1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



303 



now stands in a rather deserted place, and a 

 great part of the nuts are gathered, as the 

 wind shakes them off, by the children, and, I 

 fear, some by the pigs. The pecan-tree is 

 quite hardy. Frost does no harm to it any- 

 where in the South. It has no insect enemies, 

 and it is almost an ever-bearer — that is, choice 

 budded stock. All over Florida, north and 

 south, I saw more or less pecan-trees ; and as 

 they are closely related to the hickory tree, I 

 am not sure but they could be grown clear up 

 here in Ohio. Who can tell me more about 

 it? 



When I left River Junction, and went down 

 the Apalachicola River, the river was high 

 and the banks overflowing, as I told you on 

 page 198. Well, it was very easy for the 

 steamer to go down stream. In fact, between 

 8 o'clock at night, and before light the next 

 morning, we made about 130 miles. But to 

 get back to the railway once more it took all 

 together about two days. These river steam- 

 ers are not very reliable in their methods of 

 transportation. They told me that they car- 

 ried the U. S. mail, and had to be pretty near- 

 ly on time ; but on that occasion the mail re- 

 mained uncalled for something more than 24 

 hours. After reaching the railway my next 

 stop was a place a few miles out of Palatka, 

 called Flora Home. That is a very pretty 

 name, is it not? Well, some of you may 

 have seen for two years past the advertise- 

 ments of a little paradise on earth, just start- 

 ing up in Florida. Some newspaper firm in 

 Chicago sent out the advertisements and cir- 

 culars. To make a long story short, they told 

 how fast town lots were being taken up, and 

 that if you hustled you might possibly get one 

 of the beautiful places. For a small consider- 

 ation they would plant trees for you, so when 

 you came to build your house in the beautiful 

 growing village you would be greeted by 

 green trees, shrubbery, etc., all your own. 

 Quite a lot of Medina people got the fever a 

 year ago, and a few went down there. I no- 

 ticed in the circular some photos of magnifi- 

 cent residences that I supposed were a part of 

 the town of Flora Home ; but after I got on 

 the train I noticed the circulars did not ex- 

 actly say that. It said, "Views of typical 

 Florida homes." 



I reached the place after dark. The depot 

 was certainly just what the real-estate men 

 had photographed, but it looked a little cheap, 

 even by moonlight. But that did not matter. 

 I inquired for a hotel, and somebody pointed 

 toward a light in the distance. I looked for a 

 sidewalk, and finally pulled my feet, one after 

 the other, through the sand. The hotel was a 

 cheap frame house. The waiting-room and 

 ofifice was full of men, all smoking pipes until 

 the air was thick with tobacco smoke. After 

 some trouble I found which one of the fellows 

 with the pipes was the landlord. He said I 

 could have a bed if I would sleep with another 

 man, and that every bed but this one had two 

 occupants already. I asked if there was no 

 other hotel in the place, or any place where 

 any one could get a whole bed. For some 

 reason or other they seemed to think I was 

 rather green. They told me I would have to 



take up with the half of the bed offered me, or 

 sit in a chair by the fire. I went up to bed, 

 being careful to close the door to keep out the 

 smoke which was fast filling every cranny up- 

 stairs as well as down. 1 wanted a window 

 open, but the three other occupants objected. 

 They all had bad colds like myself. The bed- 

 room was just large enough to contain the two 

 beds. The three big men were soon snoring 

 away, each one taking a breath that seemed to 

 me required a large part of the air in that lit- 

 tle room. If I opened the door the tobacco 

 smoke would pour in, to say nothing about 

 the bad language that came up from the crowd 

 below playing cards just at the foot of the 

 stairway. I was sick already, and, to cut the 

 matter short, I do not believe I would recom- 

 mend Flora Home as just the place for an in- 

 valid, no matter what the promoters of the 

 new tropical town may tell you in their print- 

 ed circulars. 



As soon as it was light I got out of that — 

 well, you may call it what you like — and start- 

 ed to look up some of the beautiful homes and 

 gardens that the circulars told about. After 

 some inquiry I found the nearest garden was 

 about half a mile out of town. The man had, 

 perhaps, half an acre under cultivation. 

 There was a very pretty 1 ttle peach-orchard 

 with trees just coming into bloom. There was 

 a little patch of strawberiies also in bloom, 

 and some fair-looking Grand Rapids lettuce 

 in a bed covered with cloth ; but as nobody 

 seemed to be stirring in or around the house, 

 even though the sun was up quite a distance, 

 I did not have a chance to talk about the pos- 

 sibilities of the localitiy. At the depot I met 

 a poor fellow, homesick and desolate enough. 

 He had been attracted to Flora Home by the 

 published statements, and was disappointed 

 enough to find a vast diiTerence between news- 

 paper yarns and reality. One of the state- 

 ments was that there were over fifty houses al 

 ready built in the village, and many more 

 started. I do not think there were half a doz- 

 en buildings, including the hotel, that might be 

 said to be in the town. But a circle a mile in 

 diameter might, perhaps, include fifteen or 

 twenty buildings of some sort ; and an area 

 two miles across might include fifty buildings 

 of some sort. The greater part of the land, 

 like a great part of Florida, is sand so soft and 

 yielding that it is a hard matter for one on 

 foot, or even a horse and wagon, to get any- 

 where with any sort of load. Now, somebody 

 who has real estate to sell around Flora Home 

 might make a much better statement than I 

 have done, and tell the truth ; but I have tried 

 to tell it carefully and honestly. 



Before going further with travels I wish to 

 say something under the head of 



HEALTH NOTES, 



or, perhaps we had better say, health notes 

 while traveling. Sometimes I think it is 

 something of a cross to bear, that I am obliged 

 to be so exceedingly careful about what I eat 

 and drink, especially when away from home ; 

 and at other times I am led to think there may 

 be a providence in it. It enables me to be 

 more helpful to those who like to follow me 



