IN THE HAMMOCK. 
By far the greater part of the state of Florida is covered with 
monotonous pine forests. Only a small fraction of it is ham- 
mock; that of the northern part of the area being composed largely 
of live oaks, hickory, magnolia, red bay and a few other species of 
trees. In the low hammocks the tupelos, sweet gum, swamp red 
bay, two or three species of holly, cypress and some others occur. 
Along the coastal region throughout the state they are generally 
glorified by the wonderfully striking cabbage palmetto. 
As we go southward a number of trees and shrubs begin to 
appear whose metropolis is in the American Tropics. In the 
lower part of the state the Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea) takes 
the place of the Georgia pine (P. palustris), a number of Eugenias 
are met with, the gumbo limbo (Bursera gummzfera), the marl- 
berry (Icacorea paniculata), and by the time Miami is reached on 
the east coast and Cape Romano on the west the larger portion 
of the hammock vegetation is West Indian. The lower keys 
have, for the most part, a foundation of coral rock and their 
vegetation is strictly tropical. 
I have been in a number of the West Indian islands and Cen- 
tral America but nowhere have I seen vegetation more strikingly 
beautiful than it is in the hammocks of Florida. I know no 
more majestic tree than an old, finely grown live oak, especially 
when it is draped with long moss. This plant, now called 
Dendropogon usneoides, is found growing in a wild state as far 
south as southern Brazil, but perhaps nowhere in all its range is 
it more finely developed than in our hammocks. 
Unfortunately the soil in the hammocks, being composed 
largely of leaf mould, is of much better quality than that of the 
pine land. Hence it matters not that this forest growth is among 
the most beautiful in the world; the greedy land owner seizes his 
ax and grub hoe and with the aid of fire he wipes out of existence 
this lovely vegetation which it has take nature centuries to 
develop. He does it that he may raise a few vegetables or put 
in a Citrus grove, or perchance that he may have an opportunity 
79 
