A Horticulturist in Florida. 261 



" The color is amber ; size good, nearly as large as tlu Diana ; it has a 

 thick skin, and is a good keeper. In quality, it combines in some degree 

 the flavor of both the Diana and the Delaware. In respect to growth, it 

 is much like the Diana ; the amount of wood not large, but the fibre strong 

 and healthy. 



" We also send a small cluster, which is a seedling of the Delaware ; the 

 berry small, but of very fine quality." 



Our impressions of the Onondaga, judging from the clusters alone, with- 

 out having seen the vine, are very favorable. Its taste recalls that of the 

 Diana ; but it has a sugary sweetness peculiarly its own. The berries are 

 very thick-set, and crowd one another very much like those of the Israella. 



As the Diana is an old favorite of ours, we shall watch the Onondaga 

 with much interest. 



The small grape alluded to above was an extremely sweet, delicious 

 little grape ; Delaware-like in flavor, without a particle of pulp ; but whollv 

 unfitted for general cultivation, unless the size of the bunch and berry cai: 

 be much increased. 



A HORTICULTURIST IN FLORIDA. — No. L 



The Fruits brought from Spain. — Origin of the Florida Orange-Groves. — The Future 

 of Floridian Horticulture. — Position and Configuration of Florida, and their Inflii- 

 ence. — Semi-tropical Character of its Climate. — Summer and Sea Breezes. — The 

 Rainy Season. — Nine Months of Spring. — Perpetual Verdure and Bloom. — The 

 Hummocks of Florida. — Soils and Productions. — Commingling of Northern anil 

 Tropical Vegetation. r 



" The fruits brought from Spain," the Portuguese narrator of De Soto's 

 expedition casually remarks, " are the orange and the fig." This is, I be- 

 lieve, the earliest record of horticulture in Florida ; and all that has been 

 added during the three centuries which have elapsed since it was penned, 

 were it possible to collect the brief notices scattered here and there in the 

 columns of newspapers and magazines, would scarcely fill a dozen pages 

 of this Journal. 



From the orange thus transplanted from beyond the sea have probably 

 originated the wild orange-groves which at this day cover so many thousands 



