Home Life in Florida

Front matter

LA MARQUE HOSE, BEARING ONE THOUSAND HOSCS, AT THREE AN13 A HALF YEARS OLD; RESIDENCE OF MRS. S. E. WARING, MONTI I. All:, II. A HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA r.Y HELEN HARCOURT,. Author of "Florida Fruits and How to liaise Thernyi etc., Editor of "Our Home Circle " in Uxe Florida Farmer and Fruit Grower. LOUISVILLE, KY. JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY. copyrighted by john p. morton and company 1888 Electrotyped BY ROBERT ROWELL, LOUISVILLE, KY. PEEFACE. It is not well to venture into unknown regions blind fold, as it were. That sound old admonition to "Look before you leap" is full of good common sense, and yet it is passed by unheeded more frequently than one can well realize. AVe doubt if, in all the globe, there is any one spot con cerning which more has been written, pro and con, than of our beloved Florida ; much that is true, much more that is untrue.

An injudicious friend has more pow7er to harm than an open foe — and thus has it been with Florida : some of her friends, misled by eager enthusiasm, have painted her in colors unnaturally brilliant, such as belong not to this world, all light, no shadows ; enemies, moved by self inter est to turn the great tide of immigration to other quarters, have portrayed Florida in somber tints, dark and forbidding enough to deter any but the most courageous from crossing her borders. We love Florida ; of our fair State it may well be said that " to know her is to love her," but w7e hold that her truest interests are best served by a plain statement of facts, not fancies; of realities, not theories; "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Not only throughout the United States, but in Europe, thousands of home seekers are eagerly turning their eyes

Preface

. toward Florida, and questioning as to what manner of life, w7hat measure of comfort and success await those who elect to cast in their lot with hers. To answer these eager questioners, to cast a clear, honest light upon the paths they will be called upon to tread, to reveal the truths and possibilities of home life in Florida, this is the task we have set our pen to perform ; and if, as the reader closes the following pages, he is not satisfied that an honest, industrious man or woman need have no fear of not " making a living" and a comfortable home in Florida, with less outlay of capital and hardship than elsewhere, then has this volume been written in vain. Profiting by the experience of a former work (Florida Fruits and How to Raise Them) in which several articles valuable to settlers were referred to, but no address given where they might be procured, an omision which called forth numerous inquiries from readers, the present volume will be found to contain all the information relative to each article mentioned which is necessary to enable the reader to procure it direct, thereby immensely7 enhancing its practical value to the settler whose interests it seeks to serve.

That this humble work, which may at least claim to be honest and candid, may be the means of winning many to test the peaceful content and comfort of home life in Flor ida is the earnest hope of THE AUTHOR. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTEB I.— What Florida Offers. Page Comfort and Competence for the Honest and Industrious. Increase of Prosperity, and Population of the State. Good Investment for both Capital and Labor. Health for the Invalid 9 CHAPTEB II.— A Backward Glance. Why Florida is called "A New Country." A Glimpse of her History 24 CHAPTEB III.— Climate. Proved by Comparison and Statistics to be the Finest in the "World. Scientifically " Moderately Dry :" Variation of Temperature Just Sufficient for Health and Comfort. 42 CHAPTEB IV.— Health. The First Consideration. Statistics Prove Florida to be the Healthiest State in the Union.

Safe to Settle at all Times of the Year. Purity of the Air. Points in Locating : "Water, Wells, and Filters 55 CHAPTEB V. — Temperature. Winter. Summer. Violent Changes almost unknown. Mild Winters. Cooler in Summer than in the Northern States 77 CHAPTEB VI. — Pine Lands and Hammocks. Diversity of Soil and Surface. Belative Value in Productiveness and Healthfulness CONTENTS. CHAPTEB VII.— "Where Shall I Settle?" Northern, Middle (including West), and South Florida. Varied Products and Climatic Differences of the Several Sections 100 CHAPTEB VIII.— "What Will it Cost?" Prices of Land : According to Location and Quality. Cost and Methods of Clearing Land. Solid and Increas ing Value of a Bearing Orange Grove. "Over-production Impossible 116 CHAPTEB IX.— Making the Home. Attractive Locations. Beautiful Water Views. About Windmills 137

CHAPTER X.

