1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



491 



FLORIDA TRAVELS. 



I told you I was somewhat disappointed to 

 find Manatee only a little village. Well, in 

 going out into the country, unless you happen 

 to go into the neighhorhood of some of the nice 

 improved places like friend Bannehr's and 

 others, you would be likely to decide the 

 co^intry was not very much of a place either. 

 I can readily understand how people going to 

 Florida for the first time, especially if they get 

 a little homesick, might declare it was for the 

 most part a barren wilderness of sand and 

 stunted pines; and some of these folks who are 

 not careful about what they say might declare 

 it was a swindle all round. Some years ago a 

 railroad was built from Manatee to Sarasota; 

 but the rusted rails now lie unused, unless it is 

 when they have a picnic or excursion, or some- 

 thing of that sort. There is not travel or busi- 

 ness enough to run one train a day, and, if I am 

 correct, not even one a week. We accordingly 

 started out with horse and buggy, to visit 

 friend Corwin, of Sarasota. After we had got 

 out a few miles, however, it began to rain, and 

 we changed our course a little so as to strike 

 Oneco, where the Reasoner Brothers have locat- 

 ed their nursery. I could not help thinking on 

 the way that it was a wrong place for a nur- 

 sery away out in those desert wilds. There 

 were hardly any people, no railroads, not even 

 a well-traveled highway. Imagine my surprise 

 under the circumstances, to find myself abrupt- 

 ly ushered in to beautiful grounds with tropical 

 plants and foliage everywhere. Of course, the 

 recent frost had left its mark; but the Reasoner 

 Brothers have learned by experience that it 

 pays to have some protection, even in Florida. 

 They have several greenhouses covered with 

 cloth, and steam -pipes going about in almost 

 every direction in case the cloth is not quite 

 sufficient. They issue a catalog of over 60 

 pages; and some of their rare and valuable 

 plants are worth large sums of money. It does 

 not pay. they have found, to take risks with 

 such things. Just before the December freeze 

 they had been putting in a boiler, and had got 

 up a good many of the pipes. When admonish- 

 ed of the danger, all hands were set at work; 

 and by doing their best, toward midnight they 

 got the apparatus in shape so they could get a 

 fire under the boiler. Not an hour too soon 

 was the steam sent coursing through the 

 lengths of iron pipe. Only those who have 

 been in similar trying circumstances can im- 

 agine what a breath of relief they drew when 

 their apartments began to warm up in spite of 

 the fro«1y wind outside. Several hours were 

 passed very pleasantly and profitably to myself 

 in lookinff over the wonderful plants and fruit- 

 bearing trees and shrubs. For the first time I 

 here got a taste of that queer little orange, 

 kumquat (Citrus Japonica). They are oval 

 In shape, and a little larger than a gooseberry. 

 You can eat them peel and all. just as you 

 would a gooseberrv or cherry, and yet it is real- 

 Iv a mo«:t beautiful and delicious little orange. 

 Trees five feet high have given a yield of over 

 2000 fruits. Last season in Jacksonville they 

 were so very much called for that commission 

 men advertised to pav a large price for all that 

 could be furnished. The lime-tree produces a 

 little lemon, but it makes more delicious lemon- 

 ade than any lemon ever produced, in my opin- 

 ion. The giant bamboo was also seen here, but 

 it had been killed by the frost. I shall have 



more of this later on. The display of pines, 

 palms, palmettoes. and sago-palms, etc., was 

 just wonderful. We nowhere found such an 

 assortment of cacti in Florida as we saw in 

 Arizona and California, but some of them were 

 very beautiful at the Reasoner brothers' nur- 

 sery. Of course, we had much to talk about in 

 the way of plants and machinery for irrigation 

 as well as for preserving the requisite temper- 

 ature for tropical shrubbery. Finally we took 

 a look at the private residence of Reasoner 

 Brothers, nestled down and almost concealed 

 beneath the beautiful forms of trees and shrub- 

 bery. Notwithstanding the thousands of dol- 

 lars' worth that was saved by their steam-pipes 

 and cloth-covered greenhouses, their losses 

 were quite heavy in valuable plants that could 

 not well be protected. Florida, left to itself, 

 presents many features that are rather discour- 

 aging; but under the influence of care and cul- 

 tivation, no one seems to know as yet what 

 Florida may not do. More of this anon. 



Before leaving the establishment we looked 

 into a room kept warm and damp, made espe- 

 cially for propagating from slips. For this 

 purpose a certain amount of heat and moisture 

 must be maintained with very little variation. 

 But the skillful florist, with the right sort of 

 bed, will take not only slips from a growing 

 plant, but even a leaf, or piece of a leaf, and 

 make it put out roots, and grow. Now, the 

 Reasoners make use of this propagating-bed to 

 bring to life plants that seem determined to die. 

 Sometimes valuable plants are shipped in from 

 long distances, that would be entirely useless 

 without the reviving influences of this propa- 

 gating-bed and a skilled man to manipulate it. 



On the trip from St. Petersburg to Manatee, 

 I noticed, when rounding the point near Palma 

 Sola, a child dextrously managing a little 

 canoe. The winds and waves were boisterous, 

 and I, with the rest of the passengers, was look- 

 ing anxiously toward the child in the skiff, as 

 it seemed to be. We were a little surprised to 

 see the skiff make straight for the steamer; 

 and as it came nearer we saw it was a little 

 girl in the boat; and, without deigning to 

 notice the rough waves or the wind, she pulled 

 her little craft right up beside the steamer, 

 which slacked up and caught hold of her little 

 boat long enough to give her the mail and take 

 hers In return, for she proved to be, in fact, 



ANOTHER GIRL POSTMISTRESS. 



Before starting out again, however, we notic- 

 ed she picked up a lot of fish, evidently just 

 caught, and piled up a heaping pailful, which 

 the mate of the steamer drew up, throwing her 

 some silver coins in return. I was almost ready 

 to protest against letting a child take such 

 risks. But when she picked up her oars and 

 showed herself more at home in a boat than I 

 am on my wheel, I ceased being anxious. One 

 of the passengers explained that she received 

 quite a little salary for acting as postmistress, 

 and fetching the mail from the daily steamer; 

 and besides this she caught fish enough to sup- 

 ply the dining-room on our boat, both sources 

 of income being sufficient to supply the needs 

 of a widowed mother, and perhaps lay up 

 something for a rainy day, or for her own edu- 

 cation. 



I believe I was snubbed only once during all 

 my trip in Florida, and this once it was my 

 own fault, or, perhaps, the result of my own 

 carelessness. In fact, when I look back and 

 think of it I feel a little surprised that I receiv- 

 ed such unvarying courtesy from man, woman, 

 and child, even including railroad officials, 

 everywhere and at every turn. But now for 

 this one exception. On my return trip from 

 Manatee I was glad to get another glimpse of 

 the little girl who managed the boat with such 



