GLteANlKGS IN BEJE CULTURE. 



779 



United States where tropical fruits can be success- 

 fully grown without protection. 



There are a few places between the 2Pth and 29th 

 parallels that are exceptions to this. They have what 

 is here culled water protection — they have extend- 

 ed water areas to the west and north, including 

 northwest. Our "Island Home "is in latitude 28° 

 15', and we grow the choicest trt)pical fruits and 

 greenhouse plants in the open ground, without pro- 

 tection. Much has been said about growing coffee 

 in Southern California, where frost is unknown. 

 But there is no such no-frost area there; and if 

 there were, the mean annual temperature of that 

 region is 10 or 15 dt grees too low for cotfee-growing. 

 I hazard nothing in saying, that if coffee is ever 

 profitably produced in the United States it will be in 

 Southern Florida. 



Here is rest from battling with snow and ice, and 

 wading in slush and mud; here the weary ones can 

 find a home amid the fragrance of the orange-blos- 

 som, the jessamine, and ihe honeysuckle; where 

 they can pluck from their own trees, and eat the 

 choicest fruits the earth can produce. 



The general excellence of the Florida climate is 

 such that many suppose it is all about alike; but 

 this is a great mistake. 



Many who desire" to cultivate the more tender 

 fruits have found out their mistake. One writing 

 to me from the latitude of Jacksonville says: "Alas I 

 I am too far north; but I did not know it four years 

 ago." 



There are some who come to Florida from regions 

 where apples can not be raised, because of extreme 

 cold, and find all the paradise they desire where 

 there Is no snow to shovel, and oranges can be 

 grown; but the bulk of human society is made up 

 of restless, ambitious mortals, who will be satisfied 

 with nothing short of the best that earth can give 

 or grow. Had they been permitted to visit the 

 garden of Eden, they had brought away an armful 

 of cuttings of the choicest kinds, and, if possible. 

 had secured a small seedling of the forbidden fruit. 

 They will never be content to raise oranges only, 

 while their neighbors a few miles south raise the 

 finest tropical fruits. Then to have grown the fruit 

 one's self adds greatly to both its value and its 

 flavor. 



You need not talk to such a man about the garden 

 of Ed* n, the New Jerusalem, or any other pai adise, 

 while he plucks his own trees and eats such fruits 

 as the cheremoya, mango, sapadillo, and sugar- 

 apple. You had better save ycur breath until he 

 has satisfied his appetite, wiped his mouth, and sits 

 down to refiect upon the higher wants of his spiritu- 

 al nature. 



The same is true with bee-keepers. Some will be 

 satieflf^d with almost any change that relieves them 

 of the toting and packing and housing and the fretz- 

 ing and dj ing of their pets. They would find all the 

 paradise they detire in a region where bees will 

 winter In an ordinary hive on their summer stands, 

 without any danger from cold weather. 



But there are many others who will not be satisfied 

 with only a relief from the heavy burdens of bee- 

 keeping, while just beyond there is an accumulation 

 of positive good. They will be satisfied with noth- 

 ing shcrt of the best. If there is any place in our 

 national domain where there is absolutely no winter, 

 they will want to find it; where no frost comes to 

 spread death and desolation over the nectar-bear- 

 ixif blooms, and bees oan fl^ and gather honey every 



day in the year. If there is such a place, where the 

 stars and stripes float undisturbed, and the privi- 

 leges of American citizenship are the rich heritage 

 of all— of such a place many will think, if they do 



not sing. 



How I long to be there. 

 In such glories to share. 



Just such a place is S<.uth Florida. But at jiresent 

 most of this climatic paradise is a wilderness. In 

 places it already bejiius to bud and blossom, and In 

 a few years its fruitage will be abundant. It may be 

 asked, why it has so long remained a wilderness? 

 There are several reasons. 



1. Until recently, the worse than Upas blight of 

 slavery has rested upon all S >uthern enterprise. 



3. The same poisonous bnrrier stood as a ghastly 

 sentinel between South Florida and Northern en- 

 terprise. 



3. South Florida was long the lurking-place of sav» 

 age cruelty, the Seminole. 



4. It has always been difficult of access by the 

 ordinary routes of travel. But the Atlantic Cloast 

 Canal, and railroads now in progress, are removing 

 this difficulty. 



5. In the popular thought. South Florida has al- 

 ways been made up of swamps, snakes, and alliga- 

 tors. 



Island Home, Brevard Co., Fla., Nov. 10, 188-3. 



EXHIBITINO BEES AND BEE SUPFIilES 

 AT THE FAIU. 



TEACHING THE MULTUnDE THE WONDERS OF THE 

 , BEK-HIVE. 



fUIEND ROOT:— Having been entertained by 

 neighbiir Hutchinson's account of what he 

 — heard at the Michigan State Fair, it occurred 

 to me that I mi^ht give a few incidents from my ex- 

 perience as an exhibitor, which would prove enter- 

 taining, if not very instructive, to the readers of 

 Gleanings. 



Did it ever occur to you, friend Root, that there 

 was a resemblance between a honey-extractor and 

 an ice-cream freezer? I should never think of asso- 

 ciating the two mjself ; but, judging from the num- 

 ber of times the inquiry was mane, " Is that an Ice- 

 cream freezer?" 1 should thiuk that, to the average 

 visitor at a county fair, the resemblance must be 

 striking. Of Course, 1 did my best to dispel this de- 

 lusion; but I must own ihat, on one occasion, I al- 

 lowed it to prevail, and even abetted it by deceitful 

 words. But it was all owing to the fact that my in- 

 quiring friend had a constitutional defect in his left 

 eye which made winking a habit. 



He looked at the extractor critically, whirled the 

 comb-bolder around, contemplated it till U came to 

 a full stop, and then looked up, and, with a sharp, 

 tight wink which would have passed anywhere as 

 the forerunner of a joke, inquired: " Is this an ice- 

 cream freeztr, mister?" 



" Yes," 1 replied, falling in with his supposed hu- 

 mor. "Something new, which I have no doubt will 

 completely revolutionize the ice-cream business. 

 You see, ice-cream freezers have been made hereto- 

 fore to revolve in a packing of ice. Now, the impor- 

 tant feature of this freezer is that the ice is placed 

 within it, in this revolving cage; and thus, coming 

 in closer contact with the cream, it is frozen in one- 

 quarter the time that it takes by the old method." 



"Well, I iwaneel" ejaculated my Interested 



