GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 



277 



its yield has not been computed because the chances of error are 

 too great. For example, if only one or two farmers in a region 

 raise a certain crop their yield in the census year might easily be 

 below or far above the normal, in accordance with the principle 

 set forth a few pages back, so that averages based on them might 

 be very misleading. 



"Vegetables" are left out of this table, because so many dif- 

 ferent kinds, measured in different units, are lumped together in 

 the government census reports. Both federal and State censuses 

 give the number instead of acreage of fruit trees, apparently be- 

 cause some farms have only a few scattered trees whose acreage 

 cannot be measured ; but the average number of orange and grape- 

 fruit trees per acre is commonly reckoned at 70, and the acreage 

 has been computed on that basis. 



TABLE 37. 



Average Yield per Acre of Certain Crops in Central Florida, 1909. 



REGIONS 



CROPS 



o ^ 



M^ 





Corn (bushels) 



Oats (bushels) 



Rice (bushels) 



Peanuts (bushels 



Hay (tons) 



Irish potatoes (bushels) — 

 Sweet potatoes (bushels) — 



Sugar cane (tons) 



Sugar cane (gals, syrup) — 



Oranges (boxes) 



Grapefruit (boxes) 



Strawberries (quarts) 



16.0 

 12.2 



14.2 



1.0 



51.0 



85.7 

 4-0 



164 

 81 



152 



10.6 

 13-9 



22.1 



1.6 



72.3 



82.3 

 7.7 

 221 

 138 



12.0 

 12.8 

 17.7 

 16.3 

 i-o 



52-4 

 70.8 

 4.4 

 199 

 115 

 129 



13.3| 

 12.1| 



17.5| 

 19.2| 

 1.2| 

 57.4| 

 101.5| 

 13.5| 



I45\ 

 103| 



146 1 



2130J 



14.6| 

 13.9| 



15.7| 

 l.lj 



92.3| 

 lOO.lj 

 7.4 

 171 

 119 

 103 

 680 



13.7 



17.7 



23.5 



11.9 



1.2 



87.0 



85.8 



13.9 



155 



176 



144 



1737 



12.4 



1.1 



90.8 



105.0 



21.2 



179 



153 



121 



15.7 

 10.0 



1.5 



95-4 



120.0 



13.4 



294 



115 



98 



11.5 

 13.1 



22.7 



18.5 



1.2 



84.6 



90.4 



9.4 



178 



122 



129 



1611 



11.6 



14.0 



19.8 



18.4 



1.0 



100.8 



94.7 



11.1 



196 



123 



112 



1777 



The yield of any crop of course fluctuates from year to year 

 with the weather, etc., but should not change mruch from one 

 decade to another, except for a slight increase as the population 

 becomes denser, land more valuable, and farming more intensive. 

 Natural fertility of soil seems to have little to do with crop yields. 

 probably because differences in that respect are so easily elim- 

 inated by the use of a few dollars' worth of labor or fertilizer, or 

 both. The Middle Florida hammock belt is unquestionably the 



