Efforts made to introduce farming, fruit raising, fishing, and silk culture were feeble and unproductive. Soil was poor near Saint Augustine, and unfriendly Indians often scalped ambitious innovators and destroyed their attempts to improve their existence away from the protective walls of Fort San Marcos. Christian Indians in Apalache, where soil was richer, provided a few staples like corn and beans, but production was irregular and undependable. For the Floridians the subsidy remained the principal means of support throughout the colonial period. (Tepaske GSF)