1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



566 



this neighborliood and gone to live some where 

 near Lynchburg. He requests that the Register 

 will be disconlinueil to him. The February num- 

 ber is now in my o(lice, which he refuses to lake 

 out, and will be disposed of as you may direct." 



When this notice was written, INlr. Cronin (who 

 also had paid lor vol. 5,) owed fur vol. 6, com- 

 pleted, and for vol. 7 then in iiroi^ress. A slate- 

 nient of his account was fijrthwith sent to his new 

 address, Lynchburg, which has remained unan- 

 swered, and the debt uni)aid, to this lime. 



THE FLORIDA KEYS, AND THE TROPICAL 

 PLANT NURSERY. 



To tho Editor of tlic Farmers' Resister. 



Indian Key, T. F., 4th July, 1839. 



I have the pleasure to transmit lo you copies of 

 the correspondence between the trustees of Ihe 

 Tropical Plant Company and the Honorable Sec- 

 retary of the Navy, in relation to the iniroduciion 

 and preservation of especially the fibrous leaved 

 plants.* You will perceive that the reply of the 

 Hon. J. K. Paulding is as satisfactory as was ex- 

 pected ; but when I reflect that under the succes- 

 sive secretaries of the navy during twelve years, 

 not a single tilarous leaved plant has yet been 

 brouixh' from Mexico by our national vessels, vvhii-,h 

 have returned from the Mexican sea every je.ir; 

 and that the heads of our deparimenis generally 

 retain iheir oliic-es so short a period thai tln'V can- 

 not cairy into execution their own designs ; and 

 aliove all, when I consider how easily iheir express 

 instructions are olten evaded or thwarted by their 

 distant agents, I cannot help learnig that many 

 years will yet elapse belorea cargo of liviiiij plants 

 shall be transported in a national vessel to any 

 poriion of Tropical Florida. 



In selecting the site of the preparatory nursery 

 of irojiical plants, the trustees were iiifluencHd by 

 several considerations. 1st. lis vicinity lo Indian 

 Key. 2ndly. Its immediate proximity to the cel- 

 ebrated pits of water on Lower Matacnmba. ord. 

 Its central position along the reef; and 4ih. the 

 facility and safety of intercourse betv/een it and 

 the inainland. Indian Key itsel!' is a beautiful 

 little island, hiirhly improved, and is both the most 

 easiwardly settlement on the reef, and the village 

 nearest to the mainland. The only other villages 

 on these islamis are those at Key V^acas and Key 

 West, respectively 30 and 80 miles lo the soulh- 

 Avest. Indeed Key West itseif is so remote (i-om 

 the peninsula that it may be geographically con- 

 sidered rather an appendage lo Cuba than to Flo- 

 rida; not 1 h -east ward ly to Cajie Florida, and thence 

 northwardly 300 miles towards Si. Auiiustine, 

 there is not probably settled a sinffle family. At 

 the commencement of hostilities, there were many 

 families in the viriniiy of Cape Florida :iiid ot 

 New River; but on the mirder of Cubley's family 

 by the Indians, they all fled liom the mainland and 

 many went to Key West, wheie they still reside 

 in anxious expectation lor peace lo return. As 



* This correspondence was received much earlier 

 than this letter, and therefore appeared first, in a pre- 

 vious nunib2r of the Farnnors' Resister.— En. 



then Indian Key was the only settled islet near the 

 centre of the reef", the trustees were obliged to lo- 

 cate the nursery in its vicinity ; and hence I pro- 

 ceeded lo this village on the2oih December last, 

 notwilhsiandina the written opinion of the depart- 

 ment of war, that it would be unsaiij to have my 

 tiimily here diiriiia: ihe last winier. 



As, however, I did noi receive that opinion until 

 my liunily were on the point of einbaiking Irom 

 Ni^.v York, I came on with ihe belief that m case 

 of attack we could escape lo Key Wes', and 

 'hence, if necessary, to the Havanna. During 

 five months after my arrival, Indian fires were dis- 

 tinctly visible every week on the islands five lo 

 ten miles north; hut these were reprcseined to the 

 li'males lo be probably ihe lights of fires kindled 

 by turllers or fishermen. When the Indians shall 

 be removed, the advantage of being under the pro- 

 tection of the populaiion of Indian Key will also 

 cease; yet other beneiits resulting Irom its vicinity 

 will always continue. 



Under ihe second head you will at once ap- 

 preciate the great advantages for a nursery of 

 proximity to the only pits of water on the whole 

 Florida reelj in a climate where moisture is 

 the equivalent lo manure. 13ut as it is the only 

 wateritiii place for ihe wreckers, fiotn Cape Flo- 

 rida lo the Torinnras islands, you perceive that this 

 circumstance also will be favorable !o the nursery, 

 lioth b}- fiiciliiaiing intercourse, and pxcitingobser- 

 vatiori and inquiry. It is true that Ihe sailors will 

 occasionally do somi5 daniaije ; but some losses 

 must be expected under all circnmsiances. In the 

 wreckinu vessels there are /iecpieuily inlelli^rent 

 invaliils, who are cruisinir for the benefit of iheir 

 health ; and iheir curio.-ity will proni|)t iheni to 

 ex:imine the preparatory nursery; and all that it 

 is reqiiisiie lo ensure its success, is, ih;it it shoiJd 

 be seen by many persons when it shall be filled 

 with valualile plants, adaiited to flourish in the 

 most arid soils. 



Under the third head, by looking at a chart or 

 map of ihis reef, you will tit once perceive that 

 Lower Matacumba is about midway between Cape 

 Florida at the north-east extremity, and the Tor- 

 tugas Keys, at the south-west exireniity of Ihe 

 chain, 'i'he nursery is in liill view of all vessels 

 passing through ihe gulf idoiig ihe reef, not 

 more than 5 or 6 miles distant. From Ihe seed 

 and ti'ol house at the garden, I have frequently 

 seen five or six vessels at one view, and 15 to 20 

 in the (loiirse of iheday. The entry from the uulf, 

 inside of the rtef, is several miles wide, and the 

 water at the least IS fiiel deep to within two or 

 three miles at most fi-om Malacumba. Bui the 

 yreat advantage to the future plantinjT and popu- 

 lation ol the reef resulting from the central location 

 of the nursery, depends' on the fiict, that all the 

 Keys are composed of the same single clement of 

 ^ lime, and consequpnlly that all the plants which 

 1 flourish in ihe nursery will be equally adapted to 

 I flourish on all the other islands to which they can 

 be extended in each direction vvi'h equal lijcility. 

 As these will embrace till the valuable plants which 

 are usefully propagated in the steril Bahamas, 

 they can be hence best brouuhl to this central site, 

 and thence distributed over the equally arid Flori- 

 da Keys. Our national vessels can also approach 

 within three miles of ihe nursery, and discharge 

 the plants they may bring, without a day's delay in 

 the course of iludr return voyage home. Were 



