48 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
species to a commercial scale, the colors 
ranging from a deep purple, through 
light purple, red, and pink, to the most 
intense and glowing crimson. There are 
two more forms on which we are work¬ 
ing but have not as yet sufficiently tested 
out. It is interesting to note here the 
entirely different colors of the flowers in 
plants grown under glass—it would seem 
there is some slight variation also in in¬ 
dividual specimens out-of doors. In gen¬ 
eral, however, the assortment of vines is 
more complete than any other class of 
materials. We must not forget, however, 
to mention the Brazilian Glory, with its 
scientific name of thirty-three, letters, in 
spite of which it is a wonderful subject 
covered twice a year with a multitude of 
carmine-crimson flowers. Unfortunate¬ 
ly it is comparatively tender, but if frozen 
down it will come up again from the 
roots. 
Passing then from the notes on new 
plant materials, we come to the last and 
shortest division of my subject, the cre- 
acion of tropical effects. 
Tropical atmosphere is a difficult thing 
to define, for after all it is not based on 
things as they are in the tropics, but on 
what some people think about the tropics. 
In other words, a dense forest of trees 
with their branches so thickly interlaced 
as to make broad noonday only twilight 
beneath, would never be tropical atmos¬ 
phere; even though it happened to be. in 
the Amazon valley, broiling on the equa¬ 
tor, and the trees were Bread-fruit or 
other tropical trees! What is called trop¬ 
ical atmosphere, at least to the northern 
mind, is best described in the works of 
Jack London, Robert W. Chambers, or 
some other of our popular novelists. 
“What then is tropical atmosphere,” 
you will ask in despair? “You say it is 
not necessarily the natural growth of the 
tropics, and you illustrate it with pictures 
that never existed except in the mind of 
the author—in other words were only 
dreams!” 
That’s it exactly — “Only dreams!” 
Only such pictures as you dream of * * * 
the myriad leaves of waving palms * * * 
the great raw masses of color, not re¬ 
fined, not cultured, but primitive as man’s 
inmost emotions * * * the teasing scent of 
strange perfumes borne on the tranquil 
breezes ,of the night * * * the glistening 
crescent beaches, bathed by a slowly 
surging sea, bluer than turquoise, more 
baffling than the sphinx * * * quiet * * * 
rest * * * ineffable ease * * * the far- 
off strains of distant music. * * *” This 
indeed is the tropic atmosphere., not real, 
perhaps, but then who cares for reality? 
The fantastic tissue of dreams, in that 
lies our tropic charm! 
If, then, we. are to create the tropic 
atmosphere we must emphasize the infi¬ 
nite variety of our dream subjects; must 
fill in our background with waving 
palms; must paint largely and with strong 
colors; provide if possible, a water view 
or the sound of a gurgling stream; must 
provide new and strange perfumes; and 
above all we must provide ease and ac¬ 
cessibility, so that our tropical grounds 
shall indeed be dream places, filled with 
fairies, and far-removed from the rush 
and harshness of a busy world. 
“How to create this atmosphere?” 