— Home Surroundings. Grass Lawns. Vines and Flowers. Shade-trees and Arbors. Shade for Poultry-yards 151 CHAPTEB XI.— "What Shall I Need?" Warm Clothing and Carpets Desirable. Cool Weather. " The Dark Days of January, 1886." Whether to Bring or Buy in Florida the Household Furniture. Hints for Shipping Goods 170

CHAPTER XII.

— "What Shall I Eat?" Deprivations in New Neighborhoods. The Provision Closet. Conveniences and Food Supply Constantly In creasing j 86 CHAPTEB XIII.— Home Supplies. Fish, Flesh, and Fowl to be had for the Catching. The Gopher Tortoise 19G CHAPTEB XIV. — " Out of the Depths." A Boat the first Eequisite. Methods of Fishing for Trout or Bass. Salt-water Fish, Clams, and Oysters. Methods of Catching Fresh-water Turtle; Curious Quality of their Flesh CONTENTS. 7 4 CHAPTEB XV.*— The Dairy Question— Old Style. The Native Florida Cow. Methods of Milking. How to Make a Cow-pen. Best Plan for best results in Fertilizing the Soil by Cow-penning. Treatment of the Florida Cow. 223 CHAPTEB XVI.*— The Dairy Question— Coming Style. Native Stock to be Improved by Crossing with Thoroughbreds and Proper Treatment. Acclimated Thoroughbreds should be Bought of Florida Breeders 246

CHAPTER XVII

*— Pasturage. Bermuda, Johnson and Para Grass. Beggar's Weed or Indian Clover 261

CHAPTER XVIII.

*— Florida Poultry. Nearly all Varieties do Well. Hoyv to Treat them Successfully 273 CHAPTEB XIX.*— The Poultry- Yard. Shade, Grass, and Pure Water Eequisite. The Nursery, How to guard against Hawks. Movable Coops and Fences. 296 CHAPTEB XX.*— Poultry Patients. How to Treat the Few Diseases Florida Poultry are subject to 312 CHAPTEB XXI.*— Firing the Woods. Permitted by Law for the Benefit of Cattle ; but will soon be a Thing of the Past. A Most Pernicious Custom, Injurious to Soil and Property. How to Fight Fire. 320 CHAPTEB XXII.— All About Fences. The Fence Law. Repeal Urgent. Injury done by al lowing Stock to roam at Large, and compelling the Ag riculturist to Fence against Them. How to Make Good and Cheap Fences. Wire Fences Made at Home 327 * For the major portions of these chapters we acknowledge our indebt edness to the courtesy of the Florida Dispatch, iu whose columns they originally appeared.

CONTENTS. CHAPTEB XXIIL— Household Help. Housekeeper's Trials. Florida Negro Servants. Amusing Experiences. Importance of the Problem of Domes tic Help. How it may be solved 344 CHAPTEB XXIV.— Trials and Tribulations. Insect Foes, and How to Fight Them. Harmless Lizards and Frogs. The " Bugaboo " of Snakes 366

CHAPTER XXV.

— Making The Best of It. Compensations for Drawbacks. How to Make the New Home Happy 401

CHAPTER XXVI.

— Helpful Hints. How to Paint Houses. Becipes for Cheap Paints. About Horses, Wagons, and Harness. How to Renovate Carriages. Home-made Furniture, Rugs, and Refrigerators. To Preserve Food

Chapter I. What Florida Offers

A little bird has come tapping at our study door, bearing in its beak a message from the North, East, West, and Southwest, and from " beyond the seas," which reads thus : "We have read of Florida's fruits, of her cotton, her cane, her climate ; we have heard glowing accounts of what has been and can be done through all the length and breadth of the noble 'Land of Flowers;' but nowhere have we read or heard of the thousand and one details of the every-day life that must be met and lived by the settler before he attains the grand sum total of independence. How do he and his wife live and work and pass their time ? What do they wear ? what do they eat ? w7hat does it cost ? what can they raise ? Tell us of these things, so that all the thousands of us who are coming to Florida seeking homes may know to what we are coming, and see some clear rays of light shining through the obscurity of vague generalities.

