180 



FOEEST AND STREAM. 



MY LAKE. 



MT little lake doth in a valley lie, 

 Bowered deep in green of drowsy solitudes; 

 No dm or dust of highway cometh nigh, 

 No reek of towns can pass these winnowing wooda, 

 'Tis fahled that its grassy borders keep 

 Trace of a shape to human outline true; 

 That here some Queen of Naiads, fallen asleep, 

 Hides her white beauty 'neath the dimpling blue. 

 And see— at yonder cove's remotest edge, 

 A gleam of white against^he stirring sedge, 

 As if the gracious sleeper lightly slept, 

 And from beneath her robe's unravelled hern. 

 One fair white instep in a dream had crept, 

 Lighting up all the dim place like a gem. 



— Helen Barron Bostwick, in Galaxy. 



^jnttmn Oliver, off ^loridn. 



— « — ,. 



BEGINNING some thirty or thirty-five miles to the 



) southward of St. Augustine, and extending along the 

 coast of Florida, about one hundred and seventy-five or 

 eighty miles, are two salt water lagoons, separated from the 

 ocean by a mere narrow fringe of sand. The larger and 

 more southward of these is known as Indian river, and the 

 other as Mosquito lagoon. They are separated by a low 

 belt of sand, resting upon a bed of shell conglomerate 

 scarcely two miles broad. 



It is, however, with Indian river that I have present con- 

 cern, as it is possessed of peculiar, extraordinary, and little 

 known attractions and resources, which, if properly devel- 

 oped, would make it an unequalled sanitarium for pulmo- 

 nary subjects. 



With its northern extremity near Cape Canaveral, this 

 sheet of water stretches southward for about one hundred 

 and fifty miles, with but one narrow communication with 

 the ocean— Indian river inlet, latitude 27 cleg. 30 min. 

 north. The long, narrow strip of sand on either side of 

 the inlet, which, as I have said, separates the lagoon from 

 the ocean, is no where broader than one mile. Here and 

 there the winds and waves have heaped up the sand into 

 clusters of low dunes, but next to the waters of the lagoon 

 the: e is a dense growth of the mangrove {Bhkophoracea), 

 wood of small diameter, but of a beautiful red color, and 

 takes a very fine polish, and the whole zone is thickly dot- 

 ted with the graceful, picturesque, and useful cabbage pal- 

 metto tree, which is valuable as a timber for many pur- 

 poses, and its leaves also, while its unexpanded young 

 foliage is a delicious vegetable. Other and even more val- 

 uable trees of the same (palm) species might be largely in- 

 troduced, as, for example, the cocoanut, which has been 

 shown to flourish there. It is in part this low-lying skirt 

 of luxuriantly wooded, dry sandy soil, breaking the force 

 of tempestuous winter winds, met at times on the southern 

 Atlantic coast, which makes the western shore of Indian 

 river so highly favorable as a winter residence for invalids. 



Near Indian river inlet, upon the main land, a military 

 post (Fort Capron) was established in November, 1849, and 

 careful meteorological observations were taken, for a series 

 of years which show rare climatological characteristics pe- 

 culiarly favorable for pulmonary patients, that is to say, a 

 singularly equable temperature with comparative dryness. 

 For example, during a period of five years ending with 

 1854 the mean temperature of the winter months was 63 

 deg. 20 min., with a relatively small rainfall during the 

 late autumn, winter, and early spring months, or 217 fair 

 weather days for the year. 



The lagoon has a coraline bed, and is free from marshes. 

 Communicating with the sea by Indian river inlet, as I 

 have stated, it likewise receives a good deal of fresh water 

 through Santa Lucia river, which is an outlet of the Ever- 

 glades. It teems to an almost incredible degree with fish 

 of the finest and most palatable varieties, including that 

 most delicate and toothsome of all American fish, the 

 "pompano." Never, indeed, on either the Atlantic, Gulf, 

 or Pacific coast have I seen fish so fat and well flavored. 

 The ordinary mullet, here very fine, is found in extraordi- 

 nary shoals at certain seasons, and no where else is the 

 sheepshead so fine and dainty a fish as in Indian river. As 

 for the oyster, it is worth a visit to Indian river to eat those 

 found there, especially those which have been transplanted; 

 their flavor is the finest in the United States. 



