Where is agriculture found in florida

In Florida had 47, commercial farms, using a total of 9. The average farm size was acres. Florida ranks 15th among all states in number of farms and 30th in land in farms. The U. The ranking from the highest to lowest value of the berry, potato, vegetables and watermelon crops is:. United States citrus utilized production for the season totaled 7. Florida's orange production, at Grapefruit utilization in Florida, at 4. The state of Florida has The state has extensive natural and planted pine and hardwood forests that are commercially utilized for production of a wide variety of wood building materials, consumer paper and packaging products, chemicals, and renewable biomass fuels.

All cattle and calves on Florida farms and ranches as of January 1, , including dairy cattle, totaled 1. Beef cows in Florida were , head, down 10, head from And finally, whenever prices spike higher from either early season prices or if there is a production shortfall, floods of cheaper imports arrive in a matter of days from Mexico and South America.

Pongamia is an oilseed tree that is native to Australia and India. Conceptually, the crop is like growing soybeans on trees, but at yields 8xx over the best Iowa farmland.

Pongamia is not new to Florida. At the turn of the last century, it was introduced as a landscaping ornamental and today a few of these trees can still be found along the turnpike, shopping centers, and in parks in south Florida.

Creating a viable agricultural industry from scratch is not an easy task, but it has been done. Interestingly, products from pongamia are thriving industries in India where the oil is used for industrial applications like fuel, lubricants, paints, surfactants, biopesticidal horticultural sprays, and more.

In India it is used to suppress soil-borne pests like nematodes that are the arch enemy of many of our food crops. So what is the path to prove the viability of a new crop in the US — especially in such a challenging geography as Florida? Below is a checklist of the gauntlet it had to run.

This was the first order of business Terviva set out to prove to growers when they arrived in Edwards, former COO of Tropicana and co-founder of SoBe Beverages and Blue Buffalo Pet Foods, has a track record of spotting a good management team, a good business model, and an idea that had a good shot of succeeding. Skepticism was high so Terviva offered to split the costs of the first trials.

The result was beyond expectations. The trials have shown that these trees survived hurricanes Mathew and Irma, 2 weeks in standing water, frosts, non-irrigated fields, poor soils, higher-salinity irrigation not suited for most other crops, sand, clay, pests, and heat.

Establishment costs are very similar to citrus. Indeed, the first thing that growers notices was that the tree could literally be dropped right into the existing citrus infrastructure. The trees cost about the same as citrus and the planting densities are equal to or slightly less than citrus. Some growers literally planted between the stumps of former orange trees.

To date in Florida, no pesticides have been used. This hardy tree has grown through a laundry list of tropical and subtropical pests that growers spend millions of dollars on to control. The biggest annual expense is weed maintenance until that young tree can get some height and eventually shade out a lot of the undergrowth which can subsequently be managed with mowing. This ended France's attempt to colonize East Florida. But the farmers had a wretched time. Menendez had promised them land as good as that they had left in Spain.

They were each to be given twelve head of stock and some of the farmers had brought with them cows and sheep of their own. After reaching their new homes they went to work planting corn, wheat, oats, pumpkins, chick-peas, beans and sugar cane. Rembert W. Florida Under Five Flags. Gainesville, p. At the end of that period the increase was to be divided between the farmers and the adelantada.

The first year the wheat failed entirely; worms, rats and moles ate the seed which had been planted and the only vegetables that grew successfully were pumpkins and melons. The cattle roamed at large and ate what little corn had grown. The cows and sheep died. The Indians killed many of the pigs and finally the settlers, to prevent starvation, were forced to consume the remaining livestock.

Pedro Menendez de Aviles who was forty-six years old when he brought his first colonists to Florida was an indefatigable worker. He believed that he could make San Augustin self-supporting by eventually growing all the food that was needed. In the meantime, however, it was his responsibility to see that sufficient supplies were available. This required his frequent absences from Florida. Maya brought a vessel of "80 toneles laden with cassava, meat and cattle. It is not exactly known what was meant by "cattle" as this term was used to include hogs, sheep and goats as well as beef cattle.

