1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



231 



Mr. Wallace R. Moses and Dr. Stites, of this 

 place, for points of information, and many 

 courtesies. When I asked if cocoanuts grew 

 naturally at Palm Beach, Mr. Moses said they 

 did not; that, if he was correctly informed, 

 they originated from a wrecked schooner con- 

 taining something like 40.000 nuts. These nuts 

 were washed up on the shore, and took root in 

 the way I have described, thus lining the shores 

 with these beautiful tropical trees with their 

 handsome fernlike foliage. These fern-leaves, 

 however, are anywhere fi'om len to twenty feet 

 long. The nuts hang in great clusters just 

 below where the branches start out at the top 

 of the tree — each nut, of course, being envelop- 

 ed in its husk. So far as I can gather, however, 

 cocoanut-growing is not as yet a paying indus- 

 try here. The sharp competition from Cuba 

 seems to stand in the way. The people here 

 gather enough of the nuts for their own use. or 

 for retailing in the Florida tnwn«, and that is 

 about all. In the evening Mr. INIosos brought 

 his wife and children to the cottage where we 

 were stopping, and we had a very pleasant 

 visit. Mrs. Moses is quite an enthusiast with 

 poultry and ducks. You know I have suggest- 

 ed that this business could be profitably car- 

 ried on in Florida. Ifere are some figure^ she 

 gave us. During the month of .Tanuarv. just 

 finished, they sold G91 eggs from .58 laving hens, 

 and 607 eggs from 32 ducks. The hens' eges 

 brought 40 cts. a dozen, and the ducks' eggs 3.5. 

 This large price was probably owing to the 

 demand for eggs from the large hotels and 

 hoardinff-houses. Mrs. Moses said if I gave 

 these figures in print I must be sure to state 

 that nearly all of the food for the poultry had 

 to be purchased from the North. They also 

 have toshut up the pnnlrrv nights and let them 

 out again mornings, as the opossums and other 

 enemies would be sure to make short work of 

 them. 



West Palm Beach has all grown up in one 

 year — at least I am told there were only two 

 houses there a year ago. There are now toward 

 one hundred houses in the place. All kinds of 

 business are carried on. Two papers are pub- 

 lished. Beautiful drinking-water is pumped 

 from a fresh-water lake half a mile from the 

 center of the town. The bottom of the lake is 

 of the most beautiful pure white sand. It is 

 about as nice as water can be for any purpose. 

 The pumping-«tatibn furnishes an abundant 

 supply for the great hotel, for the town, and for 

 the railroad. Building is going on briskly on 

 almost every street. You can s^e the carpen- 

 ter and the owner of the property working to- 

 gether like a couple of brothers, and almost the 

 next day a grocery, barber-shop, restaurant, or 

 printing-office will have out a newly painted 

 sign. Of course, a good many things are pretty 

 crude and unfinished: but the weather is so 

 warm, something that looks like a house is all 

 that is needed. A« there is never any mud, it 

 is not a difficult thing to keep the floors and 

 verandas clean. Almost every house has a 

 porch in front, and iilenty of rocking-chairs. 

 The latter are generally in use, for almost every 

 one prefers to stav out of doors. 



On Saturday, Feb. ;.'. we found ourselves at 

 the home of O. O. Populeton. who is so well 

 known to most of the readers of Gleanings that 

 a further introduction will hardly be necessary. 

 Here we seem to be right in the midst of the 

 pineapple industry, and this is so strange and 

 unusual that I hardly feel able to describe it 

 accurately, much less teach the people here 

 how to manage their gardening or farming. In 

 the first place, I rather expected friend Popple- 

 ton to meet us at the train with some sort of 

 horse and carriage; but he came with a boat. 

 Pineapples are a scft of air-plant that grow in 



the clean white sand. When I asked him if 

 stable manure wasn't cheaper than the chemi- 

 cal fertilizers they were using, the question 

 arose, where would they find any stable ma- 

 nure? for, although there is quite a community 

 of people gathered here, there is not one of 

 them who has a horse or cow or pig. 



Just at this point we were interrupted by the 

 visit of a boat containing a couple of Indians — 

 one of them a boy of seven, the other a young 

 man of twenty; at least, the latter said he 

 guessed he was about twenty. Although the 

 day is so cold that I have been wearing my fur 

 cap and overcoat on account of the chilly north 

 wind, these Indians were bareheaded and bare- 

 legged—in fact, bare almost all over, especially 

 when the wind blew aside their clothing, which 

 was exceedingly short. The little fellow could 

 not talk our language, but he could smile in a 

 way that was quite taking. They were of the 

 Seminole tribe, the remnant of th^ native Indi- 

 ans of Florida. They stepped out into the wa- 

 ter, without the least hesitation, and stood 

 there while we talked. I asked the older one a 

 great many questions. Some of them evidently 

 taxed his learning and intelligence somewhat, 

 for at first he would say he didn't know; and 

 then after studying a while he would give an 

 answer a little at a time. He said he was mar- 

 ried; had a squaw of his own; that his name 

 was Billy Ham. He said they had over in their 

 camp a "horse-wagon." I joked friend Pop- 

 pleton on being behind the Indians in methods 

 of locomotion. The boy had nothing on but a 

 thin calico shirt, and his hair was clipped ex- 

 cept a tuft just on top, and yet he seemed to be 

 perfectly indifferent to the brisk north wind. I 

 told friend P. I wotild give thousands of dollars 

 for such a constitution as these Indians have. 

 They were exceedingly pleasant and friendly, 

 and I could not but admire the manly frankness 

 of the older one, especially his readiness to say 

 he didn't know, when such was the case, and 

 his willingness to give me all the information 

 he could possibly scrape up on any point I was 

 curious about. Although help is needed on the 

 pineapple grounds, and good wages are offered 

 (SI. .50 per day for good stout men), these Indians 

 never hire out. friend P. says. The squaws do 

 the work while the men shoot deer, and then 

 peddle them out among the white people, with 

 their canoes. After he had sold us a half of 

 venison he inquired for oranges and then honey. 

 We sold him some of the latter for 60 cts. a gal- 

 lon, he promising to bring back the pail. Friend 

 P. says thev are straight and fair; have one 

 price for what they have to sell, and always 

 pay down without any attempt to beat down 

 the price they are charged. Billy had a tunic 

 of many colors, with flounces and fancy stitch- 

 ing that was so neatly done a schoolgirl might 

 be proud of it. When I asked him who made it 

 he answered, "Me," pointing to himself; and 

 when I expressed wonder and surprise he said 

 they had a sewing-machine. You see, the Indi- 

 ans are beginning to " catch on " to the latest 

 form of civilization. The men are doing the 

 women's work, and the women are doing — 

 well, we don't know what they are going to do 

 when they get settled down to it. Now, the 

 Bible says it is wicked to covet; but I want 

 that seven-year-old boy more than I have want- 

 ed any thing else in a long time. I feel just as 

 sure I could bring that boy up, God helping me, 

 so he would be a good boy and a Christian, as 

 that I could grow pineapples if I lived next to 

 friend Poppleton. Well, suppose we get back 

 to the pineapples, as we are pretty nearly 

 around to it. 



When I asked friend Poppleton if stable ma- 

 nure wouldn't be cheaper than chemical fertil- 

 izers, he laughed at me and asked where they 



