153 



THE CANA.DIA.N HOBTICULTDRIST. 



full of promise for bloom. It seemed 

 much at home, and perfectly hardy. 



Many of the gardens in the better 

 portions of the city were very pretty. 

 Occa.sionally beautiful dwarf growing 

 magnolias could be seen in bloom, with 

 tiieir large and handsome flowers of 

 various tints. These are of foreign in- 

 troduction ; the native species 1)1 oom 

 later. Scarlet honeysuckles, violets, 

 and laurustinus were also in bloom. 

 Ixltrjncosjyermum jasminoiJes, which in 

 (Janada we grow with much satisfaction 

 in pots in greenhouse, here flourishes 

 as a common climber, and grows with 

 as much luxuriance as ovir five-leaved 

 ivy does with us. 



Leaving New Orleans, a charming 

 ilay was spent in Mobile. Accom- 

 ))anied by I)r. Chas. Mohr, the well- 

 known botanist, we took a delightful 

 afternoon drive along the shores of the 

 bay, admiring the scenery, inhaling the 

 l)ahuy air from the Gulf, and gathering 

 interesting plants. At Magnolia Grove 

 there wei-e a large number of trees of 

 magnolia grandiflora, including the 

 finest specimens seen anywliere in the 

 South, A leading industry here is the 

 growing of cabbages, a large quantity 

 being raised for the Northern markets. 

 The seed is sown in August, and the 

 plants continue to grow all tlivough the 

 winter (so-called), and mature at differ- 

 ent periods from January onward. 



Twenty hours of railway ride brought 

 us to Jacksonville, Florida. Here the 

 season was muoh further advanced ; the 

 roses were in full bloom, and were much 

 admii'ed. Some of the gaixlens were 

 very beautiful, and included quite a 

 number of varieties of flow^ers, while 

 many others wei-e less called for. Where 

 so much that is beautiful lies within 

 reach of every one, it seems strange 

 that moi-e is not attempted. A very 

 pleasant visit was paid to the beautiful 

 home of !Mrs. Mitchell, across the river ; 

 also to that of Mr. Thomas Bassuett, 



where we were most hospitably re- 

 ceived, and at both places saw a large 

 number of orange and lemon trees well 

 laden with their golden fruit. Pro- 

 ceeding up the river, we found flowers 

 more extensively cultivated in St. Au- 

 gustine, es]>ecially roses, which are in 

 such demand by the guests at the hotels 

 that they are gathered and sold as fast 

 as the buds form. This branch of hoi-- 

 ticulture must be quite remunerative 

 hei-e, as good prices are obtained. It 

 was now the middle of March ; the 

 weather was warm and most delightful- 

 ly pleasant. It seemed difiicult to real- 

 ize that the friends at home were 

 experiencing heavy snow-storms and a 

 temperature much below zero. 



Proceeding south, brief visits were 

 paid to Pilatka, Silver Springs, Ocala, 

 Leesburgh, Eustis, Enterprise, Orlando, 

 Kissimmee, and Tampa, the extremity 

 of railway travel, passing thi'ough all 

 the most productive orange sections, 

 where in many places orange groves are 

 so plentiful as to be a drug in the mar- 

 ket. The country, however, is being 

 rapidly settled. A long the line of the 

 South Florida Railway from Sanford to 

 Tampa, a distance of 115 miles, there 

 are quite a number of thriving places. 

 The railway was opened but a year ago, 

 but within that time towns with from 

 300 to 500 inhabitants have sprung up 

 at different points along the line. At 

 Tampa the sun was uncomfortably hot 

 during the middle of the day, but the 

 Aveather cool and pleasant at other 

 times. Here we enjoyed ripe straw- 

 berries, gathered fresh from the gardens 

 adjoining. The variety in cultivation 

 i-esembled Wilson in form, but was 

 sweeter. It was said to be a seedling 

 of Wilson which originated somewhere 

 in the South, and endures the dry, hot 

 weather of summer better than our 

 Northern sorts. What surprised me 

 most, when examining these strawbei-ry 

 bedsj was the entire absence of runners. 