Several years passed with no certainty as to the future of the colony. The Spanish farmers appeared unable to become accustomed to the change in soils and climate. More than that the Indians hated these new-comers so that cultivating the fields, even though they were located right outside of the fort, steadily grew more hazardous. In the early part of , Menendez wrote the Spanish king: for the farmers and settlers of that country Florida have to live inland, where they have found the soil is very good and no one will want to live in the harbors and sea-shore forts, because of the great danger they run from Indians and because the soil has proved unprofitable for them.

A few days later he wrote: "The soldiers that your Majesty has in Florida are very unprovided for and I fear that for lack of supplies the 13 soldiers will dismantle the forts, and the farmers run the risk of perishing. It was shortly after this that Menendez went to Spain in the interest of Florida. He returned in bringing with him people for the colonies. He did not remain very long for in April, , he again went to Spain.

In the meantime, on March 5, , Philip II, in a royal cedula, granted Menendez the right to bring more farmers to San Augustin; on January 26, , he authorized him to secure another farmers from the Azores and on February 23, , the king stipulated that fifty more farmers could be secured from Seville.

During most of this time Menendez was in Spain where he was detained by the king, who had placed him in command of a large armada to protect Spain. The Spanish governor was distressed by his enforced absence from Florida where he felt he was sorely needed. On September 7, , he wrote to his nephew, Pedro Menendez Marques who was temporarily in charge of Florida: I have ready a great number of farmers in this home land, as well as Portugese from the River of Mino, in order that they may embark at Bayonne; all of them people trained to many tasks, and among them tradesmen, stonecutters and carpenters, who appear to me to be among the most useful there are in the these kingdoms, very suitable for the settlements we have at present in Florida, as they are for those we have to make.

But Menendez de Aviles was destined never to see the transportation of these people to Florida, for his death at Santander, in the latter part of , put an end to his career. Dissatisfaction of Farmers Before the death of Menendez it became evident that the Florida colonists were in a wretched condition. The adelantado's chief officer, Estebano de las Alas, left San Augustin on August 13, , taking back to Spain soldiers.

When they reached Spain an investigation followed to learn why he had brought so many soldiers back from Florida. One soldier's report throws some light on the conditions existing there.

Food was scarce and suffering great. Because of hostile Indians, the farmers could not work the fields unless under protection of the soldiers. This man, Jeronimo de Sobrados, stated that when he left San Augustin there were only fifteen or sixteen mares and ten or twelve cows left; that the cattle could not sustain themselves for the mosquitoes ate them and the Indians killed them.

He claimed that the soil was so poor no vegetables could be raised and so the people had nothing else except the fishing, and the Indians killed them when they went to fish. This man stated that besides the soldiers in San Augustin, only one married farmer remained. On February 4, , the Council of the Indies met at Madrid and questioned some of the returned soldiers and farmers about the conditions in Florida.

One witness at this time was Pedro Gonzalez who told the Council that he had gone to Florida, in , and had lived at San Augustin for six years. He believed there were about forty farmers there. Two years after he went to Florida, or in , the adelantado had brought over at least twenty horses and mares, twelve cows, forty hogs, thirty goats and a few sheep.

These were all consumed because of famine, the Indians, however, killing the hogs. This man stated that later on Menendez brought over eighty cows, one hundred hogs and about twenty goats. Several other men were questioned and each of them gave about the same factsthat the farmers at San Augustin planted maize and vegetables, that cattle consisting of cows, mares, goats, hogs and sheep had been distributed amongst them, eventually to be eaten to save the settlers from starvation; that the Indians particularly liked the hogs, killing and eating them, and that the adelantado later on brought over more cows, goats and hogs.

Dissatisfaction with the soil on the coast, when the settlers all seemed to believe that a little way inland the soil was fertile and easier to cultivate was evident. Menendez had established another colony on an island off the coast of present South Carolina which he named Santa Elena. As it was north of the 14 Jeanette Thurber Conner. Colonial Records of Spanish Florida. Letters and Reports of Governors and Secular Persons, Deland, p.

