June 25 , 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
679 
THE COCOA-NUT IN 
FLORIDA. 
From the time of leaving Titusville I had been on 
the qui vivc to obtain sight of Cocos nucifera, the 
Cocoa-nut Palm. Not that I had not seen the tree 
before, for at various places I had been assured that 
it was directly within my line of vision. But I 
wanted to discover one for myself, and by its fruit to 
know it. Without its fruit it was to my unbotanical 
eye a mere Palm, not so very different from many of 
its congeners. Without its fruit it was merely the 
Palm of the conservatories, or the sub-tropical or 
semi-tropical affair of trimly kept grounds. For that 
I was not searching, but only for the long-dreamed-of 
tree of the tropics which should bear aloft its pendent 
clusters of great fruit. 
As our boat drifted its slow way down the long 
length of the Indian river, I carefully swept either 
shore with my glass. Palms there were of many 
sorts, interwoven with Pines, the typical growth of 
the north, alternating with dense Mangrove swamps, 
making a fitting background for low-growing Palm¬ 
ettos, and giving more and more the tone to the land¬ 
scape as we journeyed south. But not until we had 
drifted down for 150 miles between these low banks 
did I find that which I sought. At Jupiter Inlet, at 
the extreme southern end of this long thread of tide¬ 
water, stands a noble, graceful tree bearing high up 
beneath its feathery crown of foliage a great burden 
of clustered fruit. The same sweep of the glass 
brought within range both it and "Jupiter Lights,” 
the lighthouse made known to us all so well by a 
famous story teller. 
A hundred miles further south are growing some 
trees which are known to have been there for half a 
century ; but for how much longer, or how they came 
to be there, the historian saith not. Doubtless the 
seed was washed ashore from the south, and either 
thrown high up on the beach by some great storm, 
or carried there by a strolling native or by a wander¬ 
ing half-savage settler. Certain it is that it found 
congenial soil, and rooted and grew and thrived, 
that it might teach a lesson to a future generation. 
Cocoa-nut-growing upon this coast has been 
marked by well-defined epochs. The beginning of 
the first one was when this seed, long ago, was 
washed upon this almost uninhabited shore, and 
thus was providentially saved from perishing. 
The second period began fifteen years ago, when 
the barque " Providential ” (from what port I know 
not) went ashore some thirty miles below this 
Jupiter Inlet, and made a total wreck, not only of 
herself, and of owners’ and consignees' hopes, but of 
a goodly cargo of Cocoa-nuts as well. Fifteen year 
is only a little stretch of time, and the march of pro¬ 
gress goes with swift strides. Fifteen years ago the 
dwellers upon this coast were few ; they were far 
apart, and further yet from even the outposts of 
civilization. 
This cargo of Cocoa-nuts was a gift of the sea none 
too well appreciated. It could not be eaten; it 
could not be worn, nor converted into coin of the 
realm. Then, remembering the old trees to the 
south which some of them had either seen or heard 
of, and in default of any other use to which to put 
this questionable treasure-trove, the settlers began to 
plant the nuts. 
The beginning of the third epoch came seven years 
later. The history of this I will give, as nearly as 
possible, as I had it from the lips of the man best 
qualified to speak, Ezra Osborne, doubtless the 
largest Cocoa-nut planter in the world. It was told 
to me one mid-winter afternoon as we sat beneath 
the friendly shade of a Cocoa-nut grove, upon the 
shores of that idyllic spot that men have named 
Lake Worth. It was winter, but the flowers were 
blooming about us, and the dense, rank vegetation 
of the tropics crept in tangles round our feet. 
" It is about ten years," said Mr. Osborne, " since 
my attention was first attracted towards Florida as a 
desirable place for investment. F'inding that I could 
secure a large tract of land along the Bay of Biscayne 
at a very low figure, I purchased it without any 
definite idea of its value or ultimate use, but rather 
on the principle that any land in the state was 
desirable at that price. Subsequently I was led to 
look into the possibilities of Cocoa-nut-culture, and 
gave orders for planting a couple of thousand trees 
upon my purchase. The agent to whom the order 
was given found himself unable to carry it out, by 
reason of his inability to procure the seed-nuts. By 
the time his report was made I had become sufficiently 
interested in the project to determine on carrying it 
out on a much larger plan than was at first 
contemplated. 
