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SECTION TWO VOL. XVI. NO. 116. PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, SUNDAY MORNING APRIL 27, 1913. PRICE FIVE CENTS. .Great In ' Extent ' Both A Day's Drive Through Fertile Section Furnishes the Evidence. T WO TYPI C A L S C ENE S of Territory and Resources. Santa Rosa County Edition SANTA F GARD SPOT V' f PERFECTLY DRAINED BY THE PUREST OF ' FRESH WATER STREAMS AND COOLED BY THE MOST DELIGHTFUL OF SEA BREEZES RICHEST OF SOIL WITH THE BE8T OF PASTUR AGE. Santa Rosa, county, a miniature state la area and notable for its stock raising, naval stores products, timber, and the success of Its recent agricul tural pursuits, stands out pre-eminent ly In West Florida as one of that sec tion's finest and most promising coun ties All Santa Rosa needs is more people- to develop its remarkable posibilities, and she offers a good living, aid then some, to anyone who will but have confidence and come to settle among her people. This county is. bounded on the north toy the state of Alabama; on the east by Walton county; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west by Escambia county, Florida, and Escam ola. county. Alabama.- The climate Is beautiful, the water good, even the creek and branch water being pure and clear. Agricultural pursuits have never been followed to any great extent un til recently, the timber Industry for years being the main source of rev enua, the past ten years, however, having been remarkable for the steady and almost unbelievable development of the land by the .scientific farmer. The cut-over pine lands have proved very productive, as the land is level, easily cultivated, and responds easily to fertilization, Almost any soil can be had, from a very sandy soil to a very a tiff, clay soil; also a dark gray soil, and a mixed sandy loam with a clay sub-soU. , Corn yields from 20 to 70 bushed per acre with proper cultivation; sweet potatoes from 300 to 400 bushels per acre; sugar cane from 800 to 400 gal lons per acre; cotton averages one balf bale to the acre, and rice, peanuts, peas, field peas, chuffas and velvet beans grow In abundance. The climate of Santa Rosa county la admirable for stock raising, sheep, cat tle and hogs doirtg well and living off the range. .-'. ,' The sheep raising Industry is on ox which the county may well be proud, for the fleece Is the beBt unwashed product that can be bought, the sheep values of Santa Rosa being estimated at $150,000. Yellow pine is produced at the rate of $75,000,000 feet annually: the naval stores interests, which are correspond ingly large form an Important part In the prosperity of the people. The process Is to first reap the gol den yield of the pine lands In their rosin and their turpentine; in due time the timber Is eon verted Into lum ber by the great mills that operate in almost every locality, when the land Is finally turned loose to the farmer. Considerable milling property has been put on the market of late years, with the result that Santa Rosa has now thousands of acres of tilla.ble aolL Some Intimate Facts. Santa Rosa county Is under the very efficient management of a hoard of county commissioners, of which Peter Tomasello, a progressive and up-to-date mill man of Bagdad, la chair man. Mr. Tomasello and ht board believe In good roads, strong bridges, and the greater development of their county in very way. . Stores of general merchandise, poet offices and rural routes, schools, churches, better roads, tine farms, and an Improved condition generally have followed the progressive policy em ployed by the Santa Rosa commission ers. Santa Roam la a ewmty wen adapted for progress along any ona line of her great resource. She has a splendid country, good people, and plenty of opportunities for the right kind of settlers. Yellow river. BJackwatee rtrer, and "Rceambta river are her principal streams, while creek and smaller streams, and innumerable springs lave j the land m every direction. oreat arms 01 me wui 01 : wait to her pleasant and health-giving eea-breezec. Santa Roe county hereasd in pop ulation from 1900 to 19X0, 4,604, which was 4.47 per cent. Florida's population increased iur- tag the same period at the- rate of 524,077. or 42.4 per cent, as ahown In j the census of 1910. The following statistics are taken from the last three eensue reports, ty which the relative growth of Santa raising industry may be followed with Rosa county and Florida may bo read- j no expense whatever, excepting that lly noted: , j connected with rounding up the ani- FTorlds. j ma Is once during the year for shear- Population 1890 $91-492 ing. Population 1900- ...... ..828,54$ j He will find In his part of the county Population 1910 ...............753,619. no such conditions as those offered for Santa Rosa County. chicken raising, the climate, sandy soil. Population 1890 ................. 