Suffice it to say that the settlement was a complete failure and its history is of importance only because of one fact which will appear presently. Nothing was accomplished by the investigation of the Council of the Indies unless it was to give a little more information about the new country.

Spain neither reproved Menendez de Aviles nor sought to urge settlement farther inland in Florida. After Menendez' death, Diego de Valasco wrote to Philip II, from San Augustin, the latter part of August, , that: the coast is barren for it is near the sea, where there is little land for cultivation and cattle-raising, and at a few leagues such is to be found; so that if they farmers had any one who would give them aid and protection, they could succeed very well; for the soil is of good character and adapted to make a profit for any one who will cultivate it.

While Spain concentracted her major efforts toward the exploration and colonizing of the east coast of Florida, other expeditions were made along the gulf coast and within the interior of the country. Missions were built and Franciscan priests were stationed at them where they labored unceasingly for the christianizing of the Indians.

The new adelantado, the very Illustrious Senor de Mirando, held a meeting on the island and all farmers were asked to attend. The cabildo began on February 27, and lasted for several days. Its purpose was to draw up a report for the Spanish King, urging that those farmers who wished to do so be permitted to return home.

While the farmers were given the opportunity of expressing their wish to return to Spain, the petition did no good. Efforts to rebuild were permanently abandoned in because of poor soil and constant threat of Indian attacks. Officials Paid Partly From Produce One of the causes for dissension between the adelantada and the Spanish king began about The Crown believed that if the governor had to collect half of his salary from the crops grown in the new land he would work that much harder to secure new farmers and to make the venture a success.

All other officials were to be paid in the same way. As they were not able to collect anything from the produce the officials were constantly pleading that the full amount of their salaries be paid from the subsidy, a plea that made little impression on the Crown. Regardless of this discouragement Menendez Marques continued to work for the settlements. On April 2, , from San Augustin, he wrote the Audiencia of Santa Domingo that he was sending a frigate for a load of horses, mares and "other cattle.

An engraving made in England to represent this event shows gardens planted to the rear of the town. San Augustin was rebuilt by the Spaniards. With the scattered Catholic missions it remained to support Spain's claims as sole possessor of Florida. The years passed with scarcely any change in the original settlements. The Spainiards were not essentially agriculturists, and the Indians were always hostile. Under the conditions, progress was impossible.

The inhabitants were constantly on the verge of starvation, eking out the barest living without attempting to develop an agricultural policy of any sort. Santa Marie Pes Peniscola Spain's interest in the western part of the territory lagged for over a century.

The Spaniards were even less successful around Santa Marie des Peniscola in establishing farms and cultivating the soil than they had been around San Augustin.

There was constant Indian warfare. Fundamentally, as stated before, the Spaniards were not agriculturists and even starvation could not inspire them to till the earth. At Santa Marie des Peniscola, the Spanish garrison as late as , made no provision for the growing of food. For a number of years this garrison and the French settlement at Biloxi were compelled to resort to each other for food to stave off starvation. This continued for nearly a decade, but in time the relatively greater neglect of agriculture by the Spaniards caused their colony to become a market for farm products from Louisiana.

As the people found the deep, white sand too poor to cultivate, they obtained permission from the Indians to plant a large field on the north side of what is now Pensacola Bay. It was around this corn field that Pensacola was permanently settled about , the corn field becoming the public square.

The Spanish officials in West Florida made no attempt to extend colonization beyond the fort, partly because the Indians were nearly always at war with them, and partly because warfare appealed more to the soldiers than did farming.

Apalachee Towns Iviahica, the most important Apalachee town, was located near Tallahassee. It, and the other Apalachee towns, were for a time removed from this petty warfare. In addition to farming, the inhabitants carried on a steady industry in deerskins and wild turkeys. In , from three to four thousand bushels of maize and beans were sent from Apalachia to San Augustin.

