athered very largely, and sold for some purpose not very clearly
defined or explained.

The banyan tree has to be seen to be understood. It is really an
exclusive product of Florida and is found in the Key West country, where
sea island cotton will grow all the year around, indifferent to changes
of season. The banyan is almost a colony of trees in itself, having,
apparently, a dozen trunks in one. All the upper boughs are more or less
united, and the old proverb of "In union there is strength," seems to
have in it a unique illustration and confirmation.

Lake Worth is one of the prettiest lakes in the South. It is a very
beautiful sheet of water, broken only by Pitts' Island, which is located
near its northern end. The most useful and desirable products of the
North have here a congenial home, alongside those most loved in the
region of the equator. A New Englander may find his potatoes, sweet
corn, tomatoes and other garden favorites, and can pluck, with scarcely
a change in his position, products that are usually claimed as
Brazilian. He finds in his surroundings, as plentiful and as free as the
water sprinkling before him, such strange neighbors as coffee, the
tamarind, mango, pawpa, guava, banana, sapadillo, almond, custard apple,
maumec apple, grape fruit, shaddock, Avadaco pear, and other equally new
acquaintances.

And these are all neighbors, actual residents, natives of the soil, not
imported immigrants or exacting visitors to be tenderly treated. Giant
relatives, equally at home, are the rubber tree, mahogany, eucalyptus,
cork tree and mimosa. All these, within forty hours' travel of New York,
to be reached in winter by an all-rail trip, and to be enjoyed in a
climate that is a perpetual May. It was but a few years ago (less than a
dozen) that the beauties of Lake Worth were at first dimly reported by
venturesome sportsmen, who had gazed upon its unspeakable loveliness.

To-day the taste and labor of wealthy capitalists from East and from
West, have lined its fair shores with elegant homes. One of these, the
McCormick Place, has for the past two years been famous for its wondrous
beauty. It is situated at Palm Beach, on the eastern shore of the lake,
and faces westward or inland. It thus receives the cool air from the
lake and the breezes from the Atlantic, which is but a stroll distant.
The entire estate comprises 100 acres, all under high cultivation. It
has a water front on both lake and ocean of 1,200