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Source
State Library of Florida, Florida Collection, BR0043
Description
Jefferson County is the Banner County of the State. More of its chief crop, cotton, is produced that in any county in the State. Its resources are unlimited, its climate unsurpassed, its soil equals any in any civilized country. ... Any further information about the county, etc., will be cheerfully given. Yours respectfully, E. B. Bailey. Monticello, Fla., September 1887.''
Date
1887
Format
Topic
Geographic Term
ton), from same land. It stands at the head of the list of forage plants-
stock will leave timothy or any food for it. I believe mules can cultivate
with it alone as food, anyway with half rations of corn. Ten to thirty
tons per acre for ensilage, proportionately less for hay. While I do not
gamble, I have frequently offered to bet two to one, $500 or less, that I can
cut enough after getting off a crop of oats, etc., and in time for turnips,
rye, etc., to pay twice for the land it grows on at present prices (which is
based on low price of cotton), over and above all costs of cutting and baling
and marketing. I have preserved it as ensilage for winter food. I have
tried ensilage in wooden silos, both above and under ground, and it keeps
perfectly, except in a few inches of the top and sides, though it keeps better
in a clay bank, which can be so arranged as to avoid cost of elevating
the ensilage. We can feed on cotton seed meal (our native product, and
the most concentrated and nutritious stock food in the world), at really no
legitimate cost, as we use it as a fertilizer, and its passage through stock
does not take from it its fertilizing properties, but renders it in more available
condition for plant food. It is a complete plant food, and no "pole-cat
and sand" about it. Prof. Stewart, of New York, in his book on "Feeding
Animals," places cotton seed meal at a value for stock food of $2.30 per
100 pounds, compared to corn meal at $1.12 oats at 98 cents and good hay
75 cents per 100 pounds. I buy cotton seed at 6 and 7 cents per bushel.
Edward Atkinson says that if they could raise cotton in Pennsylvania they
could afford to raise it for the seed alone, and it is undoubtedly a fact, as
many bushels of cotton seed could be produced to the acre as of corn, and
it is more nutritious, besides its valuable oil as a profit. We can raise corn
as cheap as in Illinois by getting up stumps and using proper implements,
besides having a pasture for three or four months after the corn is gathered
of more value than clover. With capital to buy the stock and build fences
and run the business, I believe I could raise a steer at a cost of $10 to $20
that would sell in New York, or nearer, at a net price of $50 to $80. There
is no country where vegetation grows as it does here. Cotton in North
Carolina two feet high may have as much fruit on it as cotton eight feet
high here - it shows the growth of vegetation. I have seen Le Conte pear
trees grow fourteen feet in one season, from March to November. I have
seen trees at Thomasville fifteen years old with thirty bushels of fruit to
the tree, and they sold in New York this season as high as $12 per barrel.
I have two acres within 100 feet of the depot and on the railroad I offer
for $2,000. It paid ten per cent. clear profit this year from first shipment
(seven or eight years old). I believe it may increase to 100 per cent within
five years. Tobacco grows to perfection here, I had a piece 30x100 feet
that grew seven or eight feet high, and not a single plowing and only one
hoeing. Mr. Bruce makes a perfect success of some ten acres, and Mr. W.
M. Girardeau of two acres. Cane, potatoes and all root crops grow to absolute
perfection here. This section, after tests by competent Frenchmen
and others, is considered equal to France for vineyards. Receiver Duval,
of the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, has employed expert
judges of tobacco to investigate and report on the advantages of this section
for tobacco, and they say this is the finest tobacco section (Middle
Florida), in the United States. South Florida's climate may be worth $1,000
per acre, but it lacks good red clay soil. Mississippi bottoms lack health-
fullness, New York lacks good climate and Southern California is subject
to seasons of extreme drought and is dependent on irrigation. Middle
Florida has soil, climate, healthfulness and good seasons all combined in
such a degree as is not equaled by any other section, and its advantages
only needs to be advertised to get in people and capital to develop it and
make it a garden spot of America, and most prosperous section. Today
more lines of railroads are projected through here than any other section.
I also offer for sale
Le Conte pear trees, 1 year old $15 per 100
" " " 2 " 20 per 100
" " " 3 " 25 per 100
Finest nursery stock I have ever seen. I will guarantee one-year -olds,
five to eight feet high, and I think will average seven feet; two-year-olds,
well branched and beautiful trees, six feet to nine feet, and I think will average
eight or nine feet; three-year-olds, seven to ten feet - they may be
larger - all healthy and genuine Le Contes, nicely packed and F. O. B. cars.