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, warfare was constant in the area, and the Apalachee were almost completely destroyed by invading English and Creed Indians. After this, the Spanish inhabitants, with their few Indian allies, formed a consolidated settlement at San Luis, which was north of old Iviahica. The Debatable Land The entire period of Spain's possession of Florida was one of turbulence and warfare.

Not only did the Indians detest the Spaniards, because of their cruelty, and do all that they could to prevent them from making deep inroads into the country, but the English began to settle the country to the north, which greatly bothered the Spanish ruler. In , a new English settlement, St. Helena, was made on Amelia Island to the extreme discomfort of San Augustin. This brought on renewed disputes about the northern boundary of Spain's possessions.

This left a strip of land between, which was not to be settled by either nation. England disregarded the treaty and continued to send settlers into forbidden country which became known as the "debatable land. End of Spanish Rule This constant strife made agriculture a disordered and almost impossible industry. Two centuries had passed since Spain became active in colonizing Florida, when, because of the Treaty of Paris, England came into possession of the sorely-torn province, in Agriculturally, little had been accomplished.

Also around the Spanish missions, priests had planted gardens and the seed of oranges, which had grown into groves. Along the St. Johns and the Halifax rivers vast orange groves grew. There were herds of wild "razorback" hogs and droves of fleet but small horses. Transportation was hazardous. Pirates infested the waters between New Spain and Cuba and around the coast of Florida. The Indians were savage and bitter enemies. It was necessary for the adelantados of Florida to write constantly to the Crown urging and pleading for more farmers, soldiers and supplies.

S, Aiton. Durham, N. Duplicate letters were sent on different ships, so that if one were lost, the other might reach its destination. An outstanding order, and one that was probably the most important, agriculturally, of any cedula issued, was given by the Spanish Crown, in , to the Casa de Contractacion of Seville.

It required all ships bound for the West Indies to have in their cargoes plants, seed and domesticated animals. Because of that order, in New Spain and the Indies, important Spanish crops were growing at the time San Augustin was founded. Thus it was largely from these countries, rather than direct from Spain, that the Florida colonists received plants, seeds and domesticated animals.

Oddly, however, Spain's other possessions employed labor saving devices, including windmills, and all improved agricultural methods, while Florida officials offered little to encourage the farmer in his work. It was because of the cedula of that the first governors of Spanish Florida were able to introduce citrus and other fruits into the territory, as well as the sugarcane which was to become so important in its future economy.

It is most likely that the first Spanish explorers introduced the sweet orange, as well as the sour and the bitter-sour, as the former fruit had been introduced and was growing in Spain at that time, according to Gallesio. The entire structure upon which the Spanish Crown attempted to build agricultural independence for the Florida territory was unsound, but it is not possible to claim that nothing was accomplished by the program.

This was particularly true of the territory known as East Florida. San Augustin, now renamed by the English, St. Augustine, had become much better known than had Santa Marie des Peniscola. In West Florida the new settlers found the country uncultivated "from the insuperable laziness of the Spaniards.

One of the first things he did was to survey the town. It was divided into a south and north part, a street named Garden Street designated as the dividing line between the two sections. To the south of Garden Street were all the dwelling lots, while to the north were garden lots. Each "guarantee of a town dwelling lot" after making certain improvements on it was entitled to receive one of the garden lots which was to be used for the family garden.

For commercial purposes the English, at Pensacola, recognized the importance of lumber and naval stores. As a result of large land grants they began to develop these industries although there was some cattle raising and some indigo and a little sugarcane were grown. Also a considerable commerce was developed in skins and peltries.

Farming was confined to the garden lots and food was very scarce. A system of barter was arranged with Mobile which, repeatedly, saved the population from famine. With the onset of the American Revolution, many loyal Englishmen left their homes in northern Georgia, South and North Carolina and sought to re-establish themselves in East or West Florida.

Particularly did they come to the former, bringing their slaves and plantation equipment, as well as home furnishings. They were welcomed by the first British governor, James Grant, who served in that capacity for seven years.

