Copyright, 1899, by 

 rUORISTS' PUBUISniMG CO.. 520-53S Caxton Bulldlnft, CHICAGO. 



VoLin. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORX, MAY U, 1899. 



No. 76. 



SOME NOTES FROM FLORIDA. 



On the 10th of January last, with 

 snow on the ground and the mercury 

 down almost to nothing, I dropped the 

 hose and started for Florida. 



In Philadelphia next morning it was 

 even colder, the sharp wind searching 

 for the epidermis through overcoat 

 and mittens, and finding it, too; but 

 on waking the second morning, as the 

 train was nearing Charleston. S. C, 

 how the scene had changed. The hills 

 had disappeared, the flat, dark land 

 was free from snow, and patch after 

 patch of green growing vegetables flew 

 by the windows, on parade. The 

 northern oaks and chestnuts and ma- 

 ples were seen no more, but in their 

 places came the live oak, the cypress 

 with its bulging bee-hive base, mag- 

 nolias, and the long-haired southern 

 pine, and soon the scrub palmetto 

 claimed observance, and clumps of 

 cane stakes were growing in the 

 ditches, covered with foliage. Thence- 



forth the long swaying Tillandsia, the 

 so-called Spanish moss, was seldom 

 out of sight, as it hung from the 

 branches of the trees in strange grey 

 tufts, among which was often mingled 

 the pineapple-like plants of other Til- 

 landsias, the air plants of the north- 

 ern visitor. At 9 o'clock that night 

 we were due to reach St. Petersburg, 

 a new town of nearly 3,000 inhabi- 

 tants, mostly from the north, situated 

 in Hillsborough county, between 

 Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, 

 on a peninsula about five miles wide 

 at this point, which is the end of one 

 of the branches of the railroads of 

 the west coast. 



That night I slept with door and 

 window open, with only the screens 

 between me and the open country; 

 and as soon as daylight came I was 

 out strolling along the streets, where 

 roses, heliotrope, coleus, vincas, jessa- 

 mines, daturas, allamandas, cannas 

 and many other plants were in full 

 bloom and vigorous growth; where 



alternanthera was bright as we have 

 it in August, with poinsettia in full 

 color outside, and palms and bamboos 

 dressed in luxuriant green. A large- 

 flowered red double hibiscus seemed 

 especially vigorous; large plants of 

 oleander were very common, the apo- 

 ponax was covered with its fragrant 

 yellowish flowers, and prickly pears 

 eight feet in diameter were studded 

 with their purplish fruit. Before 

 breakfast I had found an orange grove 

 and saw them gathering the plump, 

 bright fruit, and soon the butterflies 

 were fitting about, and it was most 

 comfortable in the shade. The change 

 from snow to sand was so great and 

 sudden that the heat became almost 

 unbearable; and before night I had 

 bought and was wearing a crash suit 

 and straw hat. Next to the climate, 

 the most noticeable difference between 

 Pennsylvania and Florida is the ap- 

 pearance of the country itself. Here 

 the land is low and flat, much of it 

 but little above the level of the ocean. 



A Village Lot in Florida. 