" The great difficulty in the matter was to procure 
the seed, the peculiarity being that the nuts must 
be still enveloped in their husk, which is usually 
removed before they become an article of commerce. 
Importers who were consulted were at first eager to 
take the contract for furnishing the required amount, 
but after correspondence with their foreign agents 
were all finally compelled to abandon it. At last a 
Baltimore dealer was found, of sufficient enterprise 
to send a vessel to Trinidad upon this special errand, 
and to bring a cargo of somewhat more than 100,000 
nuts safely to this coast. 
"A vessel was then fitted out at New York with 
men, teams, implements, and commissary stores, and 
despatched to the scene, when the work of planting 
began. For three successive years such a cargo of 
seed was brought from the same source, and the 
planting continued until some 330,000 seed-nuts had 
been placed in the ground. To show further the 
.extent of the operations, it may be stated that the 
plantation at the end of that time embraced more 
than 3,000 acres, and extended in an almost unbroken 
line for 45 miles along a narrow strip of coast, 
besides embracing many of the eastern Keys." 
After three years, work was suspended and the 
owner prepared to await patiently the maturity and 
fruiting of the trees. Mr. Osborne disclaims having 
had, even at that time, any definite idea regarding 
the disposal of the product which was expected to 
result from this immense experiment. Cocoa-nut¬ 
planting had been found profitable elsewhere, notably 
in the island of Ceylon. The world was rapidly 
increasing its capacity for absorbing products of all 
sorts, and doubtless would be ready for this one by 
the time it was ready.— J. K. Reeve, in “American 
Gardening." 
(To be continued.) 
Hardening §£iscellany. 
rose SHOWS. 
I wish to draw attention to a nuisance in connection 
with the above,and trust that stringent measures will 
be adopted to put a stop to it. I refer to the practice 
of exhibitors selling flowers before the exhibition is 
closed. At most Rose shows visitors are seen carry¬ 
ing flowers about the grounds an hour or two after 
the exhibition is open, and the result is (I speak from 
unpleasant experience) that the manager of the show 
is inundated with applications from all sorts and con¬ 
ditions of people to procure blooms for them ; and if 
he expresses his inability to comply with the requests 
he is at once accused of favouritism, and asked "how 
it is that Mrs. Jones and a host of others can walk 
about with flowers, and I am refused? ” The remedy 
is to insert a regulation in the Schedule to the effect 
that any exhibitor selling flowers before the close of 
the exhibition (either surplus stock or from the com¬ 
peting stands) forfeits the amount awarded in prizes. 
—Bruce Findlay, Manchester. 
STRAWBERRY JOHN RUSKIN. 
Now that it has had time to thoroughly establish 
itself, the new Strawberry, John Ruskin, promises to 
entirely supersede Laxton’s Noble. It is doing well 
in the south this year, and as an early variety grown 
side by side with Noble in the delightful old garden 
at Penshurst Place, Kent, it proves to be quite as 
early, equally as good a cropper, and beats it pointless 
for colour and flavour. Mr. Bridger, who grows all 
hardy fruits so well, has a fine crop of Strawberries 
notwithstanding late frosts, but, as at most other 
places, they sadly want rain. 
FERNSIDE, SEVENOAKS. 
When looking through the plant houses at Fernside 
the other day I was very pleased to find the follow¬ 
ing Orchids in bloom:—Arides crispum, with fine 
branching spikes, Cattleya Mendelii, Lselia pur- 
purata alba, a good form with broad petals, 
Dendrobium Dalhousiana, Oncidium altissimum, 
O. sphacelatum, O. flexuosum, Epidendrum 
vitellinum magus, with seven good spikes doing well 
in a basket suspended close to the glass. Two 
plants of the autumn flowering Cattleya labiata 
growing in the stove were making very strong 
growths, each with sheaths. The conservatory was 
very gay with fine well grown plants of herbaceous 
Calceolarias, the strain, too, being an excellent one. 
