6l2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Burns in 1892^° admits the healthfulness of this kind of eoimtry while 

 granting it no other advantage. In White's Statistics (1849) we read 

 that there were no doctors in Wayne County at that tinie^ because none 

 were needed. The universal surface of sand in this region makes it 

 the cleanest country imaginable, especially in wet weather, and also 

 incidentally obviates the necessity of shoeing horses. 



The water from shallow wells near the swamp, especially those 

 which penetrate the " hardpan " of the ridge, is not always agreeable 

 to persons unaccustomed to it, but an abundance of good water can be 

 obtained from artesian wells, which are in successful operation at Way- 

 cross, Fargo, Moniac and other places. 



Economic Aspects 



The greatest material resource of Okefinokee Swamp to-day is of 

 course the cypress timber. This cypress, sometimes distinguished as 



Scene on Logging Canal. 



the pond cypress (Taxodium imhricarium) , is not the same as the com- 

 mon cypress of commerce (T. distichum) , but its wood is believed to be 

 a little stronger and heavier if anything. The pond cypress of Oke- 

 finokee is not surpassed anywhere for quantity and size, this being near' 

 the center of distribution of this species. (The other species seems to 

 center in the lower Mississippi valley.) With conservative methods of 

 exploitation the supply should be practically perpetual. Next to the 



^'' Bull. 84, U. S. Geo]. Surv., p. 82. 



