found they could come to Florida and purchase a home and raise an orange gi'ove cheaper than they could go to California. His wife has recovered her health, and Mr. Hunt is en- thusiastic over the healthfulness of Florida. He has a small grove which yields him a good crop. Messrs. Bethune & Eddington, two young men recently in the English army, jointly own 40 acres of land a few miles from the town, six of which are devoted to oranges. Mr. Bethune is from Toronto, Canada; Mr. Eddington from Argyle, Scotland. Waldo has a good weekly newspaper, the Florida Advertiser, owned and edited by J. B. Johnston, formerly of the Atlanta Con- stitution and the Troy Enquirer. Mr. Johnston, for five months in the winter, is employed as teacher of the public school, when there is an average attendance of 108. In the summer the school is run as a private school, when the attendance is not so large. The city government of Waldo consists of T. M. Cuthen, Mayor; S. J. Kennard, Sr., Clerk and Treasurer, with R. W. Campbell, H. 56 THE FORMER HOME OP THE REDMAN. C. Pettit, D. Hicks, John A. Preston, J. T. Weeks, and A. C. Beck- ham as Councilmen. The Marshal is H. M. Tillis. Post-master, J. M. Barnett. MICANOPY AND EVANSTON. (3^ 1<^ IC ANOPY is situated near the southern boundary line of ♦li^- l\V Alachua county, on the north side of Tuscawilla lake, "^^^^ c) about 15 miles from Gainesville, and four miles from Orange lake. It bears the name of one of the great chiefs of the Seminole Indians. It was formerly an Indian settlement, the home of old King Payne, Micanopy, Osceola, and other noted chiefs of that celebrated tribe of Indians, until the white people became their conquerors and appropriated it to themselves. The Indians had their encampment around a small pond, now owned by J. J. Barr, and the only one in the town. The first white man to settle upon this immediate spot was a Dr. Payne, of Virginia, in 1S35. Judge Wm. Edwards, who owns a large orange grove in Micanopy, is a native of Florida. He was born in the State among the Indians in 1817. His father used to purchase venison of the red men at " one chalk a quarter." The Indians would bring venison to his home, and when Mr. Edwards was away would hang the quarter of meat in a safe place and make a chalk mark, indicating that Mr. Edwards was indebted to them to the amount of 25 cents and would call for it at some other time. The judge was brought up with the young Indians as his play-fellows. Judge Edwards is the pioneer orange grower of East Florida, and, until recently, had received more net money for oranges than any other man in the State. He is now quite feeble, but cultivates 600 orange trees and a large num- ber of Pecan trees. Micanopy is a very pretty town, the streets well and regularly laid out, and the homes of the residents fairly embowered among orange groves. The groves of Micanopy are among the oldest in the State, and are wonderfully prolific and profitable. The growing of this most delicious fruit is the principal employment of most of the Micano- pians, although in one year, in addition to 15,000 crates of oranges, there were 39,000 crates of vegetables shipped from here, and as many more, probably, of both products rotted on the ground or were wasted because of lack of shipping facilities or proper atten- tion. In the raising of oranges the people have fairly reduced the business to a fine art. Surrounding the many beautiful residences in the town are 137 acres planted with orange trees, all in full bearing. HORTICULTURISTS OF MICANOPY. 57 Within a radius of three miles of the centre of the town , which area includes the waters of Tuscawilla lake, there are about 150 orange groves. Among the owners of these rich possessions might be mentioned Judge Wm. Edwards, J. J. Barr, Dr. L. Montgomery, Dr. A. H. Mathers & Son, Harrison Bros., Emerson Bros., Christman Bros., Geo. S. Chamberlain, J. B. Martin, Lewis Selden, J. L. Patton & Co., J. T. McMillan, Judge T. F. King, Dr. E. D. Barnett, W. A. & W. C. Smith, M. L. Wood, Dr. W. Bruce, G. Y. Centre, D. C. Fink, Mr. Judd, R. B. Taylor, J. B. Brown, Moses Freymouth, Capt. D. W. Powell, D. C. Hart, L. H. Johnson, Wm. Shuford, J. W. Williams, Rev. N. A. Bailey, Robt. Hall, Hay good Bros., Mr. Avery, Mr. Slaughter, Mr. Green, Geo. Shuford, I. Jackson, Mrs. J. Simington, Bauknight & Sons, T. McCready, J. W. Carter, L. A. Smith, Rev. J. C. Lee, Riggs & Son, Mrs. Williard, J. Winecroff, Wm. Brice, J. W. Smith, J. McReady, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Wood, Judge Wagner, Miss Grace Elmore, Miss Ellen Elmore, Dr. Marshall, Mrs. Ferguson, J. H. Stokes, Mrs. Knox & Son, McCollum Bros., Capt. Arnow, Carn Bros., H. Peterson, Mrs. Merry, Cornelius Merry, Wm. Avant, Dr. Pardee, A. H. Price, Mrs. Crane, Shuford Bros. , and others. The combined area of these groves amount to 1,050 acres. They will, when in full bearing, approximate at the low estimate of $2.50 a box for the fruit; an annual income of 1 125, 000 to this limited sec- tion of county, to say nothing of the vegetable products. The land here is very fertile, and particularly adapted to the rais- ing of early vegetables for the northern markets. The shipment of vegetables will average one-third of what the orange will, without, in the least, interfering with the growth of the latter if planted on the same land, rather bettering it than otherwise. The country about Micanopy is very interesting and beautiful. Wliile the town, situated on the northern border of Tuscawilla lake, is a level plain, the country about it is undulating and hilly, and is composed principally of hummock lands. There are tw^o hills about two miles south of the town and eight acres apart, from the top of which a very easy conversation can be carried on across the inter- vening plain. The people of Micanopy are mostly independently well-off, largely owing to their departure from the old custom of cultivating field crops alone. Fruit, vine, and vegetable culture combined now occupy their attention. The business of the place has, therefore, most rapidly increased within the past few years. Its rising pros- perity is now assured, as, until very recently, it was four miles from 58 MICANOPY. the nearest railroad statiou. It now has a spur track from the Florida Southern Railroad, and has easy communication which it has never before enjoyed. The building of this spur track is largely due to Dr. E. D. Barnett, one of the enterprising men of the town. There are a number of very fine residences in Micanopy, among which are those of Dr. L. Montgomery, Wm. M. Knox, J. Wine- croff, J. J. Barr, Mrs. Simington, Mrs. M. A. Thrasher, Judge T. F. King, M. Shiretzki, Geo. Y. Centre, Judge Edwards, J. W. Smith, and other's in course of construction. Dr. Montgomery's residence is doubtless the finest in town. It is two stories high, with a two-story cupola, and is built in the finest style of architecture, with every convenience for pleasure and comfort. The house is surrounded with orange groves. The doctor is one of the most enterprising men of Micanopy. He has several groves in the county. He came to Florida, from St. Louis, in 1868, and purchased land in Orange county, fronting on the St. Johns river. During the next two years he went prospecting all over South Florida. Of all places he found Alachua county to be the best in quality of soil, purity of water, and health fulness. The adaptability of this section being so fine for orange-growing and agricultural purposes, he sold out his possessions in Orange county, and settled at Micanopy. He feels to-day more than satisfied with the change of his investment. Twenty-two feet digging on his place reveals nothing but homogenous, or "mahogany" sand, and no clay, so that the roots of his trees have full iDOSsession of the ground. At his residence on the 27th of June, 1883, the thermometer at 2.30 o'clock, stood at 79"^. For the month of June the mean average was 81*^, but with a refreshing breeze anywhere in the shade. The groves of Dr. Montgomery, also of Dr. Mathers, the postmaster, are mentioned under the head of " representative horticulturists, etc." Mr. Barr's grove adjoins Dr. Montgomery's. It has a very pic- turesque street front, the gate-posts consisting of two native oaks. One of Mr. Barr's orange-trees measures six feet around the trunk. He has about 1,000 trees in all, mostly in bearing. Capt. A. W. Powell is another well-known orange-grower and an extensive land-owner. He graduated from the South Carolina Military Institute, and came to Florida just before the civil war. He has a family of healthy children, natives of Florida, some of whom are raising oranges and doing well. Capt. Powell is one of the influential men of the county, and a member of the Alachua Board of Education. He has 1,000 trees just coming into bearing, and owns a large lot of pine lands. MERCHANTS AND OFFICIALS. 