hori/.ontjlly inio throe sirjia. which show up in one vast 

 checkerboard pattern These strata are: first, a layer of fresh 

 water, which appears on the surface in the form of endless 

 channels, pools, and meandering little lagoons that never dry 

 up; then the glades themselves, which are great open areas 

 covered with saw grass, wet in summer but dry in winter; and 

 finally the hummocks, which are never flooded and arc covered 

 with a dense growth of evergreens and other trees and shrubs 

 sometimes standing forty feet tall and consisting here of some 

 subtropical West Indian forms, some indigenous species, and 

 other more typically northern kinds. The more tropical growths 

 are able to survive here because the occasional frosts do not 

 penetrate the saturated atmosphere of these hummocks. 



Two other types of vegetative topography are also to be seen 

 here First, there are the large pine stands that occur sporadically 

 in the northern half of the area. These are really very large 

 hummocks and were brought about, or at least kept pure, by 

 natural fires. In the early days of settlement these fires, set off 

 by lightning, used to rage right across the peninsula from the 

 region of Miami to Tampa and sometimes were recorded as 

 having a two-hundred-mile front. They were naturally deplored as 

 being destructive, and immense sums were spent on fire protec- 

 tion and fire-fighting machinery. But then it was discovered that 

 the pine trees were beginning to shrivel and dry and that no 

 seedlings were produced, whereas in the glade areas the grass 

 began to disappear under a solid growth of willows. Investigation 

 showed that fire was an essential feature of nature in this 

 country, and that almost solely due to it, both the pinelands and 

 the everglades may be attributed. The pine trees have exceed- 

 ingly thick and almost completely fire-resistant barks and 

 their branches start high up; their cones are very hard and 

 tight; and young seedlings are very sensitive and easily choked 



by herbage. Saw grass at the same time is not what is called a 

 climax growth (a sort of end product of all the chcdc.n and bal- 

 ances of nature) but an unstable intermediate stage that will 

 strangle itself if not periodically fired, while such hardy and 

 woody things as willows will take root amongst It and soon oust 

 it. Thus it was found that fire was needed to clear out the herbs 

 and brush beneath the pines, to split the cones by heat, so 

 scattering the seeds and giving them a chance to get started 

 before the choking herbs returned. It was also needed to burn 

 out the fragile willows and other low growth while leaving the 

 roots of the saw grass untouched in the water strata. 



The other oddity of the everglades is the domed hummocks, 

 as opposed to the normal, flat-topped, evergreen ones. Tliesc are 

 cypress stands and are actually water-filled hollows, not domes 

 of firmer land. Cypress likes water and grows taller the deeper 

 it is. so that the biggest trees are in the middle and the smaller 

 ones at the outside; hence the domed profile. 



GUMBO SOUP AND BEAN POISON 



When you get about three-fourths of the way toward the tip of 

 the peninsula from the Okeediobee. you begin to notice some- 

 thing else on the great glades. Here, in addition to the flat and 

 domed hummocks, you will see tiny, isolated shrubs of a neat, 

 rather shiny appearance beginning to appear among the grass. 

 At first they are just dark dots, but as you go south they rise up 

 out of the grass until they appear to be marching about on 

 numerous stiltlike legs. Finally they get thidcer and thicker and 

 begin to clump together and ultimately close up completely to 

 form a true closed-canopy forest. These are the red mangroves, 

 the least sea-loving of the three kinds found here. They actually 



The three species of mangroves in Florida grow in brackish, more saline, atnl salt water respi 

 tively. The difference in their habitats depends on about tlircf niches of ultttudc 



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