II. TALLAHASSEE RED HILLS. 279 



possible exception of the Marianna red lands. Even yet, after three- 

 quarters of a century of cultivation by v^hites and negroes, most of 

 the farmers do not consider it necessary to use commercial fertiliz- 

 ers. According to the last census there were in Leon County 109,- 

 349 acres of improved land, and the expenditure for fertilizer in 

 1909 was $31,510, or about 29 cents per acre (as compared with $2 

 per acre for the whole State). And no doubt most of the ferti- 

 lizer was used in the more sandy parts of the county, leaving the 

 amount used in the red hills much smaller than the figures would 

 indicate. 



This seems to be the only part of northern Florida, outside of 

 cities, where cattle and hogs are not allowed to run at large. (The 

 stock law, or no-fence law, is pretty closely correlated with the 

 amount of woodland, for wherever cultivated fields occupy only a 

 small part of the area, as is the case in most parts of Florida, the 

 fields are fenced and cattle are allowed to graze in the woods ; while 

 where fields predominate it is more economical to put fences around 

 the pastures and leave the fields unfenced.) 



Other interesting features of this region, not so easily ex- 

 plained, are that the ox is the favorite beast of burden among the 

 negro farmers ; and that here, more than anywhere else in northern 

 Florida, large areas are owned and presei;ved for hunting and other 

 purposes by persons who usually spend only the winter months in the 

 South. 



The leading crops in 1912, in order of value, were approxi- 

 mately as follows : Corn, upland cotton, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, 

 field peas (and hay thereof), peanuts, (grass) hay, velvet beans, 

 oats, pecans, pears, watermelons, tobacco, peaches and figs. 



Long-leaf pine being scarce, there is hardly any lumbering or 

 turpentining, and little use is made of the forests except for fuel 

 and other common farm purposes. Some wild smilax {Smilax 

 lanceolata) and other evergreens are gathered for Christmas decora- 

 tions, but there seems to be no large trade in them as there is in 

 southern Alabama. Some Spanish moss is used for mattress-mak- 

 ing, and probably shipped away to some extent. This industry 

 would seem to be capable of great development, for the supply of 

 moss is practically inexhaustible. 