7,961 and absence of ordinary chicken de population 1900 .........10,293 eases making the opportunity for quick Population 1910 14.897 money making along this line one to In 1900 the best farming lands in fce considered, the county (unimproved) could bej Public employment may be found bought for $2.60 per acre the same readily In the large mills which dot land is now bringing $15 per acre. i the section; opportunities present , Land that sold for $3.50 an acre at themselves in the land; the stock rais that time has since changed hands at , ing situation is one to - be reckoned $30 per acre. , K ith. and an interesting and all around Santa Rosa is now a. dry county.! project: the milling and naval sto'-v and proud and pleased with the re- j interests create a rich and dependable suits- j ctxnty aJl this for the asking in the "Does it ray?" I asked; and people! good cvuistar.c-f Santa' Rosa! lv T- l 4Z A:J? W .1 4i. .., 4. 'Butchering Day" at C. H. Simpson's G PROFIT PEC1CULT1 ISAM: SOIL AND CLIMATE IS ESPECIAL LY ADAPTED TO GROWING TREES FROM WHICH DELICIOUS AND VALUABLE NUT COMES.. Florida, particularly West Florida, is a pecan country, and some of the finest of these delightful nuts are grown in anta Rosa county. - In the matter of pecan growing, a little of your money, an abundance" of sunshine, a small acreage of soil, a few years time, create a competence for later years. The pecan has been known for many years in the South in the limited ter ritory to which it is native or indi genous, that portion "of the southern states which border the Gulf of Mex ico. The pecan has been domesticated for half a century or more in various localities, and at Tallahassee, Florida, there are several giant trees that are known to be more than eighty years old. They are bearing as vigorously as If they were In their prime, and there is no one to say they have passed It. Santa Rosa county has many of these trees that are a half century old. Previously the quality of the nut, the thickness of the shell and the bearing qualities were uncertain, but all this has been removed by success fully budding or grafting so that now the quality, the size of the nut and the bearing qualities can be foretold told me that there is more, money in the banks, better business at . the stores, and more general prosperity now that was ever the case when the county was admittedly "very wet." Prosperity has come to stay, in Santa Rosa, and there are plenty of people who will tell you that prohibi tion Is one of the very elements that Is here to make this same prosperity of a sure and certain quality. A Groat Opportunity Offered. One of the greatest opportunities for the home-seeker awaits the coming of the right, people in Santa Rosa, especially along agricultural pursuits and stock raising. The northern farmer may raise more bushels of .corn to the acre with his expensive black loam, soil, but he will never be able to raise three and Tour dlfferent crops to the year, such as the Ideal climate offered In West Florida makes It a possible thing to do. He will never be able to raise stock with the minimum expense entailed with cattle, sheep and hog raising in Santa Rosa, where the velvet . bean. one of the finest forage plants -to be found anywhere may be raised with little or no trouble and almost "be tween crops," and where the sheep - , . ? i 4 M 5 m I i! 1 Arcadia Farms, Santa Roaa County. with the same degree of certainty as with the grafted apple or pear or the budded orange! The demand for nuts of all kinds in the United States is Increasing pro portionately more rapidly than the population, showing a recognition .of their value as a food product and for confectionery manufacture. The Im portation of nuts into this country In 1900 was $3,484,699; it increased to $9, 573,742 in 1908, almost 175 per cent, and this in addition to the nuts raised In this country. These Importations Included no pecans because they are grown commercially only in the Unit ed States, and in only a comparatively small section cf the United States at that. Yet, one only needs to know the pecan to recognize its superiority as an edible commodity and as a health ful food over all nuts that are grown or that enter into commerce. - -- A Hardy Tree. , The pecan tree is a hardy, vigorous grower. It