Tropical Plants 
E. N. Reasoner. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 
It is a lamentable fact that many of 
the new settlers of Florida have come 
here with the impression that the whole 
of Florida has a tropical climate: this 
has been given to them by indiscrimi¬ 
nate newspaper articles from enthusi¬ 
astic writers calling our vegetation 
“tropical/' and by scheming land 
agents stating that certain places were 
below the “frost line" so that most tender 
plants might be grown without dam¬ 
age from cold. This has resulted in 
many failures and disappointments, 
and in consequence a great number of 
people have been turned against our 
State, and give prejudiced reports tO' 
our further harm. Our Society should 
seek to correct both the newspaper ar¬ 
ticles and reports and advertisements 
of unscrupulous real-estate men, giv¬ 
ing a true acount, without any reserva¬ 
tion whatever, of conditions as we of 
larger experience have found them. It 
seems strange, indeed, that ever since 
the time of Ponce de Leon, people 
have been prone to tell untruths about 
Florida. 
The State of Florida extends 
through over six degrees of latitude, 
of which only the lower three have a 
sufficiently high temperature for tropi¬ 
cal trees, and even this area is liable 
to sudden frosts across its entire terri¬ 
tory, any winter. Yet the land along 
the coast, and interior portions pro¬ 
tected by lakes or by extra altitude, is 
valuable for growing tender vegetation 
in immense variety. A difference of 
even one mile away from coast or lake 
protection may be fatal, so no one 
should plant tender trees without thor¬ 
ough investigation at first hand. There 
are very numerous varieties of tropical 
fruits produced in our warmest sec¬ 
tions, and the intelligent planting of 
more trees will certainly prove profit¬ 
able under the right conditions 
coupled with the owners watchfulness 
in providing protection from cold 
when needed. Very many winters 
have passed, in my recollection, with¬ 
out sufficient frost at Oneco to even 
kill beans, but one can never be sure 
of an open winter, and protection must 
be provided to a greater or less extent, 
depending on the location. Our most 
southern coast produces many fruits 
without any protection at all and the 
trees are very seldom injured, so that 
judicious selection of land will reduce 
the protection necessary to a mini¬ 
mum. 