These settlers were essentially agriculturists. They sought and obtained land grants embracing thousands of acres. The waterways were important to them, which resulted in plantations being established along the St. Johns, the St. Marys and Nassau rivers and other streams. Trading posts were established as far west as St.

Marks on the Gulf of Mexico. Upon the British occupation of Florida, none of the colonists who received large land grants had any idea that, after a short period of twenty years, the province would pass back under Spanish ownership. Large personal fortunes were involved, and long-drawn-out litigations were to close the British period, when, in , the exodus of Englishmen began to make way for the return of Spanish ruler and colonists. The history of this plantation period is a tragic one.

This work will record, by name of planter and plantation, only a few examples. Moultrie's plantation which was established on the Halifax River near the mouth of the Romoka River, and about four miles from St. Augustine, was named "Bella Vista. He remarked at one time that these two products allowed him to live "clear of debt, in plenty, ease and some elegance. Other buildings included: Offices and other necessary buildings for a hundred people besides kitchen garden, 10 acres that were fenced and laid out in pleasure gardens containing a bowling green; beautiful walks planted with trees including: Since this is Florida's first plantation it is deemed important enough to give its description in part as it appears in: Loyalists in East Florida, to , by Wilbur Henry Siebert.

A tract of land acres about 20 miles from St. His entire claim against the British government was for He was awarded only These plantations were dependent upon negro slaves for labor as were nearly all of those that followed under the British regime. As the owner was responsible for the slaves' food, clothes and shelter, the income of necessity must be considerable. The Second Plantation The second plantation to be established was one owned by Robert Bisset who established it in , shortly after John Moultrie began to clear and cultivate his land.

Like Moultrie, Bisset expected British possession of the province to be permanent and developed his plantations accordingly. Bisset had nine different tracts of land totaling acres, all of which he attempted to cultivate with negro slave labor.

Sugar cane, from which sugar and syrup were made, indigo and "provisions" were grown. The first tract, of acres, was on the west side of the Hillsborough River. The produce from this plantation had to be carted two miles to a landing at Mount Plenty Plantation. Here Bisset built a frame corn house, 40 by 20 feet, a small log house for his overseer and 20 negro houses.

For his indigo crop, he provided: Wilbur Henry Siebert. Loyalists in East Florida, to The most important documents pertaining thereto edited with an accompanying narrative. The Florida State Historical Society.

DeLand, p. Andrew Turnbull. Turnbull was a Scotchman who had married a lady from the island of Minorca. While a practicing physician in London he became greatly interested in the advantages of establishing a colony in Florida.

He succeeded in interesting Sir William Duncan and Sir Richard Temple, who was commander of the British Navy, in his scheme which culminated in their contract of partnership on April 2, Temple acted in place of Grenvill, prime minister of England, who felt that his high position prevented him from taking active part in such an enterprise. Turnbull, with his family, arrived in East Florida, in November, He located them in an old Spanish house in St.

Augustine where "he could see first the grape arbor before the entrance, and beyond, his garden, as well as many others, containing fig, guava, plantain, pomegranate, lemon, lime, citron, shaddock, bergamot, China and Seville orange trees. Before he returned to England, he also bought a cotton plantation there which he expected to stock with cattle from a northern English settlement. Upon returning to England to complete his plans he was given, in addition to increased land grants for himself and his two partners that then totalled , acres, the forty-five hundred pound bounty which England had decided to allow on Florida's agricultural products.

Turnbull was to use pounds 3Ibid. Jacksonville, Fla. This was the first appropriation for roads ever made in Florida. Turnbull then sailed to his wife's country of Minorca and from there to Greece and Italy were he recruited 1, persons to bring to the new country. He promised each one that the company would pay his fare to Florida and establish him there. In return, the colonists were to work for the company for between seven and eight years, at which time each adult would be given fifty acres of land and each child five additional acres.

They were also promised that after they had served out their required time if they did not want to remain in Florida they could return home. Turnbull sent a ship to Africa for slaves who were to be taken to Florida to clear the land and build houses for the colonists before they arrived.