Things known to you old settlers are unknown to us ; things familiar to you are enigmas to us. We know that your ways are not as our ways, but we do not know the details of the difference, nor how to prepare to meet them. We are thirsty for information of the little things that go to make up the daily life of the settler. Give us to drink of the fountain of knowledge, that we may be strong to meet the life we must face in our future homes." And so, having been taught that it is as impolite to ignore a message as to refuse to notice a verbal question, we "take our pen in hand to let j7ou know" of Florida Home Life — " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Florida's climate has been spoken of, and justly, by the most eminent scientists as one of the finest, and, away from the miasms of the swamps, as one of the most health ful in the world, and we, who know her well, know that she has no need of exaggerated statements to plead her cause, and we propose to make none.

We who dwell and have dwelt for years within her bor ders know that our beautiful State has no need of over drawn, rose-colored pictures. It is better to understate rather than overstate the truth ; it is better to climb up than fall down. Human nature is apt to fly to extremes, to expect too much, and then, not finding it, to shut the eye to the good that really nestles amidst the evil. And so it has fared with hundreds who have gazed on highly7-colored pictures of Florida life, pictures tinted with rainbow hues, not a shadow or a flaw any where ; and, so gazing, have hastened there with pockets empty, yet full of anticipations of a quick and easy fortune to be obtained without time, or work, or patience, or deprivation, and then finding that Florida is only an earthly country after all, not a paradise, and that orange trees are so unreasonable and willful as to decline to grow up, increase, bear, gather, and ship their fruit of their own volition while their owner sleeps, they turn their backs upon the prospective golden fruit and draw a black brush over the rainbow-hued picture that had drawn them Florida-ward.

We hardly know what our own ideas of Florida life were until the realities were before us ; for, in fact (like many another, doubtless), we hardly had time to think about it at all. " Jack and gill went up the hill To get a pail of water ; Jack fell down and broke his crown, And gill came tumbling after," and never stopped until they landed in the midst of a young orange grove, which some day will surely carry Jack and gill up hill again in a gold and green chariot, if only they are patient and energetic. But there were some of us, we remember, who thought the trees had only to be stuck in the ground anyhow and then let severely alone for two or three years, when they would be found full of glorious fruit. Visions of special steamers to be chartered, of whole trains of cars loaded with the produce, floated before the glow7ing imagination ; and as for vegetables, they were to be had for the scatter ing of the seed, all the year round, if, indeed, they did not spring up and grow of their own accord.

It is curious to find, in collecting the preconceptions of "Florida fever" patients, how wildly just such ideas as these obtain credence. Very rarely, indeed, do we find a settler who has not formed impossible expectations, and is therefore "gwine to be disappinted," and in the rebound to see his future home in darker hues than it deserves. And all this comes of the unwise laudations of the enthu siastic friends who have done more actual harm to our beautiful State than all her foes collectively. To clear aw7ay the mists and throw in the shadows that all earthly paintings must accept as part and parcel of themselves, and to tell the honest truth, and in such shape as to do the most practical good, is the earnest object of this present work. Throughout the length and breadth of these United States, north, south, east, and west, and scarcely less in Great Britain also, there are at this moment thousands of hearts turning wistfully toward Florida as a haven of refuge and of hope from financial storms or from untimely death and disease.

These inquirers are eager to know the real, substantial advantages she holds out to those who elect to cast their lot with hers, and the Floridian who sets forth these advantages side by side with the ever-attendant disadvantages, giving publicity to facts and not to ' ' vain imaginings," will do his State more real service than he who willfully misleads by false statements impossible to be credited by any reasonable thinking being. We hold that our beautiful State has no need of exag geration, no need of that which is bright to be painted brighter. She only wants the truth to be known to mark her out as thrice blessed among her sister States. She has her drawbacks and deprivations, of course, though these are fewer than those of any other new country that we know of. Take notice that we use the word "new," for there are those who come to Florida ignoring the fact of its very recent opening up to settlers, and then grumble because things are not conducted in the old well-worn grooves they have been accustomed to in their old homes, whose rescue from the wilderness dates back for many years, even to the hundreds.

