FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



"A tour of the Florida Keys reveals 

 nature and society under such peculiar 

 conditions that any one who has never 

 visited this insular region may rest as- 

 sured that there remains in store for 

 him at least one source of novel and 

 enjoyable experience, though he may 

 have traversed the mainland of the 

 United States from Maine to California. 

 As regards conformation and soil, the 

 inhabitants and their pursuits, the sur- 

 rounding waters and the marine life 

 they support, these coral islands differ 

 essentially from all other portions of 

 our vast country ; but in no particular 

 do they present so striking a dissimi- 

 larity as in the vegetation which covers 

 them." 



In spite of the mosquitoes these keys 

 are charming places, especially Elliott's, 

 which is bounded on one side by the 

 waters of Biscayne Bay and on the other 

 by the straits of Florida. They are 

 protected from storms by a chain of 

 coral reefs. Near at hand are the fa- 

 mous Sea Gardens. 



The pineland, although less rich and 

 luxuriant in growth, is also peculiarly 

 interesting. The rocky ridges or reefs, 

 with sandy swales in between, are cov- 

 ered with pine and palmetto. The pine, 

 strange to say, seems to shun the sandy 

 swales. The sand of these swales is 

 underlain usually with a reddish cal- 

 careous clay, resulting from the disin- 

 tegration of the coral rock. This rock 

 may be found in all stages of disinte- 

 gration. In the swales the palmetto is 

 most luxuriant, and no doubt the ab- 

 sence of the pines in these places is due 

 to this fact. The regeneration of these 

 pines, in spite of fire and rock, is gen- 

 erally good. The pines grow right in 

 the rock, the roots penetrate its crev- 

 ices, and the tree is anchored to such 

 extent that when it upturns the rock 

 upturns with it. 



I am not certain that the rock of the 

 mainland is what a geologist would call 

 coral. On the keys the soil is certainly 

 solid coral, crumbled coral, and coral 

 sand. On the mainland it is a lime- 

 stone as soft in places as chalk and as 

 hard in others as flint. In places it 

 seems stratified or in plates and lifts 

 out in good flat building stones, which 



harden on exposure ; in others it is 

 jagged, honeycombed, and filled with 

 pot-holes and pockets ; in others it is 

 coquina-like in character, and in others 

 has a volitic structure. 



The pine is Cuban pine (Finns hete- 

 rophylla), peculiar to that region. It 

 does not yield resin satisfactorily, and 

 is therefore not tapped. It is so heavy 

 that it sinks in water, and on the whole 

 is one of the meanest woods on earth to 

 work with. The heart or light wood is 

 durable, but it warps to such extent 

 and is so hard when dry that it is cut, 

 hauled to the mill, sawn into boards, 

 and used for constructive purposes just 

 as soon as possible. 



It is almost impossible to drive a nail 

 into the dry wood without splitting it, 

 and in order to saw it one must flood 

 the tools with kerosene to prevent gum- 

 ming. Lumber merchants shun it, al- 

 though many people use it because of 

 its cheapness. The sapwood soon rots 

 and leaves a heavy, durable heart, which 

 would be in great demand for posts, 

 ties, poles, &c., were it not so plentiful. 

 Much of it is used in burning the coral 

 rock into lime, and much of it is burnt 

 up in the clearing simply to get rid of 

 it. The " log-rolling " stage is still on 

 in this district. In many cases it is 

 blasted down with dynamite and then 

 burnt ; in others it is " deadened " and 

 then burnt standing. It would prob- 

 ably pay to distill this wood, since it 

 could be secured cheaply and would 

 yield large quantities of tar. The 

 palmettos are being used for the manu- 

 facture of tanning extract in Miami. 

 If a factory is established which will 

 convert this wood, including stumps, 

 into tar, there would be little left on this 

 rocky ridge in the way of a cover. 



Fire sweeps over these pine regions 

 frequently. The pine needles, grass, 

 and palmettos burn like tinder. The 

 dry pine bark and rotten sapwood hold 

 fire like punk. Fire gets down in the 

 crevices of the rock, so that it is next 

 to impossible to extinguish it. The 

 effect of fire on this rock is peculiar. It 

 becomes a potent geological agent. It 

 converts the rock into lime, which 

 slakes when wet by rain or dew. In 

 burning piles of brush, rocks are often 



