December, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



Vll 



thing the earth holds, when covered with fruit; 

 and in blossom the fragrance is beyond words 

 to describe, and beyond imagination to con- 

 ceive. Great waves of delicious odor roll off 

 with the wind for a quarter of a mile. Mil- 

 lions of bees work and feast. However, I do 

 not advise Northerners to go to Florida and 

 invest largely in planting orange orchards. 

 They may lose the whole venture before they 

 get the fruit. Grapes, strawberries, peaches 

 and vegetables constitute a much safer venture 

 — especially for those who are not permanently 

 on the ground. If you can stay through May 

 and into June the melon crop will be peculiarly 

 fascinating. Whole carloads are shipped from 

 central Florida which weigh forty and fifty 

 pounds to the melon. A good deal heavier 

 melons than these are grown, but not by the 

 carloads. The quality is simply superb, as the 

 quality of the oranges that drop right from 

 the trees is infinitely superior to the quality of 

 those found in the Northern markets. Those 

 who prefer trucking can do better nearer the 

 coast, or near the St. Johns River. There ar- 

 tesian wells can be secured by driving down 

 from fifteen to tw T enty feet. The land is level, 

 and irrigated with great ease. I have seen a 

 celery avenue four miles long, with little in 

 sight but lettuce and celery. This same land 

 is good for cucumbers and Irish potatoes. 

 Many people would prefer this level and 

 money-making section ; I do not. I want the 

 poetry of life as well as the mutton. Around 

 my lake I have level land enough — a good 

 many acres that are several feet deep with 

 black muck — land enough for all the celery 

 that I care to grow. This muck has to be 

 aerated before it is good garden soil. It will 

 then grow almost anything. My pines sing 

 to me, especially when they are full of red- 

 winged blackbirds, cardinal birds, mocking 

 birds, and the breezes that come from both the 

 gulf and the ocean. The lake is a mirror so 

 clear that it repeats everything it sees. Blue- 

 birds and robins collect here in vast numbers 

 during January and February, before starting 

 for their Northern homes. They start in 

 great flocks, just at sunset, flying by night, 

 and reaching the North in about three weeks. 

 You never saw anything more beautiful than 

 a thousand or more bluebirds sitting all over 

 the shrubs and hopping around the lake shore. 

 This is the way I solved my winter problem. 

 I have saved a large part of my annual ex- 

 penses, escaped the severity of zero weather, 

 grown young under the balmy skies, and have 

 not lost anything by investment. Land is going 

 up in value steadily ; markets are opening 

 wider and wider for Southern fruits and vege- 

 tables ; and the country is gradually becoming 

 innoculated with scientific culture. In Jan- 

 uary we are gardening — that is, we are gather- 

 ing part of the products of our November, 

 while we plant for March and April. Any 

 one who goes to Florida must expect to ex- 

 periment a good deal. He can not believe one- 

 half that is told him, for if he did he would do 

 nothing. Most of the early settlers here were 

 storekeepers, carpenters, and almost everything 

 excepting out and out land tillers. What is 

 needed now is a steady influx of Northern cap- 

 ital and energy. The summers are no more 

 debilitating than the winters, and if anybody 

 cares to stay through he may be homesick for 

 the big hills, but he will not be weakened or 

 injured in any way by warm weather. Presi- 

 dent Blackman, of Rollins College, says, "The 

 summers are healthier than the winters, and I 

 always long for them to come." The people 

 of Florida are pleasant neighbors, and the 

 negroes do not constitute a bad element. 

 American homes and gardens must hereafter 

 include, with increasing emphasis, these South- 

 ern States, especially those that surround the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



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EVERY 'Os 

 (kSHlNGLE^ 



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The All Purpose Greenhouse 



So many write us about a greenhouse "for cut flowers and other things," but do not 

 seem to have a definite idea of exactly what "the other things" will be. 



Here is a combination that admirably meets just such wants. A curved roof Palm 

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 or potted fruits. 



Send for our circular illustrating some of the houses we have built. 



We will be glad to take the question up direct with you, or through your architect. 



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1 1 70 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY 



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