98 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



are ' ' hammock " lands, nor that all hammock lands are 

 alike. This is the most diversified State in the Union, 

 not only as regards climate, but soil and the unique dis- 

 tribution of the different kinds of the latter. 



Most people regard Florida's hammocks as her richest 

 and best land; this is not the case, however. The richest 

 of the rich lands are those technically called ' ' swamp 

 lands ; " they are of alluvial formation, and are constantly 

 being added to in extent year by year. These tracts, 

 varying from twenty to two hundred acres, sometimes 

 more, were originally depressed basins, which have be- 

 come gradually filled in by the washings from the higher 

 surrounding lands ; for centuries, the broken branches, 

 rotting wood, leaves, grass, and debris of all kinds have 

 been steadily accumulating in these basins, which we may 

 well term Dame Nature's compost heaps — heating, fer- 

 menting, decaying, and becoming vast store-houses of the 

 richest plant-food. So that these swamp lands are really 

 the most valuable in the State ; not only because they are 

 richer than the hammocks at the outset, but because their 

 fertility is much more lasting. 



But, and '' there's the rub," these swamp lands are like 

 gold mines, you know the richness is there, but you must 

 have money in your pocket to get at it. You invest ten 

 dollars and reap fifty or one hundred in return, but you 

 must first have the ten dollars to use as a lever; if you 

 have it, you are all right ; but most people who immigrate 

 to Florida have it not, and it is for this reason, because 

 these rich swamp lands must be carefully ditched and 

 drained before they can be made available, that to-day 

 there still remain for sale nearly one million acres, which 

 may be had for from two dollars downward per acre. 



We have said nothing about the healthiness of living 

 on these same lands — is it necessary? Swamp lands all 



