Editor’s note: Promotional literature rarely note the negative aspects of the advertised country. Wells generally presented a very positive account in his 1877 39-page account of Hernando, Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, and Monroe counties, but he concluded with warnings to the faint hearted, of which I offer the following excerpts:

     Fleas
     But, oh me! When flea time comes, then what? Then plenty of exercise comes. Such another scratching and grunting you never saw or heard. Perhaps my readers never saw a flea.
     It is a small black insect that lives in the sand, and makes a person very uncomfortable when it gets on him—biting, running over and tickling him nearly out of his wits. The pain is not so bad as the itching they cause by their evolutions. Their bite is not fatal at all, but they annoy one so unless he changes on going to bed at night.
     Now these things are not so troublesome at all seasons of the year; neither are they to be found in every place. Dry seasons seem to suit them best, and where hogs have been accustomed to sleep they are very numerous.
     You need not stay away from Florida on account of the little insects, they have never been known to kill a man yet; the most they do is to take out of him a good deal of red blood. There are other insects, reptiles, etc., that I must not omit to notice.

     Sand Fly
     The sand fly is a diminutive midge or gnat that infests the coast and is troublesome during spring and summer. Its bite is attended with a very unpleasant burning or itching. It is more apt to appear on cloudy mornings or evenings and moonlit nights. They are never so troublesome as to hinder a person from his business or labor.

     Mosquito
     The mosquito is considerably larger and, consequently, can be guarded against by using a mosquito-bar at night. They are not troublesome by day unless in the depth of a dense hammock where the shingle-maker sometimes encounters it.

     Other Insects
     We have other insects here that are very destructive to crops and fruit trees, but it is not more than one year in four that crops suffer by their depredations.
     The bud-worm and a small fly sometimes attack late corn; the caterpillar and the red-bug sometimes ruin the prospects of the farmer when they strike his cotton field. The caterpillar is more destructive than the red-bug, but they seldom visit us.
     Other insects sometimes appear, but those mentioned above are the most fatal to crops. The horse-fly, cow-fly, etc. are very bad on stock during the spring and summer months, especially in the unsettled parts of the country.

     Alligators
     Now comes the alligator. Perhaps many of my readers have never seen one, but all have seen the old, rusty lizards that run along on the fences and about old waste houses. Well, if you place one in a good magnifying glass—say one of 10,000 diameters—you will have a pretty fair conception of the hideous monster.
     We can find them here from six inches to fifteen feet in length. One fifteen feet in length is from twenty-five to thirty-six inches in diameter. They are to be found in nearly every portion of this country, but are more numerous in the unsettled tracts of country.
     In the older settled sections the farmers have destroyed numbers of them; they are destructive to hogs, and therefore are hunted for vigilantly by those who desire to raise such stock.
     They may be found in the ponds, lakes, rivers, creeks, and branches. In the dry season many of the ponds become dry; they then go into holes and caves. This is the time they are so destructive of the hogs. They are compelled to venture near their caves or dens to get water, and then the alligator nabs and draws them in.
     We have fine sport in catching them at this season and some hard work. We have a long pole, to the end of which is attached a strong hook. The end of the pole holding the hook we thrust down his cave and hook the fellow out.
     Sometimes the united strength of two or three men is required to draw out a large one, and then, if you never saw the presence of “old Satan,” you will see it when he makes his first appearance out of his cave, puffing and blowing, snapping his teeth, and twisting over and over, and making the mud and water fly in every direction.      I tell you that the person who witnesses this sight for the first time surely thinks his “Satanic majesty” has arrived.
     An alligator will seize a dog in preference to all other animals which serve him as food. Whether this is owing to his fondness for their flesh or because he entertains a natural hatred for the canine species, I cannot say. If a dog attempts to cross water in the domain of the alligator, he is very apt to be taken under.
     They will sometimes attack a man crossing deep water, and I have known a few cases in which men have been caught by them.
     They do no damage on dry land. They are sometimes found making their way from one place of water to another, but they do not stay out of water very long at a time.      The manner of eating their food is by swallowing it whole or in large pieces. They never chew their food, but it is not for lack of teeth for they have plenty of them, and they are of formidable size. They have been known to swallow large pieces of wood, pine knots, bark of trees, etc., and it is supposed that they will live six months or longer without any food at all to sustain life.
     They are seldom seen in winter. They conceal themselves in their caves during that time without visible means of sustenance.
     The oil, teeth, and hide of the alligator are valuable for some purposes in the arts and are sold at very fair prices.
     The greatest curiosity about the beast is that they are oviparous, that is, lay eggs or are produced from eggs. They make their nests on high places near the ponds or creeks, or wherever their caves may be. They make them of leaves and sticks and in them pack about fifty or seventy-five eggs at one time. These eggs remain there four or six months without receiving any further attention from the parent in the way of incubation. At the end of the above stated time, the eggs are hatched.
     The young alligator is about six inches long. Although the old one does not set on the nest, she guards it very attentively, and “you bet” if anything goes about it, she makes it “get” in a hurry. They are very spiteful about their nests.
     They very often eat each other, or bite off each others’ tails or feet. I have often seen them with only three feet or a portion of the tail lost.

