1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



229 



:!:tps 



HIGH-PRESSUKE GARDENING IN THE SWAMP 

 WOODS, OR HAMMOCKS, OF FLORIDA. 



Another trip on the cars, and we struck Ti- 

 tusville. I have just been out in the woods 

 with friend Froscher, and have seen something 

 that I shall not soon forget. Imagine a low 

 piece of ground covered with palmetto-trees, 

 with all other growth cut away. Now imagine 

 open ditches, two or three feet wide, cut 

 through at intervals so as to draw oflf the 

 water. The bottom is pure white sand; 

 and the water, as it runs through, is as soft as 

 rain water, and as clear as water well can be. 

 These ditches are cut through at intervals of 

 from one to five hundred feet, as may be needed 

 to take ofT the surplus moisture. The gardener 

 goes to work and gets out every thing except 

 the palmetto-trees. These are all, or nearly 

 all, left standing. They are, on an average, 

 perhaps ten or fifteen feet apart, may be far- 

 ther. When they have oak stumps diflficult to 

 get out. rubbish is piled on them and burned. 

 Then the ground is grubbed up into ridges and 

 furrows, sav averaging 25 or .30 inches apart. 

 The k'lad of soil selt-cted for this sort of garden- 

 ing is a soft, black, sandy loam. It looks a 

 good deal like what we call woods dirt. On the 

 tops of these ridges the crop is planted. This 

 morning we saw a patch of beans. The plants 

 stood evenly three or four inches apart. They 

 were large enough to have four or six beautiful, 

 thrifty leaves to each plant. As we approach- 

 ed the garden the luxuriant bright green, part- 

 ly in the shadow of the palmettoes, made one 

 of the prettiest sights I ever beheld in ihe way 

 of gardening. Closer inspection showed thrifty 

 tomato-plants, some of them nefirly a foot high, 

 standing at intervals in the furrows between 

 the beans. These tomato- plants were saved at 

 the time of the freeze by bi-ing bent down and 

 covered with the loose dark soil; and now right 

 here is a strange phenomenon. The beans and 

 other plants grow just as thrifty right close up 

 to the trunk or stump of a palmetto-tree as 

 anywhere else. The gardeners say the beans 

 require some sort of fertilizer that the palmetto 

 does not use; and it has been suggested that 

 the palmetto is a sort of air-plant, so that it 

 really takes very little from the soil. But the 

 principal object in leaving these palmetto- 

 trees is, that they keep off fi'ost from the beans 

 and tomatoes, and also keep off cold winds and 

 the extreme heat of the sun. In fact, it makes 

 a sort of shaded greenhouse during the heat of 

 the middle of the day. The gardener works in a 

 shady woods, with damp soft soil under his feet, 

 and pure running water always close at hand. 

 The gardens seem to be in small patches of 

 from one-half to a whole acre. Around this 

 little circle or square, a thicket of woods is left 

 for protection. Of course, no horses are used. 

 The work is all done by hand: but the soil is .so 

 light and soft that hoes and steel garden-rakes 

 enable the workman to prepare the ground and 

 keep out the weed-, with comparatively little 

 labor. ]}esides beans and tomatoes we saw cu- 

 cumbers, lettuce, radishes, cabbages, onions, 

 and, in fact, almost every thing grown in gar- 

 dens, cared for in this way. 



Friend Froscher has his gardening ground so 

 arranged that he can shut up the ditches and 

 raise the water to any height, just as we do in 

 our celery-grounds north; and. in fact, he has 

 made quite a little start in producing fine cel- 

 ery, to be shipped to the northern markets 



during the months of March, April, and May, 

 when celery is out of the markets in the North. 

 The bleaching is all done with boards. The 

 principal impediment just now is the matter of 

 express charges. For an illustration: P'ive 

 boxes of celery shipped to Philadelphia brought 

 $12.00. The express companies took $9.00 of 

 the $12.00, leaving friend Froscher the remaining 

 $3.00. May be this matter can be remedied when 

 the express companies have more competition, 

 and the work is more fully established. In anv 

 place except Florida, so much shade would be 

 more of an objection; but even up north, dur- 

 ing our hottest summer months, I have observ- 

 ed that certain garden-plants do better when 

 somewhat shaded, more especially celery. 



Now in regard to rotation of crops. The 

 friend we visited, Jas. Cole, has raised two 

 crops of Refugee beans, picked for enap beans, 

 of course, in a season; and he would have had 

 three crops had it not been for the big freeze. 

 He succeeded in harvesting and selling one 

 crop in the fall, cleared ofif the ground, and 

 planted another; got them just about as far 

 along as those we saw to-day, when the freeze 

 demolished them. Therefore, during ordinary 

 seasons there would be no difficulty in getting 

 three crops During the very hot weather of 

 the summer, however, they have diflHculty in 

 keeping the ground occupied, unless it is with 

 cucumbers, pumpkins, or squashes, or some 

 crop that bears extreme heat. Even sweet po- 

 tatoes fail to do any thing if started before 

 August or September. Friend E'roscher says 

 they do just as well as if planted earlier. 



ONE OF THE FLORIDA INDIAN-RIVER HOTELS. 



For the first time we find it convenient to 

 stop at a hotel instead of accepting invitations 

 from bee-keepers. We were told several times 

 that we must not fail to visit Rockledge. Now, 

 we did not feel called upon to pay $.i.00 a day; 

 but we chose the moderate price of $2.50. and are 

 abundantly pleased with the Rockledge hotels 

 at that price. There are five hotels in the 

 place: a beautiful, commodious drygoods store, 

 drugstore, postot'hce, etc. At the 'entrance to 

 the road leading to the Indian River Hotel we 

 found an archway of incandescent electric 

 lights. A little railway for running baggage 

 extends from the depot platform to the hotel. 

 A similar one extends from the steamboat land- 

 ing to the hotel. There seems to be a disposi- 

 tion down this way to avoid the necessity of 

 horses. Boats on the water, that is almost 

 everywhere; railways and plank sidewalks for 

 Daisy wheelbarrows (and other kinds), seem to 

 be the general plan; and, in fact, without shell 

 roads or some other kind it taki s a horse a 

 good while, and even then considerable muscle, 

 to get any kind of a load through the soft and 

 yielding sand. The grounds in front of the 

 hotels are finely lighted by electric lights and 

 gas. Fountains are playing on the green lawns, 

 and people are walking about in the thinnest 

 summer clothing. Women folks are barehead- 

 ed at that. Scarcely a breath of air is stirring, 

 and the thermometer is well up toward 80°; 

 and yet, even in the evening we have not seen 

 a gnat or mosquito. The porter says they 

 "don't have any here." Steamers and craft of 

 all sizes are on the Indian River in front of the 

 hotels, with their lights marking out their 

 location. We have not paid out very much 

 money so far on our trip; but I feel just now as 

 if I would almost give $25.00 to have the Root 

 family here for just an hour. Of course, I 

 should want the grandchildren counted in. 

 Some of the friends may think $2..50 a day for a 

 single individual is pretty expensive. Well, so 

 it would be perhaps if followed up. But let me 

 give you some of the advantages: The postoffice 



