I 



INTRODUCTION. 



This report is a sequel to one on the geography and vegetation of 

 northern Florida, published in the Sixth Annual Report, late in 

 rgi4, which covered that part of the state north of latitude 29°3o'. 

 The present investigation begins where the former left off and 

 covers 15 counties on the peninsula, extending south to about lati- 

 tude 27°40 '. These Central Florida* counties, from Levy, Marion 

 and Volusia on the north to Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola and Bre- 

 vard on the south, cover about 13,900 square miles or 26% of the 

 area of the state, and included 31% of its total population and 

 34% of its white population in 191 5. 



In the six years that have elapsed since the northern Florida re- 

 port was written considerable additional information about the re- 

 sources of the state has accumulated, or been unearthed from var- 

 ious publications, and at the same time a number of improvement? 

 in the methods of geographical description have been made. There 

 • are only half as many natural regions to be described in central a? 

 in northern Florida, and the regional descriptions in the present re- 

 port are more condensed, especially as regards vegetation, for 

 quantitative plant lists, although very significant to those who know 

 how to interpret them, can probably be fully appreciated only by 

 a small minority of readers. Much greater use than before is here 

 made of statistics, and a multitude of fundamental facts about each 

 region, which it would take at least ten times as long to write out in 

 sentences, is presented in the form of tables, with enough explana- 

 tion to bring out the salient features. 



On the other hand the general features of the whole area are now 

 treated much more fully than was done for northern Florida, and 

 some interesting general principles not widely knowin hitherto are 

 brought out by means of statistics and otherwise. Statistics indeed 



*This part of the State is sometimes arbitrarily called "JNIiddle Florida" 

 by persons unfamiliar with its traditions, but Middle Florida, by long-established 

 usage (dating from a time when the peninsula was almost uninhabited) is 

 that part of the State between the Suwannee and Apalachicola Rivers. Central 

 Florida is a more or less arbitrary designation, but it is now used in the same 

 sense by the State Agricultural Department in dividiidng the State inta five 

 groups of counties approximately equal in area. 



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