ECONOMIC SURVEYS OF COUNTY HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT. 79 



In contrast to the above, the following is quoted from the reply 

 received from a farmer and merchant living on the Bonita Road, which 

 has since been improved (see Pis. XXIX, XXX, and XXXIII): 



(6) There hasn't been a time since the 1st of December that I have been able to 

 get anything hauled to my- place from Meridian, just 4 miles, for less than 25 cents 

 per hundred; in the majority of instances it has cost me as high as 50 cents, and a 

 good many times it has been impossible to get it at any price ; the people in my com- 

 munity have actually had to go without oil for their lamps for a week at the time 

 because they couldn't get it; if these conditions are not a heavier tax on the people 

 than paying for the construction of roads, then I am a bad judge and a bad mathe- 

 matician. 



MANATEE COUNTY, FLA. 



The movement to improve the more important roads of the county 

 was begun in 1909 and was due to the fact that fruits and vegetables, 

 for which the climate and soil were particularly favorable, could not 

 be hauled over the sandy roads except at prohibitive cost. (See 

 -Plate XXXIV, fig. 1.) Furthermore, the county could not hope to 

 attract tourist travel unless an adequate system of roads was pro- 

 vided. As a result of the movement, $250,000 of road bonds were 

 voted on September 1, 1909, but on account of injunction proceed- 

 ings to prevent the issuance of the bonds, work was not begun until 

 the spring of 1911. 



The county is located on the west coast just below the lower end of 

 Tampa Bay and has a land area of 1,337 square miles, or 855,680 

 acres, of which in 1910 only 14,173 acres, or 1.7 per cent of the total, 

 were in improved farms. It is thus evident that the county had 

 scarcely begun to develop its resources at the time the road building 

 was begTin. The population was 9,550 in 1910, and several towns 

 in the county were, at that time, rapidly assuming importance as 

 winter resorts. The surface is practically flat and most of it only a 

 few feet above sea level, and the soil varies from light gray sand to 

 fiiie sandy loam. The principal products are grapefruit, oranges, 

 and other semitropical products, small fruits, and vegetables, which 

 are mostly shipped to northern markets during the winter months. 



The economic studies were made in April, 1911, May, 1912, April, 

 1913, April, 1914, and February, 1915. 



HOW THE IMPROVEMENT WAS FINANCED. 



The bonds which were issued February 24, 1911, as of September 

 1, 1909, are 30-year sinking-fund bonds, bearing interest at 5 per 

 cent. A premium of 1 per cent was obtained, making a total avail- 

 able for road improvement of $252,500. Owing to the fact that 5 

 per cent is obtained on the sinking fund, the fuiancial burden upon 

 the county is very Httle more than it would be if the deferred serial 

 method had been adopted. In explanation of how the county was 

 able to secure 5 per cent on the sinking fund, it may be stated that 