Some four miles southward of the inlet the western shore 

 rises some thirty feet above the level of the sea into a bluff 

 of compact, broken, or decomposed shell for some dis- 

 tance. Here there are fine situations for building, with the 

 necessarv space for small plantations of tropical fruits and 

 plants, which thrive so well in all that region. There are 

 already orange orchards which have been planted for a 

 quarter of a century. The pineapple, found in most of its 

 numerous varieties" and other inter-tropieal fruits, do as 

 well here as in the Antilles. Northward the shore is skirted 

 in large part by narrow reaches of dry hammock land, cov- 

 ered with the live oak. This soil is shallow, but underlaid 

 by a marl, which keeps fresh its virgin fertility, and is 

 found particularly well adapte/1 to the growth of sugar 

 cane, which comes to flower or tassel on Indian river as in 

 Cuba, but not habitually in Louisiana. Therefore, the 

 cane of Indian river is richer in saccharine matter to the 

 pound than that of Louisiana. 



Immediately back of these arable tracts, the very timber 

 of which is so valuable in ship-building, there runs a sand 

 ridge, whieh'here and there abuts directly upon the water 

 ©f the lagoon, and is everywhere covered with noble pines, 



affording an exhaustless supply of accessible building tim- 

 ber. Rearward of this ridge the country, somewhat lower 

 than the ridge, stretches out into great spaces of pine bar- 

 rens, which afford, however, a fine range and pasturage for 

 cattle, and abound in game, such as deer and wild turkey, 

 while in winter the lagoon is alive with wild duck. On 

 the slope of this ridge, toward the lagoon, by digging wells 

 of ten or fifteen feet an abundance of pure, delicious water 

 is developed, being simply the rainwater of the great pools 

 in its rear, filtered through the sand ridge. 



A glance at the map discloses the fact that for more than 

 thirty miles of its upper course, the St. John's river flow- 

 ing northward, is parallel with Indian river lagoon, at an 

 average distance of not more than ten miles. At several 

 points, indeed, the distance is reduced to eight miles, so 

 that a canal of that length through ground peculiarly favor- 

 able for cheap and easy construction, would give water 

 communication by steam with Jacksonville, and in fact 

 with Charleston. At the same time, during the late fall, 

 winter, and early spring tides the inlet affords passage to 

 steamers drawing from eight to ten feet of water, with a 

 completely sheltered harbor immediately within the bar. 

 Beside fish to so marvellous a degree in variety, numbers, 

 and excellence for food, Indian river is likewise the resort 

 for turtle. 



The vegetation and flora, by no means so luxuriant as that 

 of inter-tropical regions, are, however, largely of the same 

 description. The trees are covered with beautiful air plants 

 and other parasitic plants, which open a broad field of in. 

 teresting investigation. The tree yielding gum, Caout- 

 chouc by exudation, for example, is there, although not in 

 quantities for commercial purposes, and is an interesting 

 feature of the landscape from its peculiar growth or habit 

 of climbing and staying itself by the trunk of another tree, 

 which it finally envelopes, crushes, and destroys. Several 

 species of very closely grained, heavy, high-colored woods, 

 susceptible of fine polish, and adapted to the uses of the 

 cabinet maker, are there in abundance. Undoubtedly the 

 Campeachy or logwood would thrive if introduced upon 

 the beach or seaward shore of the lagoon, or would soon so 

 multiply (as in Santo Domingo, where it was first planted 

 for hedges) as to become a valuable product. 



And so I might go on enumerating what nature has 

 planted or supplied in forest and stream, and what man 

 might easily do to make at least a charming health resort 

 of Indian river, but I will only add that I have myself seen 

 some remarkable evidences of the benefits which persons 

 of both sexes, having diseased lungs, have received there — 

 benefits that proved lasting — with some yet more remark- 

 able instances of persons so diseased that elsewhere they 

 were in constant pain, who yet were able to lead a prolong- 

 ed and comfortable life in that singularly equable tem- 

 perature. 



