216 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
NATURAL DIVISIONS OF THE STATE. 
As peat is by no means universally distributed in Florida, its 
occurrence will be better understood if the geography of the State 
is described first. The geography of Florida is much more com¬ 
plex than any one who has not been in the State can possibly realize, 
There is probably not a more diversified state in the Union, except 
California, and that owes much of its diversity to its large size, 
its high mountain ranges, and its many different climates. Florida 
with only about one-third the area of California, a maximum ele¬ 
vation above sea-level of scarcely more than 300 feet, and not 
much diversity in climate, has a great many more different kinds 
of native trees than any other state, and its other productions are 
correspondingly varied. 
PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFICATION. 
The task of dividing Florida into natural geographical regions 
is by no means an easy one, and very few serious attempts to do it 
have been made. The method of classification used will depend 
somewhat on the previous experience of the geographer, and what 
it is he is studying the distribution of. For instance, to a botanist 
a certain narrow strip along the upper Apalachicola River is very 
important, for it contains two trees not found anywhere else in the 
world, and several other plants not found elsewhere in Florida; but 
this strip does not differ notably in its peat resources from adjoin¬ 
ing regions, and it is too narrow for any estimates to be made of 
its population. Again, to the geologist the Everglades differs from 
the country east and west of it only in being a few inches or feet 
lower, and therefore inundated most of the time; but this region 
is very important to the botanist on account of its interesting vege¬ 
tation, and of very little interest to the forester and statistician 
on account of the absence of trees, population and crops. Also, 
a geological map of Florida, showing the distribution of the rocks, 
which are in most places buried deep under sand or clay, would 
differ considerably from a soil map, and that in turn from a tem¬ 
perature map, etc. 
The classification here adopted is based primarily on the two 
features which chiefly make up a natural landscape; namely, topog¬ 
raphy and vegetation. The distribution and movements of surface 
water, and the character of the soil, all of which are intimately con¬ 
nected with .topography, are also taken into consideration. In 
applying such a classification to the State of Florida we are con- 
