16 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
No. 1— Spanish Bayonet Tree 
Southern Vegetation. 
At this season of the year, when frosts and 
snows rule the hour through all Northern latitudes, 
we have thought it might interest our readers to 
catch a few glimpses of warmer climes We 
therefore introduce original engravings from 
sketches we made during a winter excursion 
through the Southern States, in which we studied 
somewhat thoroughly the peculiarities of vegeta¬ 
tion in those parts. 
In Savannah, Georgia, we noticed roses, gera¬ 
niums, verbenas and various annuals in full bloom 
throughout November and a part of December. 
Several deciduous trees were still in leaf, and 
the abundance of. broad-leaved evergreens, too 
tender for the North, as well as the pines and ce¬ 
dars, gave a summery look even to the winter 
scenery. Passing on to Florida, we found the 
weatner still milder, the birds more numerous and 
musical, and the vegetation more verdant. Sail¬ 
ing up the St. John’s River, we observed wild 
ducks, cranes, hawks, and pelicans. The 
shores of this noble river abound in cypress¬ 
es, the long-leaved pine, the magnolia, ( grandi - 
flora), the live and water-oak, and other trees. 
In many places the banks were overhung with 
cane-brakes, bamboo and wild vines, and here 
and there were groups of wild orange-trees, 
loaded with golden fruit. Alligators lay basking 
on the marshy shore, but crawled off among the 
reeds, or plunged into the water as we drew near. 
Near Jacksonville, Fla., we detected the first 
signs of our approach to tropical or semi-tropical 
regions, in the shape of a Dwarf Palmetto. This 
tree, as we afterwards learned, grows a little fur¬ 
ther North, but it first met our eye here. 
It is a huge shrub, rather 
than a tree, seldom grow¬ 
ing, we believe, more 
than eight or ten feet 
high. It is called “ bay¬ 
onet-tree,” because of 
the stiff, spear-like 
branches which shoot out 
from the trunk on every 
side. These leaves are 
an inch and a half wide, 
eighteen inches to two 
feet long, about an eighth 
of an inch thick, and ta¬ 
pering to a sharp point. 
Being tough and unyield¬ 
ing in their texture, they 
are often used for hedges 
around gardens and 
pleasur^ grounds. Our 
sketch was taken from a section of a hedge 
surrounding an orange-grove near St. Augus¬ 
tine. 
A more striking object than either of the above, 
was the Cabbage-Palmetto, which flourishes in 
every part of the peninsula, though more abun¬ 
dantly near the sea-coast. It grows from thirty 
It is a large, stragglish bush, from four to eight 
*eet high. The trunk is a brown, tough, fibrous 
sstiDsiance ; the leaf-stalks green, about eighteen 
inches long; the leaf a pale green, a foot or rriore 
in diameter, and in shape as represented above. 
A few miles inland from Jacksonville, we met 
ivith the Spanish Bayonet Tree, fig. 1 above. 
No. 8—Cabbage Palmetto. 
to fifty feet high. The trunk is generally smooth, 
greyish brown, the w'ood porous and corky, with, 
often, the singular variation in the shape of the 
trunk seen in our sketch. [When too late to rec¬ 
tify the defect in this number—the next page be¬ 
ing stereotyped—we discovered that in fig. 3 the 
engraver has failed to give a very correct repre¬ 
sentation of the foliage and of a little of the up¬ 
per part of the trunk. A new engraving may 
perhaps be introduced in our next issue.] 
Notwithstanding the porosity of the timber, it 
is yet preferred throughout the South, above all 
other trees, for the construction of wharves, on 
account of its durability and its exemption from 
the attacks of sea-worms. It is also peculiarly 
suited for building forts, “ as it closes, without 
splitting, on the passage of a ball.” The summit 
of the trunk is crowned with a large tuft of palm- 
shaped leaves, often two feet in diameter, and 
supported on long foot-stalks. The young leaves 
resemble a partly folded fan, and are of a bright 
glossy green. The tree is styled the “cabbage* 
No. 4— Date Tree. 
palmetto,” or palm, because of a bunch of teiwcr, 
edible leaves in the center of the foliage, some¬ 
what resembling that vegetable. It is usually 
eight or ten inches in circumference, and 
may be eaten raw, as a salad, or if preferred, 
boiled or fried. In taste, it resembles an arti¬ 
choke, rather than a cabbage, and is neither highly 
nutritious nor agreeable. 
In the public park at St. Augustine we first 
met with the Date Tree, of which fig. 5 is a 
sketch. 
It is more graceful than the Palmetto. The 
trunk presents a singular protuberance as it rises 
from the ground, but afterward is straight, and 
tapers gradually to the top. The stem is covered 
with rough scales, which are the remainders ol 
leaf stalks, broken off or fallen from year to year 
as the tree increases in hight. When grown in 
ornamental grounds, these decaying leaf stalks 
are neatly sawed off close to the trunk, leaving 
the appearance seen in the sketch. The branch¬ 
es of the tree resemble long plumes, extending 
from the center in graceful sweep on every side, 
and ten or fifteen feet in length. 
Not far from the Date Tree, in a private gar¬ 
den, we found a specimen of the Sago Tree, oi 
Sago Palm, as it is sometimes called. Our sketch 
represents a young tree only about four feet high 
with years it becomes, we suppose, much larger 
though it is described in the books as “ a low spe- 
No. 5 — Sago Plant. 
cies of palm.” The branches are like those of 
the date tree, only smaller and darker green. Its 
fruit is as large as a pullet’s egg, and is palatable. 
The trunk contains a farinaceous pitch, which 
makes a wholesome and delicious article of food 
In preparing it for use, the pith is taken out, bro¬ 
ken up in a mortar, put into a cloth or strainer 
