SPORTS IN THE BALMY Reaions oF Beauty. 449 
gion is very plenty ; such as bears, deer, panther, wild cat, rac- 
coon, opossum, gray squirrel, wild turkey, quail, many kinds 
of ducks in vast quantities, curlew, plover, herons, bitterns, 
and cranes. The climate is mild, so that you can live in a tent 
all winter, and there is very little rain except in summer.” 
Several gentlemen of my acquaintance—men who have 
seen the world, and cither cast a line or carried a gun over 
the most celebrated sporting grounds of the eastern hemi- 
sphere—have for several years past, spent their winters in 
Florida; and they unite in recommending it for the geniality 
of its climate, the great abundance of sport for rod and gun, 
and for the purity and floral aroma with which the atmos- 
phere is laden, thus rendering the air throughout winter like 
the bland and balmy season at the North when the gardens 
are in full bloom. The magnolia, and many flowers which 
vie with the camellia-japonica, the rose, and honeysuckle, lend 
a fragrance every where, while lemons and oranges are green, 
ripe, and ripening, and the flowering almond and fig trees in 
blossom remind the sportsman of the Garden of Eden, Even 
Italy, with its Cornice Road and cactus hedges, is not so fer- 
tile of winter flowers and fruits as are the American Floridas, 
which promise in course of time, and that not very remote, 
to become the winter residence of an intelligent population 
and present the most elegant specimens of architecture ; and 
besides the railroads in every direction, there will be drives 
more beautiful than the Pradas of Vienna and Florence, with 
labyrinthine walks and paths for horseback riders, by which 
the peninsula will cast into the shade all other countries in 
Christendom, for its beauty of scenery, its mild climate, its 
fragrance and floral beauty, with its incomparable out-of: 
door recreations. 
Florida is pre-eminently the place to sojourn in winter. 
Not only does it contain sports for the angler and gunner 
throughout the inclement season of the North, but to the 
aged and infirm it offers restoration, and brings back the 
vigor and elasticity of youth. 
Fr 
