THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES." 



521 



The following estimates, by counties, of the long-leaved piue still standing in Florida east of the Apalachicola 

 river were prepared by Mr. A. H. Curtiss, of Jacksonville; those for west Ilorida by Dr. Charles Mohr, of Mobile, 

 Alabama : 



LONG-LEAVED PINK (Z'iH* ;>n7s/m). 



Iii this estimate no account is made of timber remaining on lands which have been cut over, or of that injured 

 by the manufacture of turpentine. 



The principal centers of lumber manufacture are Pensacola, Millview, and Blackwater, in Escambia and 

 Santa Eosa counties. The logs sawed here and at other points upon Pensacola bay are driven down the streams 

 from the forests of Alabama, the accessible pine in this part of Florida having been long exhausted. A large 

 amount of pine lumber is also manufactured at Ellaville, in Madison county, upon the upper Suwannee river, and 

 at Jacksonville, Saint Mary's, and at various points upon the lower Saint John river. Logs driven from the lower 

 Suwannee river are sawed at Cedar Keys, where are situated the most important mills in the United States devoted 

 to the manufacture of red cedar into pencil stuff. 



Jacksonville, Saint Mary's, and Fernandiua are the largest centers of distribution for the naval stores 

 manufactured in the state. 



The following extracts are taken from Mr. Curtiss' report upon the forests of Florida : 



" In visiting western Florida I have had particularly in view the examination of the timber of a part of the state 

 which is unlike all others in physical conformation, and consequently in vegetation. This region differs but little 

 from the country bordering the southern Alleghanies, and may perhaps be regarded as the southern terminus of 

 the Appalachian range. It commences about 40 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, and extends northward between 

 the Chipola and Okalokonee rivers into southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama. North of this there is 

 little to connect it with the southern mountains except the rugged banks of the Chattahoochee river. The surface 

 is undulating, hilly, often precipitous. The soil, like that of the Piedmont region of Virginia and Carolina, 

 abounds in red clay, and is therefore adapted to crops which do not succeed in other portions of Florida. The 

 vegetation is extremely varied and interesting, comprising most of the plants of northeastern Florida, a large 

 portion of those found in the Piedmont country and iu the rich river bottoms of the interior, and a considerable 

 number found only on the limestone with which much of this country is underlaid. In the river bottoms, which are 

 inundated at seasons, there is found a great variety of trees, some of which attain a size probably not equaled 

 elsewhere. In this small portion of the state of Florida is to be found nearly every species of tree growing 

 within the limits of the state, except those semi-tropical species found on the coast south of Cedar Keys and Mosquito 

 inlet. Fully fifty American arborescent species here reach their southern limit. A few species show marked 

 diminution iu size, and all northern species which extend southward of this Chattahoochee region here attain in 

 Florida their largest dimensions. 



"There are two trees in this region of particular interest, as they are not known to grow anywhere else; these 

 are the stinking cedar (Torreya taxifolia) and the yew (Taxus Floridana). There is reason to believe that the 

 Torreya occurs also along the Wakulla river, and perhaps elsewhere in the state, but there is no positive knowledge 

 of its occurrence except along the Apalachicola river, on the limestone hills which border it at intervals on the east 



"The forests of this region are still almost intact. Some poplar and tulip wood is cut from the river banks 

 for northern markets, but the valuable timber on these rich shores is as yet almost untouched. The country 

 southwest of this region, though of very little agricultural value, contains an immense quantity of the best cypress 

 timber, hardly yet disturbed by the lumberman. 



"Two mills have recently been established at Apalachicola, one of which saws nothing but cypress lumber. 

 The product of this mill is sent to New Orleans. As white-pine lumber must soon become scarce, the attention of 

 dealers ought to be directed to southern cypress, which will prove a good substitute for it. Although there is 

 plenty of valuable pine in this country the swamps render it somewhat inaccessible, and the mills at Apalachicola 



