64 FLORIDA: ITS CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTIONS, 







age or crops; dig sweet potatoes; house or bank them ; make sugar and 

 sirup. 



December. Clear up generally ; fence, ditch, manure, and sow and 

 plant hardy vegetables ; plant, set out orange trees, fruit trees, and 

 shrubbery ; keep a sharp lookout for an occasional frost ; a slight pro- 

 tection will prevent injury. 



TIMBER AND LUMBER. 



Of the States, Florida has the largest area of original growth of tim- 

 ber. Excluding laud in cultivation, the area covered by lakes, rivers, 

 savannas, &c., there are probably nearly, if not quite, 30,000,000 acres 

 of land covered with timber, and of this the yellow pine is fully three- 

 quarters. The level lands, rolling lands, are mostly covered with the 

 yellow and pitch pine, which attains a great size in girth and length. 

 The lower lands, near rivers, lakes, swamps, abound in valuable timber, 

 of which live oak, other species of oak, hickory, asli, beech, cedar, mag- 

 nolia, sweet bay, gum, cypress, constitute a great proportion. The red 

 cedar is particularly adapted for lead pencils, and largely exported to 

 Europe for the best manufacturers, as also North and East. The mag- 

 nolia and bay are fine woods for onamental furniture; the cypress val- 

 uable for shingles, sash, doors, blinds and inside finish, railroad ties. 

 The yellow and pitch pine has a world-wide reputation as being the 

 best for any and all uses where strength, elasticity, and durability are 

 desired, and is now being largely used in ornamental and expensive 

 structures. Finished up in its natural grain for inside work, floors, 

 frames, pillars, arches, roofs, it presents that substantial as well as rich 

 finish not attained with other material. An extensive business has long 

 been prosecuted in the western portion of the State in the exportation 

 of pine timber and lumber, and live oak and cedar have been supplied 

 in large quantities for naval architecture and the manufacture of pen- 

 cils. Large establishments for the manufacture of lumber for exporta- 

 tion to northern and foreign ports are located on the navigable streams 

 and railroads. Naval stores are also largely exported, and afford a re- 

 liable source of revenue to the State and the manufacturers. 



THE FORESTS OF FLORIDA. 



From a gentleman who has been connected with the Tenth Census of 

 the United States the following information has been obtained relative 

 to the forest growth of this State: 



The variety of trees in Florida is greater than in any other of the States, there being 

 nearly, or quite, two hundred arborescent species, or half of all in the United States. 



One of these, the yellow pine, is a hundredfold more abundant and more valuable 

 than all the others combined. This is the most valuable of American trees for fram- 

 ing-timber, flooring, &c., and the present reserve of it is almost wholly confined to 

 South Georgia and the northern half of Florida. This is the tree from which turpen- 

 tine and rosin are obtained. There is very little yellow pine suitable for shipping 

 south of latitude 29, but plenty for home consumption as far south as latitude '27. 