is not injured by cold in the section where it is indigenous to soil and climatic conditions, and in this it has an immense advantage over other trees. It resists drouth because its tap root3 reach deep into the soiL Heavy rain seems to improve it. There are no serious troubles attend ing it after it is once firmly rooted in the earth, and from its longevity and steady bearing qualities the owner of a budded pecan grove has the assurance of a never-failing income which may be handed down to the second and third generations as a precious legacy. Perhaps not one person in ten of the 90.000-000 in this country, not to men- I MAP OF 1 r' ' - - TP A xt - Vs 4 , Hx' '''x-l Oatfiald on the Smithwick & Stephens Farm, Jay, Santa Rosa County, Florida. These bats were cut, oured and baled, and averaged over 4,700 pounds to the asfta. They would have thrashed 80 to 85 bushels to the aooe. Santa Rosa Boy Raises 129 Bushels Corn to Acre . Jacksonville .Times-Union. Richard Miller, of Baker, Santa Rosa county, has been declared the champion boy corn grower of Florida for 1912. He produced from his acre 129 1-2 bushels of corn at a cost , of 2C cents per bushel. Hastings Prolific corn was used for seed. The land was plowed eighteen inches deep, the rows were forty-two Inches apart, and the stand in the row about ten inches. The champion boy corn grower gets a free trip to Washington, through county contributions, and $50 In cash from the Hastings Seed Company, of Atlanta, Ga. If a "boy can harvest 129 bushels of corn on an acre of Santa Roe-a soil, why can't any man do as well in any county in Florida? If Richard Miller can make such a crop as that, why should any other Florida boy be content ,to harvest ten bushels from land as good as any acre in Santa Rosa was originally? If after Improving his land, Richard's corn cost him 26 cents a bushel, why can't other boys grow corn at a profit when they can't save anything in town? Hon the other millions in foreign lands, has ever seen or tasted a pecan nut. Not one in twenty ever heard of a budded pecan, and not one in a hun dred who eats one of tbese thin-shelled nuts but wants another, and then 6ome more. The actual demand for them in- the commerce of tliis country can not be satisfied; it Is increasing more rapidly than the Increasing supply. Far-sighted manufacturing confectioners dare not depend upon the open market, but SANTA ROSA COUNTY Co-it 5 v!f -.4 arrange months ahead with the grow ers for their supply. Dealers in fancy groceries cannot meet the demand of their trade, even though thi3 demand at present is limited because the aver age consumer, even of luxuries, knows nothing of this particular luxury. The "pecan habit" makes its own way, and the market will not be overstocked within the lifetime of children yet un born. The sixth year after setting out the trees a pecan orchard should pay ten UNCLE SAM'S FIGURES. Here are some figures taken from Uncle Sam's yearly agricultural average book which prove that every " acre of cultivated land In Florida nets a larger return than any Ftate in the Union: Average value of all farm products. Missouri 9.38 per acre Indiana 12.31 per acre Iowa 12.42 per acre Illinois 12.48 per acre Ohio . '. 13.36 per acre Florida 109.76 per acre per cent interest on the investment; ten years after setting out, fifty per J cent; fifteen years after setting out. i 160 per cent. In the meantime one can plant in between the rows of trees so tat his land will never be idle will always be producing something. All through this section of Florida the pecan does well, in fact, there is no place in the country where it does better than right here. The pecan grows in oldsters similar to the chestnut, the hull opening and the nut when ripe falling to the ground. No mistake will be made in planting pcan trees for profit in this section of Florida. The sooner you get your trees in the better. POSTOFFICES IN SANTA ROSA COUNTY Bagdad Berrydale Blackmail Botts Brick Camp Walton Catawba Chumuckla : Cobb Coldwater Cora Corbett Franklin Garniers Gattis Harold Harper Harris Hester Hiawatha Hollev Holt ' Howell .Jay McLellan Mary Esther Metts Milligan Milton Mulat Newell Oak Grove Otahite Pace Penton Pinewood Red Rock Robinson Point Sullivan Wallace Wright RICH CHOCOLATE COLORED SOIL AWAITS ONLY THE PLOW OF THE FARMER AND THE HAND OF THE HUSBANDMAN TO MAKE COUNTY THE MOST PRODUC TIVE IN THE WORLD. BY FRANK L. MAYES. On a bright, crisp April morning, when the dew sparkled in the sunlight and the dogwood blossoms, white and pure among the green foliage of the forest, accentuated the