Paper shell pecan trees, most excellent variety, $25 per 100, one year old;
$35 per 100, two years old. Kolb Gem melon seed, 40 cents per pound.
Hay and corn, by car load, delivered. Finest syrup, made on evaporator,
pure and healthy, by the barrel, 50 cents per gallon. F. O. B. cars. Beggar
lice seed 50 cents per quart; $8 per bushel. Should be sown at any convenient
time in the winter or spring, and it is not necessary to plow it under,
as plowing for oats or corn will answer. Can be sown as late as
May; will come up after a crop in May or June or July. Two quarts, as
they are small seed, will give a fair seeding for an acre; more would be
better. If cut only once the first year it will reseed itself and continue to
for all time unless cut two or three times a season for several successive
seasons. Any further information about the county, etc., will be cheerfully
given. Yours respectfully, E. B. Bailey,
Monticello, Fla., September, 1887.
stock will leave timothy or any food for it. I believe mules can cultivate
with it alone as food, anyway with half rations of corn. Ten to thirty
tons per acre for ensilage, proportionately less for hay. While I do not
gamble, I have frequently offered to bet two to one, $500 or less, that I can
cut enough after getting off a crop of oats, etc., and in time for turnips,
rye, etc., to pay twice for the land it grows on at present prices (which is
based on low price of cotton), over and above all costs of cutting and baling
and marketing. I have preserved it as ensilage for winter food. I have
tried ensilage in wooden silos, both above and under ground, and it keeps
perfectly, except in a few inches of the top and sides, though it keeps better
in a clay bank, which can be so arranged as to avoid cost of elevating
the ensilage. We can feed on cotton seed meal (our native product, and
the most concentrated and nutritious stock food in the world), at really no
legitimate cost, as we use it as a fertilizer, and its passage through stock
does not take from it its fertilizing properties, but renders it in more available
condition for plant food. It is a complete plant food, and no "pole-cat
and sand" about it. Prof. Stewart, of New York, in his book on "Feeding
Animals," places cotton seed meal at a value for stock food of $2.30 per
100 pounds, compared to corn meal at $1.12 oats at 98 cents and good hay
75 cents per 100 pounds. I buy cotton seed at 6 and 7 cents per bushel.
Edward Atkinson says that if they could raise cotton in Pennsylvania they
could afford to raise it for the seed alone, and it is undoubtedly a fact, as
many bushels of cotton seed could be produced to the acre as of corn, and
it is more nutritious, besides its valuable oil as a profit. We can raise corn
as cheap as in Illinois by getting up stumps and using proper implements,
besides having a pasture for three or four months after the corn is gathered
of more value than clover. With capital to buy the stock and build fences
and run the business, I believe I could raise a steer at a cost of $10 to $20
that would sell in New York, or nearer, at a net price of $50 to $80. There
is no country where vegetation grows as it does here. Cotton in North
Carolina two feet high may have as much fruit on it as cotton eight feet
high here - it shows the growth of vegetation. I have seen Le Conte pear
trees grow fourteen feet in one season, from March to November. I have
seen trees at Thomasville fifteen years old with thirty bushels of fruit to
the tree, and they sold in New York this season as high as $12 per barrel.
I have two acres within 100 feet of the depot and on the railroad I offer
for $2,000. It paid ten per cent. clear profit this year from first shipment
(seven or eight years old). I believe it may increase to 100 per cent within
five years. Tobacco grows to perfection here, I had a piece 30x100 feet
that grew seven or eight feet high, and not a single plowing and only one
hoeing. Mr. Bruce makes a perfect success of some ten acres, and Mr. W.
M. Girardeau of two acres. Cane, potatoes and all root crops grow to absolute
perfection here. This section, after tests by competent Frenchmen
and others, is considered equal to France for vineyards. Receiver Duval,
of the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, has employed expert
judges of tobacco to investigate and report on the advantages of this section
for tobacco, and they say this is the finest tobacco section (Middle
Florida), in the United States. South Florida's climate may be worth $1,000
per acre, but it lacks good red clay soil. Mississippi bottoms lack health-
fullness, New York lacks good climate and Southern California is subject
to seasons of extreme drought and is dependent on irrigation. Middle
Florida has soil, climate, healthfulness and good seasons all combined in
such a degree as is not equaled by any other section, and its advantages
only needs to be advertised to get in people and capital to develop it and
make it a garden spot of America, and most prosperous section. Today
more lines of railroads are projected through here than any other section.
