GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 273 



CONDITIONS IN I9I9-2O 



At this writing only a few preliminary returns from the fed- 

 eral census of Jan. i, 1920, are available, not enough to warrant 

 the construction of a table for the different regions ; but the fol- 

 lowing results will indicate in a general way the developments of 

 a decade in central Florida as a whole. The percentage of farm 

 land has increased to 17.9 and of improved land to 5.4, or 1.61 

 acres per inhabitant. The percentage of white farmers has in- 

 creased a little, to 85.4, while owners and managers together con- 

 stitute 89.3% of all farmers, a trifle less than in 19 10. The farms 

 are a little larger now, averaging 106.8 acres with 32.2 improved, 

 but this may be due entirely to the larger proportion of white 

 farmers. 



The apparent value of land and buildings per farm has more 

 than doubled, being $8,400, but as the dollar of 1920 was probably 

 worth less than half that of 19 10, this does not necessarily indi- 

 cate any increase in rural standards of living. The number of cer- 

 tain animals per farm is as follows : Horses 0.94, mules 0.46, 

 cattle 13.9, sheep 0.78, hogs 12.6. This is a decrease in everything 

 except mules, and probably indicates a further approach to the 

 conditions prevailing in the east coast strip, where very intensive 

 farming is done with a minimum of live-stock. Some of the 

 horses may have been replaced by mechanical tractors, but that 

 change is likely to be much more marked in the next ten years than 

 in the last ten, if the supply of oil holds out. Statistics of farm 

 expenditures and the value of crops and animal products have not 

 yet been received, but it is altogether likely that they will show 

 a notable increase in intensity of farming. 



The amount of improved land at present is only about half 

 enough to feed the population, and however much this may be de- 

 plored by our patriotic citizens, this part of the country will doubt- 

 less continue indefinitely to be a large importer of food ; for in or- 

 der to become self-supporting the farm population would have tO 

 increase faster than the city population, something that has never 

 happened to any notable extent in the whole history of the United 

 States, the tendency being constantly in the other direction. 



