340 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
THE EVERGLADES OF FLORIDA FOR FORESTS. 
Dating from the Seminole Indian war of 1812-16, and the acquisition of 
Florida in 1820, the entire southern portion of Florida has been looked upon by 
the American people as an impenetrable swamp, unfit for human habitation and 
valueless for any purpose of man. 
Various exploring expeditions have, with great difficulty, penetrated portions 
of the Everglades, and some extensive drainage operations have been undertaken, 
notably the Diston canal from Lake Okeechobee westward, and the East Coast 
canal near Fort Pierce, and much has thus been learned of these extensive 
marshes. Sufficient for us to know that they are capable of being drained; that 
thev are free from malaria and healthful; that the soil is remarkably fertile, 
suited for the culture of sugar cane, rice, corn, hay, early garden vegetables, pine- 
apples, citrus fruits and numerous forest trees. 
COMPARISON WITH THE WEST. 
Half a century ago the plains country west of Missouri, aggregating a million 
square miles, was considered as the great American Desert, part of this being 
platted by geographers as such, and described by travelers as a region unfit for 
cultivation. Yet within this vast expanse of supposed desert have been created 
ten magnificent states and three territories, the homes of millions of happy 
citizens. And before another fifty years shall have passed, the everglades and 
surrounding swampy lands will have become the garden spot of the south, and 
have a population far greater than the entire state of Florida now contains. 
With the rapidly increasing population of the United States, the available 
lands having passed out of control of the Nation, there must of necessity arise 
a greatly increased demand for lands suitable for cultivation, and especially such 
intensive culture as this grade of soil will admit of, and when after drainage it 
shall attain proper conditions, it will become the home of a multitude of people. 
EXTENT. 
The everglades extend from Lake Okeechobee southward, practically to the 
south end of the Floridian peninsula, one hundred and twenty miles. A 
distinction is made by separating the great swamps partially surrounding the 
everglades proper, especially the Mangrove swamp on the south, and the big 
Cypress swamp on the west, extending to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the large 
areas on the east, which have been surveyed and platted, yet all these require 