Unfortunately, the ship was wrecked on the Florida Keys and all on board were lost. As a result of this, when Turnbull reached Florida, in June, , and hastened with his colonists to their new home, which had been named New Smyrna, he found the only preparation made for them were some large shacks which Governor Grant had had built and enough food to last four months.

The colonists worked hard and in two months they were comfortably housed. In five years 3, acres of land had been cleared and drained and were highly productive. Turnbull realized the importance of drainage and irrigation. He built one of the most perfect systems of canals of that time, patterned after those of Egypt. Today some of the canals are still in use. In addition to indigo the colony grew cotton to which Turnbull brought over cotton gins, and sugar cane, as well as the usual "provisions" grown by all the planters.

By , the colonists had cleared seven miles of water front on the Hillsborough River, and both the mulberry trees and grape vines brought over with them were flourishing.

While the Turnbull colony at New Smyrna was not a success as the founder had envisaged it, and was actually destined to complete failure, it created No description is given other than "ginns for cleaning of cotton.

Owing to the complicated political conditions of the period and the fact that a considerable body of people, composed of several different nationalities, who had been placed at great disadvantage in an unfamiliar environment, were likely to have disastrous disagreements, in , while Turnbull was in England some of the settlers became mutinous and abandoned New Smyrna.

They went to St. Augustine where they sought protection of the English governor, claiming that they were being held in virtual slavery by Turnbull and pleading for their liberation.

Governor Tonyn, a bitter enemy of Turnbull, released them from their contract and gave them land in the northern part of St. Augustine where they and their descendants became fine citizens of the place. The Turnbull project was criticized by some people who contended that the Scotchman treated the colonists brutally and like slaves.

However that may be, he only used about the same system in vogue in the northern colonies, in which indentured persons were brought over to labor in the fields or elsewhere, in return for the payment of their debts and expenses to this new country, and during the period of their indenture. The settlers were discouraged because, after nine years, out of the 1, who left their distant homes, the colony then numbered only The founder of necessity had spent much of his time in England evdeavoring to secure funds to finance his colony, and the political unrest of the time fostered conditions that tended to produce dissension and strife.

With breaking up of the colony, Turnbull made no further attempt to carry on the work started at New Smyrna. Its great fields of indigo, cotton, sugar cane, corn and rice gradually became a part of the wilderness. This claim was settled by Parliament in Turnbull died in South Carolina in Rolle was a wealthy man of Stevenston, Devonshire, and a member of the British Parliament. In , he, with four other men, applied to the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations for an immense tract of land extending from the southern boundary of Georgia, southward two miles below the forks of the Apalachiocola River and eastward to the Altamoha River in Georgia.

The applicants stated that they wanted to use the land to grow indigo, grapes, and the mulberry, the latter to feed silkworms for the production of silk. In January, , Rolle and his partners petitioned that the grant extend as far up the two rivers as possible as they wanted to establish a "shorter land Portage from the Atlantic to the guelph of Mexico. They were also to bring the latest type of saw mill, the drill plow, and other machinery "recommended by the Society of Arts," of Great Britain.

The main difference between Rolle's scheme and that of Turnbull was that the former was a philanthropist who felt a great compassion for the so-called outcasts of London and wanted to give them an opportunity for regeneration by placing them in a new environment. In this way his agricultural project was to be used as the means to accomplish this end. With Turnbull the agricultural development and financial success of his immense plantation, as New Smyrna was in reality was the chief object, and the securing of the colonists was the means to this end, and their well-being of minor importance.

Shortly after he made the last petition for land, there was a disagreement between Rolle and his partners. They evidently withdrew from the project, for the next time Rolle applied for a grant he asked for , acres upon which to establish a colony near St.

Marks on the gulf coast and only his name appeared in the petition. At this time Rolle offered as an inducement to the British government to safeguard communication between St. Augustine and St. Marks if the land were granted him. Finally in May, , Rolle was granted a township, 20, acres, wherever he wanted it in the East Florida province.

It was to be settled with white Protestants within ten years in the ratio of one white person to every acres. If, in three years time, one third of the land were not settled, the whole tract was to revert to the Crown.

