AND AGRICULTURAL CAPABILITIES. 80 



grass, which has long prevailed in the winter, has seriously impoverished 

 the soil and reduced the quantity of grass, so that the native stock of 

 later grass has become dwarfed and inferior. As population increases, 

 and the lands become absorbed by settlers, the stock range becomes 

 more restricted, improved methods are being adopted, and improved 

 stock introduced. No State offers greater inducements for stock grow- 

 ing, either upon the wild method heretofore existing', or upon the system 

 of thorough cultivation and high breeding. The facilities for cultivat- 

 ing green forage crops during the winter, when the grasses become 

 tough and innutritions, afford great advantages over those sections of 

 the country where cattle must be housed and fed for from one-third to 

 one-half the year. 



The raising of sheep and growing of wool is also a most profitable 

 industry, as sheep thrive through the year on the natural pasturage, and 

 require no care except herding and protection from vagrant dogs, of 

 which there is too great a number. With no legal protection against 

 these depredators the business, when it has been prosecuted as a reli- 

 ance, has yielded from 33 to 90 per cent, per annum profits. It can be 

 seen at a glance, that with an annual increase very largely greater than 

 in the cold States, and no expense for feed, and entire exemption from 

 the cold northers which sweep off whole flocks in the West, the profits 

 must be very great and the industry so remunerative as to induce a 

 rapid extension of the business. 



Hogs are raised more cheaply and easily here than in the colder 

 climates. They do well "on the range," as in the winter there is a large 

 supply of acorns, and in the swamps and hammocks of roots and native- 

 products. There is no reason why pork should not be raised in suffi- 

 cient quantity to supply the home market at least, although the want 

 of frost, or freezing weather, is not conducive to profitable packing for 

 export. 



Bee-keeping is rapidly engaging attention, and will soon become a 

 source of large State wealth and individual revenue. 



THE TREES OF FLORIDA. 



Dr. A. W. Chapman, of Apalachicola, author of the Flora of the 

 Southern States, in 1875 made a journey along the western coast, for 

 the purpose of obtaining specimens of trees for the Centennial Exhibi- 

 tion. He made a thorough exploration from Anclote Keys to Cape Sa- 

 ble, and ascended the Caloosahatchee. The following is the list of trees 

 obtained, as given in his report: 



The number collected exceeds your estimate by ten species, and falls short of my 

 own by the same number. I believe I obtained all the native trees known down there,, 

 except Simaruba, and perhaps Calyptranthus, if it is a tree. I found several trees which, 

 I supposed to be shrubs, aud vice versa. I made a thorough exploration of the whole 

 western coast, from Anclote Keys to Cape Sable, wherever we could find smooth 

 water for safe anchorage. At Charlotte Harbor I diverged from the coast and ascended 



