S94 



FARMiEllS' REGISTER. 



No. 6 



e&y 150 milea to John Dubose, inspector ai 

 Cape Florida, where they arrived on the 20ih 

 May, 1833, 



I tai<e this occasion to acknowledge publicly 

 that the patriotic Madame Parmenlier not only 

 eent for nie at the same time to Cape Florida a 

 fine assortment ol" valuable plan's, l)ut that she 

 refused to accept any pecuniary compensation tor 

 even the moras mullicaulis. To this highly en- 

 hghtened woman, and to her exceedingly intelli- 

 gent daughter, vvaa Professor Ramen de la Sagra, 

 of the botanical garden at Havana, indebtetl lor 

 the first tree of morua multicaulis and for the first 



eggS; 



first essay: . . „ 



the culture of silk in the island of Cuba, vvhicli 



3, in the I'all of 1832, with which he made the 

 essays on the propagation of tlie plant and 



Key during the winter, and both lieutenants rea- 

 dily promised this trilling assistance. After the 

 remrn ol" Lieut. Shubrick from his ordinary cruise 

 to the Cape, he inlbrmed nie that he could not find 

 a single plant such as I deacribed, although I had 

 given hmi the printed documents and especial di- 

 rections; but his pilot accidentally conlt^ssed that 

 he had pulled up some large leaved mulberries in 

 the garden of JVlr. Dubose on the Miami river, 

 and transplanted them in Soldier'^s Key, some miles 

 south of the lighthouse on Key Bizeains ! ! Lieut. 

 Coste of the Revenue Cutter, then professed hi3 

 willingness to remedy the defaults of the trans- 

 port sloop ; but instead of trans!i3rring my plants 

 lo the preparatory nursery on lower Malacumba, 

 he lias actually continued to transplant them in 



resulted in the conviction that there, as in Guada- ! his own enclosure onthe opposite islet of Tea- Table 



loupe, ten crops of cocoons can be raised every 

 year; and if so in tropical Cuba, ten crops can be 

 annually raised in tropical Florida. By the by, 

 my l'an)ily are now engaged in experimeniing 

 with Jour or five varieties of silk-worms, some of 

 which are how spinning their cocoons; and as they 

 keep an accurate record, the copy shall be at your 

 service. 



If John Dubose had possessed the knowledge 

 and disposition requisite to propagate those twelve 

 trees of moras multicaulis, received by him onthe 

 20th May, 1833, their progeny on this 25lh April, 

 1839, might have been multiplied into many mil- 

 lions of trees. But 1 have the great regret to say 

 thai whatever may have been their artificial or 

 eponlaneoua propagation in the vicinity of Cape 

 Florida, their number has been diminishing, by 

 dishonorable means, since their speculative value 

 has become known ; as it seems that even an otfi- 

 cer of the United States thinks that he has as good 

 Q right to them as the Indians. 



To show how the power of our departments to 

 do great good may be perverted to do great evil, 

 bylheir distant and inlerior agents, 1 will give 

 a single example. In July of last year, Col. 

 Downing, the delegate from Florida, requested 

 Mr. Poinsett to give me a special letter of instruc- 

 tions to the commander of the schooner Wave to 

 render me any aid which would not interfere with 

 hia particular duties to the department. The Hon. 

 Secretary of War, moreover, spontaneously prof- 

 fered nle^a general circular to the same effect, di- 

 rected to ail the officers and agents of the war 

 department in and near the territory ol" Florida. 

 As during the Indian warfare on the main land 

 the trustees of the Tropical Plant Company could 

 not do any thing more useful than to establish on the 

 most eligible Key a preparatory nursery lor all 

 valuable plants which can be profitably propa- 

 gated in the most arid soils, and hence especially 

 important for all these sieril islands, we selected 

 and improved on lower Matacumba, the site im- 

 mediately adjoining the xvalering pits for all the 

 vessels along this reef; and hence the only aid 

 under the instructions of iVir. Pomsett solicited 

 by myself", was simply to obtain, in the vicinity of 

 Cape Florida, the remaining progeny of my lieiv 

 tropical plants, and iranspori tliem to said nursery, 

 where all vessels must necessarily come for water. 

 The U. S. Sloop Panther, Lieut. Shubrick, and 

 the U. S. Revenue Cutter, Lieut. Coste, both under 

 the control of the commander of the U. S. Wave, 

 (which was rarely and briefly here,) were fie- 

 querftly cruising beivvefcn Cape Florida and Indian 



Key. Be it understood that Lieut. Coste occupies 

 and claims this Key as his own, from the fact, 

 that since September last, he has been clearing it, 

 improving it, and building on it, with govermental 

 means of men and materials; that he is thus con- 

 verting said Tea-Table Key into a town-site for a 

 rival port of Indian Key, under the apparent pa- 

 tronage of the inimical proprietors and public offi- 

 cers of Key West; and that hence, not content 

 with speculating in town lots, he is determined to 

 speculate also in tropical plants, by the abuse of 

 the same govermental n>eanp. The detriment to 

 the preparatory nursery, and consequently to the 

 public progress of agriculture on this reelj will 

 be infinitely greater than the individual benefit 

 which can result to Lieut. Coste himself; as his 

 coniessed ignorance of the nature or culture of 

 plants will be the cause of the destruction of most 

 valuable species which might otherwise be multi- 

 pled on lower Matacumba, both for a nursery of 

 abundant supply, and a model of successful cul- 

 ture. You should be aware that such is the slate 

 of the limited society on this wrecking reef, that 

 no injury can be easily prevented or redressed by 

 due course of law ; and, as I have learned, by a 

 long course of painful experience, that it is less 

 troublesome to endeavor to forgive injuries than it 

 is to attempt to punish them, I simply relieve 

 my feelings by thus exposing the facta to the ag- 

 ricultural community, who can sympathize with 

 me lor these outrageous obstacles to the progress 

 of my great enterprise. Besides, were I even in- 

 clined to make formal charges against Lieut. 

 Coste, to the proper department, I would not make 

 them now, because I am persuaded that he will 

 avoid the punishment of removal from otfice on 

 tire prior charges of speculating in town sites, and 

 receive the reward of an appointment to otlice 

 under the collector of Key West, say an inspec- 

 torship, which will enable him to continue at Tea- 

 Table Key, and thus more efi'ectually subserve the 

 hostility of the monopolizing proprietors of Key 

 West against the monopolizing proprietor of 

 Indian Key. I never had, and never shall have, 

 any personal interest in any of the rival islets of 

 Florida ; the Tropical Plant Company never shall 

 have any connection with the rival proprietors, 

 as partizans of interests of any Key in the Florida 

 Reef; and as soon as the Seminoles may permit, I 

 shall remove my family to some spot between Cape 

 Sable and (Jape Florida, to which a wrecking ves- 

 sel cannot possibly come, and where even a wreck- 

 er's voice cannot possibly be heard. As Key West, 

 by being a port of entry, has long enjoyed the 