There are plenty of such unreasonable, unreasoning, impractical people in the world, and occasionally they edify and amuse their wiser brethren by holding forth on the subject of imaginary grievances. Florida has seen a goodly number of them, and some of them not being known outside her borders in their true character have done her considerable injury. Many a man has come to our beautiful State, lured by glowing descrip tions and rose-colored pictures of impossible perfections, with his expectations wrought to the highest pitch, aud finding no paradise of ease and plenty awaiting his picking up without Yvorking or waiting, has turned his back upon her and gone back Yvhence he came, to revile her as a fraud, a sham, a "trap to catch sinners." Surely it is better for Florida that her settlers should come to her with moderate, reasonable expectations, and find their ideas lower than the reality ; "far better this way than the opposite of expecting too much, and meeting bit ter disappointment, and such a revulsion of feeling that the good that really lies before them is swallowed up in the gloom.

Florida desires nothing but the truth to be told of her wealth and virtues — the plain, sober truth, in facts and figures, of deeds done and work accomplished, of what has been and is, not of the theoretical " might be," this should be enough to satisfy an energetic, reasonable man ; and she wants none other. She is beautiful, but is not a paradise ; her climate, both summer and winter, is delightful, but it is not perfection; the summer days and nights are cooled by such breezes as are seldom known at the North. The heat is therefore less oppressive than the same season in any other State, in the North or South, but the warm weather continues longer. The winter has no snow, but sometimes there is ice, a thin skim that forms during the night and usually vanishes in the morning, but stays long enough to nip tender vegetables; so that the truck gardener must hasten to plant again in order not to lose the cream of the early Northern markets.

And some times there is a drought that shrivels up the vegetables and keeps back the earliest shipments. So you see there do exist drawbacks and discourage ments, but they are not always nor all the time, and the man of pluck and energy who has made up his mind to act on that grand old adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," is certain to triumph in the end. We heard the other day of a man (and this is only one instance out of hundreds) who came to Florida a few years ago with six hundred dollars' capital, borrowed money, every dollar of it. In five years he had repaid the money, including a heavy interest, and had three times as much in the bank, besides being the owner of forty acres of land, a young orange grove and peach orchard, two horses, half a dozen cows, and a comfortable house.

He wisely located on a line of railroad to secure quick transportation, instead of settling in some place where his products could not find a market, and then he rolled up his sleeves and went to work like a man, to raise vegetables. He was new to the business, had been a hard-worked book-keeper, struggling vainly to support his family even in the most frugal man ner. He knew nothing of farm life, but he studied, used his eyes and his brains as well as his hands, questioned his neighbors, did not disdain to take advice from men less educated but better informed in agriculture than himself, and so he succeeded, as every man will who follows his example — one of true worth and manliness. His cucum bers brought him from four to six dollars a crate, his toma toes from two to six dollars, and peas, beans, beets, potatoes, and cabbages in like proportion ; and he blessed the day that he resolved to turn his back on the office desk and seek his fortune in fair Florida's outstretched hand.

It was not all plain sailing, be it understood. He worked faithfully and intelligently in spite of discouragements. Sometimes frost killed his young plants ; sometimes dry weather did it. Insects helped them, dishonest commis sion men robbed him, but he kept steadily on, planting a new crop as fast as the old one was killed or gathered. Neither he nor the ground were allowed to remain idle. To-day he is in possession of as pretty a home as one need wish to see. His w7ife and children are well and happy, and his life is full of contentment. "What a con trast," he exclaims, " to what it was eight years ago !" And all because he had the nerve to drag himself out of the old worn-out groove and the pluck to hammer out a new one. This is no fancy picture, but one that every energetic man may make a reality for himself if he will but seize and hold Florida's royal bounty.

