“Old Californians are not unfamiliar with the name of Mr. Samuel C. Upham, an editor upon this coast in the early days, and, of late, the author of a work entitled Voyage to California via Cape Horn, and Scenes in El Dorado in 1849 and 1850. We are permitted to copy a letter from that gentleman, written in his humorous style, and addressed to an old Californian friend, which may prove of interest to others.”

Philadelphia, June 16th, 1879.

Friend C—— : I owe you a letter, and the following is what I have to say: You are aware that I went South last winter for the benefit of my health, and that I returned in the spring as frisky as a lamb. The late hot weather has pulled me down considerably, and I sigh for the Land of Flowers, where Ponce de Leon searched for the fountain of youth, and Upham found it. I was so charmed with the climate of the Gulf Coast of South Florida, that, while there last winter, I purchased 225 acres of land on the Manatee River, fifty miles south of Tampa, and Mrs. U. and myself are going down to that land of promise the coming fall, to plant an orange grove, and sit under our own vine, orange and eucalyptus trees. It is a delightful country, away down below “frost line,” where the pine-apple, banana, guava, sapadillo, pomegranate, date, cocoa-nut, orange, lime and lemon grow almost spontaneously. The rivers are overflowing with fish, and the forests are overrun with game. Roasted wild turkeys run about with carving-knives and forks sticking in their backs, and ask to be eaten. The country now is a trifle wild, but will soon become tamed and civilized. The people are hospitable, and welcome all classes of strangers, with the exception of “carpet-baggers.” They have been tried and found wanting.

I shall locate in the village—if two stores and four houses can be dignified by that name—of Braidentown, Manatee County, Florida. The place is scarcely twelve months old, but is bound to be heard from—after I locate there. The climate is delightful—sort of an earthly Paradise. The thermometer during the winter months ranges from 70° to 75°, and in summer rarely exceeds 90°, with a sea-breeze blowing constantly either from the Atlantic or the Gulf. The nights in summer are invariably cool, and one can lie comfortably under blankets during “dog days.”

I do not expect to make money in Florida, but I do expect to enjoy better health than in this city; hence the reason of my exodus. I shall, first off, plant an orange grove of 500 trees, which, in eight years, barring accidents, ought to yield me a handsome revenue. Should I “shuffle off this mortal coil” before these orange trees commence bearing, I shall feel disappointed—that’s all. I think the change will give me a renewed lease of life; and, as I intend to plant three-years-old trees, I think the chances are rather in my favor. The Good Book says: “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own life?” I am not prepared to “hand in my checks” just yet; hence my change of base. I have been watching and praying the past four or five years for the “good time coming” to put in an appearance, but it has not arrived, and will not, I fear, during my sojourn in this vale of tears. I have a mortal dread of the poor-house. In Florida that institution is unknown. My eldest son will take charge of my store and laboratory in this city, so the business will go on without interruption. As I have spun out this letter to a great length, I will say domino.

Truly yours,
S. C. Upham.

Sunnyside Cottage,
Braidentown, Fla., June 8th, 1880.

My Dear Mrs. Bladen: In the Sunday Times of the 30th ult., you say:

“Mr. Samuel C. Upham, whose popular songs and wonderful California experiences render him a Philadelphia celebrity, has a large plantation near Jacksonville.”

It is pleasing to know, when one is far away, that he is not entirely forgotten by his friends; but you are slightly mistaken when you say I own a large orange plantation near Jacksonville. I am located on the Manatee River, some eight miles above its entrance into Tampa Bay, on the Gulf coast of South Florida, in latitude 27½°, and below “frost line.” I visited Jacksonville and all the towns and landings on the St. Johns, Halifax and Matanzas Rivers, and also “did” the Suwanee pretty thoroughly before locating in Braidentown. I prefer this part of Florida to the Atlantic coast for the following reasons: Healthfulness of climate, purity of water and immunity from frost and insects. My health has improved wonderfully since my arrival in the Land of Flowers, and I am pretty thoroughly convinced that I have obtained a new lease of life. The sea breezes that fan my brow at morning, noon and night, act as a tonic on my enfeebled constitution, and I am daily gaining strength and muscle. I have to-day worked six hours in my banana grove, with the thermometer at 90° in the shade, without experiencing any inconvenience from the heat. The heat is so modified by the constant sea breeze that one can work in the sun at all hours of the day and at all seasons of the year. Sunstroke and hydrophobia are unknown here. This statement can be taken without salt. In midsummer the nights are invariably cool. Blankets at night are the rule, not the exception. This much about location and climate; now, a few words about that orange grove.

My ranch is new, and consequently rather crude. When I located here in November last, a large portion of it was a “howling wilderness.” Since that time, I have felled the trees, piled the logs, burned the brush, grubbed and fenced fifteen acres, on ten acres of which I am now setting out 500 two-years-old sweet seedling orange trees, which I hope to live long enough to see bear fruit. Some two months since, I set out 200 banana plants, and they are doing remarkably well; many of the stalks are six feet in height. They will bear fruit in about eighteen months. I also have a patch of sixty pine-apple plants which will bear fruit next year. I have a few coffee and tea plants, Japan plum and persimmon, pomegranate, almond and olive trees that are growing luxuriantly. I brought with me from Philadelphia, half a dozen cocoa-nuts, which I planted on the 1st of November last, and had given up all hope of ever seeing them sprout, when, to my great surprise, some two weeks since, two of them threw up sprouts. They are now one foot high, and are growing vigorously. The guava thrives admirably here. I have several trees, and expect soon to luxuriate on guava jelly of my own manufacture. I will send you a few sample boxes.