Gloxinias are also finely flowered. Passing out on 
to the well kept lawn the eye is at once attracted by 
a magnificent bed of Ghent Azaleas, Rhododendrons, 
etc., of various shades of colour; this picture is not 
a little enhanced by a background of fine trees 
which are situated in Knole Park, just across the 
Tonbridge Road, to which the lawn extends. Every¬ 
where neatness and good order prevails, reflecting 
great credit on Mr. W. Read, Admiral Miller’s able 
gardener.—S. C. 
SPIR/CA DECUMBENS. 
There are several dwarf, shrubby species of Spiraea 
that are suitable for rockwork, but the decumbent 
nature of this plant gives it special claim for covering 
banks and rambling about amongst stones. It is a 
native of Austria, and therefore perfectly suitable for 
our climate. The flowers are white and produced in 
umbels, terminating shoots that rise only 3 in. to 
6 in. above the soil, and look not only interesting 
but pretty. The leaves are small, and oblanceolate 
or wedge-shaped and serrate. The plant may be 
reckoned amongst the dwarfest of shrubs, with suffi¬ 
ciently conspicuous flowers to be grown for them 
alone. The latter are developed in succession during 
the course of summer by reason of the young shoots 
that arise as the plant extends. 
DIANTHUS CYCLOPS. 
The habit of this plant reminds us very much of a 
narrow-leaved Carnation, and the foliage is also 
glaucous. The stems rise to a height of 12 in. to 16 in. 
bearing a few large and rather striking flowers at 
the top. The petals are red or pink, apparently ac¬ 
cording to their age, toothed at the edge, and fur¬ 
nished with a large wedge-shaped crimson blotch at 
the base of the lamina. There seems no reason why 
a race of useful and showy varieties might not 
be developed from this type. Some flowering 
specimens may be seen on the rockery at Kew. 
GOLDEN DROP. 
This popular name is aptly applied to the species o 
Onosma, all of which, in cultivation at least, have 
drooping flowers of some shade of yellow. Onosma 
stellulatum tauricum is one of, if not the best, and 
has one-sided, curved racemes of bright yellow flowers 
which are somewhat funnel-shaped, but narrow, and 
comparable to the drop or pendant of an earring 
The stems vary from 6 in. to 8 in. in height and are 
more or less branched, and furnished at the base 
chiefly with linear-lanceolate, hispid leaves. The 
rough character of the foliage is a characteristic of a 
large number of the Borageworts to which family it 
belongs. The plant is perrennial and may be propa¬ 
gated by cuttings of the barren shoots placed in very 
sandy soil under a handglass. Seeds might also be 
sown to get up a stock. The flowers are fragrant f 
and altogether the subject is a very suitable one for 
planting on rockwork. 
THE TREE LUPINE. 
Of the perennial species of Lupine, none are more 
frequently grown than Lupinus polyphyllus and its 
white variety. Several annual species are grown, 
but neither of them perhaps is so universally dis¬ 
seminated in gardens as the perennial species just 
named. The Tree Lupine (Lupinus arboreus) ought 
to find a place in every garden where flowers of this 
class are appreciated. When allowed to get estab¬ 
lished and to attain a height of 4 ft. to 5 ft. it pro¬ 
duces racemes of bloom in hundreds. The 
typical form has bright yellow flowers in somewhat 
whorled racemes, 6 in. to 12 in. in length, resembling 
to some extent Laburnum, except that the racemes 
are erect instead of being drooping. There is a large 
mass of the species in the nursery of Messrs. Barr & 
Son, Long Ditton, showing several shades of colour. 
Besides the bright yellow, there is a variety with' 
pale blue flowers, and another pale yellow one 
having the wings slightly tinted with blue. The 
mixture is very pretty and interesting owung to the 
profusion of bloom. The bright yellow and the pale 
blue forms v.re the best. The foliage is of the usual 
form, but is rendered less noticeable by the flowers. 
The stems are woody and do not die down in winter, 
neither should they be cut, otherwise the show of 
bloom will be poor. It would be an excellent sub¬ 
ject for the wild garden, or for planting on banks 
where it might be allowed to grow freely. 