59 The town of Micanopy covers an area of one section of land, and is the trading centre of quite a large scope of country. There are seven prosperous stores, three churches, two schools— one for white and one for colored children— and an active Orange-Grower's Asso- ciation, of which the Rev. N. A. Bailey is recorder. The present population is about 600, with every prospect of a rapid increase. Dr. S. D. Smoke is the leading practicing physician. The mercantile business of the town is conducted upon a very wide street on the lake side of the town. The stores all carry on a good business, catering to the farmers and fruit-growers for miles around, who, as elsewhere, make Saturday their great day for trad- ing. The trade here is good throughout tlie year, owing to the con- tinuous agricultural resources. Cabbages come early in spring, fol- lowed in turn by beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, long cotton, and end- ing with the orange. Among the most enterprising merchants of the place are J. L. Patton & Co., A. D. Cannon, A. H. Centre & Co., W. M. Knox and J. W. Smith, all of whom carry large stocks of general merchandise. In connection with the post-office, J. Cooper Mathers has a fine apothecary-store, the only one in the place. Dr. Montgomery is engaged in a fire insurance business, and in addition will soon start a bank. He also is interested in cotton buying and owns a cotton-gin and a grist-mill which are kept well employed. A livery stable, a carriage manufactory, two blacksmith shops and a market are among the industries of the town, while there is said to be more work for carpenters and masons than can be properly attended to. Micanopy boasts of one newspaper and two good boarding-houses, the former furnishing the mental, the latter the physical requisites. A fine hotel is contemplated to meet the wants of the increasing de- mands. A beautiful bluff near the town, on the banks of the lake, known as Wagner's bluff, is mentioned as an admirable site, while the centre of the town is more favored by others. The local government consists of the following : A. H. Mathers, Mayor ; D. A. Miller, E. D. Barnett, M. Shiretzki, Thos. McCready, IIami3ton Peterson, John Warren and Peter Wardlaw, members of the Council (four whites, three colored); G. Y. Centre, Town Clerk ; Amos Barber, Marshal; A. H. Mathers, postmaster. EVANSTON is a shipping station on the Florida Southern Rail- road, four miles east of Micanopy. It is near the northern ex- tremity of Orange lake. It has one store and several fine orange groves and vegetable farms in the vicinity. It is about 18 miles from Gainesville. SUCCESSFUL MEN. HAWTHORNE. f|^^AWTHOE,NE is one of the many new towns that have sprung CFl/ into existence by means of the railroads. It occupies high ^^^ rolling piney-land, about 155 feet above the level of the St. Johns river. It is 19 miles east of Gainesville, 14 miles south of Waldo, and is the junction of the Florida Southern and Peninsula railroads. The soil here, though of sandy appearance, contains a vast amount of phosphate-rock and accumulations of vegetable mold or muck. Cattle subsist upon the wild grass the year round. Hawthorne has a fine Baptist Church, with a Methodist Episcopal in contemplation. There are five or six stores, two small hotels, two cotton-gins, two wagon, blacksmith and general jobbing shops, a livery and feed stable, and saw-mills wuthin easy distance. A good Academic school has been recently established. It also boasts of a newspaper, the Hawthorne Graphic. Messrs. T. J. McRae, L. Wertheim, the Adkins Bros. , and R. B. Smith are among the most public-spirited men of the place, each of whom take great interest in matters looking towards the growth of Hawthorne. Mr. McRae carries on a fine general merchandise store, one of the best in the county, and is the agent of the Transit and Peninsula railroads, the Southern Express Agent, and a kind, and courteous gentlemen. He has one of the finest residences in the tow^n, with stable and other conveniences, together with an eight-acre orange grove, with trees from four years old to bearing. Together with his brother, a merchant in Melrose, he has 400 acres on Santa Fe lake, 150 acres of which are cleared, and 10 to 12 acres set with orange trees. Portions of his lots in Melrose can be bought ou reasonable terms by actual settlers. Mr. L. Wertheim, is a general merchant who keeps a full stock of goods. He owns 200 acres of land, 45 of which are under cultiva- tion, and four are planted with orange trees, 75 of which are in bearing. This land is within 2i miles of the Lockloosa depot, six miles from Hawthorne, has a new building, a sugar-mill, and a storehouse on it, and is a good place for a small business. He has also 160 acres within five miles of Hawthorne, with 20 acres under cultivation, well fenced, with a good well of water, and a few bearing orange trees. Mr. Wertheim is the present town clerk. The Adkins Bros, are also dealers in general merchandise, and keep a stock similar to the other above stores. They are men of enterprise, the younger member of the firm being the Mayor of SUCCESSFUL MEN. 61 tlie city. J. R. Adkins, the senior, owns a 24-acre orange grove in town, with trees from four to six years of age. He has 16 acres in a grove near Magnesia Springs, with trees from four years old to bearing. In the same vicinity he owns about 200 or 300 acres. About his residence in Hawthorne he has six acres which he plants to vegetables. From the crop of 1883 he shipped 420 crates to the North, and netted $328. Mr. R. B. Smitli is the representative farmer and fruit-grower of Hawthorne. He carries on a 200-acre farm, 100 of which he plants to corn, Sea-Island cotton and oats. His yield of corn for the season of 1883 was about 15 bushels to the acre. In cotton, his average is one bale to three acres. Of oats, his yield is about 20 bushels to the acre. His crops, with the exception of the cotton, is for home consumption. Of oranges, he has 300 trees on eight acres. He has among them some of the largest trees in the county. His largest tree measures six feet around the trunk, two feet from the ground, and has borne 10,000 oranges in one year. It is 60 feet liigh, and is 28 years old. There are numerous other fine groves about the town. Through either of the above-named gentlemen, information on sjDCcial points or good lands may be obtained. During the years 1878 to 1883, the range of thermometer has been — lowest, 26 deg., highest, 101 deg., in the shade. Water here is abundant at from 12 to 20 feet deep, and is soft and good. No epidemic diseases have ever been known here, all the climatic conditions being favorable to health and longevity. FAIRBANKS AND YULEE. CT^AIRBANKS, about seven miles northeast of Gainesville, and Q/jr, midway between that city and Waldo, is largely composed of ^cT^ northern people, so much so that Mr. C. D. Furman, its lead- ing spirit, and father of the town, is pleased to term it Yankee- town. Mr. Furman came to this place in 1878, when it was a verdant pine forest. He was then 65 years of age. He purchased 1,084 acres of land, and laid out a town, and sold it out in 20-acre lots, making it a condition in all his bills of sale that no liquors should ever be sold on the place. Mr. Fairbanks, for whom the town is named, came to Florida 40 years ago, and was one of the commissioners of the Arredonda grant. He is the largest tax-payer in the State, and is publisher of the Fernandina Mirror. 63 GROWING PLACES. f Mr. C. H. Furman, son of the founder of the town, is, like his father, an indefatigable worker. He has a pretty cottage east of the railroad, with 40 acres of land set out with orange and peach trees. The elder Furman has a fine residence, with about 50 acres planted to all kinds of tropical and semi-tro]3ical fruits. His orange trees are bearing, with the oldest only four-years old from the bud, and his Japanese plum trees the same age. He has eaten dates from trees the seeds of which he planted after eating the fruit. Orange-trees, only two years from the bud, were quite full of fruit. Peach trees he has in an abundance, and six varieties of grapes. The Delaware does the best. Almond, Pecan, Spanish chestnut and walnut trees were coming on finely. A lot of umbrella trees orna- ment his ground to good effect. For fertilizer he has a fine bed of muck. The original town he had laid out in three streets one mile long; to these an additional mile has been added, to be known as the western division. D. L. Frazier & Bro., Dr. V. Berry and C. B. Pelton, are the mer- chants of the town. Each of them do a good business and are owners of lands or groves. There is a good prospect for a hotel here soon. The vegetable interests of the town increase each year. The town has a church (Episcopal), a school, with an average attendance of 30 scliolars, and a post-office with regular mails. YULEE is a station about five miles southwest of Waldo, and nine miles from Gainesville. MELROSE AND BANANA. gXlo^ELROSE is most prettily located on the southwestern bor- ^£;/, i V ^^^ ^^ Santa Fe lake. A little bay makes in, creating a c Cessna, as the first plant was discovered growing from the top of a berry, by Mrs. Cessna. It was transplanted, and proved to be a strong, rampant-growing vine, excelled only by the Sandhill. For his Sandhill plants he paid 25 cts. apiece. The best berry, as tested by him, is the Mobile, or improved Newnan's. It is the best bearer, the best for shipment, and requires less care, as it will grow well anywhere among the grass. The Manchester, Charles Downing, President Wilder, Knox's 700, Wilson's, the Albany, Boy den's No. 30, and some others which he has tried, do not grow satisfactorily. The Crescent seedling will grow among the grass, is very hardy, and HON. -J. T. WALLS. 