124 



THE OWADIAN HOK'l lOULTUKISI', 



slight taste of bitter mingled with a 

 mild acid. We were told that it is 

 sometimes used as a mild tonic when 

 slight symptoms of malaria appear, 

 certainly it is more agi-eeahle to the 

 palate than quinine. A few lemon 

 trees are also grown in tliis gro\e, hut 

 our impression is that the lemon tlii-i\es 

 better in more tro])ical poi'tions of tlie 

 State. 



Bananas were growing on one side 

 of this orchard skirting the river bank. 

 On some of them we found bunches of 

 fruit, and on one a flower bud. The 

 process of inflorescence of tin's plant is 

 quite novel. The large purple flowei- 

 bud hanging from its recurved stem is 

 in truth, so far as it meets the eye, a 

 large purple s])athe infolding a ring of 

 fertile flowers arranged around a cential 

 stem. This purple spathe gradually 

 unfolds disclosing a circlet of young 

 bananas, and beneath them anotlu;!- 

 purph; spathe which in its turn unfolds, 

 iisclosing another cii'clet of fruit, be- 

 aeath which is yet another spatiie with 

 its infolded contejits. This ju-ocess is 



continued until the bunch of fruit is 

 completed with its several clusters or 

 circles of fruit. The banana is very 

 sensitive to frost, hence the crop is very 

 uncertain in this part of Florida, for 

 frosts do sometimes visit this region 

 with sutficient severity to injure the 

 orange ti'ees. Of this we had evidence 

 in the mutilated condition of some of 

 the older trees in this grove. It will 

 be difticult to tind a place where the 

 labors of the fruit grower are not some- 

 times frustrated by untoward causes. 

 Much has been said by interested par- 

 ti< s in Forida about the fn st line. below 

 which there is no frost, but the writer 

 is fully ])ersuaded that no such line 

 exists. There has been and there will 

 be again winters of unusual severity, 

 when the frost wdl be sufliciently severe 

 to seriously injure vegetation. We are 

 credibly informed that in Feburary 

 1 83 , the St. John's River was frozen 

 for several rods from the shore and the 

 tliei'mometer indicated seven degrees 

 above zero, Farenheit, at St. Augustine. 

 And again in January 1857, the mer- 

 cur}' fell to sixteen above zei'o at Jack- 

 sonville. 



But the weather was delightful at the 

 time of our visit to this grove, and 

 after our feet were weary with wander- 

 ing thi'ough it, we sat down to enjoy 

 the soft breezes, and look at the over- 

 shadowing arches of green so richly 

 studded with gold. Surely Solomon 

 niust have been thinking of oranges 

 when he spoke of apples of gold. The 

 scene presented to our view, and the 

 whole of the surroundings were not only 

 now but novel, and novelty adds much 

 to the zest of enjoyment. We had all 

 of us seen more gorgeous sunsets than 

 the one now brightening the western 

 sky, and listened to the vesper hymn 

 of birds as melodious as that which 

 now was warbled on the evening air ; 

 we had gazed on scenery moie grand 

 and quite as beautiful as that now 