     Rattlesnakes
     The snake family now claims our attention, which is certainly the most dangerous of all the foes we Floridians have to encounter.
     Of these, the rattlesnake is the most fatal. This class of snakes is very abundant in South Florida, yet very few persons are bitten by them. Specimens ten feet in length are not uncommon.
     During the months of July and August, they are very poisonous. They are more apt to bite during these months and are more fatal. During the dog-days, they seem to be blind with poison and are very spiteful, striking at everything they hear passing by or near them.
     In winter not one can be seen. In that respect they resemble the alligator; they go into their dens and there spend their winters. At some places you may not see one for years, then, again, you may see four or five in less than a month.
     By being very careful a person may never be bitten by a rattlesnake as he generally gives you notice of his whereabouts by sounding the rattle appended at the end of his tail.

     Moccasins
     The next most dangerous snake is the moccasin. They are not very fatal. They are very numerous and live near the water. In fact, they are amphibious, that is, live both in water and on land.

     Safe In Florida?
     Some of my readers may infer from what I have said of alligators and snakes that it would be next to death to dwell in South Florida, but you will be just as safe here as you are anywhere else, and in some instances a great deal more so. I have even heard the question asked, “Are Northerners safe in Florida?” Now, my dear friends, let me answer this question.
     More hospitable, friendly and peaceable people cannot be found anywhere than the people of Florida, and they are ready and willing at any and all times to give all the information they can to the new comer in regard the management of his affairs in a manner most advantageous to those who are not used to our soils, climates, etc.

     :Conclusion
     Many people who move to Florida without previously examining it are at first rather unfavorably impressed with the appearance of things. This is not very unnatural for many who come, probably induced by the glowing and perhaps exaggerated statements of friends who have preceded them, are apt to have formed in their minds Utopian ideas of the Land of Flowers.
     Finding things perhaps so different from their preconceived notions, their hopes are so unceremoniously let down to something like common sense and practical views that they are prone to swing to the opposite side and conclude that everything in and about Florida is an “unmitigated humbug.”
     Now what I have only to say is that Florida, like every other country in the world, has advantages and disadvantages, and you will have to take them as you find them, making the most you possibly can of the former and overcoming the latter by care, foresight and energy. Anywhere you can find volumes of evidence of the fruitfulness of our apparently good for nothing soil.
     The people are generally very healthy, and our climate is so mild as to place everybody beyond the risk of suffering with extreme cold.
     All that is required is labor and judiciously and industriously applied to the successful attainments of certain ends, that is all.

This was published in The Herald-Advocate (Wauchula, Fla.), 4C, February 23, 2006.