93 is a very prolific bearer. The Federal Point, the most like the wild berry, is thrifty, but not so good in bearing as others. For the cele- brated Manchester plants he paid 10 cents apiece, but they require a great deal of fertilizing, and the leaves rust off. The Shapeless has a large bush and a large berry, but the leaves rust. 2,000 quarts can be easily raised from an acre of ground and pay well. Mr. Cessna has contracted to furnish a party in New York, next season, 100,000 quarts of strawberries, said party to furnish plants, baskets, crates and refrigerators. From these he will realize $15,000 with which to pay for his labor, and the use of his land. In addition to the fruit, strawberry plants sell at from $2 to |3 a thousand, which makes the business a profitable one. Of course, tlie plants cannot always be sold, but the planter can sell some. Two large refrigerator cars have recently been built for the strawberry business in Florida, also large refrigerators for use on the steamers. The berries are picked and put into 32-quart crates, which are placed inside the refriger- ators, and their arrival in good condition at the northern markets fully assured. Mr. Cessna thinks the time is not far distant when whole trams will leave Alachua county loaded with strawberries for the North. He says the best soil for strawberry growing is a reason- ably firm soil, with a clay subsoil about 18 inches to two feet down, but the best guide is its adaptability to corn raising. Where corn can be grown 30 bushels to the acre, is the best for strawberry raising. The best mulching for the strawberry is the cow-pea. It should be dried and rotted, and then worked around the vines. It will keep the berries clean, the grass down, and is a good fertilizer. Mr. HINES, a Massachusetts man, who has a field next to Cessna & Porter, from l^o acres of land sold $500 worth of strawberries. The Wingate property of 20 acres, for which the owners paid $7,000, also adjoins their estate. Hon. J. T. WALLS, ex-Congressman, from Florida, an influential and highly intellectual colored man, is the largest truck-grower in the State. He has doubtless been the most successful and has made the most money from his products. He is himself a most excellent farmer, and woiks in the field, taking the lead among his own em- ployees. He has one of the best farms in the State, 1,800 acres in all, 750 of which is under cultivation. On an acre of land he i-aises on an average, 75 crates of tomatoes, sure. The season of 1883 was a very successful one, and the yield was 200 crates to the acre. He has gathered as many as 1,100 crates from 2i acres. Previous to the war, Mr. Walls' farm was owned by J. W. Hari'is, a wealthy South Caro- linian. It was then considered the best plantation in the State, and 94 J. T. WALLS AND D. W. L. BARTON. upon which was raised more cotton per acre than upon any other in the county. It was then upon the border of the great Payne's prairie, which was one of the richest places for cattle- graziDg in Florida. Since the prairie became flooded, it has occupied a two- mile frontage on the great Alachua lake, where it has a high bluff and a good beach. The water-front also gives Mr. Walls excellent transportation facilities by the steamers of the Alachua Navigation Company. These steamers come within half a mile of his house. The plantation is very prettily located between the lake and the Florida Transit Railroad, the nearest railroad shipping station being Arredonda, about two miles distant. Mr. Walls, for himself, culti- vates to vegetables from 250 to 300 acres. A large portion of the balance he rents to other parties, either on shares, or at a stipulated price iDcr acre. The season of 1883, Mr. Walls sold his entire tomato crop to Mr. Flewallen, another large planter, who had Durling & Co., of New York, as a partner, for 85 cents a crate delivered at the depot, for which he was paid $1,000 cash down, at the beginning of the season, as security. His crop yielded 6,000 crates. These, he esti- mates, cost him 38 cents, leaving him a net profit of 47 cents per crate, or $2,820 for his season's work on tomatoes alone. Mr. Walls makes the following estimate of the cost of a crate of tomatoes: Production, 5 cents; fertilizer, IJ^ cents; picking, 5 cents; packing, 5 cents; wrapping-paper, 1 cent; crate, 10 cents; nails and nailing, 5 cents; hauling to station, 5 cents, making a total of 3734 cents delivered at the station. The freight on a single crate to the North is 45 cents, with perhax)S 5 cents more for cartage. The commission for selling is 10 per cent., so that the cost of a crate in the northern markets to a producer is 87i<£ cents and the commission, according to Mr. Walls' estimate. These crates, in the early shipments, bring .|3 and $4 per crate, sometimes more, and then dwindle in price from that down to 50 cents, and sometimes 25 cents in the late shipments, or from rottage or other unforeseen causes. Mr. Walls considers 50 cents net profit on a crate of tomatoes about the average for a season. The planters differ very much in their statements on these matters; but from the testimony of Messrs. W. F. Rice, E. Ramsey, D. W. L. Barton, Rawlins & Wilson, and Flewallen, of Arredonda, whose opinions averaged, would be considered authority on this matter, the writer thinks Mr. Walls has not under-estimated the cost of production, nor over-estimated the average net gain per crate. Mr. D. W. L. barton, another large truck farmer, owns 483 acres of land, about half of which is hummock. 150 acres are cultivable, D. W. L. BARTON AND E. RAMSEY. 95 and 92 acres are under cultivation. 80 acres (some rented to others) are devoted to vegetables and 12 to an orange grove, in which are 550 thrifty trees from two to five years of age. Mr. Barton has been in the county seventeen years, during which he has seen many dark days. In 1882 he purchased in Iowa (his wife's native State), about 100 miles east of Council Bluffs, a tract of 160 acres of land, and now has a good home both North and South. Ten years ago he planted an orange grove in the woods at Orange Point, and afterwards cut out the native growth. He has already taken five good croj^s from those trees. One tree measures thirty- eight inches around the trunk. Many of the settlers purchased their land of Mr. Barton. He recently sold his house at Arredonda, for the purpose of building more extensively near by. The vegetable business commenced here about eight years ago. Mr. Barton and Mr. Perry, of Hummock Ridge, accompanied the first two carloads of watermelons to New York. They sold for 75 cents apiece. The sale was so satisfactory, that, on their return, he purchased 1,600 acres of the Hummock Ridge property, which extends from the Hummock Ridge station very nearly to Gainesville. The vegetable crop for the season of 1883, Mr. Barton says, has been a good one for him — about the best. Of cucumbers alone he shipped 4,700 crates, which sold on an average for $2 a crate. His tomato sales averaged $1.50; cabbage, $3; beets, $2; and string-beans, $1.75. The sales were very satisfactory. The cucumber market broke, mostly on ac- count of careless packing; but good cucumbers brought good prices all the way through. He dealt with good commission merchants and stuck by them. Some agents, he says, drum up stuff energeti- cally, get over-stocked, and sell at any price. It breaks the market, and the producer is the loser, and largely owing to his own care- lessness in picking and packing. In working his farm, Mr. Barton has fine system, and everything about the place is as quiet as Sun- day. On the 11th of July, 1882, Mr. Barton shipped tomatoes which sold for $2 a box. A great many tilings can be raised here with care at good profit; egg-plants usually pay well. Mr. Barton is doing quite well with a young orange nursery. He says Arredonda is a good place for a man with small means, if he is willing to put his own shoulder to the wheel and work the same as elsewhere. Mr. E. RAMSEY, of Arredonda, is another large planter. He has 300 acres of cultivable land, 200 of which he cultivates each year, letting 100 of the 300 alternately rest once in three years. He plants corn, oats, and vegetables of different varieties, his packing house being close to the depot. He says his corn averages about 10 to 15 96 L. K. RAWLINS, DENTON AND LIPSEY. bushels per acre, beans from 50 to 80 bushels, tomatoes from 50 to 75 bushels, and. cucumbers 200 bushels. He ships principally to the eastern markets, some to the western ; but the latter is not yet fairly opened, and no fancy prices for early products can be obtained. Sometimes