Copyright, 1899, by 

 ruORISTS' PUBUISniNG CO., 520-535 Caxton Building, CtllGAGO. 



Vol. m. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, MAY 25, 1899. 



No. 78. 



A FLORIDA FLORIST. 



On the 6th of February last, as I 

 stepped from the steamer "Margaret" 

 to the Braidentown pier on the broad 

 Manatee River. I was met by Mr. Rea- 

 soner. Sr., who was waiting to drive 

 me four miles back into the country, 

 in the direction of Sarasota Bay. to 

 Oneco. the location of the Royal Palm 

 Nurseries, of Reasoner Brothers, 

 where I was welcomed by Mr. E. N. 

 Reasoner. and his pleasant wife, to 

 their beautiful home "Beth Salem." 

 The family are of New England stock, 

 and came here from Illinois. Pliny W. 

 Reasoner. the oldest son. located here 

 first; coming to Florida to escape the 



rigors of the northern climate, and be- 

 ing followed by the younger son, and 

 finally by the father and mother. 



Pliny seems to have possessed a 

 strong natural taste for botany and 

 kindred subjects, and wrote the first 

 Bulletin for the Department of Agi-i- 

 culture. He was Commissioner for 

 Florida at the Sub-Tropical Exposi- 

 tion at Jacksonville, and at the Ohio 

 Valley Centennial Exposition at Cin- 

 cinnati. He died of yellow fever in 

 18SS. The title of the firm is con- 

 tinued as it was in his lifetime, 

 through sentiment; Reasoner Brothers 

 now being E. N. Reasoner. He has 

 over 200 acres of land, about 30 acres 

 of which is planted with nursery stock, 



on what is known here as "high hum- 

 mock" land. This seems to have been 

 the shore of a large body of water at 

 some time, and is made up partly of 

 shells and vegetable material, to which 

 it no doubt owes its fertility. 



It is the furthest south of any es- 

 tablishment of the kind in the coun- 

 try, of any importance; being 40 miles 

 south of Tampa, and only about 300 

 miles from Havana. Before coming 

 here. I had supposed that they had 

 removed from Manatee to this place; 

 but their location has not been chang- 

 ed. Manatee being their address until 

 the postoiHce was established at 

 Oneco. 



In the hummock are growing nat- 



Clump of Bamboo 30 ieet in diameter, on the grounds of Reasoner Bros., Oneco, Fla. 



