SECOND ANNUAL REPORT-SOUTHERN EEORIDA. 181 
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topographic types is essential in the study of the recently deposited 
formations. 
Southern Florida lies low, the average elevation of the surface must 
be below 20 feet and over long stretches the ground is almost a dead 
level. The general slope of the surface is south with a very slight tilt 
to the west. This is shown by the drainage of Lake Okeechobee, the 
generally higher elevation of the land on the east than on the west 
coast, the greater length of the west coast rivers and the trend of the 
river courses, features that are considered individually on succeeding 
pages. 
In consequences of the slight relief, imperfect drainage and re¬ 
sulting accumulation of surface water during the rainy season, small 
differences in height of surface may have a marked effect on vegetation, 
and hence it is possible roughly to divide the mainland into pineland 
and swamp, the former including the hammocks, isolated patches 
whereon grow hardwood trees of several genera, and many of the 
prairies or grassy tracts, and the latter the coastal swamps with their 
characteristic growths of sedges or black and red mangroves. 
The line of demarcation between swamp and pineland, owing to 
the low relief, is extremely irregular arid along it frequently extends a 
variable width of grass land or prairie, that at the end of a rainy season 
may be two feet under water, but in most years gets so dry during the 
winter months that tomatoes and other garden truck can be grown at 
a profit without artificial drainage. 
PINELANDS. 
The pinelands of southern Florida are not remarkable by reason of 
the size of the trees, the thickness of growth, or yield of good timber 
per acre, but as they include the larger portion of the surface lying 
above what may be termed normal water level they are impressive from 
their extent. 
The total area covered by pine forests is a matter of conjecture, for 
though the pinelands have been surveyed by the United States Land 
Office, the township maps give an imperfect idea of the actual extent of 
the timber. In round figures possibly 1,300 square miles are to be re¬ 
garded as pine-clad. 
The pinelands of the eastern coast extend for the most part as a 
narrow belt, between the Everglades and the coastal swamp, from the 
north line of Palm Beach County to the vicinity of Homestead. This 
belt is widest at the north, where it may be twenty miles across, but is 
much narrower south of Jupiter Inlet, where it is about six miles wide, 
varying in width from two to eight miles to the southern extremity. 
On the west coast the pines are more irregularly distributed. There 