in shipping West good prices are had, but at other times they are very poor. The average is bad and unsatisfactory. Mr. Ramsey says labor is plenty at Arredonda and good. They never have trouble with it. Mr. L. K. RAWLINS, of Gainesville, who came here from Delaware three years ago to escape death by quick consumption, cultivates at Rocky Point, on Alachua lake, 80 acres of rich hummock land. His products are cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, Irish and sweet- potatoes. Mr. Rawlins is one of the most enterprising men in Gainesville, and is engaged in the real estate business with Mr. Wil- son, another successful planter at Arredonda. They are about to en- gage largely in orange culture. Mr. H. C. DENTON, of Gainesville, has a fine farm near the lake, and is a large shipper of the earth's products. Hundreds of others might be mentioned. Mr. W. B. LIPSEY, of the Archer nurseries of Lipsey & Christie, of Archer, is among the leading nursery-men of the State. He has 115,000 seedling orange trees one and two years old in nursery, and several thousands of other trees for the market. He has several groves, between the trees of which, whilegrowing to bearable age, he plants nursery trees for the market. For his own purpose, and as a specialty, he has fresh-bearing sprouts on old orange-tree stumps, which were brought from twelve to fifteen miles distant, and trans- planted in a row around one of his groves, looking like old veterans standing guard over the new aspirants for bearing fame. He has about thirty of these stumps, the most of them being in the vicinity of thirty years of age. Very few in the North would think of trans- planting a tree at such an age, and Mr. Lipsey 's experiment only goes to show the tenacity of the orange trees. Among his other fruit trees and vines, which do well at Archer, are the Le Conte, Smith's hybrid, Hiefer and Conkling pears, Chinese and Champion quince, early harvest apple, transcendent crab-apple, Japanese per- simmon and Japan plum, olive, Peento and other peaches, chestnut, Ives' grape and grape of Eschal, silk mulberry, which he thinks might be grown by the millions at a good j^rofit; and, as an experi- ment, he has tried raising the tree-bean, which he finds does well. The Navy bunch-bean is hard to grow. He has a Japanese persim- mon tree standing not over four feet high with one and a half inch I W. B. LIPSEY AND DR. MONTGOMERY. 97 stock, which recently bore twenty-three specimens. A Japanese plum tree not six years old had ripened a second crop, and looked fine. Mr. Lipsey claims to have planted the first Peento peach tree in his neighborhood five years ago. It yields from four to five bushels annually. His olive trees, four years old, have not yet fruited. They were imported from Fi-ance. Mr. Lipsey favors bud- ding oranges. He prefers to bud on sour stock, but works some on sweet stock to suit patrons. He has good samples of his work in heavy-bearing two-year-old buds on two-inch stock. He believes in planting an orange grove with trees 35 feet apart, between each of which in the straight row should be planted a peach tree, and in the centre of the square so formed, a pear tree. The peach trees giving out in a few years, leave the ground to the pear and the orange. In this way, Mr. Lipsey gets from an acre of ground, about 38 orange trees, 38 pear trees, and 76 peach trees. For his own use he has 1,000 Le Conte pear trees, on some of which he has budded the Bartlett pear, and finds them doing nicely. It is thought by many that apples will not grow in Florida, but Mr. Lipsey has several trees which have fruited well. The land is quite high and dry about his premises, yet he has built a three-foot trench about his nursery on the side next the woods. This is to keep out the forest roots, and also the salamander, a little animal that burrows in the ground and eats the roots of the young fruit trees. Altogether, Mr. Lipsey has from 600 to 800 acres of land, with several houses upon them. He is one of the progressive men of Archer. He came to this place about five years ago, with but a few hundred dollars, to test the climate. He became so delighted with it that he sold his farm in Marion, Indiana, and began life in Florida, with thirty-five years' experience in nurseries North. He has been very successful here. He is called to all parts of the county to graft trees and to plant groves, and does quite a business in raising groves for other parties. Dr. LUCIUS MONTGOMERY, of Micanopy, has at his residence there an orange grove containing 600 trees, occupying 21 acres of ground. These trees are planted 35 feet apart, and a number of them, thirteen years from the seed, measure 41 inches in circumference below the first fork. He has also a number of lemon trees, the Cicily and the ever-bearing varieties, which, with his house and stable, occupy four acres more. Adjoining his grove he has a cotton gin and a grist mill, both of which are run by steam power. He keeps cattle of the improved breed, and 500 head of poultry, for the raising of which he claims this locality to be fine. Epidemic cholera has at- 98 DKSi L. MONTGOMERY AND A. H. MATHERS* tacked his poultry but twice in fifteen years. He feeds his cow^ largely on wheat bran. They give excellent milk in generous quan- tity, from which he makes the richest butter. At Kirkwood, near Levy's lake, the doctor has 800 orange trees planted in verdant hummock land; also at Lakeview, on the Alachua lake, where he has a hard, sandy beach, he has forty acres planted to oranges.- Two and a half miles northeast of Micanopy he has 220 trees on forty acres, and 250 trees, forty feet apart, on a portion of the Hick^- son Johnson place in the same vicinity. The doctor states that the approximate cost of raising, shipping and selling a box of oranges is about 11.25. The cost includes tax on land, hire of labor to culti- vate grove, gathering, wrapping, boxing, hauling to depot, freight charges, comriiissiou for selling, and one-half of one per cent, to get check converted into cash in hand. All that a grower gets per box above $1.25, is net profit. Dr. a. H. MATHERS, of Micanopy, is a very successful orange grower. He has two groves surrounding his home, occupying in all but one and one-quarter acres. From these small groves Dr. Mathers is satisfied, with his careful and personal attention to the trees, that he gets as good returns as some others with larger groves. In all he has about 108 trees. They bear him annually, on an aver- age, 500 bushels of oranges. His oldest trees are 15 years and are set 20 feet apart. His youngest trees are 13 years and set 30 feet apart, in diagonal rows. The youngest trees are the best bearers. They occupy level land about 2}.^ feet above the others. They aver- age 2,000 and 3,000 oranges to a tree. The oldest trees are on land slightly inclining. His trees are the native Tangarine, which are rare in this county, as they are difficult to grow, by reason of the cold, which affects them more severely than other oranges. They do not suffer, however, so much from insects, and therefore have one great advantage. Their bearing capacity is from 4,000 to 5,000. The doctor claims that orange trees bear biennially outside and in- side. That is, they bear most largely upon the outer branches one year and upon the inside the next year, and so alternate, but the Tangarine is more annual in its bearing. Near bis house, between it and the gate, he has one tree which bears annually from 10 to 15 crates. One year he was paid $56 for its fruit laid at the foot of the tree. Another year it bore 3,000 oranges. From 80 trees the doc- tor's average receipts are $1,500, in addition to which there are losses by rottage and other ways. Medium-size oranges are the best for the trade. They average about 146 to a bushel. Small crates average from 105 to 110. Two cents apiece is a fair average price «i JOHN L. GOODSON AND WM. M. ROBINSON. 