98 THE PI.ANT WORLD 



bined with the waste from the turpentine stills and made into fuel-bricks 

 a superior kindling could thus be manufactured at exceedingly low rates. 

 At the time of the coal strikes during the winter of 1902-1903 this sug- 

 gestion was also made in the New York Herald, and several countries 

 abroad were mentioned in which such fuel-bricks were in use. It is 

 stated that the wood of the Florida pine iPiniis Elliottii) warps soon after 

 being cut into lumber, but makes excellent fuel, as it becomes fat with 

 resin when dry. 



The region southwest from Miami is known as the ' ' homestead 

 country." It includes that portion of Dade County known as the Ever- 

 glades, which has recently been opened to settlers by means of drainage 

 canals and the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway southwest 

 from Miami to Cape Sable. The railroad has been surveyed to the Cape, 

 and the surveyors established a base of supplies at Camp Jackson last fall 

 and cut out a road that has been used very little since, so that it is as 

 rough a tract of country through which to travel as there is in the region. 

 The last settlers cluster around the " Silver Palm " Schoolhouse, named 

 for the palm Coccothrinax Garberi, which here reaches a height of from 

 five to nine feet, but unfortunately has been almost invariably injured by 

 fires, so that scarcely a perfect specimen was seen. In fact, although we 

 went fifteen miles south of any habitation, we traversed no pine-land 

 which had not been burned over, and only the ' ' hammocks ' ' have escaped. 

 These are islands of hardwood vegetation, in which the shade is so dense 

 that the ground remains moist, and which therefore contain a peculiar 

 and varied growth of plants. Here one finds plants which also occur in 

 Cuba and the West Indies ; in fact, the vegetation of the hammocks is 

 entirely different from that of the pine-lands, and has largely escaped the 

 destruction by fire from which the latter have suff'ered, so that in them 

 may be found new species of plants which have not yet been reported 

 in Florida. This was our object in visiting this region, but as each ham- 

 mock seems to contain some species peculiar to itself it will be a long 

 while before all of them can be explored. Dr. John K. Small visited 

 several of them last November and discovered a tree-fern and two species 

 of filmy ferns hitherto unknown in Florida ! 



The natives have a wholesome fear of these hammocks on account of 

 the diamond-back rattlesnake, whose bite is sure death ; so this and their 

 immunity from fire may preserve some of the native vegetation, which 

 in the pine-lands is sure to be destroyed by fire and cultivation. It seems 

 hard to believe that any one could make a living out of such rocky and 

 soilless land and be able to market anything they might grow with any 

 profit. They say that a large percentage must be spent on fertilizers 

 and more on crates and baskets ; yet scattered through these miles of 

 desolate pine-land will be found tiny fields of tomatoes and small groves 



