FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
149 
brought together a most beautiful col¬ 
lection of species. Mr. Theo. L. Mead, 
of Lake Charm, has experimented for 
years with a large number of palms, 
and Mr. George Abbott, of Orlando, 
has a very representative collection. 
Mr. J. F. Dommerich at Maitland has 
also a fine collection. In Orlando, the 
floral city of our State, there are num¬ 
erous large specimens in many gar¬ 
dens, notably in Mr. Overstreet's and 
Fuller’s, the latter planted by the late 
Mr. Geo. B. Breen, Bishopstead, is also 
replete with palms and bamboos. Mr. 
E. N. Reasoner, the introducer of hun¬ 
dreds of beautiful tropical plants adapt¬ 
ed to our soil and climate, has dissem¬ 
inated many fine and rare palms. 
There is a wealth of grand specimens, 
tall and majestic, in the grounds of the 
Royal Palm Nurseries. Many of them 
were planted by the late P. W. Rea¬ 
soner more than thirty years ago. 
Florida is a large state, touching al¬ 
most the tropics. Many species not 
hardy enough in the northern and cen¬ 
tral parts of the state can undoubted¬ 
ly be grown successfully in the ex¬ 
treme south—in places where the man¬ 
go, the sapodilla and avocado ripen 
their fruits. I am of the opinion that 
as yet we only have touched the fringe 
of what we may hope to achieve in the 
cultivation of tropical palms. What 
a magnificent sight do the groves of 
Cocoanut palms present at Palm Beach 
and elsewhere on the East Coast, 
where the glowing blossoms of the 
royal poinciana light up the landscape 
like fiery flames, where the leaves of 
the traveller’s tree attain gigantic pro¬ 
portions and where thickets of crotons 
abound in every good garden! The 
Royal Palms of Biscayne Bay and of 
Fort Myers are well known to all plant 
lovers who visited these places. Sea- 
forthia elegfans thrives splendidly in 
Bradentown. Elais Guineensis, the 
Oil Palm, is a feature in Mr. Chas. T. 
Simpson’s garden at Little River near 
Biscayne Bay. Why should not the 
magnificent Cohune, the various As- 
trocaryums and Raphias, Euterpes, 
Caryotas, Arengas and others thrive 
equally well in South Florida? Coper- 
nica cerifera, the Wax Palm of Para¬ 
guay and its near allies thrive splen¬ 
didly in Southern Italy, and I am sure 
these fine palms will do equally well in 
Central and South Florida. Mr. A. 
Fiehe under the late H. P. Plant—a 
real benefactor of Florida—landscape 
gardener of the Plant Railroad Sys¬ 
tem, set out years ago an avenue of 
the beautiful Cocos plumosa in front of 
the Tampa Bay Hotel. They are to¬ 
day about 50 feet high and bear fruits 
heavily. I have scarcely ever seen a 
more impressive picture. Then there 
are in the same grounds avenues of 
Cabbage Palmettos and fine bearing 
specimens of the Chinese Fan Palm 
(Livistonia sinensis). Cocos plumosa 
and C. flexuosa are successfully grown 
on Mr. Dommerich’s place, “Hiawa¬ 
tha,” at Maitland. Mr. E. H. Hart at 
Federal Point has successfully grown 
the beautiful! Diplothemium jCaudes- 
cens and D. campestre of Southern 
Brazil, the very beautiful Livistonia 
Hoogendorpii of Java, Livistonia oli- 
vaeformis (Corypha Gebanga) and the 
splendid Livistonia rotundifolia, also of 
Java, for many years. He wrote me 