99 for good fruit. A man can personally attend to about eight acres, or 300 trees, and give them proper care. They require careful trim- ming from the inside outwards. Top soil hummock fallings — mulch picked up with a shovel — is among the best of fertilizers. Home al- kalies, stove ashes, etc., may be utilized to good profit. A small grove well handled can make as much money for its owner as larger groves, as all the fruit can be readily attended to without waste. Good Tangerine seed, planted on good land, will on an aver- age produce bearing trees in five years. Mr. JOHN L. GOODSON, of Melrose, has a fine grove. It contains nearly 1,000 trees. For the fruit of one of his 11-year-old trees he received $57 in one season, without the expense of removing it. Many of his trees annually yield from 2,000 to 3,000 oranges each. They bring $15 a thousand. Mr. WM. M. ROBINSON, Chairman of the Board of County Com- missioners, has a very extensive and valuable orange grove near Gainesville. The w^riter did not get an opportunity to visit this grove, but has heard it repeatedly spoken of as one of the representa- tive groves of the county. Florida Long Cotton. ^^f^ F. BUTTON & CO., composed of H. F. Button, John Nichols Gl, l^^ and Walter Robinson, furnish the Willimantic Company ex- ^^ clusively with Florida cotton. Button & Co. buy directly from the planters and pay cash down. The planters heretofore passed their crops off for dry goods, groceries, hardware and taxes; now they re- ceive gold for their cotton and pay their bills in cash. The house of But- ton & Co. has done much good for Florida in buying direct from the planter and paying the highest market price for his produce, and other firms are establishing themselves in the same line all over the State. Heretofore the fine and coarse cotton were lumped and sold together ; but by pajang higher prices for the finer grades of long cotton, the planters have been induced to be more careful and to get the quality of their cotton up to a very high grade. At the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia it took a medal ; at the Paris Exposition in 1878 it took a medal, winning opinions of the very highest w^orth from the manufacturers of delicate silk fabric — those men whose touch is as discerning and acute as the softest hand of a lady ; and at the Atlanta Cotton Exposition, where it came in com- petition with the cotton from the Sea Islands, it took the first pre- mium. 100 FLORIDA LONG COTTON. The long cotton of Florida has now become to rank in fineness and quality with the cotton grown on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, which States for a hundred years have grown the finest and best produced in the world. This is attributed altogether to the pains and extreme care in the selection of the best seed. The growing of long cotton was as much a business of science with the wealthy planters before the war as any other industry, and is continued to this time. The planters of Florida, spurred on to BUTTON & CO.'S GINNERIES. emulate the more successful planters of the Islands, purchased their fine seed, and learned from them their mode and manner of growing and preparing the article for market, and so successful have the farmers of Florida become that they are excelling their teachers. The long fibre of the Sea Island cotton is from two to two and three-quarter inches in length, of a beautiful silk-like texture, as soft and pleasant to the touch as thistle-down, as strong as hemp and very durable. So fine and so profitable has it been proved by for- eign lace-makers and others to make into spool-cotton, that the FLORIDA LONG COTTON. 101 Willimantic Spool Thread Company, of Connecticut, commenced its use on trial and have increased their demands for it until they now buy over 5,000 bales of it each year, through the banking and cotton-buying house of H. F. Button & Co. , of Gainesville. There is no country in the world so well adapted to the growth of this particular staple as Florida, and the numerous growers of cotton all over Alachua county have shown themselves adepts in its culture. It will not grow on the uplands of Georgia and South Carolina with- out losing its distinctive quality and becoming short and coarse. The peculiar geographical position of Florida, lying, as it does, be- tween the Atlantic and Gulf, and its shores washed by the Gulf stream, produces an atmosphere adapted to the improvement of the length, strength and fineness of tlie staple nowhere else to be found. Hence Florida, by nature, is favored above all other countries for producing this beautiful staple, that is spun into hand and sewing- machine thread, from number eight to five hundred; into most beautiful laces, wherewith ladies add to the taste and elegance of their dress ; and so deftly mixed and woven into the finest silks, satins and fine velvets that it is impossible to tell, and only the best experts can detect. Lovely women, with elaborate and costly-made silk dresses, do not know that much of the material is Florida long cotton, which makes the silk a better article and wear and last longer, and to all appearance is as pretty, as good and as elegant as the best from the looms of Lyons, France. Thus, whilst fruit and vegetables receive so much attention, the growing of cotton is not lost sight of. DAn S NUFFIN LIKE COTTON, SAH I 102 THE RAILROAD CENTRE. fROM Fernandina or Jacksonville, there are two ways of reaching Alachua county. One is by way of the St. John's river to Palatka, and thence via the Florida Southern Railroad, which runs through the orange belt. The other is via the Transit Railroad from Fernandina. The Florida Southern Railroad, from Palatka, passes through Alachua county from the eastern boundary line near Waite's Cross- ing, due west as far as Gruelle. Thence it diverges in two direc- tions, one due south, to Ocala in Marion county; the other northwest to Gainesville, and on to Newnansville, where it connects with the Live Oak, Tampa & Charlotte Harbor Railroad for either the North or the West. The stations on this road in Alachua county are, Waite's, Hawthorn, Magnesia Springs, Gruelle, Tarver, Gainesville, and its terminus, Newnansville, on the main line: on the southern division, are Evanston, Micanopy and Orange Lake, thence into Marion county. The Florida Southern enterprise was planned and organized by Mr. N. R. Gruelle, of Gainesville. Work was begun at Palatka, in 1881, and the road completed to Gainesville, a distance of 50 miles, that same year. Later, the southern division was built. The line of road, as contemplated in the charter, covers the finest territory in the State, and lands are for sale all along the line. The road is largely owned by Boston capitalists, and under the present efficient management, the company is becoming very active. The present officers of the company are: John W. Candler, President; John R. Hall, Vice-President; W. L. Candler, Treasurer; all of Boston, Mass.; Shuman Conant, Gen. Manager; Jas. D. Hol- lister; Genl. Superintendent, and C. A. Boardman, Land Commis- sioner; all of Palatka, Fla. The Transit Railroad from Fernandina enters the county just above Waldo, there diverging in two directions. The main line passes through Waldo, Yulee, Fairbanks, Gainesville, Hummock Ridge, Arredonda, Palmer, and Archer, and thence on to Cedar Keys. The other division runs due south from Waldo, through Saludia, Camp- ville, Hawthorne, Lockloosa, and on to Silver Springs. The above makes four different means of entrance into the county- seat of Alachua county: From the West, via Live Oak and New- nansville ; from the North, via Fernandina, Callahan, Baldwin and Waldo ; from New Orleans by boat to Cedar Keys, and thence to Gainesville; from the St. John's river, via Palatka. From Jack- ROUTES OF TRAVEL. 103 sonville, the course is via the St. John's river, reaching Palatka by- boat, and there connecting with the Florida Southern Railroad, or, reaching Baldwin, via the Transit Railroad. In addition to these there are fast being built other lines, one of which, nearly- completed, is from Glen Cove Springs by way of Melrose, and thence through Gainesville and on to the Suwanee river, tapping the various towns in the southwestern part of the county, and bringing them into the market. This will make six different railroad exits from and entrances to Gainesville, thus connecting with every point in the State. For the best route to the North and the Southwest, see the adver- tisement of the Savannah, Florida & Western RR. It is thought that the ship canal will penetrate Alachua county, in which event, its facilities will be incomparable. Alachua county stands pre-eminent in all the advantages that Nature or the mind of man can bestow upon her, as a pi ice where riches and happiness can together be secured. 104 PHILIP MILLER, DEALER IN STjPLElFANCY GROCERS, CORN, OATS MS HAY, FINE CANDIES, FRUITS, ETC., PUBLIC SQUARE, GAINESVILLE, - - FLORIDA. 105 BANK OF THE MIDLAND. H. F. Button. J. G. Nichols. W. G. Robinson. H. F. DUTTON & Co., DKALICRS IN Sea Island Cotton, Gainesville, Florida. General Agents American Cotton Gin Roll Covering. H. G. ROBINSON, Resident Partner, No. 323 BROAD ST., PROVIDENCE, R. I. Transact a General Banking Business. Deposits Received, Collections Made and Proceeds Promptly Remitted. Correspondents: — National Citizens' Bank, New York ; Merchants' "National Bank, Savannah ; First National Bank of Florida, Jacksonville. ira;igb,©s.1i; @a»£t, prices Faidi fae s©a ^^i^u.^ Cottpa in Se>e>d oi per Ball©* ask p©?: gradt©- Cotton Ginned on the Most Favorable Terms. So much trouble has been experienced in getting business promptly ■conducted with the United States Land Office, at Gainesville, in cases where the services of an Agent or Attorney were required, that we have employed a Clerk particularly for this business. Entries made, land bought, documents filed, information furnished and maps and platts ordered. 