1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



325 



a queer animal washed upon the shore, about 

 the size of a cow, and with a head looking con- 

 siderably like that of a cow. This is called the 

 sea-cow, or " manatee." Friend P. tells me 

 these are quite common in these waters, notwith- 

 standing ihe fact that many of them have been 

 exhibited in shows as being "the only living 

 specimens," etc. These animals are 1;") feet or 

 more in length, and are found both in fresh and 

 salt water. 



About the 7th of February, we bade adieu to 

 the kind friends at Mr. Poppleton's, and moved 

 on further north to Gilford Station. Constance 

 had got rather used up by mosquitoes at Lake 

 Worth, and moving about so constantly every 

 day, so she went back to Jacksonville for "re- 

 pairs." Even if Gifford was in the wilderness, 

 I found a very good road for my wheel, and in 

 due time reached ihe Gitford mansion. This is 

 only about a quarter of a mile from a town, 

 called Vero. But the conductor would not let 

 me off at Vero, so I had a wheel ride as a conse- 

 quence. As 1 came at a time when they were 

 not expecting me, I found no one at home but a 

 miss of ten years old. She and I soon became 

 excellent friends. She told me how they man- 

 aged the postoffice, and said she could do it all 

 herself; and I was greatly surprised to hear her 

 answer questions that 1 put to her in regard to 

 general postoffice business. Her name is Ruby. 

 She not only told me about the postoffice. but 

 about the neighbors and other things. They 

 are so far away from everybody that they have 

 no schools for her to attend; and, in fact, there 

 is not any little girl for a playmate within miles 

 in any direction. The State of Florida, how- 

 ever, is not forgetful of her childien. There is 

 a provision by law, so that each pupil receives, 

 if I am correct, $10 for a term of 16 weeks. The 

 county superintendent decides, at his examina- 

 tions, whether the money has been well ex- 

 pended. Accordingly. 1 found my young friend 

 Ruby remarkably bright and ready. I suppose 

 one reason why we became fast friends in so 

 short a time was that she rather hungered for 

 companionship of any kind. If she could not 

 have a little girl to talk to, a man 55 years old, 

 like myself, would do a great deal better than 

 nothing. 



After a while I took my wheel and went out 

 to meet her brother, who was at work with the 

 horses and farming-tools, a couple of miles 

 away. You see, friend Gifford has horses and 

 wagons, etc., after all. And, by the way, he 

 has some land around him that warrants hav- 

 ing Northern tools. It is not All sand, let me 

 tell you. After I found Charles •(Ruby's broth- 

 er), I went out to meet friend Gifford himself. 

 His garden was of wonderful interest to me, 

 especially the new, strange fruits. There were 

 mangoes, guavas, mulberries, sugar-apples, 

 tamarinds, sour-sops, cherries, grape fruit, etc. 

 The last-named tree was left with part of its 

 crop hanging to its limbs for my special benefit. 

 The tree was scarcely as high as my head, only 

 three years old, and yet it had borne three 

 bushels of fruit. One bushel remained on the 

 tree, left for me. The grape-fruit grow so close 

 as to touch each other, and I believe this has 

 suggested rhe queer name— grape-fruit. When 

 one is tired and thirsty during hot weather, it 

 is wonderfully delicious. 



When I arrived the mulberry-trees were 

 bending with loads of berries almost big enough 

 to begin to turn red. During the night, how- 

 ever, both berries and foliage were literally 

 cooked by the frost. 



Friend Gifford is an enthusiast on mangoes. 

 It is a tropical tree of most rapid growth, and 

 the fruit is greatly sought for after one has 

 learned to eat it. Friend G. is satisfied that it 

 has wonderful curative properties, especially 



where one is troubled with disordered stomach 

 or bowels. Some people, who have not learned 

 to eat it, say it tastes like cotton batting soaked 

 in coal oil; but. notwithstanding this, others 

 are so extremely fond of it that the fruit on a 

 single tree at St. Lucie, one season, brought the 

 sum of $150; and Mrs. Prange (who is kindly 

 taking down these notes for me) adds that the 

 family found this one tree their main support. 

 In fact, it>is about all they have to get a living 

 from. Now, when I was writing, a few months 

 ago about supporting a family on a (luarter of 

 an acre, some of you were inclined to make fun 

 of the idea; but here is a family depending upon 

 a single fruit-tree, without saying anything 

 about as much land as a quarter of an acre. 

 When I expressed my incredulity in regard to 

 this statement, friend G. said the man's name 

 is Alec Bell, and that I could easily get the full 

 facts if need be. He added, however, that one 

 reason why they received so much money from 

 the crop was that it seemed to be an extremely 

 fine variety, and many sold for an extra price 

 because the parties buying wanted the seeds to 

 plant. Friend (J. added further, that there 

 were mango-trees standing in his garden that 

 he would not have taken $100 for, before the 

 December freeze. J suggestt d that, for $100, he 

 could have covered the whole tree, trunk and 

 branches, with a heap of dirt; and this, indeed, 

 might have been done, or something like it, in 

 many cases; but the frost came " like a thief in 

 the night," and nobody thought it was going to 

 hold on so long without letting up. 



Another of friend Gifford's hobbies is Japan 

 persimmons. This is a new fruit that has not 

 been very much grown in Florida; but fine 

 specimens, I am told, have been sold for a nickel 

 apiece. The fruit of a good variety is as large 

 as a good-sized peach; in fact, they have been 

 raised i^o inches in diameter. And this fruit is 

 clean pulp clear through— there is not a stone 

 or seed of any kind. The tree is a wonderful 

 grower, like the mangrove, and I think it has 

 not been very much harmed by the freeze. 



Another of the Florida fruits is the Avicado 

 pear; but almost everybody calls it the "alli- 

 gator" p^ar, because it comes handier to say 

 alligator than "Avicado;" and after you have 

 it said, it is not a pear at all, even then; but it 

 is a beautiful fruit. Did I tell you that Florida 

 is the greatest place I ever saw in the world for 

 fertilizers of every sort? Why, the outbuild- 

 ings of even the humblest home to the biggest 

 hotel are almost invariably provided with gal- 

 vanized iron pails, or some equivalent (Terry's 

 plan, you remember), to receive and preserve 

 the night-soil. When anybody wants to plant 

 a tree he digs quite a little cavity, pours in a 

 pailful of this night-soil, mixes itwith the sand 

 until it is thoroughly incorporated, and not at 

 all offensive, then plants the tree, and it has a 

 good send-off. No matter what a man works 

 at, he has some trees or fruits of some kind 

 growing in his dooryard, and therefore he is in- 

 terested in saving everything in the shape of 

 fertilizer. Well, near friend Gifford's home 

 there are great droves of wild cattle; and up 

 near the river there is a clean spot of ground 

 that, for some reason or other, is almost free 

 from vegetation. Here the cows come to lie 

 down nights. At intervals friend Gifford goes 

 out with his wagon and scoop-shovels, and 

 gathers up the " cow-chips " as they call them 

 in Florida. His beautiful fruit-orchard is fer- 

 tilized almost entirely by this manure. 



On one of our visits we called on a Mr. Weis. 

 This man, although he lives a sort of hermit 

 life, all by himself, away out in the swampy 

 woods, where not even a road of any kind runs 

 anywhere near him— this poor lone bachelor 

 friend has one of the prettiest gardens I ever 