advent of spring, I left with John Smithwick. Keener Chappelle, and Jim Gertie for an automobile drive from Milton up through the pine flats and prosper ous farms lying between that place and Jay, twenty-five miles northwest near the Alabama line. If anyone whose travel has been confined to steel rails and whose vision has been circumscribed by the range of a Pullman window, should tell you that Florida is not beautiful, just call him off to one side and, for his own good, advise him to be cautious where and among whom he parades his ig norance. If anyone should tell you that there Is nothing but sand in Florida, like that on the black larlr Hrte-oQ whr ! so many of the railroads elect to build j their lines, just take him out for a Rosa county. Get him "on the ground'" as Senator Vardaman says, "close t j nature and to nature's God." Let hlnn breathe the pure air of a spring morn -Ing, scent the fragrance of the wood land flowers, drink the cool and crystal spring water that bubbles out of the hill-side heads all over this favorel land, and analyze the chocolate -colored loam that the plow of the farmer turn up to the sunlight. Beauty? why the beauty of a Flor ida landscape beggars description. No pen can write it and no paintc-r has ever portrayed it. The proof is to It. Soli the test is what it will pro duce and the proof of what it v. HI produce Is seeing the products them selves. These things are the material pos sessions of Santa Rosa county ami particularly of that portion of it which lies from Milton' north to the Alabama line. The way to realize them is to see them for yourself. This it was my privilege to do, and, while I have seen some fine sections of country alt over this rich and beautiful southland of ours, I have never seen anything that excels and possibly little that equals in richness and fertility the ptretch of territory which lis on each, side of the route we travelled that daj'. There are yet In this great stretch of country many acres of magnificent 1 pine forests which yet await the hand ' of the woodsman, but they are being ! swept clear year by year and In thft I future every acre of this virgin soil I will be open to settlement and cultl j vatlon. Much of It has already been cleared, particularly In the section about Coldwater and again at Jay, and the thrifty farmer from Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and other states Is here to build his home and event- . ually to make his fortune. j They call this land red. The Redland Improvement Company takes its name fr-vm that fact. But I should call it a chocolate loam built by centuries of decaying vegetation, upon a red clay subsoil a combination that .In- thi semi-tropic climate Is susceptible of the highest soil production known to the service of agriculture. And way down beneath this rich chocolate loam and Its underlying stratum of clay is the white, pure sand through which Is filtered the purest of soft water and that in well or spring or stream m.kes for the health as well as the refresh ment of both man and beast. I do not believe that any other simi lar area of the world contains so much pure water as does Florida, and no where is It purer or more plentiful than In West Florida. In It, like the prom ised land of old, "there are fountain and depths that spring up out of val leys and hills;" but, unlike the watpr of that country to which Moses paid such glowing tribute, the water of this Florida land of promise contains no i'me. and is, next to distilled water itself, the purest that nature anywhere provides. What is known as the Coldwater set tlement lies In the center of this rich Redlands district. The place took i:s name from a small cold water stream, that, fed by springs and smaller rreekF, flows unceasingly toward the sea, re freshing as well 'as draining Che fer tile land which lies on both sides of it. This Coldwater section was at one time heavily timbered with giant pines which cut from 5.000 to 10,000 feet to the acre, but which have now been largely cut off and it is rapidly being settled and cultivated. The country rolls sufficiently to afford perfect drainage, but not enough to endanger either crop or landa from "washing" such as Is witnessed In hilly countries further north during the heavy rains. These lands produce everything In digenous to a seml-tronic climate. Grain, hay, foraee, root and fruit crops of large yield and bast auality will grow with less effort on the part of man than Is the case In any other lati tude. The Solomon farm where a boy last year grew ninety-three bushels of Continued on Next Pas.)