106 f I Ftoral FtoHdal FLORIDA ORANGE GROVES. PEENTO PEACH ORCHARDS. LE CONTE PEAR TREES. WINTER VEGETABLE GARDENS, HE fine domain, embracing over Two Thousand acres, having a high, healthful, picturesque surface, with subsoil, known to experts as peculiarly adapted to orange growing, and abounding in water veins of absolutely pure water, lying be™ tween two railroads north and east of, and adjacent to, Gainesville, has been secured by the undersigned and subdivided into lots of Five or more acres to supply the demand of persons who wish to grow the fine products of Florida culture, and, at the same time, live in the midst of a polite and refined society ; where they can enjoy educational, religious and commercial advantages, including easy, prompt and rapid communication with markets. This tract is higher in altitude than Gainesville itself ; it is upon the divide between the waters of the St. John's and of the Suwanee rivers; it is equi-distant from Dead man's Bay on the Gulf, and Matanzas inlet on the Ocean, being 65 miles from either. Con- stant breezes from the Ocean and from the Gulf alternate with each other, making the atmosphere gratefully cool; and the odors from the pine woods, mingling with the sahne ocean air, and the pure water, and absence of all malarial influences, assure perfect health. Daily Fruit and Vegetable trains (in the seasons) pass directly through the domain, bound for the northeast and the northwest; thus bringing the markets of New York and of Chicago to our very doors. The laborers in our groves regulate their hours by the morn- ing, noon and evening whistle of the Gainesville manufacturers; and our children attend the East Florida Seminary (the most advanced educational institution in the State) while living at home. There is no element of desirable social privileges lacking in Gainesville. It is the County Seat of the largest County (in population) in Florida; it has fine hotels for tourists; it is the site of the United States Land Office for Florida; it has an active and growing commercial and manufacturing consequence; it is a great railroad centre, and prides itself on the refinement and law-abiding character of its citizens. The Proprietors are pledged to admit no obnoxious person to an ownership, and one of the conditions of purchase is, that no liquors shall be sold by any purchaser. Prices low and terms within reach of all. Address: L. A. BAKNES, Gainesville, Florida, OR H. C. WHITNEY, 44 Ashland Block, Chicago. 107 B^ ORANGE NURSERY, GainesA^ille, F^lorida.. 150,000 Trees Ready for Transplanting, from 3 to S years old. SEEDLINGS AHD BUDDED STOCK OF ALL VARFETIES. Mediterraneum-Sweet, Homosassa, Satsuma, Nonpareil, Naval, Magnum bonum. Etc., Etc. Lowest Market Prices and on Most Reasonable Terms. Call on or address, L. A. BARNES, 108 GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. 210 FEET ABOVE TIDE LEVEL. "THE ARLINGTON," Gainesville, Fla., is first-class in all Its appointments. Many improvements have been made in the liouse since last season, and it is now one of the most attractive winter resorts in Florida. Situated fifty miles from the St. John's River, half waj^ between the Atlantic Ocean and the Grulf of Mexico, in the midst of the pine lands of Alachua County, at an elevation of two hundred feet above tide level, it offers a clear, drj^ atmosphere, unsurpassed for health. Game in abmidance, and with the lakes and ponds teeming with fish, make it an attractive point for sportsmen. The house has accommodations and every convenience for comfort for one hundred and fifty guests. Billiard and Pool Room, Reading and Smoking Room. Fire-places in all the rooms. Electric Bells, Bath Rooms and Verandas. The table will be supplied with the best the Northern and Southern markets afford. HOW TO REACH GAINESVILLE. Tourists can take the Waycross Short Line from Savannah, Ga., making close connection at Callahan with the Florida Transit Railroad to Gainesville; also at Fernandina with Florida Transit running between Fernandina and Cedar Keys— or if they are in Jacksonville, take the Florida Central Railroad train to Baldwin, which connects with the Transit road stopping at Gainesville, or the Florida Southern from Palatka to Gainesville: two trains daily on each road. For further information and circular address J. C. RYDER, Proprietor. lOd \ariittm H^tef^ WEST MAIN STREET, Southwest cor. of Public Square, GAINESVILLE. - FLORIDA W. N. McCORMIOK, Proprietor. *|S AVIISTG leased the above hotel, it is my piir- C pose to make it as attractive to visitors a^ any house in the State. A competent corps of waiters is in attendance, and the cooks are first - elass. The table is furnished with the best this or the Northern Markets afford. The largest and airiest rooms in the city. m^MTMmt $J«0^ per Pay* For further information write or apply to iV. N. McCORMICK, Proprietor. 110 STATE NORMAL SCHOOL^ MILITARY INSTITUTE. GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. Established by Act of Florida Legislature of 1851. The Annual Session begins in September and ends in June, and is divided into two terms of nineteen weeks each. Every applicant for admission must undergo an examination in such manner as shall be prescribed by the Board of Education. All candidates for admission must be of good moral character, and must have attained the age of 13 years if males, and of 12 years if females. Applicants uf capacity to make apt and good teachers, who will sign a declaration of inten- tion to follow the business of teaching primary schools in the State, are, in all cases, to be preferred. Each county in the State, east of the Suwanee River, is entitled to send to the Seminary as many scholars or beneficiaries as it may have representatives in the House of the General Assembly of Florida. They shall receive all the benefits of instruction of said Seminary free of all charge, the said scholars being selected by the Board of County Commissioners of said counties respectively. Any number of students will be received from the counties, but all except county appointees will be received as Pay Students. County appointees pay no tuition. All other students pay for each term of nineteen weeks tuition fees as follows : For English Course, proper, _ - _ . $10.00 Por Ancient Languages, an additional fee of - 5.00 Por Book-keeping, " " - 5.00 Por Lessons on Piano or Organ, 18 Weeks, 2 lessons per week, - 20.00 Por Lessons in Voice Culture, 18 weeks, 2 lessons per week, 20.00 Por Lessons in Kudiments of Vocal Music, 18 weeks, 2 lessons per week, - - . . 4,00 TUITION FEES MUST BE PAID ONE-HALF IN ADVANCE, THE BALANCE AT MIDDLE OF TERM. Books for class F, cost about $4.00 ; for class E, about $ ; for class D, about $5.00 ; for classes C, B, and A, about $6. Board in good families costs from $12.50 to $15.00 per calendar month. Washing $1.00 per month. BOARD OF EDUCATION: Hon. J. H. Roper, Brest., Gainesville. , Judge T. F. King, Gainesville. W. W. Hampton, Esq., Gainesville. Mr. J. D. Matheson, Gainesville. Dr. James M. Jackson, Bronson. I Maj. Albert J. Russell, Jacksonville. Prof. W. N. Sheats, Secretary (ex-offlcio), Gainesville. BOARD OF GOVERNMENT AND INSTRUCTION: Edwin P. Cater, A.M., President. A. L. Wagner, 1st Lt. 6th Inf. U. S. A., Commandant of Cadets. Rev. F. Pasco. Chaplin. G. Y. Renfro, A.B. C. C. Cochran. Miss V. P. Carrington. Mrs. Laura G. French. T. Fraser Thomas, Surgeon. CHATEAU-BRIANT. Ill FRENCH AND ENGLISH Boarding and Day School FOE YOUNa LADIES AND OHILDEEN. THE " ROUND TABLE CLASS " (in Art, Literature, etc.), INTERMEDIATE, PRIMARY, KINDERGARTEN. NEW BUILDINa. AMPLE ACCOMMODATIONS. Instruction given in Latin, Greek, the Modern Languages, Music, Drawing and Painting, if desired, in addition to the English Branches of all grades. Practical lessons in Housekeeping, Sewing and Embroidery will also be given for the benefit of such pupils as may wish to avail themselves of instruction in these useful branches of a young lady's education. Mrs, LAURA E. FRENCH, Teacher of Music; and other competent instructors. For further particulars address Mrs. J. 0. EASTMAN, Principal, GAINESVILLE, FLA, EASTM AN'S BOO K STORE. Toys, Fine Candies and Crackers, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, RUSTIC FRAMES, CHROMOS. 7--Se7eii-Cent Oouiiter.--7 Headquarters for the School Books in use in Alachua and Levy Counties. The Trade Supplied. South Side of Public* Square, JOHN C. EASTMAN, GAINESVILLE, FLA, 112 FLORIDA SOUTHEM The Orange Belt Route of Florida. DOUBLE DAILY PASSENGER TRAINS. ALiL, STEAMERS on the ST. JOHNS RIVER connect with this line at PALATKA for GAINESVILLE, NEWNANSVILLE. OCALA, LAKE WEIR and LEESHURG, SUMTERVILLE, BROOKVILLE and TAMPA.. FAST TRAIN AND SMOOTH TRACK Passenger Coaches Equipped with all Modern Improvements. Close connection made with Northern Fast Mail Trains and Charleston Steamship Lines. SHERMAN CONANT, J. D. HOLLISTER, Gen'l Manager. Gen'l Supt. 2,000, 000 A CRES. FLORIDA SOUTHERN RAILWAY LAND GRANT. ORANGE AND GRAZING LANDS, EASY TERMS TO ACTUAL SETTLERS. Large bodies of choice grazing land will be sold at a low figure, and stock mei\ would do well to examine it. For particulars write to C. A. BOARDMAN, Coin'r of Lands F. S. Ry., Palatka, Fi,a, 113 "9 Livery and Feed Stable, (OPPOSITE THE ARLINGTON HOUSE), GAINESTILLE, FLORIDA. o[[SES For Sale and Exch/nge. Fine Teams Furnished to Visitors and others at Reasonable Prices. m&mm'^® mwMmmmB (jainesville, - - Florida. 