GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA I4I 



Population. As Osceola County is almost entirely in this region, 

 its population is probably typical enough of the whole. The num- 

 ber of inhabitants per square mile ranged from 1.7 in i8:jO to 3.1 

 in 1910 and 6.1 in 1915, since when there seems to have been a de- 

 crease, though the cutting off of Okeechobee County in 19 17 makes 

 exact comparisons between 191 5 and 1920 impossible. In 1910 the 

 proportion of native whites was 80.2%, the highest in central Flor- 

 ida; of foreign whites 2.9% and of negroes 16.8%. The only 

 incorporated places in the whole region were Kissimmee, with 4,221 

 inhabitants, St. Cloud, with 2,080 (all white, with a considerable 

 number of Union veterans), and Taft, with 216 (mostly negroes). 



The leading religious denominations among the whites in 1916 

 were Baptist, Southern Methodist, Northern Methodist (?), Dis- 

 ciples of Christ, Northern Presbyterian, and Catholic; and among 

 the negroes Baptist, African Methodist, Northern Methodist (?), 

 Primitive Baptist, and A. M. E. Zion. 



Agriculture. There are great variations in size and type of farms 

 in this region, from small truck farms and orange groves such as 

 are found all over central Florida, and larger sugar-cane plantations 

 near the edge of the lake region, to enormous cattle ranches with 

 very little cultivated land, these last mostly near the Kissimmee 

 River.* On account of these variations the bare statistics for Os- 

 ceola County, or any similar area that w^e might have data for, give 

 a rather imperfect picture of the conditions. 



metto, Pintis claiisa, P. serotina, Gordonia, Ilex Cassine, Serenoa, Hypericum 

 fasciculatum, Qiierciis mytMifolia, Pieris nitida, Cholisma 'fruticosa, Bejaria, 

 Spartina Bakeri, Tillandsia fasciculata, Sarracenia minor, Tillandsia recurvata, 

 Doellingeria, Polygala cymosa, Anchistea, Dichromena latifolia, Polygala Rug- 

 elii, AleWis lutea, Nymphaea, Sabbatia grandiflora, and Aristida spiciformis. 



*Most of the cattlemen depend mainly on free range, and own very little 

 land, but there is one company with headquarters in the southeastern corner of 

 Polk County that is said to have 226,000 acres fenced and to own 36,000 cat- 

 tle. As in some of the grazing regions of the West, there have been some con- 

 flicts between the cattlemen and the small farmers who are gradually encroach- 

 ing on the free range, with occasional bloodshed. 



