The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-12-19

fingers Of the moss are striving to bear
up TO the stars? See the faint White
ness gleariing out-the silver of the
Iliiies-with golden hearts-and full of
lperfume--liftlng their VoceIess evening
lprayer to Heaven-and tell me, ye who
read, is there not poetry mid such sur
roundings? 1 can never forget picture
which came to me on the st. Johns.
The sky was of pale, opal tint-With
few tiny, feecy white clouds, low down
j l-drooplng behind the trees-and they
those beautiful trees, green and gold
and scarlet-Dent down until their
branches trailed in the water. Just on
my left was an Opening-a steep bluff,
rising out of the river, planted III
orange trees-through which, on the top
of the hill, a little white cottage was
peeping. Near it the water ran up into
u little cove, where sheltered, it was
CLASSY and quiet as mirror. BY me it
was rufneu into thousand little
dancing curves and rippes, by the soft,
balmy south wind. And warm, summer
like air came stealing into me. bearing
the perfume OF roses from The garden,
and the scent of oranges, and l could
hear the soft murmur OF the lake, family
Tripping upon the shore. 1t was in De-
lcember--and you must forgive me for
asking how could ever again be salts.
fled, away up in the cold Of Northern
WinterS
But there are other rivers which justly
claim notice as We pass them, though
none possessing, to me, The mysLlc
beauty Of the ST. John's. My home is
not upon the st. Johns, but 1 love to
come sometimes to Mediate ana dream
upon its oyeliness. The Suwanee, fow-
ing south from Georgia into the Mexican
iGult at Vacassar Bar; the Appalachi-
cola, the Choctawhatchie, Escambia and
Perdldo, are all among the important
rivers of Florida. The country inclosing
/ the Suwanee is a fine agricultural coun-
try, and corn is advanced to great per-
lection.
OF late years the Oeklawaha, empty
, ing into the st. John's, after course OF
: two hundred miles, has become point
: of great interest to tourists, on account
of,its romantic scenery. tits extremely
I narrow sometimes affording barely
4 room for the passage of the little steamer
which puffs cneerily all the day long, and
is made last to the shore at night. This
y region also is farming land, aud yields
i abundantly OF corn.
may state here that owing to the gen.
eral nature Of our sofia sandy loam-
we raise no wheat.
The uillsDoro and the Halifax River
t banks are rich, not only in tropIc fruits
h and vegetable products, but are abun.
dainty supplied with the choicest oil
> timber-pine, cypress, cedar and oak,
8 in almost llmitablequantities. All the
/: live oak that supplies The merchant ma.
= rine of the New World is obtained from
the Halifax, while the flooring OF com.
!, merce comes from the Florida and North
b Carolina spruce. Millions of feet OF
sawed lumber are annually shipped to
O the English and Spanish possessions in
\ the West Indies.
/ The soil, as already intimated, is a
loan, sometimes gray, again yellow, and
q then black. Here and mere are found
4 stretches of country, rich in deposits OF
a shell. The surface of the country is
/ level tableland, and except slight rise
o in the western part of the State, we can
/ not boast of hills; but 1t differs very
0 materially i'll its physical outlines from
: the appearance OF any other State with
5 in our province. Thus, for instance, we
} will lind here, perhaps, half mile OF
OAK OF palmetto scrub, then mile OF
tine reacn, next group Of cabbage pal
metto, then stretch OF hammock, and,
, lastly, a savannah. Aud so it alter
mates continually. There is no monoto.
f nv. The hammocks are the highest
, grounds, densely wooded with heavy
timber, principally oak, hickory and cy.
press. These abound in maguiticence
aud beauty, heavily tringed with the
broad-leateu palmetCo and gemmed with
flowers OF every nue., they are pictur-
esque and romantic. The live OAK, which
is the noOlest monarch Of our forests, is
stately and imposing. From the sturdy
latterals depends The silver-gray moss,
sometimes from twenty to fifty feet,
which, interlaced by scarlet vines,
| mir at riL
unusual. l have had long rides through
the hammocks and pine groves, with the
cool, soft wind blowing i'll my face and
waiting up my spirits, filling me with
energy and hope for the future; ride s
through the woods, where the trees
stoop down SO low as to brush their cool.
green leaves across my face, and trail
their moss garlands tar enough for me
to reach with my hand, with the moon-
beams drifting in from the cypress
branches above like drips OF molten sill.
yer. But this is not their only value
this appeal to the realm OF sense-for the
hammocks form the body of our most
valuable lands, and are rich in Yegeta-
Bile accumulation. In market value they
stand pre-emlnenL; and lands are ac-
counted OF but little worth that do not
combine with them strip of hammock.
Next in order OF value is sandy loan,
of muddy, yellow hue, extremely wen
adapted to universal vegetation. Then
ranks the gray loan, aud, lastly, the red
and white sand OF barren poverty. Oc-
casionally we find a slight substratum
of moderately fair brick clay, but NOT
enough to impart that stiffness to the
Isoil necessary to wheat and other
bearded grain.
In the vegetable kingdom, 1T would be
wearisome did l seek to recount the
various products. Suffice it it to say
that these comprehend erything
known in the vegetable world, except,
perhaps, red cabbage, which requires
more Northerly latitude. Do not Impute
| dishonesty Of speech 70 me, when l say,
thai in the past April, SAW cabbage
the marblehead drum-ot tnat seasons
planting from the seed, which measured
in diameter, when denuded ol lateral
foliage, ftteen inches, and weighed,
when cut, eighteen pounds. This was
on the Halifax River, in the garden of
Mr.. Cnamberliu, who is a correspondent
for the Agricultural Department at
| w ashington. Az Mr. Waldron's farm,
on the Halifax, / saw in the last
spring, onions, sprung from the seed Of
that season, four feet iu height, and,
] last November, at the plantation of Mr..
/ hG ri I