1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



603 



canes that we saw. there were perhaps 20 or 30 

 of these great trees, ami 50 feet in height is all 

 made in a single season's, growth After it 

 attains such a height it just stands still, or only 

 puts out side branches. I was told that, in 

 other places in Florida, they have grown to the 

 enormous height of 70 feet in a single season. 

 Just imagine a forest-'. ree making its whole 

 growth in one year! Of course, the plant has 

 to have thi-ee or four years accumulating roots 

 and branches before ii makes this wonderful 

 growth. Now tell us, will you? that the soil 

 of Florida is so poor that nothing will grow. 

 Florida is like a good many people, or, if you 

 choose, like most peoph^ They are capable of 

 doing many wonderful things in their own line 

 of work. But no man can excel in every thing. 

 While we were discussing these queer proper- 

 ties of plants — the giant bamboo, the mammoth 

 banana, or some name that sounds like mam- 

 moth—I became so curious that we were advis- 

 ed to call on the florist and nurseryman, Mr. H. 

 G. Burnett. Here we found giant bamboo« in 

 great plenty at 50 cts. a plant, and friend Keck 

 loaded one into his buggy. There were also 

 many other wonderful tropical plants — the 

 agave, for instance, tliat furnishes the rope 

 material known as sisal hemp. This plant, 

 not satisfied with furnishing seeds for perpetu- 

 ating its species, actually grows little plants in 

 place of seeds; and when they are well rooted 

 and well started, it lets them drop on the 

 ground. All you have to do is to gather them 

 up and plant them in rows. Just think of a 

 tree that produces cabbage-plants well rooted, 

 and, you may say. almost transplanted. But 

 they are not cabbage-plants, but sisal-plants. 

 Weil, I became so enthusiastic over these won- 

 derful floral gifts (gifts from God) that I let 

 fall some exclamation that attracted the at- 

 tention of the nurseryman. When he ex- 

 pressed great joy and astonishment to see 

 A. I. Root at his home, and admiring his handi- 

 work. I asked him what he knew of A. I. Root. 



" Why, bless your heart, doesn't Gleanings 

 come to our house regularly? and haven't we 

 followed you in your travels all these years? 

 Little did I think it would be my privilege to 

 see you away down here, looking over my 

 work." 



On the way home, near Crooked Lake it was 

 my good fortune to see a real full-grown alli- 

 gator sunning himself out on the bank. Yes, 

 and there were two smaller ones lying near. 

 Friend Keck said that, if we approached very 

 cautiously, we might get very near them before 

 they were disturbed: and then he made his 

 mule go very slowly among the grass and weeds 

 along the water's edge until I actually began 

 to be afraid. Bow did he know that this great 

 monster would not pounce down upon us and 

 gobble us up, or smash us to pieces right there 

 in the water, nearly two feet deep? Besides. I 

 could not gpt over the idea that pretty soon we 

 should strike a swamjiy place. It is true, we 

 had not struck any as yet, but it looked exactly 

 like places up in Ohio, where the horses and 

 wagon would get in and never get out. We 

 got up so near this great " ' gator " that I began 

 to feel decidedly uncomfortable. Friend Keck, 

 however, was as cool as a cucumber, and kept 

 saying every minute that he would wake up 

 and go otf with a tremendous splurge. And so 

 he did. One would scarcely think, from the 

 looks of the great lazy monster, that he could 

 possibly get up such a thrashing and splashing. 

 When I began to insist that 'gators were 

 dangerous, and that they sometimes eat people 

 up. he said he knew of but one accident, and 

 that did not terminate fatally. It occurred 

 near this very spot, as nearly as he could re- 

 member. Alligator skins used to be worth 



about $25.00 apiece — that is, the skins from the 

 big ones (if it was not f25.00 it was something 

 less). The darkies are much given to 'gator- 

 hunting. Well, a party of hunters came along 

 here. A colored man. who was one of their 

 helpers, saw an alligator on the bank: and 

 having in mind the value of the beast he hasti- 

 ly cut a big club with which to pound him 

 dead. I suppose he was somewhat excited, for 

 he did not trim the limbs oft' from his club very 

 well: but he thought it would answer, and so 

 he slipped up cautiously, getting near enough 

 the sleeping monster to give him a fearful 

 whack on the back of the' head. This 'gator 

 did not prove to be so peaceable — at least, after 

 such an invitation for a battle. He whirled 

 around and grabbed the big end of the club in 

 his teeth: then, according to alligator custom, 

 he commenced rolling over and over, so as to 

 bring his victim into the water, where he could 

 drown him and then eat him at his leisure. 

 The darkey was afraid of losing his prize, and 

 so kept hold of his club, not noticing that the 

 prongs he had left slicking out were getting 

 entangled in his loose summer clothing: and as 

 the process of winding went on. our colored 

 friend was rolled up, and finally thrown off his 

 feet. He yelled to the party of hunters, for 

 help; and when they took in the situation they 

 were convulsed with fits of laughter to see that 

 the brute had rolled him over into the water, and 

 he came near strangling before they could, by 

 their united efforts, cut his clothing off from 

 him. and get him away. Friend Keck said this 

 was the nearest approach to killing a man that 

 he ever knew an alligator to make. The 'gator 

 I saw. he estimated was 15 feet long. 



A little further on we came to a picnic-ground 

 where there is a beautiful spring, or I should 

 call it an artesian well. The water comes up 

 in a great volume — sufficient, in fact, to make 

 quite a little river. The temperature is just 

 right for a comfortable bath; and if you feel 

 like it you can swim, or at least attempt to 

 swim, right down into the crater, " whence the 

 healine waters flow." But the volume is so 

 great that the water will throw you out as fast 

 as you try to get near the opening. Turtles, 

 fish of different sorts, and other reptiles, are 

 being constantly thrown up by the boiling 

 water. This was my first sight of the series of 

 the wonderful springs of Florida. The water 

 is all more or less impregnated with sulphuret- 

 ed hydroeen. like that of the artesian wells. 



At Bartow I was obliged to bid my good 

 friend Keck good-by. with whom I had passed 

 so many pleasant hours, and start off once 

 more for strangers and strange homes. An 

 account of mv trip from Punta Gorda to Fort 

 Myers has already been given in my letter to 

 the Sunday-school class, page 232, March 15. 



At Fort Myers my eyes were greeted by green 

 grass— grassy lawns and grassy roadways. My 

 first point was toward a branch of the Florida 

 experiment station, under the charge of W. A. 

 Marsh An excellent hotel furnished us with 

 my first meal, consisting of fish, duck, and 

 venison— surely a sutiicient variety to suit any 

 palate. Here again I saw the wonderful giant 

 bamboo. At the experiment station they were 

 testing crimson clover; agave, or sisal hemp, I 

 have already m(>ntioned; a great variety of 

 grasses, millet, pineapples, etc.; and where 

 anybody is inclined to say they can not raise 

 even feed for the horses in Florida, they had 

 better see what Prof. Marsh has already ac- 

 complished. 



Somebody told me I must surely call upon 

 Mr. W. P. Gardner. I went over in the evening, 

 after my supper at the hotel. As I opened the 

 gate, the perfume of flowers of various kinds 

 gave evidence of the beauty of the place, 