Have you ever eaten a Florida orange, fresh plucked, that ripened on the tree? If not, visit Florida, and enjoy the greatest luxury of your life. It is the fruit par excellence—fit food for the gods. I have, in the course of my somewhat eventful life, eaten oranges in the groves of the Mediterranean, South America, Mexico and the West Indies, but none can compare with the orange grown in this State. Our soil is peculiarly adapted to the growth and maturity of the perfect orange. No other soil can produce it. The West India and Louisiana seedling orange tree is wonderfully improved by being transplanted in Florida soil. South Florida will, ere long, be one vast orange grove, and will supply the world with her incomparable fruit. She will supply the Mediterranean ports with better oranges than can possibly be raised in that country. Won’t that be “carrying coals to Newcastle?” I may not live to see the above prediction verified, but there are persons living at this time who will.

If any of your numerous friends think it would be a good thing to have an orange grove, advise them to visit the Gulf coast of South Florida before locating elsewhere. Also tell them to drop in at Braidentown. They may go further and fare worse. The most direct route to this place is by rail to Cedar Key, the present terminus of railroad communication, thence by steamer down the coast. The mail steamers leave Cedar Key twice a week for this place and Tampa. Leave Cedar Key at 4 o’clock P. M. on Monday and Friday of each week, and arrive at Braidentown at 7 o’clock the following morning. Au revoir.

S. C. Upham.

Having kept a record of the state of the thermometer at 6 o’clock A. M., 12 o’clock M. and 6 o’clock P. M. at Braidentown, Manatee County, Florida, from the 1st day of January to the 31st day of December, 1880, inclusive, I herewith inclose you a synopsis of the same for publication in the Agriculturist, with the hope that it may interest your numerous readers, especially those in the Northern and Western States who are seeking homes in

I also send a statement of the rainfall for the year 1880.

Temperature.

Rainfall.

Rainfall during year, 69½ inches.

At least one-half the days classed as “cloudy and partly cloudy” were clear one-half of the day, and a majority of the “rainy days” were clear three-fourths of the day. During the gale on the 29th and 30th of last August, which was so destructive on the Atlantic coast of the State, rain fell here almost uninterruptedly for nearly forty-eight hours, but the wind did little or no damage. The rainfall during the two days was six and one-half inches, the heaviest of the season. I have resided here during the past fourteen months, and, up to this time (January 7th, 1881), there has been no frost, and my tropical fruits and plants have grown luxuriantly every month of the year. The year just closed, in its dying throes, kicked the mercury in the thermometer down to 38°, and a slight frost occurred on the opposite side of the Manatee River, and also in the hammock four or five miles south-east of Braidentown. The water protection—being surrounded on three sides by the aqueous fluid—has rendered Braidentown exempt from frost.

Although the rainfall of 1880 has been some nine inches in excess of the average rainfall in this State, I have passed one of the most agreeable summers of my life. While the denizens of the St. Johns and Atlantic coast are shivering in the chilling blasts of winter, we on the Gulf coast of South Florida are basking in the sun, with a temperature of 65° at 6 o’clock A. M., 75° at 12 o’clock M. and 70° at 6 o’clock P. M. If any locality north of latitude 27½° can present a more favorable record, Braidentown will yield the palm.

Nous verrons.

S. C. Upham.

Sunnyside Cottage,
Braidentown, Fla., Jan. 7th, 1881.

Sunnyside Cottage,
Braidentown, Fla., Feb. 5th, 1881.

D. H. Elliott, Esq.,
Sec. “Florida Fruit Growers’ Association,”
Jacksonville, Fla.,

Dear Sir: In the Report of the Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the “Florida Fruit Growers’ Association,” held in Jacksonville on the 27 ult., and published in the Daily Union of that city on the following morning, the annexed resolution was published, with the name of your humble servant appended as one of the committee:

“Resolved, That a committee he appointed to investigate the effects of the late freeze on the orange and other fruits and vegetables; said committee to report to the secretary at Jacksonville at the earliest practicable moment.”

Having received no official notice of my appointment to serve on the aforesaid committee, I have resolved myself into a committee of one, and have the honor to respectfully report as follows:

The old and trite aphorism—“If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain”—seems peculiarly applicable to the above resolution. Ergo, if the orange and other fruits of the citrus family will not thrive ’mid frost and ice, cultivate them in a more genial climate. With the experience of last fall and the present winter before me, together with a careful investigation of the climatology of Florida during the past fifty years, I have come to the conclusion that the fruits comprising the citrus family cannot be successfully cultivated in this State north of the 28th parallel of latitude, and the sooner and more widely this fact is promulgated, the better it will be for all persons interested or about to become interested in this laudable and growing industry. The fact that the late freeze killed the scale insects on the orange trees in middle and north Florida, is cold comfort for those engaged in orange culture. There are fruits better adapted to the climate of Florida north of latitude 28° than the orange, lemon, lime, guava, banana and pine-apple. Why, then, persist in endeavoring to cultivate those fruits with so dim a prospect of success? It is kicking against the pricks, hoping against hope. In conclusion, plant your orange, lemon, lime and banana groves below the 28th parallel of latitude, tickle the soil constantly with the hoe, and success will crown your efforts. So mote it be.

S. C. Upham.

Record of the Thermometer and Rainfall at Braidentown, Florida, for the month of January, 1880, with Remarks in relation to Wind and Weather.

Record of the Thermometer and Rainfall at Braidentown, Florida, for the month of February, 1880, with Remarks in relation to Wind and Weather.

Record of the Thermometer and Rainfall at Braidentown, Florida, for the month of March, 1880, with Remarks in relation to Wind and Weather.