lOO 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



August 



Horticultural Notes from Florida. 



Jacksonville, Florida, ) 

 Juiie 24, 1870. ) 



Mark Miller— Dra?' Sir : Yours of the 

 14tli lust, has just reached me, and in reply 

 to your query, " Did the apples I see ack- 

 nowledged in the Jacksonville Union of a 

 late date from your grounds grow upon the 

 same tree you called my attention to wheu 

 at your place last September ? " I answer 

 that they did. Last June (1869) as I told 

 you when you were here, I picked from that 

 tree ninety seven large ral Astrachai s, the 

 tree fifteen months old from the graft on the 

 natire Haw. Ou the 37th day of March, 

 1868, 1 cut the Haw off, (about four inches in 

 diameter) about two feet above the ground, 

 and inserted a Red Astrachan graft on oppo- 

 site sides. The tree is now well on to 12 

 feet in height, aud full of apples Mr. C. L. 

 Robinson has just measured a medium sized 

 specimen, aud makes it three inches in di- 

 ameter. 



I can raise apples in Florida as easily as 

 th-y raise persimmons in North Caroliua. 

 We have two varieties of the Haw in Flor- 

 ida—the Black and the white, eitlier of 

 which will auswer for working the apple on. 



I have brought to market this day, aiid 

 have been doing it for ten days back, peach- 

 es, apples, grapes, figs and strawberries. If 

 you wish to know more of what I am doing 

 in Florida, allow me to refer you to the 

 Florida Land Register, a copy of which I 

 send you, and in which you will find meu- 

 tioa made of my fruit farm. My friends say 

 it does not do my place justice. 



Yours, etc., L. A. Habdee. 



[From the Florida Land Register, of May 15.] 

 A FKDIT KURSERT IN FLORIDA. 



The attention of fruit growers at the North, 

 has within the past two years been turned 

 so much toward Florida, and so little relia- 

 ble a..d definite i.^formatiun has as yet been 

 elicited in regard to its horticultural capaci- 

 ties, that we can best answer some of the 

 many inquiries made of us, bj' gving the 

 results of a brief visit to the largest uursery 

 in the State. 



I he element of time enters so largel}^ into 

 fruit culture, that it must not be expected 

 we are able to give results of long continued 

 experiuii.nt, either ia regard to the most 

 profitable varietic s, or most successful metli- 

 methodsot cultivation. Kapidity of growth 

 productiveness, and immunity from disease 

 and enemies are the main results of obser- 

 vations yet made. 



The Honeymoon Nurseries, the property 

 of Col. Lucius Hardee, are situatid about a 

 mile ai,d a half west from the city of Jack- 

 sonville. The soil is of the kind know.i as 

 hammock, a greyish sandy loam, with a 

 surface broken into ge:.tle elevations and 

 depressions. tifFmling prrfect drainage. 



Our attention was first called to the 



APPLE TREES. 



Of the«o the Colonel has l.'JO on quince 

 stocks, 500 grafted on tlie Haw, and 300 on 

 Appli' stocks, two years old, all of the Ri d 

 Astrachan variety. * * « 



Several had made remarkable growths. We 

 were shown one of three years old, on 

 Quince, three feet high, having fifty -one 



apples ; two grafts on the Haw, only nine- 

 teen days old, avcragi d eighteen inches in 

 length, with twelve lateral shoots four 

 inches long each ; another apple, grafted ou 

 the Haw, two yiarsold, was nine feet high 

 and four inches in diameter eighteen inches 

 from the ground ; another, one year old, on 

 the Haw, was seven feet high. 



***** 



THE PEACH. 



The Peach is at home in Florida, though 

 an opinion has prevailed at the North that 

 they do not succeed well in the latitude of 

 the Orange. * * * sfff. 



were shown a bed containing 13,000, and 

 now average eighteen i.chis in height; 

 another of 1,000, one year old, and a fii Id 

 adjoining contained 700 seedlings, two years 

 old. On one of these trees we counted 52 

 peaches. But four Japan seedlings had 

 made a surprisiig growth. These were 

 two years old. quite alike in size and ap- 

 pearance, and one of them measured nine 

 feet in height and nine feet through the 

 top ; they were loaded with their pecu iar 

 sbaped fruit 



THE ORANGE. 



50,000 baby -Orange trees, born of the last 

 shower, the ir small bright leaves glistening 

 in the sunlight, nest claimed our attention. 

 These are all sweet seedlings and give 

 jiromise of golden harvests to somebody 

 before many years. 



THE LEMON. 



Not far from th(; Oranges, is a settlement 

 of their cousins, the Lemons; 9,000 of them 

 one year old. * * » yf^, 



nu asured one two^ears, and found it seven 

 feit high and three inches in diameter; this 

 tree was growing a few feet from a large 

 oak which completely shaded it. 



THE GRAPE. 



