1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



219 



vast swamp areas might, however, 

 seem questionable. It is people that 

 are needed more than land. At the 

 same time this swamp land is highly 

 productive so that in the long run its 

 reclamation pays. Swamp lands lie 

 idle at the very doors of our great 



As Merriam points out in his bulle- 

 tin on Life and Crop Zones, when a 

 zone of one kind dips far into a zone 

 of another kind there is great advant- 

 age. In the Everglades region we 

 have a vast territory of humid tropical 

 land extending northward so close to 



A Boatload of Alligator Eggs. In the center of the boat 

 there are young Alligators just hatched. 



cities. In Holland land is wrested 

 from the sea while close by there is 

 plenty of poor, cheap land to be had. 

 The writer once visited a bleak health- 

 land tract in Holland, called "Arner- 

 ika," where a company was endeavor- 

 ngi to induce settlers to come and start 

 a boom. 



great centres of consumption that its 

 ability to produce unusualy crops will 

 some day be recognized. 



There have been objections ad- 

 vanced to this old reclamation project. 

 It is claimed on the East Coast that 

 the lowering of the water table in the 

 Everglades will remove the influence 



