IN FLORIDA . 151 



pine land it is almost absolutely necessary to have some means 

 of irrigating, for water is a crying need for roses on such soil. 

 If one has only a few plants it will pay to dig out a couple of 

 feet of the sand and fill in with marl or any kind of strong soil, 

 sods from an old pasture being good. Liquid cow or horse manure 

 will be beneficial and bone meal is a fine fertilizer. The Monthly 

 roses are so glorious that it is worth any trouble to raise them, 

 and some of the Hybrid Perpetuals succeed if well cared for. 

 A large portion of the roses grown here are budded, it being 

 believed that this is better than growing them on their own roots. 

 They do better during the cooler part of the year and should 

 be transplanted during autumn or winter. 



Spirea. Hardy shrubs cultivated at the north, some of which 

 do well in the upper districts. Among these are S. reevesi and 

 its double-flowered variety; S. salicifolia and S. van houttei. All 

 have white flowers. 



Tabernaemontana coronaria is one of the finest shrubs (some- 

 times almost a tree here) that we cultivate. The large, glossy, 

 oblong leaves are handsome and almost all the year through it 

 bears a profusion of waxy white flowers about two inches across 

 that are fragrant a part of the time. It has been suggested that 

 in their native country certain insects which visit their flowers 

 for honey are only active at certain hours of the day. As these 

 plants find the insects useful for purposes of cross-fertilization 

 their blossoms give out fragrance in order to attract these insects 

 only while they are active. There is a species from Kashmir re- 

 ceived without a name, with narrow leaves and fine single white 

 flowers that I have seen in bloom at Fort Myers. They should 

 be well fertilized. 



Tecoma velutina is much like T. stans but has pubescent leaves 

 and paler yellow flowers. 



Veronica. This genus which consists mostly of herbs contains 

 a few shrubs. They have long spikes of dainty blue or purplish 

 flowers which are fine for bouquets. I have not had sufficient 

 experience with them to say whether they will succeed here or 

 not but they have failed with Reasoner at Oneco and with 

 Schanbel at Gainesville. 



Viburnum tinus, Laurustinus. This fine, hardy old shrub 



