The Florida agriculturist., 1905-11-15
THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST.


heard at this season of the year, COM
bine with other minor details to make |
this land of idyllic loveliness. L
would not like to miss the rainy sea-
son of Florida, because it is the time
when nature is in all her beauty, in
her tropical dressing, in her most eff
feCtive form. 1t is never Oppresslvely
hot, never too dry, and the nights are
always delightfully."- cool. The lover of
nature never grows weary of the glor-
iOuS Florida summer.
Among shrubs the Indian Lilac or
Grape Myrtle Oagerstroemia indica)
is the glory of the rainy season. The
abundance of its flower trusses, their
large size and lasting quality the
brightness of their cOlOrs, the long
Towering period from early June to
late August, and the fine form and
dense growth of the specimens, COM
bine to make the Indian Lilac a most
valuable adjunct to our subtropical
gardens. The landscape effect pro-
duced by large specimens in full
bloom is indescribably brilliant. Its
| only fault is its deciduous character.
A dense and broad specimen in my
garden of the light rose-colored va
riety, standing among a group of Mag
nolias (M grandif1ora), Wax Myrtles,
| Cypress (CupresSus tOrulosa, c. lusi
tanica, c. sempervirens), HOllies, Gar
denias, Michelia fuscata, Illicium re-
| ligiosum, Oleanders, Myrtles, Palms,
and Cycads has a most charming ap-
pearance when in flower, adding beau
t. and brightness to the dark and
glaucous colors of the evergreens.
There are white, rose-colored, scarlet,
/ nd in
The flowers are slightly fragrant.
The many large specimens of Mag
nOlia grandiflora are now swarming
with birds, mostly mocking birds,
blue jays, thrashers, red cockaded
of fish-crows. These birds are all
very fond of the aromatic, oily fruit
Of these trees, which just begins 10
ripen in abundance The fruit cones,
in many varieties of a consnicuo is
red color, burst their cells, and the
glossy red seeds are displayed to Chr
eyes. Palms and Cycads ar nov
in the full vigor of their growth; Our
Indigenous species (Zamia pumila and
L. fioridana) are perfectly hardy,
forming in time dense masses of ele-
giant, glossy foliage. Cycas revoluta
and Dion edule are also perfectly
adapted to soil and climate Zamia
furfuracea and Ceratozamia mexicana
succeed with little protection. Cy-
cas- siamensis, which | raised from
seed, is as hardy as the common spe-
cies, and c. circinalis endured a tenn
perature of 10 degrees Fahrenheit
last winter, losing only a part of its
| foliage. The lower part of the trunk
was banked with sand and the top
was covered with punches of Spanish
! Moss (Tillandsia usneoides). Cy-
cas- revoluta just begins to ripen its
! large, somewhat fiat, orange-scarlet
seeds in great abundance. Like the
eggs in a nest, they are snugly hid
underneath the woolly incurved tops
of the leafy points, the petioles of
which carry on both sides at their
base the snowy fruit We can only
enjoy the beauty of these closely
packed bright-red seeds when bending
the dome-shaped top of leafy fruits
asunder This is the first time that
have the opportunity of admiring
perfect fruit on my large specimens.
/ Two male plants flowered at the same
time with two female specimens. |
shook the pollen in my hand and
sprinkled it over the female cones,
with the result that | shall be able to
gather some 400 or 500 perfect seeds
Along the veranda the bright-yel-
low bell-shaped blossoms of several
species of Allamanda, the rOSy-red