Rolle sailed for Florida in the early fall of , as a steerage passenger with a few colonists. He arrived at St. Augustine on September 13, and shortly afterwards, with an escort furnished him by the governor, he set out for St.

Instead of going to St. Marks, however, Rolle began to explore the St. Johns River. He located his small colony, first, at Mount Pleasant, only to remove it later to Mount Royal. In , he went to England and returned to Florida on January 26, , with 49 white people whom he had collected from the streets of London. He finally decided to form a permanent settlement at the "narrows" southwest of St. The proprietor proved himself erratic in establishing the settlement and did not get on well with his people.

The colonists were required to build a church before they had houses to live in. While they were promised half of the produce grown, because Rolle stopped their rations when they refused, in clearing the land, to remove the roots of the palmettos, the colonists fled to St.

There they were tried by three justices of the peace who would have released them from their contract with Rolle but Governor Grant intervened and persuaded most of them to return to the settlement, which had been named g Charlotta at first, but later on was known as Rollestown. Tie proprietor eventually decided that his plan for converting useless persons into self-supporting citizens was a failurey so he acquired 22 slaves and put them to work preparing the land for planting. In commenting on the failure of the white men to make good with Rolle, Governor Grant stated that the former's labor of more than four years had produced smaller results than that of a planter, with twelve negroes, would have been in six months.

While the other planters in that section of East Florida had grown around 10, pounds of indigo, from which they collected a bounty, Rolle had lost 10, in his project. He had all sorts of trouble. He declared that when he left the settlement in , to attend to business in England, he had more than one thousand head of cattle which were sold by his agent, without permission, before his return. In , he transported from London 89 more persons whom he claimed brought the number of whites on his estate to , at a cost of over In recording his losses at the change of government, in , Rolle declared that his plantation was in a fine condition then and that, in addition to the slaves, livestock and crops grown, he had a great quantity of turpentine to export.

Some years he claimed he had produced for export 1, gallons of orange juice. He had 76, acres of land which were divided into two plantations and part of it was, he believed, the "first cattle range in America. In referring to the excellent pasture, Rolle said that the sheep and goats thrived in land described as "Barren" which produced "agreeable food for those animals and furnished a quantity of fine mutton to the Bon Vivants in Augustine 9 at the time of the sale in Other English Planters After Moultrie and Bisset began clearing their plantations, others seeking land grants began to come into the region and big plantations sprang up all through the region.

There was the Marshall plantation on the St. Johns River not far from the present site of Jacksonville. William Drayton, chief justice of Florida, acquired title to acres of land close to St. Augustine early in , and established a plantation. He made it his home and called it "Oak Park. Richard Oswald, shortly after Florida became an English possession in , obtained two grants of land of 20, acres each.

One of these grants was on the Halifax and Timoka Rivers. On it he established, by , four plantations for the cultivation of rice, indigo, Indian corn, "provisions" and sugar cane. These plantations were managed through an agent. In , following depredations by the Spaniards, Oswald sent the negroes to Georgia where they were kept until its evacuation by the British, in They were then returned to the Mount Oswald plantation and Swamp Settlement.

The other tract of 20, acres called "Ramsey Bay" Oswald bought from Lieutenant Colonel William Fawcell for from to both f igures being given in conflicting records. The place was never improved nor cultivated. Jesse Fish, Sr.

Bernard Romans, born in Holland about , lived in Florida from , to , when he went to Georgia. He was a "surveyor, engineer, botanist, cartographer, seaman and soldier. Also linguist, artist and engraver. In , Romans obtained a grant of land but he did little with it as the year following he was appointed principal deputy surveyor for the southern division and "first commander of vessels in that service. All of the British officials appear to have had land grants.

James Hume, of Georgia, was appointed chief justice of Florida and arrived in St. Augustine, in April, He acquired large tracts of land and planted thousands of sweet and sour orange trees, lemon, limes, citron, shaddock and other fruit trees. Hume's most highly cultivated plantation was acres of land, called "Oak Forest," four miles from St.

