LETTERS FROM FLORIDA.


dampness,


even in


Florida alone,


the hottest days <
everywhere, in old


f July, not in
or new settle-


ments.


In short,


don't


believe


there is any more


danger from malarial fevers in Florida (and


about all


the sickness that there


is ever here)


than


in any State in the


Union


where


woodland is being


cleared, or old pastures and mowing-lots ripped up by


the plow


under-earth


brought


to the


ear-


face, or where muck is drawn from swamps or river-
beds and piled near dwellings, to ripen for compost.
I know, in the wonderful healthy town of Peekskill,
New York State, muck was dug out of a swamp some


years ago, and piled


up to drain and sweeten before


hauling up to


the farm


the family nearest to


the swamp complained


they


had,


or were


threatened with, chills and fever in


consequence.


eost the owner of the swamp one hundred


stop that malaria.


dollars to


Strange what medicinal power can,


when


convenient, be


found in


one hundred


dollars


And all along the lowlands on the banks of the Hudson,
or wherever a new railroad is begun, chills and fever are


prevalent, and to be


expected as a matter of


course.


But this does not necessarily make that State or coun-
try where they occur unsafe or dangerously unhealthy.


Chills and fevers are not desirable companions


had a thorough knowledge of them


I have


but they are not


half so unsafe as many diseases that are very common
at the North.
 "Well, you don't seem willing to give Florida all
the fevers and malarial troubles, but you will not deny