PRINCETON 87 



ing the collection of the college museum. He 

 told me in the fall of 1875 of a part of Florida 

 where he had purchased an old Spanish grant 

 of some two thousand acres. Here he had 

 undertaken to cultivate what was at that time 

 an almost unknown crop in the United States, 

 — tlie orange. He aroused my curiosity and 

 excited my enthusiasm by his glowing descrip- 

 tions of the country where he was carrying out 

 his project. His stories of the game and fish, 

 of the birds and beasts, of the trees and flowers, of 

 the rivers and woods, determined me to make a 

 more intimate acquaintance with them. Finally 

 he invited me to make his plantation my head- 

 quarters, if I could arrange to go to Florida. 



I consulted several of the trustees on the 

 subject, notably Mr. Stewart. He and the late 

 William E. Dodge, Esq., of New York, made it 

 possible for me to undertake the expedition, on 

 which I started the day after Christmas. 



Mr. Conover had discoursed to me of the water- 

 ways of Florida, and the necessity of having some 

 kind of a boat ; hence a light, portable metal row- 

 boat was part of the baggage, and the kind of 

 stores and supplies essential in making collec- 

 tions completed the equipment. As a factotum I 

 took with me Charlie Hubbard. 



Florida in 1875 had no railroads south of 

 Jacksonville. In fact, the only railroad of conse- 