114 [Established June, 1878.] Having lately made many additions and improvements in machinery, I am prepared to do all Kinds of house-furnishing work, such as Window and Door Frames, Mantle Fronts, etc., at short notice and low prices, I have constantly on hand a large variety of Mouldings, also Hand-rail for Stairs and Balustrades. Sawed and turned Balusters, Brackets and Scroll-sawing of any desired pattern done to order. Seasoned Lumber constantly on hand. I would invite those contemplating building houses, yard fences, etc., to give me a call and get prices. My Mills are right in the heart of the city, and only three blocks from the Public Square and business portion of Gainesville. B. C. DRAKE, McCLELLAN & ELLIS, 115 Hardware and Furniture. | Our two immense storerooms in Dennis' Block, as also our brick warehouse, are now filled to their utmost ca- pacity with a well-selected stock of FURNITURE, STOVES and HARDWARE, PAINTS and OILS, SASH and BLINDS, CARPENTER and TABLE CUTLERY, &c., &c., &c . We have every article in our several departments likely to be called for in housekeeping, from the most elegant bed-room suits to everything required in the domestic de- partment of a well-kept house. McCLELLAN & ELLIS, DENNIS' BRICK BLOCK, GAINESVILLE, - FLORIDA. 116 gI6N •:• SF V f KE V 60LDEN •> K0RPE-3P0E. Mrs. F. X. MILLEE'S Millinery aDil ?ariety Store, Cor. WEST MAIN and UNION STS., GAINESVILLE, - FLORIDA, The Latest Styles The Greatest Variety NEW AND SEASONABLE GOODS. m@wmi,,TiMM LACES, RIBBONS, SILKS, STRAW- GOODS, GLOVES, MITTS, &c. Our stock is complete in every particular, enibracing everything usually found in such an establishment, and we are constantly adding a fresh supply of fine goods. Give us a trial. C. A. SHELDON, 117 DEALER IN iAMlLY ilOGllIlP iSfflJ QUEEN'S-WARE, TIN-WARE, &c. Choice Brands of Flour a Specialty. GAINESVILLE, FLA. A. J. VI DAL, Apothecary i Drnggist. A SELECT ASSORTMENT OF DRUGS AND MEDICINES, CHEMICALS, SOAPS AND TOILET ARTICLES. TRUSSES AND SUPPORTERS KEPT CONSTANTLY ON HAND. Landreth's Celebrated Garden Seeds a Specialty. Prescriptions carefully compounded at all hours of the day and nig^ht. GAINESVILLE, FLA. 118 JAMES DOIG^S AND MACHINE SHOPS, GAINESVILLE, - FLA. I am pre'ared to make castings, either of brass or iron, of an> dimension or form ; also machine works of all kinds, such as Steam Engines, Saw Mills, Cotton Gins, Sugar Mills, Sugar Kettles, &c. Also Manufacturers' Agents for anything in the Machine line, properlj' and promptlj^ attended to and work guaranteed. Slo!e, Tin-ware anl House-rurmliiiij Establiskenl, (NEAR THE BANK) OAINKSVIIvI^K, = KL^ORIDA. C. B. DODD, Proprietor. C.^^DODD. ~~" W. J. CAVE Y. DODD & CAVEY, Practical Tin Reefers and Workers in Metals of all Kinds. ROOFING, SPOUTING, VALLEY TIN AND JOBBING OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS, IN CITY AND COUNTRY. ROOFING OVER OLD SHINGLES WITHOUT EXTRA EXPENSE ESTIMATES arVEN. COEEESPOHDENOE SOLICITED. 119 HAMPTON & JORDAN, Fii'B and Life Insurance Agent?, GAINESYILLE. FLA., Represent the Following Companies : THE LIYERPOOL, LONDON & GLOBE: Assets in U.S. . . . »5,ol4,962.Sl Income 1882, in U. S,, . . 8,310,805.99 Sxirplus inU. S., . . 2,646,325.12 l/osses cashed upon adjustment without discount. NEW YORK UNDERWRITERS' AGENCY : Cash Capital, . . . $2,000,000.00 Total Assets, .... 5,03(1,202.67 FACTORS AND TRADERS' INS. CO. of NEW ORLEANS: Total Assets, . . . «1, 103,038.03 NEW YORK LIFE and THE MANHATTAN LIFE INS. COS. : Two of the most reliable Companies in the United States. Insure your Property or Life in one of the above with HAMPTON & JOED AN, Agents. SAM'L Y. FINLEY. WM. W4.de HAMPTON. FINLEY & HAMPTON, ft-Mim m Still mi f ii@fd Ooiiti. Cor. EAST MAIN and MECHANIC STS., GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. ALSO GENERAL HOUSE AND SIGN PAINTER, GAINESVILLE, FLA. Churches, Lodge Rooms, Hotels and Residences Decorated in the Highest Style of the Fresco Art, in New and Original Designs or after Architects' Plans. Fine House Painting, Graining, Paper Hanging, &c., at Moderate Prices, 120 NEW YORK CLOTHING STORE. MOSES ENDEL.] •-♦-^ [H. HERMAN. ENDEL & HERMAN, DEALERS IN CLOIEIIS m GEITS' FBIIB GOOIS, HATS AND CAPS, TRUNKS AND VALISES, (L. A. Barnes' Brick Building,) GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. — DEALER IN — General Merchandise, FAMILY SUPPLIES A SPECIALTY. CASH PAID F OR COUNT RY PRODUCE. GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. #% ^®.^ ®fe^ BOOTS AND SHbES MADE TO ORDER, ANV STYLE, AT SHORT NOTICE. GOOD FIT AND GOOD MATERIAL GUARANTEED. ®@)@^® ^mm mmmnm mt Mm^m. wmiom GAINESVILLE, , , . . FLORIDA. 121 SEIGLER S PHIFER, DRY GOODS I GROCERIES, BOOTS, SHOES AND NOTIONS. Replenishing our stock of general merchandise from time to time, we keep our shelves and cotmters well filled with the freshest and choicest articles, and sell the same at the Lowest Possible Price for Cash. An inspection of our stock is respectfnlly solicited, feeling satisfied that, after a fair trial, the public will feel warranted in bestowing on us a liberal share of their patronage. SEIGLER & PHIFER, "^Tv^'est Side of I=-u.'blic Sq."u.a,re, GAINESVILLE - - FLORIDA. J. F. McKINSTRY, M.D., * pi(J^dTI(3l(|pHY^I(;ii||\li^UI(E|E0M, GAINESVILLE - - - FLORIDA. CRAWFORD & JACKSON, GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA. The Highest Cash Price Faid for SEEF, HUITOK and FORK, Orders from a Distance Promptly Filled, MISS T EBEftU^S SCHOOL, BOARDING AND DAY PUPILS RECEIVED, DEPARTMENTS; ENGLISH— Primary, Intermediate and Collegiate; MUSIC. WEST MAIN STREET, GAINESVILLE, , . . , . FLORIDA. ■WW©&^< Besianraot and BoardiDg House. ACCOMMODATIONS FOR BOTH REGULAR ANP TRANSIENT GUESTS BY THE DAY OR WEEK. Cor, EAST MAIN and LIBERTY STREETS, GAINESVILLE, - - . - FLORIDA. MATHESON & McMILLAN, REAL ESTATE AGENTS, :F'^iu-2- T-^2^ES ^OZe. InT O OiT - Xa E S 1 3D E 3iT T S, BUY AND SELL LANDS, Improve arid Nl air age Orange Groves, Attend to all Business connected with the U. S. Land Office. NOTARY PUBLIC FOR STA TE OF FLORIDA A T LARGE. SPECIAI. ATTENTION GIVEN TO THE EXAMINATION OF RECORDS AND TO THE PERFECTING OF TITLES. GAINESVILLE, - - - FLORIDA, 123 3-. XI. :E=os'r, DEALER IN- Jewelry, Silverware, Watches, Clocks, AND All goods are guaranteed as represented. J. H. POST, - - - - GAINESVILLE, FLA* DEALERS IN General Merchandise. GROCERIES A SPEC f A LTV. GAINESVILLE, - - - FLORIDA. OLIVER PARK , ON THE LINE OF THE FLORIDA SOUTHERN RAILROAD, near GAINESVILLE. Fitted in every way for the comfort and pleasure of visitors. Dancing HaU, Bathing, Swinging, Delightful Strolls, Refreshments, etc., etc. p. M. OLIVER, Prop. DENNIS & WALLIS, Lumber Merchants, L. G. DENNIS. GAINESVILLE, FLA. ^_ ^^^^,. ALACHUA ADVOCATE, Published Weekly at Gainesville, Fla. Devoted to the Interest of the State in General and of Alachua County in particular. J. C. Mccreary, Publisher. Subscription $2.00 a year. 134 IDa,il3^ a^nd- TX7"eeli:l3r Bee. Gainesville, F^la. Containing all the local news and a full resume of the general news of the day Daily, 8^5.00 a year. Weekly, S3. 00 a year. CHAS. L. FILDES, Editor and Proprietor. WALDO, KLORIDA. J. B. eTOHNSTON, Published Weekly. Editor aiid Proprietor. J . H . LOVE, DEALER IN Drugs and Medicines, Dr. J. N. D. CLOUD, NEWNANSYILLE, FLA. DEALER IN General Merchandise, N'eitmansv ille, Florida. W. H. QEIQER, DEALER IN New^ans yille, Florida. Dr. WILLIAMS, Practicing Physician, NEWNANSVILLE, FLA. K. K. KAOAN, DEALER IN General Merchandise, Ne^vnans^ille, F^la. 125 DEALER IN Dry-Goods, Notions, Hats, Gaps, Glothing, BOOTS aaa-d. SiHOES, mmi AND BLASS-WE, TIN-ME, KAMAHE, GROCERIES, BACON, SALT, FINE LIQUORS I CHOICE CIGSRS, -ALSO- A Fine Assorfment of Drugs and Medicines. Advances Made on Crops, aler in SEA ISLAND COTTON, and will make Liberal I on Consignments. NEWNANSVILLE, FLA. 10,000 ^^OPiES pOR SALE- OF THE l©gt limligj ?©g©tibk aii f nil Liiii IN ALACHUA COUNTY; ALSO, TOWN LOTS IN NEWNANSVILLE. For particulars, call on or address, F. P. OLMSTEAD, Newnansville, Fla. FLORIDA MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE ASSOCIATION. AN ACCURATE SYSTEM OF PUOTEOriNG PROPERTY AGAINST LOSS FROM FIRE. It is an association of three separate and distinct departments, viz.: Isolated Residence, Ttlercantile and Machinerj-. Each department is composed of indi- viduals obligated to help the members of his own department in case of mis- fortune by fires that are purely accidental or unavoidable. The funds to indemnify loss are accunmlated by assessments. Each department being assessed only to pay losses occurring in its own department. ExeciitiYe Office, MTCANOPY, FLORIDA. DAVID A. MII.I.EK, Secretary. 126 S. D. SMOKE, M.D., P MIOANOPY, FLORIDA. J. L. PATTON & CO., DEALERS IN DRY AND FANCY GOODS, GROCERIES, HARDWARE, TENNESSEE WMONS, WHITE SEWING MSCHINES, MICANOPY, _ - - - FLORIDA. JV£JV FIRM! NEW GOODS! NOW READY : A. H. CENTRE & CO. HAVE A FULL STOCK OF lij &@@ii,^ ir@§©ri©i,, iitjj l@@ti, Sh@isjj HARDWARE, TIN- WARE, AND ALL ARTICLES USUALLY FOUND IN A GENERAL STORE. First-Class Goods, Low Prices, and Courteous Treatment. MRS. JOHNSON'S BUILDING, A* m* ©AW ir©M^ DEALER IN GROCERIES, PROVISIONS, ETC., NOTIONS, HOSIERY, CLOTHING, BOOTS, SHOES, HATS, CAPS, HARDA^ARE, CROCKERY, MICANOPY, FLORIDA. 