I likewise passed one summer upon the lagoon, and never 

 found the heat oppressive, as it was habitually tempered by 

 a soft, gentle breeze. The only discomfort was the mos- 

 quito, against which, however, it was not difficult to guard 

 by proper precautions. 



* It is a misfortune that the real climatic and general san- 

 tary advantages of Indian river are not widely known to 

 the thousands who suffer from weak . lungs and bronchial 

 affections in the New En aland and Middle States. T. J. 



Mountain Clams. — In the Adriondacks, up in Bay 

 Iliver, where it leaves Mud Lake, one of the most distant, 

 gloomy, and forbidding sheets of water in the whoie wilder- 

 ness, are immense beds of clams shaped precisely like our 

 salt water clams. They would be mistaken for them any- 

 where. Now w r hy, when other waters abound with the 

 ordinary mussel, should this peculiarly shaped clam, look- 

 ing for all the world as if it had once been imbedded in the 

 sea, and only changed in taste by being removed to fresh 

 water, be found alone in this lonely, remote place, nearly 

 2,000 feet above the sea level, and more than a hundred miles 

 from the St. Lawrence, is a problem I should like to see 

 solved. I wish the clam found there could be transplanted 

 to the tide water, to see if it would turn to a regular salt 

 water clam. The experiment would be well worth trying. 

 If after a few floodings of salt water, it should become an 

 ordinary salt water clam, it would seem to indicate that it 

 was one at some former time. But why it should be con- 

 fined to this peculiar locality is another difficulty not easily 

 overcome. To mystify the matter still more, these beds 

 would seem to be of recent origin. Fourteen years ago 

 when I was first there and almost the first except hunters 

 that ever visited it, there were but two beds, about six 

 miles apart. This year they are found extended so greatly 

 that if they continue at the same ratio of progress for 40 

 years to come, they will fill the whole six miles of river and 

 probably the whole bed of the lake. A scientific man once 

 denied the fact of the existence of such a clam till he was 

 shown the shell, and then, though convinced, did not pre- 

 tend to explain it. They furnish an immense quantity of 

 food to the minks. — Tribune. 



-»»»» 



— On one occasion Hon. Jeremiah Mason went into Chas. 

 Sumner's office and found him writing an address to be 

 delivered before a peace society. After a little good- 

 natured defense of his views by Mr. Sumner, the former, 

 rising to take his leave, said: " Well, Sumner, you maybe 

 right, bat t should just as soon think of joining a society 

 for the suppression of thuncLr and lightning as a society 

 for the suppression of war." 



«*~t* 



— Once a careless man went to the cellar and stuck the 

 candle m what he thought was a keg of black sand. He 

 sat near it drinking wine until the candle burned low. 

 Nearer and nearer it got to the black sand; nearer and 

 nearer, until the blaze reached the black sand, and as it was 

 sand, nothing happened. 



-♦•-*- 



— While a compositor on the Montreal Witness was setting 

 up an advertisement for a lost canary, the bird flew in at 

 the office window, "which shows the value of advertising." 



foodhnd, §)ttvn mid §>ardeti. 



■ — ♦ — 



TULIPS.— FALL SETTING. 

 Cnat. ord, Tulipacece.) 



"Her eyes possess a language and a spell, 

 A form like Aphrodites in her shell. 

 With all her loves around her on the deep; 

 Voluptuous as the first approach of sleep, 

 Yet full of life; for through her tropic cheek 

 The blush will make its way and all but speak, 

 Like coral reddening through its darkened waves, 

 Which draw the diver to its crimson caves." 



THE seedling tulip does not, so far as we have learned 

 ever produce any but plain unmarked or veined 

 flowers. You will notice, if you plant seedlings— and 

 every lover of tulips should plant either what are"termed 

 seedlings, or what may be called nearly the same thing— 

 the first year plain bulbs; and try their success in produc- 

 ing some rare and beautiful striped tulip. This would af- 

 ford them a fine, opportunity of studying the laws that 

 govern the floral kingdom, and in the production of a rare 

 and beautiful addition to their floral treasures. 



