AND AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES. 



73 



ture of two or three crops, and old customs cling to the majority as do barnacles to the 

 hull of a stranded vessel in a tropical sea. 



Under English rule sugar cane proved a profitable crop, and for many years anterior 

 to 1861 it was extensively and profitably grown by Hon. D. L. Yulee and others. For 

 the successful culture of sugar cane a comparatively dry and warm spring, a high 

 thermal range, coupled with frequent torrential showers, preceded and followed by 

 sunshine during the summer, and a dry and warm fall and winter, are essential. These 

 climatic conditions exist to an eminent degree in Southern Florida, as established by 

 observations taken at Fort Myers, on the Caloosahatchee River, and at Fort Dallas, 

 Cape Florida. 



MEAN TEMPERATURE. 



Rainfall is an important factor in the growth and maturation of the cane; and the 

 necessary hyetal conditions exist in the southern portion of this State. 



RAINFALL IN INCHES AND HUNDREDTHS. 



With a high thermal range and ample rainfall during the summer months, the cane 

 attains a development rarely excelled in the West Indies. In the southern portion of 

 the State it ratoons and tassels, and attains saccharine maturity. Even in the northern 

 portion of the State it reaches a more perfect growth and development than in a large 

 portion of Louisiana. We have seen it stated that from ten to fifteen ripened joints 

 to a cane is deemed a good yield, and this can be excelled on the high sandy lauds of 

 the northern portion of the State. It is admitted that Cuba is the home of the cane, 

 and that climatic conditions are the elements of its success. For the purpose of com- 

 parison we will give the mean temperature and rainfall at Havana: 



From the data quoted, it will be seen that the rainfall at Havana is less than one- 

 half as great as that at Fort Myers, and as a result the cane attains a greater develop, 

 ruent of stalk and amount of saccharine matter in Southern Florida than in Cuba. 

 Even the mean annual temperature of Havana is but nine-tenths of a degree above 

 that of Fort Myers. But the great advantage Southern Florida possesses over the 

 West Indies is the excessive rainfall during the summer frequent orrential showers 



