This chapter will be a sort of "General good of the order," a gathering together of scraps of information and experience that I cannot make fit anywhere else.

There are two schools of cultivators in Florida; one which believes it to be better to let weeds grow in summer, merely mowing them down; the idea being to shade the ground. The other school believes in clean culture. As a matter of fact we see good plants grown by both methods. Personally I believe in clean culture, though I do not, by any means, always live up to my ideas. It is well to begin to cultivate one's plants as soon as danger from frost is past in spring and to continue it until a short time before it may come in the fall. Hoe or cultivate your plants often, giving them a little fertilizer every time they are worked, and if they are mulched the material can be taken away before cultivating and replaced afterwards. The mulch will soon decay and enrich the soil.

For the past two years the rainfall in this vicinity has been far below normal. Within that time during the "rainy season" there have been months with scarcely an inch of precipitation and very little cloudiness. Yet in these two summers a neighbor of mine has raised fine crops of cow peas, sweet potatoes, velvet beans, peppers and other things on pine land without irrigation, largely because he kept the hoe and cultivator constantly going.

Many cultivators have put irrigation systems in their grounds and there is no doubt but that the judicious use of water on naturally dry land is beneficial. There are a number of different systems on the market but, generally speaking, one should get a plant which has as little obstruction from pipes as possible. For a small plate a windmill will do the pumping, forcing the water into an elevated tank, but a gasolene engine is better. Where one can have an electric current it can be used to run a light engine with tank that works automatically, a most excellent arrangement. It is better to water plants in the evening or when it is cloudy, and it never should be done when the sun is shining, especially during the warm season. The evening is the best time as there is no danger of sun scald if water is put on then, and one gets the greatest effect from a given quantity of water.

As a general thing I do not think plants need a great deal of trimming in Florida. Sheared trees and shrubs are, generally speaking, monstrosities and nothing of the kind should ever be grown except in a formal garden. To my mind they have no beauty even there. Dead wood should be cut out and often when shrubs get old they become straggling, and no amount of care or fertilizer will restore them to vigor and beauty. The reason for this is probably that our soil is poor and in time becomes exhausted. The best thing in such cases is to cut the growth back severely, sometimes almost to the ground, at a time when the plant is dormant. Then fertilize and work around it and in a short time a fine, vigorous growth will spring up and the shrub will be renewed. It is a good plan to work in some muck with the fertilizer. Old Oleanders and Chinese Hibiscus may be wonderfully renewed by this process.

If possible one should set trees and plants where they are to remain, but sometimes it is necessary to make changes in one's grounds and transplant large specimens. If any considerable amount of moving must be done it will pay to build a stone boat to use in carrying the plants from the old to the new locations. Dig the new hole first, taking care to make it a little larger than the ball of earth which is taken up with the plant to be moved. Dig the plant up carefully, raise it and slide it on the stone boat and haul to the new location; ease it into the hole without disturbing the ball of earth if possible, then carefully fill in earth into any crevices and thoroughly water. With such transplanting large things can be moved with but little risk and their growth need not be checked, especially if they are well mulched. I have generally had poor success transplanting palms of any considerable size but many of them can be successfully moved by the above method.

One can hardly estimate how much may be done in the way of decoration by the judicious use of ornamental vines. I have elsewhere suggested that when one is clearing pine land for a home the vigorous, well-formed pine trees should be left standing.

There is a class of vines which adheres to walls, the bark of trees, rocks and the like by means of adventive roots, tendrils or tendrillike processes which can be used to cover the stems of such trees. In the upper part of the state such vines as Tecoma radicans, Bignonia capreolata and Euonymus radicans are hardy and cling to smooth surfaces. Ficus repens covers walls beautifully and it should be hardy over the greater part of the state. The Bou-gainvilleas can be made to climb to the tops of the tallest trees and so can Bignonia venusta and all are superb ornaments in winter. The Solanums, seaforthianum and wendlandi, the Argyreias and Antigonons are fine for covering arbors, verandas, or trees in the southern part of the state. I have a poultry yard fence which was unsightly and I planted a vine of Ipomoea sidi-oides at one corner of it several years ago. This has spread over perhaps a dozen rods of the fence, has covered the poultry house and a quarter of an acre of adjoining ground. Through December every year it is covered with white blossoms until it resembles huge banks of snow. By counting the flowers on a given space and making an estimate of its entire surface I came to the conclusion that it bore a million flowers a day for over a month. I have seen a sheet of moonflower covering the entire front of a hammock for hundreds of feet, and a single specimen of Agdestes clematidea completely hiding a half dozen large trees. There is scarcely anything unsightly on one's place that cannot be covered and beautified with vines.