Wherever the Colonel plants a tree, there 

 he puts a Grapt, upon the principle, proba- 

 bly, that " in union there is strength," and 

 the appearance of his vines confirms the 

 rule. Two vines, one an Isiibella and the 

 the other Scupperooiig, growing over a 

 trellis at the nar of the house, are marvels 

 of vegetable growth. They are each two 

 years oid, and the onl_v extra care they have 

 received is their having been abundantl}' 

 supplied with water. The Isabella is an 

 inch and a half in diameter a few inches 

 from the ground. It is literally loaded with 

 fruit, several of the more mature bur.ches 

 measuring nearly eight i.ches in leng h, 

 the fruit being the size of large buckshot 

 A singularity of this vine is, that it is still 

 blossoming and putting out new fruit spurs. 

 ***** 



The Scuppernong had thrown up three 

 stalks, aa inch or more in diameter each, two 

 feet from the ground. It is trained over a 

 trellis 51 feet tong and 13 or 15 feet high, 

 and nearly covei> it. It, like its rival, the 

 Isabella, is filled with clusteriug buches of 

 fruit. A few feet from this vine, is a Scup- 

 pernong, one year old; it has two stalks, 20 

 feet long each. A black Hamburg, two 

 years old, trained upon a peach tree, would, 

 if spread out, cover a space of ten feet 

 square. It had been severely pruned for 

 cutti, gs, but was well filled with fine 

 bunches of fruit. A Hartford Prolific, 

 sta..di, g near the well, was very thrifty and 

 loaded with fruit. There arc 48 varieties in 

 beiiring, and with the exceptioji of the Con- 

 ci'i-d, were all looking finely, and gave pro- 

 mise of abundant liarvest. 



Wethi.k that the sight of this oineyard 

 will satisfy any Nortlirru man that" the 

 attempt to cultivate the vine in latitudes 

 locked up in frost for six months of the 

 year, is a waste of labor and a vexation of 

 spirit. The Grape is the child of the sun, 



and here, within the reach of every man, is 

 a climate in which the pets of the conserva- 

 tory flourish in the open air without the 

 slightest protection, and reward the most 

 ordinary care with abundant yield. The 

 fact is full of hope for the State, and of 

 promise to the future cultivator. 



Situated on a side hill, sloping gently to 

 the south, with nothing to sustain life but 

 " Florida sand," we found a colony of 



STRAWBERRIES 



Wilson's Albany largely in the majority, and 

 with the exception of the "Bride of Honey- 

 moon," a variety originated by the Colonel, 

 by far the best, both in quality and quantity. 

 We examined particularly a large bed of 

 the Wilson's. They were planted late in 

 the winter and have had a growing season 

 of only nine weeks. The size and vigor of 

 the plants and the quantity of fruit upon 

 them will hardly be believed. 



***** 



QUINCE TREES. 



1,000 golden Quince, stai;dard trees. We 

 notice one from a graft of this Spring, 14 

 inches long, and several hundreds, two years 

 old, averaging three to four feet in height. 

 * » » * » 



But here is the prophet's prradise, 1,000 

 celestial 



Only three months old. We measured one 

 Fig tree, two years old, that had four 

 branches, six feet long each. 



Aud if the Grapes promise wine, this 

 plantation of 1,000 soft shelled 



ALMONDS 



Promise nuts, and one tree, two years old, 

 is near the fulfilment of its promise. It is 

 nine feet high and eight feet through the 

 top, a graceful tree, with pale green, narrow 

 leaves, as or.amental as it promises to be 

 useful. A wild plum stands not fur from 

 here, two years old, twelve feet high. It 

 bears a fine red plum ai d is now lull of 

 fruit. Its prodigious growth may partly be 

 accounted for from the fact that it stands 

 near the compost heap. 



*•**»» 

 It is not yet three years since the first 

 day's labor was expended on this ground, 

 which was theu a forest. With the few 

 exceptions we have meutioLed, there is not 

 a cultivated tree, shrub, or plant eiver two 

 years old on the premises, aud the surprising 

 results attained in this nursery have been 

 brought about through the agency of a 

 genial climate, proeluctive soil, aud the skill 

 and energy of its courteous proprietor. 



Gr.vpes in New Hampshire. — L. G. 

 Brown, of Lindboro, writes to the Mirror, 

 that he has twenty-five kinds of Grapes 

 under cultivation, aud one hundred and 

 forty vines. Of these, eighty are the Con- 

 cord, twenty the Cliuton, and from one to 

 three of other kinds. He considers the 

 Concord the best grape of the whole. The 

 Isabella is not worth setting in New 

 Hampshire. The Diana will do in favored 

 localities. The Delaware is a good grape. 

 The Hartford Prolific is an early grape, but 

 for profit or abundant crops is not equal to 

 the Concord. Recommends for cultivation 

 the (Joucord, Hartford, Prolific, Delaware 

 and Clinton. Considers side hill with 

 sunthern exposure the best site. Top 

 dresses with a compost of barn yard manure 

 and muck, aad gets bounteous crops. 



