136 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



Acres. 



The State of Florida contains 38,000,000 



Above the 30th parallel there are lands " too 

 cold" for oranges as a market crop, and 

 better adapted to early and profitable vege- 

 tables and other fruits than the orange, . 16,000,000 



In the Everglades, saw -grass region, and 

 swamp lands of South Florida, there are, 

 unfit for oranges and, if drained, far better 

 for sugar, etc 10,000,000 



Then there are of third-class pine-lands, cy- 

 press and other swamps, waste pine bar- 

 rens, areas of rivers, lakes, ponds, creeks, 



and flat lands, too wet, etc 6,000,000 



32,000,000 



Leaving available orange land 6,000,000 



Of this but a portion will be planted in groves, for every 

 one must leave land for house lots, gardens, and other crops 

 of fruits besides oranges, and other plantings of various 

 kinds, and towns must have lands, etc. Thus, actually, 

 there is not more than 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 acres of 

 land in Florida available for orange growing for market ; 

 and people holding land which they can afford to keep 

 need have no anxiety, as the lands will soon be absorbed ; 

 and, while the population of the United States is increas- 

 ing rapidly, the area of orange land remains unalterable. 

 The consumption of oranges is rapidly extending, and 

 lands in Florida must advance to many times their present 

 prices. The purchase of land here, for the next fifteen 

 years, can not fail to be a paying investment, even if left 

 to lie idle. 



