GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 235 



mercial fertilizers of other, kinds became available in lari^e quan- 

 tities, but almost stood still between 1895 '^"'^ 1900. when two se- 

 vere freezes dealt the orange industry a staggering blow.* (The 

 lake region actually lost population during that period.) From 

 1900 to 19 1 5 approximately the former rate prevailed, but the 

 world war retarded the increase between 19 15 and 1920, as it did 

 in most other parts of the United States outside of manufactur- 



mg centers. 



COMPOSITION 



The percentage of negroes w^as low-est in 1885, only 28; but in- 

 creased soon after that, when the development of farms and phos- 

 phate mines created a new demand for unskilled labor, and also 

 at the time of the great freezes, when many white people of north- 

 ern origin left the State. At this writing the racial composition 

 for 1920 by counties has not been made public, but it is quite prob- 

 able that the negro percentage is now even less than it w^as in 

 1885, on account of the great northward migration of negroes 

 during the recent war. As in other parts of the South, negroes 

 have always been most numerous in the most fertile regions. 



The red and yellow races constituted less than 1-20 of 1% 

 of the total population in 1910. Over half of them were Chinese, 

 and most of the Chinese were in Tampa (and presumably in the 

 laundry business.) 



There are (or w^re in 19 10 at least) more men than women in 

 every region, as is the case in practically all countries that are 

 being settled up rapidly, for men naturally precede w^omen in seek- 

 ing homes in new territory. 



NATIVITY 



The percentage of foreign wdiites in the total population 

 ranged from 4.3 in 1850 to 1.96 in 1880, 9.1 in 1910, and 7.3 in 

 191 5, and is highest in and around Tampa, on account of its being 

 a seaport and a large city. The leading foreign nationalities rep- 

 resented in the whole area in 1880 w^ere English. German, 

 Swedish, Canadian, Irish. French and Scotch, all from much far- 



*See Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agriculture 1895:143-174 (1896); Geograph- 

 ical Review 2 :36i-367. Nov. 1916. 



