36 FLORIDA: ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, 



banks of rich hammock and savanna. Springs, lakes, and ponds abound 

 all through the county. Enterprise, on Lake Monroe, is the county seat. 



SOUTHERN FLORIDA. 



South Florida, consisting of that portion of the peninsula south of 

 latitude 28 north latitude, is composed of the counties of Hillsborough, 

 Polk, Brevard, Monroe, Manatee, and Bade. From its low latitude, its 

 peculiar location, as interposed between the Gulf of Mexico and the 

 Atlantic Ocean, and its proximity to the Gulf Stream, this division has 

 marked characteristics which specially distinguish it. 



The surface is in the main flat, and, excepting the extension within 

 its northern portion of the flattened ridge or plateau upon which the 

 State is mostly situated, the greatest t levations found are around the 

 external boundaries, while the depressions are in the interior, causing 

 it to resemble the basin of a shallow lake. Thus constructed, and under 

 the influence of the rain-bearing clouds from both sides, while the eleva- 

 tion of the exterior border prevents the easy egress of superabundant 

 water, this division is not only well supplied with rivers, streams, and 

 small lakes, but has also the broad, shallow lake of Okeechobee, and 

 that remarkable receptacle of surplus fresh water, called the Everglades, 

 within its borders, and occupying a large portion of its extent. It is 

 quite probable that a clearing out of the obstructions formed in the 

 channels of the numerous river courses reaching out from the interior to 

 the Gulf and Ocean will relieve this section from overflow in the season 

 of excessive rainfall, and reclaim a large territory of rich and most 

 fertile lands, which, under the fostering influences of a climate of un- 

 surpassed mildness, become exceedingly valuable for their immense 

 productiveness in special crops. The savannas or grass prairies that 

 are liable to periodical inundation during part of the year, but hidden 

 with a rich growth of nutritious grasses during the balance of the time, 

 form a characteristic feature of South Florida, and constitute some of 

 the best cattle ranges in the world. 



The climate is singularly equable and uniform, the difference between 

 summer and winter being very slight, and the range of the thermometer 

 during the year confined within very narrow limits. Warmer in winter 

 and cooler in summer than any other portion of the State, the climate 

 is equal to that of the most favored regions of the world, and nearly 

 resembles that of the Sandwich Islands. 



The crops in this section would not include the cereals grown with 

 success in Northern Florida, and even corn is not grown with much suc- 

 cess, while the apple, pear, and peach dp not do as well; but, on the 

 other hand, long-staple cotton, sugar cane, rice, jute, ramie, tobacco, in- 

 digo, cassava, arrowroot, coffee, the olive, grape, orange, lime, lemon, 

 citron, almond, date, cocoanut, x^ineapple, banana, plantain, and all 

 the semi-tropical and tropical fruits thrive as well as in any part of the 

 world. The keys and islands which line the coast on either side, and 



