above eea level. Delaware is the only State which does 

 not at some point attain a greater elevation than Florida. 

 The surface of Florida is far from being a dead level, 

 though the differences in elevation are small. The north- 

 ern portion is diversified with rolling hills and gentle 

 slopes. The south half has no hills, but irregularities of 

 surface are numerous. Some of the red soils which 

 abound in Georgia seem to have overlapped into portions 

 of northern Florida; but in the southern part of the 

 State, the white sand worn from the coral reefs and 

 limestone deposits covers most of the surface, and in 

 some localities the great coral reef which forms the skele- 

 ton of south Florida, protrude through the thin sand cov- 

 ering, and appears at the surface. Low swales and de- 

 pressions abound in places, and these have accumulated 

 and they hold black muck which looks like wet pulverized 

 charcoal. 



The whole peninsula was originally wooded, except 

 about ten thousand square miles of swamp and coral 

 ledges known as the Everglades. A few trees of fair 

 size grow in that region, but most of the Everglades is 

 treeless, and during half of the year is covered with wa- 

 ter from a few inches to several feet deep. Tall, reed- 

 like grass grows out of the water, and at intervals over 

 small flat islands, a few inches above water, on which 

 grow thickets of myrtle, bay, and other bushes. Little, 

 if any, of this growth ever attains a size fitting it for 

 use, and the Everglades have never contributed to any 

 considerable extent to Florida's lumber supply. 



Tropical species are found in the rocky hammocks of 

 the southern part, where they frequently grow in almost 