And this man, take notice, was a gentleman, educated and trained as a book keeper — one of a vast army who struggle on from day to day, overworked, underpaid, or not paid at all. Take up any one of the newspapers of our great cities, and what do we see ? The same old story that has been told over and over again for years past. "A merchant advertised for a clerk at ten dollars a week, and eight hun dred applied for the position." "There are now no less than seven thousand book-keepers out of employment in this one city alone !" Is not that a pitiful show ing? and in "one city alone." Think of it then all over the country ! Now why is it that so many young men prefer the precarious life of a salaried clerk, book-keeper, or salesman, shut in-doors all day and every day, from morning till night, earning barely enough to keep up appearances before the world, laying by nothing to meet the rainy season, sure to come — if "out of employment," "on the sick list," " too old to work"— to the free, manly life of the farmer or fruit-grower, breathing God's pure air, uncontaminated by the dust and smoke of cities, living a life of comfort and freedom from care, even if one of honest daily toil, and storing up for the future a sufficient independence for himself and his family?

Why is it? Is it because in these days of ultra civilization and refinement manual labor has come to be looked upon as unworthy of a "gentleman"? Fie upon it ! If this is the reason of the surplusage of clerks and book-keepers, and the scarcity of young farm ers and horticulturists aud artisans, why then let us hasten back to the good old times of barbarism, and be happy and prosperous because we are not educated above a good, hon est, hard day's work ! "Do ye not perceive," saith the Great Ruler of us all, "that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it can not defile him ?" But ' ' that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man." And so it is not the work that a man does that lowrers him, but his manner of doing it. A sturdy, intelligent tiller of the soil, free to come and go, to breathe the pure air and join in the joyous hymns of the birds, doing his work cheerfully, energetic ally, and in the best manner, is surely the full equal of the salaried book-keeper, sitting at his desk, at the call of another, and liable to be thrown out on the world penni less after years of steady application to work that is certainly less elevating, free, and manly than that of the farmer or fruit-grower.

Florida holds forth her hand in hearty welcome, not only to the capitalist and manufacturer, whose gold is a magnet to draw forth yet more of the precious metal from amidst her hidden treasures and mysteries, and to utilize those resources of which we already know. Not only these does Florida welcome, but also, with just as much earnest ness, the poor, honest man, be he ci-devant clerk, book keeper, mechanic, artisan, or farmer, who comes to her seeking a comfortable home, and is neither ashamed nor too lazy to work for it. She wants good men and true — men of intelligence, of mind, and of muscle, with willing hands to convert her vast forests into rich fields and fruitful groves, and to fill their own treasure chest with the wrell-earned reward of honest toil judiciously expended. She has ample room for the skilled workman, the indus trious mechanic, the day laborer, the farm hand, the truck farmer, the fruit-grower, the merchant, the blacksmith, and all the " many men of many trades" who go to make up our busy, hard-working world.

It is a noble, boun teous gift that she holds out to such as these, who flee to her from the crowded, icy North. It can all be summed up in one word — a veritable multum in parvo. Comfort! a glorious boon, is it not? — a comfortable cli mate, a comfortable home, a comfortable competence, a comfortable life for all their days to come, and a comfortable fortune for their children after them. It is all here waiting for the self-chosen ones, who elect to take advantage of the gift so freely7 offered to those who have man hood enough to grasp it and make the best use of it. But mark w7ell that proviso, "to grasp it and make the best use of it." For there are some who take and hold it in a fee ble, half-hearted sort of way, and do not, by any means, make as good use of it as they might, and others w7ho are so blind that they may gaze straight into bonnie Florida's outstretched palm and see nothing there but the sand that has got into their eyes and affected their vision with a curious obliquity and color-blindness that changes all the fair landscape to one deep shade of blue.

