It has other attractions. I have been told that it is the only part of Florida where the pine apple will grow in the open air. Certainly guavas, pomegranates, dates, alligator pears, (that fruit which it is worth a voyage to the tropics to taste,) sugar apples and most of the other appetizing luxuries of the torrid zone would flourish.
The climate in winter is serene, from two-and-a-half to three inches of rain falling per month. The mean daily marking of the thermometer from November to April is 72°, of the hygrometer 68°. Here is another hint. The arrow root (_maranta arundinacea_) grows along Key Biscayne in great abundance. It furnishes the very finest form of starch known, a most admirable article of diet for the sick, and a most profitable one to the cultivator. Its wholesale price in our markets is from fifty to seventy-five cents per pound; there is always a demand for it, and tens of thousands of pounds a year could be readily gathered.
I have already detailed at some length the position, soil, etc., of Key Biscayne Bay (ante p. 102). But, as already said, I build for the future, and not the present. It has the best warm climate in the United States for invalids, and it deserves to become a much frequented spot.
In the introductory remarks I have thrown out a number of suggestions which every traveler in the South will do well to heed. I am now going to _servir un plat de mon metier_--to offer some admonitions to invalids distinctively, and especially those suffering or threatened with pulmonary and bronchial affections. How often does one see invalids abroad deluding themselves with the idea that the climate alone will cure them! Vain hope. Better remain at home and die, if need be, than undertake long and fatiguing journeys with any such expectation. The result in either case is the same.
There are certain rules of personal hygiene and diet which are half the battle, which might win it at home, which will almost surely win it if the right change of climate is made in time. They are not applicable to all, but they must form the basis of every regimen.
And here, once more, I repeat the watchword, _Courage_. If improvement is not manifest at once, do not become disheartened. Often it is months, often it is not until after the return home that the hoped for change for the better is obvious. The interim is at best wearisome. Make it as cheerful as possible. Valetudinarians should not travel alone. They fall easy victims to Giant Despair, who is still as ready as ever to pounce on unwary travelers, especially on wet days, alone in dull country taverns, with nothing to think of but themselves and their own aches and pains. Go in company and always have a resource for spare hours.