MONTHLY i5tI;I>ETIN. 323 



variations in i^'lofida ini^lil be siiiinncd up in llic woivls, (lat woods, low 

 and liiiih luinniiociv lands, rolling' pine woods and hills; in California, 

 in the words: alluvial beds, valleys, mesas, foothills, canyons, and 

 mountains. 



Florida's ])rineipal rainfall (40 to 60 inches) comes largely in the 

 summer and early fall months. In contrast to this California's prin- 

 cipal rainfall (10 to 25 inches) is in the winter oi- early spi'in<i' months. 

 This is why citrus may be jjrown in Florida in great part without 

 irrigation, and in California almost entirely dependent upon irrigation. 

 This also accounts for the gi'cater summer humidity of Floi'ida, which 

 makes coiulitions especially suitable for the development of certain 

 types of fungous diseases which are absent or of minor consecpience in 

 California. 



Location of Citrus Regions. 



In latitude the principal citrus regions of Florida lie between about 

 25 and ;}0 degrees north, the sanu' as the middle half of the peninsula 

 of lower California ; while the citrus regions of California lie between 

 32-i and 394 degrees north, the same as the states between Washington, 

 D.C. and (Miarleston, South Carolina. (Fig. 108.) In P'lorida. the tem- 

 perature (allowing for inilueuces of lakes, rivers and nearness to the 

 ocean varies between localities largely according to the latitude, in Cali- 

 fornia the latitude is a small factor, and altitude, location of mountain 

 ranges and air drainage determine largely the temperature variations 

 between localities. Thus, in Florida, the common expression "south 

 below the frost line" is replaced in California by "on the foothills or 

 mesas above the frost line." 



Citrus Soils. 



A comparison of soils is not so easily made because of the great 

 variations within both states. Generally speaking, the soils in Florida 

 are quite deficient in plant food as compared to those of California. 

 As water is a prime necessity in California, fertilizers are a prime 

 necessity in almost all types of soils in Florida. On the other hand, 

 hunms, rather expensive and difficult to keep up in California, is 

 retained cheaply and rather easily in most conditions in Florida. More 

 will be said of this later. 



While the soils in Florida vary greatly, a majority of the citrus 

 groves of the state are on land that would be classed as sandy loam 

 to decidedly sandy soils. Some of these are underlaid with deeper layers 

 of sand, some with clay subsoils and others with limestone. Tlie lands 

 of Florida are usually distinguished by the citrus growers in terms 

 of the vegetation upon them at the time they are cleared. The general 

 terms are : hammocks, pine woods, tlat woods, prairies, muck and swamp 

 lands. 



Hannnock is a term usually api)licd to land having a heavy growth 

 of trees or shrubs among which the deciduous or hardwood trees or 

 cabbage palmetto predominate. Various modifying terms, as clay and 

 calcareous hammocks, high and low hammocks, shell hammocks and 

 cabbage palmetto hammocks are used for further designation of varia- 

 tions. The thick native hardwood hammocks where oak, magnolia and 

 other trees grow are perhaps the best lands in Florida for citrus grow- 

 ing. In certain parts of the state, these hammocks were found by the 

 early pioneers in citrus culture to contain a thick undergrowth of 



