Southern Horticultural Trip. 135 



grounds we saw two remarkable trees, twenty-five feet high, of CryptomcBria 

 jfaponica, which, with one exception, were larger than any we saw in 

 Europe. Here also were camellias, Spanish broom, Mespilus yaponica, and 

 Olea fragrans, in bloom, fine specimens of Thuja aurea, and Calycanthus 

 eight feet high. 



At Mrs. Col. Marshall's garden, in the city of Savannah, there are more 

 than fifty camellias, some quite large. Many were in bloom, among which 

 we noted C. Lady Hume, C. catididissima, C. Donckelaerii, C. double white, 

 C. fnyrtifolia, C. imbricata. A fine group of bananas, twelve feet high, 

 with stems eight inches thick, had been injured by frost ; but the gardener 

 assured us that they would start again from the roots. Here were also a 

 Cloth-of-Gold rose, with stem eight inches in diameter ; and a fine Marechal 

 Niel, with stem four inches in diameter. The jonquils and violets were also 

 in bloom. 



A drive through " Bonaventure " was of great interest. The long avenues 

 of magnificent live-oak trees, draped with the long, waving Spanish moss, 

 were indescribably beautiful, but so entirely unlike any thing known here, 

 that it would be vain to attempt to convey an idea of them to one who has 

 not seen them. 



On our arrival at Jacksonville, Fla., Jan. 22, we were received at the St. 

 James Hotel by our old friend Capt. C. E. Wilder, by whose enterprise this 

 splendid new and capacious hotel has been erected. Here, too, is now 

 building a ver}' large schoolhouse, nearly as large as any in Boston. Busi- 

 ness is on the qui rive : numerous houses are going up, and there is great 

 speculation in real estate ; houses which cost twenty-five hundred dollars 

 renting for six or seven hundred dollars per year. Mr. John M. Forbes of 

 Boston has purchased a mile square on the banks of the St. John's River, 

 adjoining the city, and is now laying it out in house-lots. 



While walking through the streets, we saw an oleander {Nerium splendens) 

 which had reached the height of twenty-three feet, with four stems, the 

 largest of which was four inches in diameter ; also a prickly-pear {Cactus 

 opuniia), spreading over a circle of eight feet in diameter; and a large pal- 

 metto {Chamcerops palmetto) on the sidewalk, twenty inches thick at the 

 ground. The American aloe and cocoa-palm were also seen in the open 

 ground. 



It was our intention to visit the orange-groves up the river, and the 



