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 (Bur sera gummifera), 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 



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