114 FLORIDA 



replied that he could not come, and furthermore, 

 that he wasn't so very sorry. New England 

 winter is to him a constant refreshment and ex- 

 hilaration, it appears. Happy New Englander ! 

 " To-day is simply perfect," he wrote, " and you 

 can't beat it in Miami." As to that point I re- 

 serve my opinion. " How changed the place must 

 be from what it was when I was there in the 

 '80's," he continued. " No railroad then within 

 hundreds of miles, and none of your modern im- 

 provements. It is a great place for plants. I 

 shan't forget how delighted I was to find Ores- 

 centia cucurbitina in flower. I had searched the 

 whole range of Keys for it in vain." 



This very plant, of the existence of which I 

 had never before heard, I had found, without 

 knowing it, within two hours after receiving my 

 friend's letter. 1 



Winter botanizing by newcomers, in a coun- 

 try so foreign as this, where much the greater 

 part of the shrubs and trees are West Indian, 

 with no better help than Chapman's Flora, is 

 carried on under almost discouraging difficulties. 

 " If we only had the blossoms ! " the professor is 

 continually exclaiming. And his pupil responds, 



1 And after all this talk about the plant I must in candor 

 add that it turned out to be by no means rare along the bay 

 shore. I think I am not wrong in remembering to have heard 

 it called the calabash tree. 



