264 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT. 



Ha, Tilllandsia, Eupatoriuni compositif ilium, Pteridium, Kuhnistera, Psoralea, 

 Eupatorium capillifolium, and several others. No one explanation will fit all 

 these cases, but some of those in the former category are simply species of more 

 northern distribution, which hardly extend down into the Florida peninsula at 

 all, and many of the latter prefer dry soils (swamps and flatwoods being com- 

 paratively scarce in the southeastern portion of this belt). 



It is quite likely also that the chemical composition of the soils has 

 something to do with the problem. Although no definite statements can 

 be made in the absence of chemical analyses, what is known of the 

 geology and the relations of the same species of plants to soils elsewhere 

 leads to the belief that phosphorus is relatively more abundant south- 

 eastward; and some of the trees in the second category seem to like 

 phosphorus, as wi'.l be pointed out in the discussion of other regions. 



The percentage of evergreens is 74.5 in the virestern division, 69.3 in 

 the middle, and 66.1 in the southeastern. The percentages of Ericaceae 

 among the shrubs are 7-7, 20.5 and 8.7, and of Leguminosae among the 

 herbs 8.4, 1.8 and 8.2 respectively. Although these figures are not per- 

 fectly consistent, and may not be very accurate, the high percentage of 

 Ericaceae and 'low percentage of Leguminosae in the middle division 

 must have some significance. It is probably correlated with the greater 

 development of sour flatwoods and bays in that division. 



Economic Features — On account of the large amount of fertile 

 soil in this belt it attracted settlers at an early date. Several of the 

 old Spanish grants shown on large maps of Florida include parts of 

 it, and the comparatively old and important cities and towns of 

 Quincy, Monticello, Madison, Jasper, Live Oak, Lake City, Alachua, 

 Gainesville and Micanopy (all but two of them county seats) are 

 located in it or on its edges.* In 1910 at least 28% of the land was 

 cleared, and there were about 28 inhabitants to the square mile, an 

 increase of 16% in ten years. Negroes are in the majority, as in 

 most other old agriculturjal regions in the South. 



There is considerable lumbering and turpentining on the sandier 

 soils, and the hardwood forests on the richer soils are of consider- 

 able importance. At Gainesville there has been for many years a 

 hardwood sawmill which ships a great deal cfi lumber to foreign 

 countries. 



The 19TI-12 crop statistics in the last report of the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture are very incomplete for Gadsden and Jefferson 

 Counties, and not much better for Madison. Some of the deRcien- 

 cies have been supplied from the State census figures for 1905, but 

 that method is not very satisfactory, for the production of each crop 

 varies from year to year, and some must have increased consider- 



*In the southern tier of counties in Georgia, Cairo, Thomasville, Quitman 

 and Valdosta are similarly situated. 