I also offer for sale
Le Conte pear trees, 1 year old $15 per 100
" " " 2 " 20 per 100
" " " 3 " 25 per 100
Finest nursery stock I have ever seen. I will guarantee one-year -olds,
five to eight feet high, and I think will average seven feet; two-year-olds,
well branched and beautiful trees, six feet to nine feet, and I think will average
eight or nine feet; three-year-olds, seven to ten feet - they may be
larger - all healthy and genuine Le Contes, nicely packed and F. O. B. cars.
Paper shell pecan trees, most excellent variety, $25 per 100, one year old;
$35 per 100, two years old. Kolb Gem melon seed, 40 cents per pound.
Hay and corn, by car load, delivered. Finest syrup, made on evaporator,
pure and healthy, by the barrel, 50 cents per gallon. F. O. B. cars. Beggar
lice seed 50 cents per quart; $8 per bushel. Should be sown at any convenient
time in the winter or spring, and it is not necessary to plow it under,
as plowing for oats or corn will answer. Can be sown as late as
May; will come up after a crop in May or June or July. Two quarts, as
they are small seed, will give a fair seeding for an acre; more would be
better. If cut only once the first year it will reseed itself and continue to
for all time unless cut two or three times a season for several successive
seasons. Any further information about the county, etc., will be cheerfully
given. Yours respectfully, E. B. Bailey,
Monticello, Fla., September, 1887.
Title
Jefferson County: Where It Is, and What Can Be Done Here
Subject
Agriculture
Cities and towns--History
Cotton trade
Description
Jefferson County is the Banner County of the State. More of its chief crop, cotton, is produced that in any county in the State. Its resources are unlimited, its climate unsurpassed, its soil equals any in any civilized country. ... Any further information about the county, etc., will be cheerfully given. Yours respectfully, E. B. Bailey. Monticello, Fla., September 1887.''
Source
State Library of Florida, Florida Collection, BR0043
Date
1887
Format
promotional materials
Language
eng-US
Type
Text
Identifier
flc_br0043
Coverage
Late 19th-Century Florida (1877-1900)
Geographic Term
Monticello (Fla.)
Jefferson County (Fla.)
Thumbnail
/fmp/selected_documents/thumbnails/flc_br0043.jpg
Display Date
published 1887
ImageID
flc_br0043_01
flc_br0043_02
topic
Politics and Government
Subject - Person
Bailey, E. B.
Transcript
Florida.
Jefferson County.
Where it is, and what can be done here.
Jefferson County is the Banner County of the State. More of its chief
crop, cotton, is produced than in any county in the State. Its resources
are unlimited, its climate unsurpassed, its soil equals any in any civilized
country, almost every agricultural product is raised to perfection:
its hundreds of acres of Pear Groves and Vineyards, Fig, Pecan, Walnut
Pomegranate, Peach, Plum and other fruits attest its fruit producing capacity.
Its church and school facilities are excellent. There are free
schools in the county three to five months in the year, and ten months in
town. Its healthfulness is not excelled by any county, its perfect freedom
from pestilence and epidemics is shown by life insurance charges being
less than in most Southern States. It is noted for the honesty and hospitality
of its people. Monticello, the chief town of Jefferson County, is
twenty-eight miles from Tallahassee, the Capital, and twenty miles south
of Thomasville, Ga., and is the cleanest and healthiest little inland town of
1,500 inhabitants in the south. The drives in and around the town, in connection
with the finest livery in the State, are the delight of all visitors. It
is one hundred and forty miles west of Jacksonville, and is the center of
the "Florida Highlands." It is thirty miles north of the deep waters of the
Gulf of Mexico. If you are an invalid come and try our dry climate and
breathe our resinous atmosphere. If you are a sportsman our fields are
full of game and free to you. Our hotels and boarding houses bid you
welcome, and at reasonable rates for board. The new hotel, "Winter
Home, " owned by Messrs. J. C. Turner & Co., will be opened for guests
this season and is supplied with gas and water works and electric enunciators,
and will be first-class in all respects. If you wish to change your
bleak and dreary home for one in a more favored clime, you are especially
invited. If you are a capitalist and are seeking profitable investments,
come among us; you cannot find a better field under the sun for safe and
profitable investment. Our active and enterprising real estate agents,
Messrs. Lamar & Simkins will show you, free of charge, hundreds of most
excellent investments that will probably be ten times as valuable in a short
time. I have nearly five hundred acres in a body within one-half mile of
depot which I will sell in any amounts desired, or the whole tract for
$12,000; also seventy-four acres within the town with my handsome new
dwelling, observatory and cellar, cisterns and tanks, hot and cold water,
baths and closet, splendid kitchen and outbuildings, and land free of
stumps and highly improved regardless of cost, all fenced and cross fenced.
