According to promise please find enclosed seeds of the sweet potato (white Barbadoes); also an immature plume or tassel of the sugar cane. This will give you some idea of the beauty of the cane tassel. Was grown on my place, but did not come to perfection on account of the severe white frosts of 26th and 27th of November. I cut this out of the top of stalk. There were no developed plumes or tassels in this vicinity this season. Find also seeds of a perennial climber known here as "The Beauty of Florida." It belongs to the order of Convolvulaceae. The leaves are finely divided. Flowers, white, rose colored throat. Is not plentiful. I cannot find the correct name for it. There is also a climber growing along the banks of the St. John's river, called the "Blazing Star;" star shaped and of brilliant crimson color. I have never been able to get a specimen of it yet. The Aster is in its glory now, climbing or rather straggling through the bushes with its many discs of rose and light purple, with now and then one of a bluish purple. They delight in the deep moist soil, and somewhat help to relieve the monotony of the green along the banks of the streams. There are occasionally places where there is no timber.

Long stretches of yellow, composed of Golden Rod (Solidago) and Coreopsis, with here and there a tall cabbage palmetto as a sentinel to keep off intruders from this mass of yellow. There is an ever changing panorama in this South Florida. The lofty and graceful cabbage palmetto indicates good land, and it only grows abundantly in moist ground, with numerous shrubs, trees and climbers as attendants. Here you can find the Gelsemium sempervirens - yellow Jessamine - in all its glory, filling the air for a long distance with its delightful perfume; then, again, there are long stretches of nothing but (Saw) dwarf palmetto (Sabal), and when in bloom presents a beautiful appearance with its long branching flower stalk and pale yellow fragrant flowers. The bees are in their glory sipping the nectar therefrom. Palmetto honey is the pride of South Florida. Again there come patches of Vanilla plant, Liatris odoratissima, also called Deer Tongue, with bright purple flowers and the faint scent of Vanilla. The odor is very perceptible late in fall or winter, with a carpet of Spaghum and Stag's Horn fern; and the Evergreen huckleberry with its small shining leaves and white flowers tipped with red, followed with a deep black berry in large clusters, sweet, and much sought for pies and preserves.

And perhaps a few yards distant is the Dahoon holly with its clusters of bright red berries and with an occasional Swamp Maple with yellow, purple and crimson leaves; and in the back ground the white Bay Magnolia glauca, with silvery green leaves and fragrant white blossoms. The Andromeda delights to grow in the shade and such company, with its beautiful white bell-shaped flowers. On and along the lakes and ponds - there you find the white and yellow water lily, basking in the sun. On a log or fallen tree you may see the bug-bear of the northern tourist, the alligator, whose teeth are so much sought for as ornaments, as mementos of a trip to the land of mammoth mosquitos and alligators.

Lake Maitland, Fla., December 24th, 1886.