150 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



to enliven the air, while numerous porpoises sported in the waters 

 about us, and untold thousands of bushels of oysters were everywhere 

 cropping up in huge lieaps and lining the bottoms and margins of the 

 shoals. We reached Fernandina, Florida, about noon. 



Fernandina is an old but rather quiet town, built on an island 

 just off the main land, called Amelia Island, and has one of the best 

 .and safest harbors on the Atlantic coast. During the war of 1812, 

 when the town was Spanish and neutral, more than three hundred 

 square-rigged vessels were congregated in its capacious harbor at one 

 time. It was founded by the Spaniards in the early history of 

 America, and has witnessed many scenes of strife and bloodshed. 

 Here the first orange trees were seen with oranges on them, also 

 bananas fruiting in the open air. The banana is so associated in one's 

 mind with large conservatories with their elegant and refined surround- 

 ings, that it seemed quite incongruous to see a handsome banana tree 

 overshadowing a dirty negro cabin. Eoses were in bloom, and quite 

 plentiful, gigantic aloes, such as I had never seen before, flourished in 

 the gardens, oleanders as large as good sized apple trees just coming 

 into flower, and large Palmetto trees, Sdbal adansonii, from twenty 

 to thirty feet high, were very handsome features in the landscape. 



After a comfortable dinner at the hotel, where we enjoyed our first 

 feast of fresh Florida oranges, we left by train for Jacksonville, arriving 

 there early in the evening. Away from the coast line and rivers the 

 country is very flat and uninteresting. The soil is usually damp, and 

 covered with bellow Pine and Scrub Palmetto, mixed with various sorts 

 of grasses. Jacksonville, named after General Andrew Jackson, is the 

 largest city on the Atlantic coast south of Savannah, and contains 

 about thirteen thousand inhabitants. It is situated on the St. John's 

 Kiver, twenty-five miles from its mouth. An extensive lumber 

 business is transacted here, and vessels may be seen at all times at 

 the wharves loading for distant ports. Heavy shipments of oranges 

 are also made from this port during the winter months. Looking out 

 of my bedroom window next morning the first thing seen was a large 

 wild orange tree on the street laden with its golden fruit ; on a line 

 with it were several fine specimens of the Eucalyptus tree, JEucalyptus 

 globulus, while on the opposite side of the street there was a splendid 

 row of live oaks, Querci^ virens, an evergreen oak of free growth, 

 with beautiful glossy foliage. These gaily decorated with Florida 



