P R E F A O E.
 

The writer of the following pages first saw Florida
in the month of January, 1880, when he accompanied
General Grant on his tour through the State, as corre¬
spondent of the " Chicago Times." He had previ¬
ously either traveled or resided in nearly every other
portion of the country. East, West, and South; but his
first impressions of the ''Land of Flowers" were so
favorable that, his special service as correspondent being
over, he returned thither with the idea of making for
himself a permanent home which should put an end to
his wanderings. Since then he has enjoyed an extended
experience in the State, engaged in a vocation requir¬
ing visits to all the more prominent places, and traveled
over its immense territory under circumstances the most
favorable for learning its real resources and observing
the great variety of its productions.

Almost from the beginning, the importance of writ¬
ing a book embodying the results of his observation
and  experience   was  urgod  upon  him  by the  friends