GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 24I 



many people spend about half the year in Florida and half in some 

 other state, and are therefore entitled to be counted in either place. 

 But when we take several cities together such errors (except 

 the seasonal one last named) ought to offset each other to a con- 

 siderable extent. And it is safe to say that the population of the 

 ten largest cities (which w^ere not the same places each time, 

 though) nearly doubled between 1890 and 1895, decreased a little 

 in the next five years, and then more than doubled in the decades 

 1900-1910 and 1905-1915. The increase from 191 5 to 1920 was 

 less than 15%, but the rural population at the same time was 

 practically stationary, as seems to have been the case in most other 

 states. The ten cities or towns next in rank did not seem to be af- 

 fected so much by the freezes of 1895 and 1899, strange to say, 

 and they just about doubled every ten years between 1895 and 

 191 5, but gained very little in the last five years. 



WINTER RESORTS 



The mild dry winters of peninsular Florida naturally attract 

 many visitors from the colder states, and they are an important 

 source of revenue, ranking in that respect close to the products 

 of the phosphate mines, forests and farms. It would be very dif- 

 ficult to estimate the total number of "tourists" that visit central 

 Florida in an average year, but the average maximum number 

 that are expected at any one time in the height of the season may 

 be guessed at by means of the hotel capacity. Of course all the 

 hotels are not likely to be filled at the same time, and many if not 

 most of them are open all the year for the accommodation of com- 

 mercial travelers, etc. But at the same ^time no hotel directory is 

 absolutely complete and up to date, and there are many winter vis- 

 itors who rent cottages or even live in tents, so that the indicated 

 hotel capacity is probably as good a measure of the tourist busi- 

 ness as can be found.* 



*The tourists are presumably all white (and mostly adults), though the 

 negro population must be augmented a little also in the winter season by a 

 certain number of waiters, porters, etc. 