Price $15,000, to include some valuable furniture. Have been offered $100
per acre for some of the least valuable and refused it. Some is worth $1,000
per acre for building lots. Have twelve acres of Le Conte pear orchard on
it, the whole very rich and fertile, elegant stock or truck farm. I own
12,000 acres of the most valuable land in the county, and wish to sell 5,000
to develop the balance; prefer to negotiate loan at 10 per cent. interest per
annum and payable annually and due in three years; will sell one-half interest
at a reasonable price and will guarantee with absolute security
(mortgage on my one-half and crops) 6 per cent. interest per annum, and
allow privilege at end of five years of pulling out with money put in and 8
per cent. interest by notifying me at end of fourth year of said intention.
If more than 8 per cent is made party to have his share of profits. I will
demonstrate to his entire satisfaction that fully 15 per cent. to 50 per cent.
can be reasonably expected, I to get no salary if 15 per cent. is not made,
and $1,000 to $5,000 according to amount made. Will pay fair salary to
partner. I have some 4,000 acres under cultivation and 1,000 free of
stumps. I gin all my cotton and grind all my corn by water power at my
two splendid water mills and I could cut up thousands of tons of the finest
ensilage and hay in the world by water power, could make brick (clay immediately
at hand) by water power, for silos and lime at my lime quarry
on same plantation. As character and ability are the first essential in finding
a partner, will state that I am thirty-two years old, born and raised in
this section, and refer to anyone here; as a banker I never lost one dollar,
as a merchant doing the largest credit business I collected within one-half
of one per cent; as to character in all my transactions as banker, merchant
and farmer, I never treated anyone wrong in the slightest degree in any
instance in my life; as public officer or private citizen I have always denounced
wrong fearlessly, never backed out of a trade, and no imaginable
adverse circumstances could force me to do wrong. With
capital to develop my interest I would most assuredly make
an immense fortune. We can feed stock cheaper than anywhere
on earth. We can get off a crop of Irish potatoes, tomatoes,
melons, oats, etc., in May or June, and in July or August we can cut be-
gar lice (a spontaneous growth and complete stock food, and, by analysis
of Prof. Myers, of the Mississippi Agricultural College, is worth $18.01 per
Jefferson County.
Where it is, and what can be done here.
Jefferson County is the Banner County of the State. More of its chief
crop, cotton, is produced than in any county in the State. Its resources
are unlimited, its climate unsurpassed, its soil equals any in any civilized
country, almost every agricultural product is raised to perfection:
its hundreds of acres of Pear Groves and Vineyards, Fig, Pecan, Walnut
Pomegranate, Peach, Plum and other fruits attest its fruit producing capacity.
Its church and school facilities are excellent. There are free
schools in the county three to five months in the year, and ten months in
town. Its healthfulness is not excelled by any county, its perfect freedom
from pestilence and epidemics is shown by life insurance charges being
less than in most Southern States. It is noted for the honesty and hospitality
of its people. Monticello, the chief town of Jefferson County, is
twenty-eight miles from Tallahassee, the Capital, and twenty miles south
of Thomasville, Ga., and is the cleanest and healthiest little inland town of
1,500 inhabitants in the south. The drives in and around the town, in connection
with the finest livery in the State, are the delight of all visitors. It
is one hundred and forty miles west of Jacksonville, and is the center of
the "Florida Highlands." It is thirty miles north of the deep waters of the
Gulf of Mexico. If you are an invalid come and try our dry climate and
breathe our resinous atmosphere. If you are a sportsman our fields are
full of game and free to you. Our hotels and boarding houses bid you
welcome, and at reasonable rates for board. The new hotel, "Winter
Home, " owned by Messrs. J. C. Turner & Co., will be opened for guests
this season and is supplied with gas and water works and electric enunciators,
and will be first-class in all respects. If you wish to change your
bleak and dreary home for one in a more favored clime, you are especially
invited. If you are a capitalist and are seeking profitable investments,
come among us; you cannot find a better field under the sun for safe and
profitable investment. Our active and enterprising real estate agents,
Messrs. Lamar & Simkins will show you, free of charge, hundreds of most
excellent investments that will probably be ten times as valuable in a short
time. I have nearly five hundred acres in a body within one-half mile of
depot which I will sell in any amounts desired, or the whole tract for
$12,000; also seventy-four acres within the town with my handsome new
dwelling, observatory and cellar, cisterns and tanks, hot and cold water,
baths and closet, splendid kitchen and outbuildings, and land free of
stumps and highly improved regardless of cost, all fenced and cross fenced.
