I02 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I3TH ANNUAL REPORT 



mostly by the sponge, business, at Tarpon Springs in Pinellas 

 County. 



In 1*916 the leading religious denominations among the whites 

 were Baptist, Methodist (southern), Church of Christ, Episcopalian 

 and Presbyterian; and among the negroes Baptist and African 

 Methodist. 



Agriculture. Agricultural conditions here are more like those of 

 the typical South or cotton belt than in most other parts of central 

 Florida. The ratio of farm land and improved land to total area 

 is indeterminate, for the same reason as density of population, but 

 in Levy and Citrus Counties in 1900 and 1910 there were 2.56 im- 

 proved acres per inhabitant, a lower figure than in a purely agricul- 

 tural region with American standards, and indicating the employ- 

 ment of a considerable part of the population in mining, lumbering, 

 fishing, etc. (This is especially noticeable in the case of the negroes, 

 who have less than one improved acre per inhabitant). Although 

 it is impossible to get any accurate data on the subject from existing 

 census reports, there are probably nearly as many families sup- 

 ported by phosphate mining as by farming, and even more may be 

 engaged in exploiting the forests for lumber and turpentine. 



The salient features of agriculture for the last three census 

 periods previous to 1920 are shown in the following table. 



The leading crops in these two counties in 1909, in order of value, 

 were ''vegetables", peanuts, corn, cotton (both kinds), sugar-cane, 

 oats, sweet potatoes, oranges, hay, peaches, grape-fruit, pears, and 

 Irish potatoes. Peanuts had probably increased in relative impor- 

 tance since 1899. j^'^dging by the increase in number of hogs per 

 farm. 