121 J. COOPER MATHERS, MICANOPY, FLORIDA, — DEALER IN — PAINTS, OILS, VAENISHES, DYE-STUFPS, Fancy and Toilet Articles, Stationery, Perfumery, Soaps, Brushes, Sponges, Etc. WADE A. GEIGER, ^«5»| GROCERIES, DRY GOODS, FANCY GOODS, HARDWARE, CROCKERY, TIN- WARE, GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS, and Everything found in a FIRST-CLASS STORE. COTTON GINNEU AND GRIST MILLER. ARCHER, FLORIDA. DEALER IN GEOOERIES, DEY GOODS, EANOY GOODS, HARD WARE, CROCKER V, TIN- WARE, GENTS' FURNISHING GOODS, and EveryUmtg kept in a FIRST-CLASS STORE. ALSO DEALER IN — LIVE STOCK AND ORANGE TREES, ARCHER, FLORIDA. G. M. BLITCIZ, DEALER IN ARCHER, FLA 138 J. D.. GEORGE, FANCY GOODS, MILLINERY, CLOTHING, HARDWAKE, TIN- WARE, AND ALL GOODS FOUND IN A FIRST-CLASS STORE ; ARCHER, FLORIDA. F. a. BATTKlTiaHT, WHOLESALE AND RETAIL Butcher § Stock Dealer, — AND DEALER IN — lOE, rUENITUEE AND GENEEAL MEEOHANDISE, ARCHER, FLA. 70 Acres of Land, ^ mile from Depot, for Sale ; also 10 Acres of Improved Land, with House and 100 Bearing Orange Trees, }/^ mile from centre of Town. HORSES AND BUGGIES TO LET. -W. I.. JAC2SS01T, DEALER IN DEY GOODS, CLOTHING, NOTIONS, BOOTS, SHOES, HATS, CAPS, Groceries and General Merchandise, J. W. WILLIAMS, General Agent, ARCHER, FLORIDA. 129 AT THE ARCHER NURSERIES OF half mile southeast of Archer Depot, are cultivated and kept for sale all kinds of Fruit Trees adapted to this section of the country, with Shrubbery, Vines, etc. Prominent are the leading kinds of BUDDED ORANGE TREES, LeCONTE and other SOUTHERN HYBRID PEAR; PEENTO and other PEACH, JAPAN PER- SIMMON; CHAMPION and other QUINCE, LEMON, FIG, &c., &c. Orange Groves planted and cultivated by the year for non-residents. Land bought for Groves if desired. A young Grove of 25 acres and 40 acres of Land for Sale, one mile from depot, of ORANGE, PEAR, PEACH, &c. Plenty of good Orange and other Fruit and Farming Lands for sale cheap. Some lands to donate to Good settlers with small means. For further particulars address, with stamp, LIPSEY jg CHRISTIE, Archer. Fla. ALL KINDS OF VEHICLES ADAPTED TO THIS COUNTRY MADE TO ORDER. Blsic3ssana.itlii3n.g^ a^ond. Oa,xria,g^e I^epsiirixig^. ORDERS BY MAIL PROMPTLY ATTENDED TO • ARCHER, FLORIDA. DEALER IN . General TVlerctiandi^e, BOOTS, SHOES AND GROCERIES, LOTS in the Town of MELROSE, FLORIDA, for Sale on Reasonable Terms, ▲GENT OF TRANSIT & PENINSULAR R. R. AND SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY. X.. -WERTHSIM, DEALER IN <^ FANCY cboDS, ^^ GROCERIES, HARDWARE, AND ALL KINDS OF GENERAL MERCHANDISE, 180 R. B. SMITH, HAWTHORNE, FLA., 400 Acres Land for Sale, — SUITABLE FOR — ORANGE OR VEGETABLE CULTURE. r'zeiCEs i^ieoiuE $10 TO ^50 i=Eia -^cxse. ADimE^s AS ABOVE, HAWTHORNE, FLA. J. B. ADKlNS. E. A. ADKINS, ADKINS BROTHERS, HAWTHORNE, - - - - FLORIDA, DEALERS IN DRY GOODS, GROCERIES, BOOTS, SHOES, HATS, CAPS, ETC. I^CLOTHINC A SPECIALTY..^ IXigfliest ^vdlaxlcet X=»rice ^aicS. for Co-u.a=i.tr3r ^rod-VLce. W. F. RICE, General Merchandise, ARREDONDA, FLORIDA. G. H. Sutherland, AKKBDONDA, FLORIDA, has two very desirable places for sale ; one contains 20 acres, the other 60 acres. Object, principally, to have close neighbors. Price very reasonable. Me. Sutheelatstd is no Land Agent. 131 FLOBI DA ORA NGES. Remember that I am still in business and would be pleased to receive your consignments of oranges and early vegetables. I can do as well for you as any one in the trade. Respectfully, JOSEPH B. KEEDY, P.S. — Stencil furnished Grocer and Importer of Fruit, on application. Savannah, Georgia. f/ 1) Now offers to the Public a Complete and Well-Assorted Stock of m GOODS, OHOSERIES, BOOTS AND SHOES, KAMAHE, and everything else in my line, at prices within the reach of all I My Motto: "QUICK SALES AND SMALL PROFITS!" Give me a Trial and I Guarantee Entire Satisfaction. Highest Market Prices Paid for Cotton and Country Produce. NOTICE TO THE SUFPEREES. ^H|R. L. RENAULT, Physician and Surgeon from the Faculty of Paris, France Syl late of St. Louis, Missouri, having located at Waldo, Florida, offer my /^^ services to the sufferers of the country. I have made a specialty of Female and Chronic diseases for the past thirty years, with great success, having cured many diseases which have been pronounced incurable by other pbysicians. The number may be learned by inquir- ing abroad. Such diseases as Prolapsus, Tumors, Ulcerations, Retroflexions, Retroversions, Enteversions and Displacement of the Womb; also Chronic cases of the Liver, Dropsy, and Heart Disease, will, if neglected, in most instances prove fatal. My charges are reasonable, and I want the sufferers to receive the benefit of my success. Yours, with respect, D. L. RENAULT, M.D. EDWAED RENAULT & BRO., Waldo, Florida. Meats and Provisions. 133 RAULERSON & AMRROSE, DEALERS IN GENERAL MERCHANDISE, WALDO, - - FLORIDA. Groceries and Provisions, Dry Goods, Farmers' Supplies, Crockery and Glassware, Hardware, and everything usually kept in a First-Class Store. Highest Prices Paid for Cotton and other Salable Merchandise. H. RAULERSON. G. H. Ambrose. ID. mci2:s. Carriage Manufacturer, WALDO, FLORIDA, Pays particular attention to the manufacture of Fancy Carriages, Business and Farm Wagons adapted to this Country. Personal attention paid to trimming and repairing all kinds of vehicles. Orders promptly attended to from all parts of the State. MYRON COLONEY. JOHN T. TALBOTT. H. H. MENAGER. COLONEY, TALBOTT & CO., QS DBa,37" Street, Ta^clssoan-ville, DPlorida,- IMPORTANT Announcement.— We offer 400 splendid town lots at Glen St. Mary, Bak6r County, for sale, and ask the attention of all our citizens to them. These lots are 75 feet front by 12.5 feet in depth, and the first hundred will be sold for $25 each. There is a good hotel there, and buildings are going up rapidly. It is a regular mail station on the Florida Central Railroad, 30 miles west of Jacksonville ; stores, saw-mill, planing mill, shingle mill, &c., close by. Preach- ing at Glen St. Mary every other Sunday. Cottages can be built for $400, furnished for $300, that will rent winter months for $300, and afford a refuge in summer in case epidemics come to Jacksonville. Orange Groves made for -Von-JBesJde/ifs.— Unimproved lands converted into bearing orange groves on most reasonable terms. Send for circular. Orange Trees.— Being agents for the largest Nursery in the State, we can furnish orange trees at from 15c. to $2 each. Send for pamphlet. City Property.— We make the handling of city property a specialty, and we liberally adver- tise all property placed exclusively in our hands for sale or rent. Send for circular. Bearing Orange Groves for 5aZe.— We have bearing orange groves for sale in Duval, Clay, Putnam, Alachua, Marion, Sumpter, Orange, Volusia, Hillsboro, Hernando, Levy and Manatee counties, at from $2,000 to $25,000. Send for circulars. Tracts of Land for Colonizing.— We have tracts of land from 1,000 to 20,000 acres, convenient to railways and navigable streams, and fronting upon lovely lakes, which we are prepared to sell at from $2 to $5 per acre. Send for circulars. Homes in Florida on the Installment Plan.— We will sell lots of five acres or more on Brow- ard Manor. Floral Park, Floramel, Jupiter Island, and Glen St. Mary, upon small down pay- ments, and upon monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual installments, with absolutely no forfeiture. Send for our circulars. United States Lands Located.— We have information respecting the position of more than 1.000,000 acres Government Land", which can be entered at $1.25 per acre, and are worth to-day $10 to $50 per acre. Send for circulars. Railroad Lands for Sale.— We have 500,000 acres, all lying in the orange belt and near to stations, at $2.50 to $10 per acre, timber reserved, payments small and long time given. Send for our circulars. .... Orange Park, the Newport of Florida.— We will sell lots of any size, from 1 to 50 acres, m this splendid park of lovely winter homes, at prices that must attract. Send for our circulars. Financial Agents.— We will place loans, procure money, collect accounts, examine titles, transact notary business, etc., etc., at reasonable rates. Send for our circulars. FLOniDA LAITDS BOUGHT AND SOLD. TAXES PAID FOR NON-RESIDENTS. 10,000 ACRES TO SELECT FROM AT PRICES FROM $10 PER ACRE UP TO $100. Examination of Land Titles a Specialty. IS^ED E. FAREELL, Civil Engineer and Surveyor, Wif/i Santa le Canal WALDO, FLA. (Norn de 2)lume, ^'Carl.''') Traveling Correspondent-Journalist, HUMOROUS, DESCRIPTIVE AND ARGUMENTATIVE WRITER. Author of '■'Old Naumkeag ,"" a history of the old witch town of Salem, ''Secrets of the Service,^' ''Banker's Crime,''^ '^Eden of the Soiith,'^ d'C, and Founder and for ten years Editor and Publisher of the Salem Daily and Weekly Post, Salem, 3Iass. Northern Address, Southern Address, SALEM, MASS. GAINESVILLE, FLA. ^AY -41323 Q.