In the history of this ancient flower many quaint anec- 

 dotes and romantic stories are told. The Holland tulip 

 has indeed a romantic history all its own, and when we 

 know that to the cultivation of this bulb alone hundreds 

 of acres are devoted, we cease to winder at its great value 

 as an article of merchandise alone. Meinheer Vanderpoel 

 was a little squat figure of a Dutchman, who was always 

 accompanied by his little dog and his pipe. "I smokes, I 

 does, and I sells the best bulbs in Haarlem, I shust does 

 and of all prices, too. I have him for ze fife penny apiece, 

 and I have him for ze fifty dollar apiece, I have. Yah I 

 have." Such was the literal truth in Holland, and even 

 to-day, in sober 1873, there are tulips valued at about their 

 weight in gold. 



The plain tulip, after one, two, three, and four years, 

 is not the same tulip started with. This rusty jack, in his 

 former gray coat of one color only, has thrown away the 

 old gray, and in exchange he wears a coat of many colors, 

 a real "Joseph's coat" of many stripes, and is very beauti- 

 ful. These tulips are called breeders, and from these 

 breeders come, with care and perseverance, many of our 

 most valuable garden tulips, for every tulip thus produced 

 is to be called by some name, which the propagator or orig- 

 inator has the sole right to append. Another very curious 

 fact is, there may be, and often is, twenty different sorts 

 in the same bed of tulips, yet it is exceedingly rare to find 

 two flowers alike. This proneness to sport in the tulip 

 gives rise to much variety as well as amusement to all lovers 

 of this beautiful flower. 



In making a good tulip bed only care is necessary. The 

 bed, which should lie, when possible, north and south, 

 for the benefit of sunny exposure, should be excavated in 

 the same manner as the bed made for the hyacinthe, de- 

 scribed in a former paper. It may be four feet or more 

 wide, and two feet six inches in depth; the soil filled in 

 being a few, say three, inches above the path, and the cen- 

 tre three inches above the sides. The tulip bed must be 

 most thoroughly drained, or no tulips will grow. After 

 you have made your bed of soil, taken from the under 

 side of good old pasture sod, which has laid in a heap until 

 well rotted and "friable," you are ready to begin the plant- 

 ing of your tulips in the bed. 



On a bed like the one thus described I would plant say 

 five, seven or nine rows, according to size of bed. These 

 rows are to run across the bed, and the bulbs to be placed 

 six inches apart in the rows. Press them gently into their 

 places in the soil, which should be three inches over the 

 top or crown of the bulbs when your bed is finished. Your 

 bulbs are to be planted with the tallest ones in the centre 

 or middle row of the bed. These will be from fifteen to 

 eighteen inches in height, and, if good strong growers are 

 chosen, they will afford you a world of delight. "They 

 are God's messengers of beauty to man," said an ardent 

 admirer of nature to me one day, as he was looking upon a 

 rare and beautiful bed of wonderful diversity of color. 

 "This is one of his wise lessons," said he, "and who is he 

 that could look upon this magnificent tulip and say it came 

 by chance ?" Having set your bed thus, if you please, the 

 tallest bulbs in the centre, the lowest at the sides, or any 

 way to please your own taste (for we suppose you pos- 

 sessed of some, or you never would plant tulips), you will 

 secure them from frosts and severe cold by coverings of 

 matting, litter, straw, &c. When they begin to break the 

 ground, and the first green leaf appears peeping up, then 

 remove carefully all lumps of earth, if there should be 

 any, and lighten the soil with some appropriate instrument, 

 and you will soon feel yourself richly rewarded by what 

 follows. I have found my account in adding as a dressing 

 one half to an inch in thickness all over the bed a compost 

 made of finely pulverized charcoal, one part to two parts 

 of coarse sand. This gives the bed a very nice, clean look, 

 and the sun adds heat by absorption of sunlight, which the 

 tulip loves at this period to revel in. If you would enjoy 

 the sight of a fine bed of this fairy of the flow-ers, you can 

 do so by shading the opening blossoms from a too hot sun 

 and high winds, both of wmich are exceedingly injurious to 

 the plant. Your own taste and ingenuity will suggest just 

 the kind of shelter you need, care being taken to shield the 

 bed on the side next the sun from its too hot rays. 



