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._
The following communication was published in the _Florida Agriculturist_ in January last, under the caption of the "_Climate of the Gulf Coast of South Florida_."
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
The land of the orange and guava, The pine-apple, date and cassava.
I also send a statement of the rainfall for the year 1880.
Average temperature at 6 o'clock A. M., 71-1/3°
Average temperature at 12 o'clock M., 83-2/3°
Average temperature at 6 o'clock P. M., 78-7/8°
Highest temperature at 12 o'clock M., 96° July 1st and August 26th,
Lowest temperature at 6 o'clock A. M., 38° Dec. 31st,
------------+-------------------------- |Rainy Days. | |Clear Days. | | |Cloudy and Partly | | | Cloudy Days. ------------+---+---+------------------ January, | 5| 19| 12 February, | 3| 24| 5 March, | 3| 24| 7 April, | 1| 29| 1 May, | 12| 4| 27 June, | 18| 8| 22 July, | 12| 6| 25 August, | 18| 8| 23 September, | 13| 15| 15 October, | 10| 19| 12 November, | 3| 15| 15 December, | 6| 17| 14 +---+---+------------------ Total, |104|188|177 ------------+---+---+------------------
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_.