Price $15,000, to include some valuable furniture. Have been offered $100
per acre for some of the least valuable and refused it. Some is worth $1,000
per acre for building lots. Have twelve acres of Le Conte pear orchard on
it, the whole very rich and fertile, elegant stock or truck farm. I own
12,000 acres of the most valuable land in the county, and wish to sell 5,000
to develop the balance; prefer to negotiate loan at 10 per cent. interest per
annum and payable annually and due in three years; will sell one-half interest
at a reasonable price and will guarantee with absolute security
(mortgage on my one-half and crops) 6 per cent. interest per annum, and
allow privilege at end of five years of pulling out with money put in and 8
per cent. interest by notifying me at end of fourth year of said intention.
If more than 8 per cent is made party to have his share of profits. I will
demonstrate to his entire satisfaction that fully 15 per cent. to 50 per cent.
can be reasonably expected, I to get no salary if 15 per cent. is not made,
and $1,000 to $5,000 according to amount made. Will pay fair salary to
partner. I have some 4,000 acres under cultivation and 1,000 free of
stumps. I gin all my cotton and grind all my corn by water power at my
two splendid water mills and I could cut up thousands of tons of the finest
ensilage and hay in the world by water power, could make brick (clay immediately
at hand) by water power, for silos and lime at my lime quarry
on same plantation. As character and ability are the first essential in finding
a partner, will state that I am thirty-two years old, born and raised in
this section, and refer to anyone here; as a banker I never lost one dollar,
as a merchant doing the largest credit business I collected within one-half
of one per cent; as to character in all my transactions as banker, merchant
and farmer, I never treated anyone wrong in the slightest degree in any
instance in my life; as public officer or private citizen I have always denounced
wrong fearlessly, never backed out of a trade, and no imaginable
adverse circumstances could force me to do wrong. With
capital to develop my interest I would most assuredly make
an immense fortune. We can feed stock cheaper than anywhere
on earth. We can get off a crop of Irish potatoes, tomatoes,
melons, oats, etc., in May or June, and in July or August we can cut be-
gar lice (a spontaneous growth and complete stock food, and, by analysis
of Prof. Myers, of the Mississippi Agricultural College, is worth $18.01 per
ton), from same land. It stands at the head of the list of forage plants-
stock will leave timothy or any food for it. I believe mules can cultivate
with it alone as food, anyway with half rations of corn. Ten to thirty
tons per acre for ensilage, proportionately less for hay. While I do not
gamble, I have frequently offered to bet two to one, $500 or less, that I can
cut enough after getting off a crop of oats, etc., and in time for turnips,
rye, etc., to pay twice for the land it grows on at present prices (which is
based on low price of cotton), over and above all costs of cutting and baling
and marketing. I have preserved it as ensilage for winter food. I have
tried ensilage in wooden silos, both above and under ground, and it keeps
perfectly, except in a few inches of the top and sides, though it keeps better
in a clay bank, which can be so arranged as to avoid cost of elevating
the ensilage. We can feed on cotton seed meal (our native product, and
the most concentrated and nutritious stock food in the world), at really no
legitimate cost, as we use it as a fertilizer, and its passage through stock
does not take from it its fertilizing properties, but renders it in more available
condition for plant food. It is a complete plant food, and no "pole-cat
and sand" about it. Prof. Stewart, of New York, in his book on "Feeding
Animals," places cotton seed meal at a value for stock food of $2.30 per
100 pounds, compared to corn meal at $1.12 oats at 98 cents and good hay
75 cents per 100 pounds. I buy cotton seed at 6 and 7 cents per bushel.