Aye ! it is a most generous offer — comfort — a boon for which weary thousands upon thousands are seeking all their lives long and never find it, not for an hour or a day — a most noble gift indeed, but not made to sloths nor slug gards, nor to men who expect to reap where they have not sowed, to gather without planting, to thrust an orange tree into the ground one day and see the golden fruit drop into their pockets the next; nor to men who possess neither patience nor energy, neither perseverance nor "backbone," who prefer sharp practice to honesty, falsehood to truth. For such men as these Florida has no gifts to offer ; she does not want them, has no room for them, and gives them small encouragement to encumber her fair fields and forests. Not only in our own clear country, but in England, Scot land, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, there are thousands upon thousands of men and women, many of them too in the higher walks of life, struggling day by day to meet the daily, never-ending problem of how to live and how to clothe and educate their children.

Ah ! did they but know of the peaceful, comfortable home that fair Flor ida holds forth for their acceptance ! When the cold, chilling* breath of the Ice King sweeps over the land of the North, and suffering— suffering from cold, from starvation, from sickness — presses its heavy hand upon the downcast, " out of work," poverty-stricken toilers of the earth, we of sunny Florida read the sad story with aching hearts ; we look out upon our own bright surround ings and clear, warm sky, upon trees loaded with golden fruit, ground green with growing crops, chickens and ducks merrily chasing insects ; birds, rabbits, fish, turtle, and, on the coast, oysters and clams to be had for the catching ; upon our own lightly clad forms, our small wood fires, some days not even called into requisition ; upon cord after cord of heat-giving, life-giving wood lying rotting on the ground; upon master builders, carpenters, artisans of all kinds crying out, " We can not work faster because we can not get workmen enough."

We of bonnie Florida look out upon all these things, and the contrast in the lives of those wretched, suffering masses of the North, as it is, w7ith what it might be if they would but accept the comforts that Florida freely offers them, fills our hearts with a yearning compassion and desire to point out the open road that lies before them, did they but see it. And we are thankful, intensely thankful to know that the number of those who do see it is daily increasing — increasing, too, just as we would have it, in exact proportion as the veil of mystery is lifted from Florida's beautiful, genial form, and she stands revealed, her true self, the refuge, the benefactor of the struggling multitude. The weary, anxious father and mother, whose hard, un remitting toil scarce suffices for the present needs of their little ones, and who, so long as they creep on in the same old groove, are able to lay by not one dollar for the future or for the " rainy day," so certain to come to all sooner or later, need but to transplant their household treasures to a genial Florida home to find in the present, comfort, and in the future competence, if nothing more ; and this, too, with less toil and hardship, less anxiety from day to day than they endured in the old life behind them.

And many are awakening to this truth. Here, there, every where, we see colonies forming, neighbors joining hands and fleeing in a body from the icy winters of their old homes to seek an easier, more prosperous life in sunny Florida, making in themselves a community bound together by mutual asso ciations in the past, giving to each other hope, support, encouragement in the present and future. To the honest man willing to work, with a wife or children willing to lend a helping hand, there can be no such word in Florida as "fail." Even the despairing widow with little children dependent upon her, if she is able to work and can but get together enough money to carry her to one of the growing Florida towns, secure an acre or half acre of land (there are some who donate several acres to actual settlers) , and erect a little frame house thereon, will find plenty of work to do, and reduced expenses for clothing and fuel; profit, too, in raising a few chickens and vegetables ; and meantime, for the future, may have growing on her little property a few well-cared-for orange and other fruit trees.

For mark well this fact: a few trees properly tended will pay better and quicker than five times the number only half nourished and cultivated. One acre of land set with choice orange trees, say fifty of them, with peach, fig, and pear trees in the diamonds and corners, and vegetables raised between them, will in a few years go far toward supplying the wants of any reasonable family- And there are very few who could not acquire this much of landed property in bonnie Florida. Florida offers opportunities for the energetic and industrious in every class of life, from the great capitalist down to the common day laborer. In all her towns workmen of every kind are in request at excellent wages, with less ex pense for clothing and fuel and house rent to be met than at the North. In every one of the numerous towns spring ing up all over the State, wherever and whenever the fast spreading net work of transportation lines reaches out its life-giving arms — in every one of these numerous towns there are openings ready and waiting for all who choose to grasp them.