4 I2 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



thrown into the heap to check the flames 

 or prevent the wind from blowing sparks. 

 These rocks are burnt with the wood 

 and crumble into soil. 



This rock crumbles into soil in the 

 presence of decomposing organic mat- 

 ter. By the use of velvet beans, dyna- 

 mite, and hard grubbing by Bahaman 

 darkies, the roughest, most hopeless 

 looking rock-bed may be converted into 

 productive soil. 



There ought to be considerable nitro- 

 gen present in this soil, since the ground 

 is often covered with thirty or more 

 species of creeping legumes. There 

 must be potash somewhere, since the 

 palmetto ash is extremely rich. Few 

 things will grow, however, in this rock 

 without the help of fertilizer. Plant- 

 food materials may be there, but they 

 are not available. The rock is usually 

 wet, even in the driest times. In fact, 

 under this coral ridge there are chan- 

 nels of water running from the Ever- 

 glades and bubbling out in the form of 

 crystal springs along the shores of Bis- 

 cayne Bay. 



All this pineland would in time be- 

 come hammock, no doubt, were it not 

 for forest fires. One can find all stages 

 between the true hammock type and 

 the pineland. Where pineland has been 

 protected from fire, it becomes ham- 

 mock-like in character. 



The type of forest called mangrove 

 consists in places of pure red mangrove, 

 the great land-former, but gradually 

 merges into forest similar to hammock. 

 The vegetation of the mangrove swamp 

 consists of those species which can stand 

 a salt-water bath occasionally. They 

 are located on muck lands which are 

 being gradually wrested from the sea. 

 The red mangrove is chief among those 

 plants which can thrive in salt water. 

 With it, however, are often associated 

 the cocoanut, the seeds of which float 

 in, become covered with wet seaweed, 

 and then sprout and grow together with 

 buttonwood, black mangrove, sea grape, 

 and others. There are hundreds of 

 thousands of acres of land in which 

 mangrove predominates. Fringing these 

 muck lands are often sand beaches. In 

 the course of time, when this land be- 

 comes high and dry by the continued 



deposit of vegetable detritus, other trees, 

 such as grow in the hammock, gain a 

 foothold and spread. 



Back of this rock ridge, which stretches 

 along the coast from the region of Mi- 

 ami southward, is that vast territory 

 called the Everglades. In the Ever- 

 glades there are hammock islands, on 

 some of which the Seminole Indians 

 live. This Everglade region, it is 

 claimed, contains 3,760,000 acres. 

 Since ten acres is sufficient for the sup- 

 port of a family in that climate, there 

 is room for 376,000 families. The 

 whole cultivated area of Florida is esti- 

 mated at 1,000,000 acres. It is inter- 

 esting to compare the size of this wild 

 territory with other parts of the world. 

 For instance, the Everglades cover 5,875 

 square miles ; Porto Rico, 3,550 square 

 miles ; Rhode Island, 1,2 50 square miles; 

 Delaware, 2, 050 square miles; Jamaica, 

 4,207 square miles. When this area is 

 once properly reclaimed there will be 

 little of it which can not be cultivated. 

 The complete drainage of these Ever- 

 glades is not only being seriously con- 

 sidered, but is actually in progress. 

 The following on the " Draining of the 

 Everglades ' ' is from a recent issue of 

 Success, by J. E. Ingraham, one of the 

 vice-presidents of the Florida East Coast 

 Railroad : 



' ' There are great agricultural pos- 

 sibilities in the Florida Everglades. 

 Though they are yet merely an expan- 

 sive waste of swamp and lake and j ungle, 

 I venture to predict that they will be 

 the location of hundreds of fertile farms 

 within ten years, and will by degrees 

 develop into one of the most productive 

 tracts of land in the world. The bar- 

 rier to the utilization of the Everglades 

 has been, of course, the water which 

 covers the greater part of them to a 

 depth of from one to six feet ; but it 

 has been found entirely practicable to 

 drain off the water. Work to this end 

 has already been begun and is being 

 pushed rapidly. When it is completed 

 a tract of land one hundred and sixty 

 miles long and sixty wide will have 

 been opened to cultivation. The size 

 of this region is not as important as the 

 remarkable productivity of the soil. 

 The latter is not only absolutely virgin, 