Edward Atkinson says that if they could raise cotton in Pennsylvania they
could afford to raise it for the seed alone, and it is undoubtedly a fact, as
many bushels of cotton seed could be produced to the acre as of corn, and
it is more nutritious, besides its valuable oil as a profit. We can raise corn
as cheap as in Illinois by getting up stumps and using proper implements,
besides having a pasture for three or four months after the corn is gathered
of more value than clover. With capital to buy the stock and build fences
and run the business, I believe I could raise a steer at a cost of $10 to $20
that would sell in New York, or nearer, at a net price of $50 to $80. There
is no country where vegetation grows as it does here. Cotton in North
Carolina two feet high may have as much fruit on it as cotton eight feet
high here - it shows the growth of vegetation. I have seen Le Conte pear
trees grow fourteen feet in one season, from March to November. I have
seen trees at Thomasville fifteen years old with thirty bushels of fruit to
the tree, and they sold in New York this season as high as $12 per barrel.
I have two acres within 100 feet of the depot and on the railroad I offer
for $2,000. It paid ten per cent. clear profit this year from first shipment
(seven or eight years old). I believe it may increase to 100 per cent within
five years. Tobacco grows to perfection here, I had a piece 30x100 feet
that grew seven or eight feet high, and not a single plowing and only one
hoeing. Mr. Bruce makes a perfect success of some ten acres, and Mr. W.
M. Girardeau of two acres. Cane, potatoes and all root crops grow to absolute
perfection here. This section, after tests by competent Frenchmen
and others, is considered equal to France for vineyards. Receiver Duval,
of the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, has employed expert
judges of tobacco to investigate and report on the advantages of this section
for tobacco, and they say this is the finest tobacco section (Middle
Florida), in the United States. South Florida's climate may be worth $1,000
per acre, but it lacks good red clay soil. Mississippi bottoms lack health-
fullness, New York lacks good climate and Southern California is subject
to seasons of extreme drought and is dependent on irrigation. Middle
Florida has soil, climate, healthfulness and good seasons all combined in
such a degree as is not equaled by any other section, and its advantages
only needs to be advertised to get in people and capital to develop it and
make it a garden spot of America, and most prosperous section. Today
more lines of railroads are projected through here than any other section.
I also offer for sale
Le Conte pear trees, 1 year old $15 per 100
" " " 2 " 20 per 100
" " " 3 " 25 per 100
Finest nursery stock I have ever seen. I will guarantee one-year -olds,
five to eight feet high, and I think will average seven feet; two-year-olds,
well branched and beautiful trees, six feet to nine feet, and I think will average
eight or nine feet; three-year-olds, seven to ten feet - they may be
larger - all healthy and genuine Le Contes, nicely packed and F. O. B. cars.
Paper shell pecan trees, most excellent variety, $25 per 100, one year old;
$35 per 100, two years old. Kolb Gem melon seed, 40 cents per pound.
Hay and corn, by car load, delivered. Finest syrup, made on evaporator,
pure and healthy, by the barrel, 50 cents per gallon. F. O. B. cars. Beggar
lice seed 50 cents per quart; $8 per bushel. Should be sown at any convenient
time in the winter or spring, and it is not necessary to plow it under,
as plowing for oats or corn will answer. Can be sown as late as
May; will come up after a crop in May or June or July. Two quarts, as
they are small seed, will give a fair seeding for an acre; more would be
better. If cut only once the first year it will reseed itself and continue to
for all time unless cut two or three times a season for several successive
seasons. Any further information about the county, etc., will be cheerfully
given. Yours respectfully, E. B. Bailey,
Monticello, Fla., September, 1887.
stock will leave timothy or any food for it. I believe mules can cultivate
with it alone as food, anyway with half rations of corn. Ten to thirty
tons per acre for ensilage, proportionately less for hay. While I do not
gamble, I have frequently offered to bet two to one, $500 or less, that I can
cut enough after getting off a crop of oats, etc., and in time for turnips,
rye, etc., to pay twice for the land it grows on at present prices (which is
based on low price of cotton), over and above all costs of cutting and baling
and marketing. I have preserved it as ensilage for winter food. I have
tried ensilage in wooden silos, both above and under ground, and it keeps
perfectly, except in a few inches of the top and sides, though it keeps better
in a clay bank, which can be so arranged as to avoid cost of elevating
the ensilage. We can feed on cotton seed meal (our native product, and
the most concentrated and nutritious stock food in the world), at really no
legitimate cost, as we use it as a fertilizer, and its passage through stock
does not take from it its fertilizing properties, but renders it in more available
condition for plant food. It is a complete plant food, and no "pole-cat
and sand" about it. Prof. Stewart, of New York, in his book on "Feeding
Animals," places cotton seed meal at a value for stock food of $2.30 per
100 pounds, compared to corn meal at $1.12 oats at 98 cents and good hay
75 cents per 100 pounds. I buy cotton seed at 6 and 7 cents per bushel.
