St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-03-26


OF boxes, filed with fine fruit destined
Tor northern markets, are heaped upon
the wharfs. Every child land some
not children) upon the steamer applies
the suction process with supernatural
vigor. And, by the way, the best
method of eating an orange is still one
of the unsettled problems of the age.
The juice will soil fingers and face, do
the best you can. The favorite method
in the south is to cut off the outer vel
low part of the peel, so as to prevent
any smarting to the lips, and then eat
the fruit as one would an apple.
Good boarding houses and hotels are
found at many of these landings. Green
Cove Springs is one of the most popu-
lar resorts on the river. The springs
have valuable remedial qualities for
govt, rheumatism, ETC., and are equip
ped for hot and cold baths in the spring
waters. Farther up, at Tocoi, the cars
are seen standing upon the pier to take
passengers to the ancient city of st.
Augustine. This railroad has evident
ly taken for it's motto the last words OF
Marmion: "Charge, Chester, charger
The fare to st. Augustine, fourteen
miles, is two dollars. On the steamer.
two dollars pays for ride of nearly
200 miles.
Seventy five miles above Jackson
vile is Palatka, a town of some fifteen
hundred inhabitants, the terminus of
the Charleston and Savannah steam
ship lines. Here are good hotels and
boarding houses, filed with northern
boarders, county buildings, stores well
stocked with Florida curiosities, such
as living young alligators and rattle
snakes, jewelry made of alligators'
teeth, SEA beans, corals and shells from
the Gulf coast, paintings upon pearl
shells, plumes, and fine displays of the
taxidermist's art, showing nearly every
bird and animal of Florida. On the
other side of the river is Hart's orange
grove, one of the finest in the state from
which two thousand dollars worth of
fruit per acre has been sold in a single
year.
Here some of our party stop, while
the rest go on up the river dozen
miles, then through Dunn's Greek nine
miles. Here the channel is narrow,
and the shore with its foliage and ami
NAL life is clearly seen. The scenery
is unlike anything in the north, low,
level, wet, Overgrown with immense
and towering expresses, evergreens,
magnolias, strange looking palmettos
and palms, sweet bay trees, brilliant
holly and bright leaved naples, all
draped in long flowing gray moss,
while all the ground and lower branches
of the trees are covered with tangled
and thick masses of ivy and woodbine.
often floating for rods in islands of.
green upon the surface of the water.
The growth of vegetation is dense,
luxuriant and tropical. A half-dozen
alligators are seen summing themselves
on logs during the run through the
creek. They have been so often shot
at that they are little shy, and houn-
aered into the water as we passed.
They are not benevolent looking ami
mails, though they have fine, open
countenance. Here also are white her
ons and blue herOns, with plumes fine
enough for any lady's bat. The turkey
buzzard, with wings that spread five
feet from tip to tip, the street cleaner
OF southern cities, sails overhead.
At the upper end of the creek, on
Dunn's Lake, an almost countless flock
of wild ducks starts up with noisy
whirring of wings and splashing of wa
ter. The lake, like most of the waters
here, abounds in excellent fish mullet,
shad, bass, pickerel and others. On the
eastern shore of the lake, and five miles
back of it, is an unbroken forest,
where game large and small is abun-
dant. Here are found wild cats, bears,
deer, wild turkeys, quail, foxes, fox
squirrels, besides the deadly moccasin
and lattlesnake. At the upper or south
end of the lake is Crescent city, small
place of great expectations. Along the
western shore of the lake are fine and
profitable orange groves, of which more
eIeafter. Between the lake and the
river St. John is a peninsula called
Fruitland, where the rest of our party
are to make their home during their
stay in Florida.
Three miles from the lake shore,
among the pine trees, we find pleas
ant cottage house with wide veranda
and log kitchen, both covered with
grape vines and yellow jasmine in
bloom. In the enclosure about the
house are orange trees well loaded with
ripe fruit, mulberry trees with berries
ripening, grape vines that bore each
ten bushels of grapes last year, guava
bushes, lemon trees covered with fruit,
cherry, olive, lime, plum and peach
tree, the eucalyptus or Australian gum
trees, the China or umbrella tree, the
magnolia and the oak, the beautiful
Japan plum, the castor oil tree, the ba-
mana plant with its enormous leaves,
tS trees, quarter of an acre of straw
berries, and a fine variety of flowers
and shrubs. Here we stop.
On the night of our arrival, January