Around the commodious house were several acres in what the English called "pleasure and garden grounds. He planned to make "Oak Forest" a fruit farm on account of the glowing account of Mr.

Fish as to the profits to be made from one. Siebert states that there were planted: 9 acres with 3, sour orange trees; they were seedlings of two or three years growth when planted which was in the fall of , and Spring of ; that besides these he had about standards in other parts of this plantation, some of which were beginning to bear in and a great quantity more in the hedges.

That the sour orange grew wild in the province and the sweet orange succeeded very well. Hume paid his gardener Jz20 a year, and the labor of 70 slaves is given at jl0, each, per year. He was a very wealthy and notable Englishman. He brought with him negro slaves who cleared the land and made the improvements on five tracts of acres, each, that had been granted to Graham and his four sons. Lieutenant-Colonel John Douglas, another refugee from Georgia, was employed by Graham as his superintendent.

Douglas had the slaves clear acres which had been planted when Florida passed again into the hands of the Spanish crown. In December, , the negroes were sent to South Carolina where they were sold. The main facts to be derived from the records show that, with very few exceptions, the owners did not live in Florida and managed their vast holdings through agents. With the exception of Turnbull and Rolle, the plantation owners used negro slave labor entirely.

The crops grown were mostly the same, being indigo, corn, sugar can, rice and "provisions" which were largely the vegetables. Nearly all the large tracts were worked for lumber It was an expensive procedure for planters to transport large numbers of slaves.

Augustine to Beaufort, South Carolina, and that freight on the same negroes was s. This was true both in East and West Florida. Practically all of the wealthy Englishmen who moved into Florida from more northerly colonies brought with them their cattle, horses and hogs, which they had originally brought with them from England or from the British island possessions. In June, , there was a called meeting of a special committee of the Florida Common House of Assembly consisting of twelve members of which Robert Baillie was chairman.

This committee drew up a report on the causes of slow progress in cultivating the land. The report showed that around one million acres of land had been granted, mostly in large tracts of 20, acres, each. The persons to whom the grants were made had, with few exceptions, never made any special efforts to settle the land or to cultivate it. Agricultural methods, soil and climate were entirely different from the home land, and the agents sent over by the proprietors were ignorant of how to proceed.

Even when the agents, by experimenting, learned, the proprietors in Europe would seldom permit them to put the new methods into practice. For convenience, and for protection from the Indians, the Governor and the Assembly decided that the planters should settle in townships. The 20, acre grants were made to persons who would undertake to settle them at their own expense within a limited time, with people who would cultivate the land. Governor Patrick Tonyn, who was the last governor under British rule, sent to Lord George Germain of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, in , a list of land grants made by England in East Florida, which showed that 1,, acres had been granted to persons, but that only sixteen of the proprietors had attempted to comply with the conditions of making settlements on their grants.

These large grants, concentrated in so few persons, and the fact that the rich lands in the North Central part of the province were securely held by the Indians, prevented many people from securing grants. As a result of this report the Governor was told that all the large grants could be revoked, if, after three years from the date of grant, no settlement had been made on them.

In this way, towards the end of British possession, Tonyn was able to make grants of acres or less to refugees from the northern colonies who intended to remain in Florida.

Not all of the persons who came to East Florida during this period had land grants. Many persons "squatted" on vacant land, upon which they built log cabins, thatched with palmetto leaves. Some of them cultivated extensive farms. It was the long anticipated and dreaded announcement that the two Floridas would go back to Spanish rule.

The plantations which stretched nearly one hundred miles above and below St. Augustine were just reaching a profit-making stage. The planters had lived through turbulent times but they had looked forward to peaceful years at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.

Although the announcement had been imminent for some time the English people scarcely knew what to do. Those who had large numbers of slaves could not take them to England. The Englishmen who had been driven out of the Northern colonies because of their loyalty to the mother country felt that their old homes would not freely receive them; nor could they accept the Spanish King's invitation to remain by becoming his subjects.