Edward Atkinson says that if they could raise cotton in Pennsylvania they
could afford to raise it for the seed alone, and it is undoubtedly a fact, as
many bushels of cotton seed could be produced to the acre as of corn, and
it is more nutritious, besides its valuable oil as a profit. We can raise corn
as cheap as in Illinois by getting up stumps and using proper implements,
besides having a pasture for three or four months after the corn is gathered
of more value than clover. With capital to buy the stock and build fences
and run the business, I believe I could raise a steer at a cost of $10 to $20
that would sell in New York, or nearer, at a net price of $50 to $80. There
is no country where vegetation grows as it does here. Cotton in North
Carolina two feet high may have as much fruit on it as cotton eight feet
high here - it shows the growth of vegetation. I have seen Le Conte pear
trees grow fourteen feet in one season, from March to November. I have
seen trees at Thomasville fifteen years old with thirty bushels of fruit to
the tree, and they sold in New York this season as high as $12 per barrel.
I have two acres within 100 feet of the depot and on the railroad I offer
for $2,000. It paid ten per cent. clear profit this year from first shipment
(seven or eight years old). I believe it may increase to 100 per cent within
five years. Tobacco grows to perfection here, I had a piece 30x100 feet
that grew seven or eight feet high, and not a single plowing and only one
hoeing. Mr. Bruce makes a perfect success of some ten acres, and Mr. W.
M. Girardeau of two acres. Cane, potatoes and all root crops grow to absolute
perfection here. This section, after tests by competent Frenchmen
and others, is considered equal to France for vineyards. Receiver Duval,
of the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, has employed expert
judges of tobacco to investigate and report on the advantages of this section
for tobacco, and they say this is the finest tobacco section (Middle
Florida), in the United States. South Florida's climate may be worth $1,000
per acre, but it lacks good red clay soil. Mississippi bottoms lack health-
fullness, New York lacks good climate and Southern California is subject
to seasons of extreme drought and is dependent on irrigation. Middle
Florida has soil, climate, healthfulness and good seasons all combined in
such a degree as is not equaled by any other section, and its advantages
only needs to be advertised to get in people and capital to develop it and
make it a garden spot of America, and most prosperous section. Today
more lines of railroads are projected through here than any other section.
I also offer for sale
Le Conte pear trees, 1 year old $15 per 100
" " " 2 " 20 per 100
" " " 3 " 25 per 100
Finest nursery stock I have ever seen. I will guarantee one-year -olds,
five to eight feet high, and I think will average seven feet; two-year-olds,
well branched and beautiful trees, six feet to nine feet, and I think will average
eight or nine feet; three-year-olds, seven to ten feet - they may be
larger - all healthy and genuine Le Contes, nicely packed and F. O. B. cars.
Paper shell pecan trees, most excellent variety, $25 per 100, one year old;
$35 per 100, two years old. Kolb Gem melon seed, 40 cents per pound.
Hay and corn, by car load, delivered. Finest syrup, made on evaporator,
pure and healthy, by the barrel, 50 cents per gallon. F. O. B. cars. Beggar
lice seed 50 cents per quart; $8 per bushel. Should be sown at any convenient
time in the winter or spring, and it is not necessary to plow it under,
as plowing for oats or corn will answer. Can be sown as late as
May; will come up after a crop in May or June or July. Two quarts, as
they are small seed, will give a fair seeding for an acre; more would be
better. If cut only once the first year it will reseed itself and continue to
for all time unless cut two or three times a season for several successive
seasons. Any further information about the county, etc., will be cheerfully
given. Yours respectfully, E. B. Bailey,
Monticello, Fla., September, 1887.
Chicago Manual of Style
Jefferson County: Where It Is, and What Can Be Done Here. 1887. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/212461>, accessed 16 November 2024.
MLA
Jefferson County: Where It Is, and What Can Be Done Here. 1887. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/212461>
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