laurel, etc., and is considered the best description of land for general purposes. Low hummock, timbered with live and water oak, is subject to overflow, but when drained is preferred for sugar. Savannas, on the margins of streams, and in detached bodies, are usually very rich alluvions, and yielding largely in dry, but needing ditching and dyking in ordinary seasons. Marsh savannas, on the borders of tide streams, are very valuable, when reclaimed, for rice or sugar-cane."

Southwest of Florida, is a chain of small rocky islands, called the Florida Keys. They are inhabited principally by wreckers, and by persons engaged in the fisheries and the manufacture of salt. The largest and most important of these is Key West, which is strongly fortified, and is one of the chief naval stations of the Union.

The Sea Islands extend from South Carolina and Georgia, along the northeast coast of Florida, and are among the finest and most productive parts of the State. The Everglades cover an immense area, about 160 miles long, and 60 miles broad. Professor De Bow speaks of them as a vast lake, filled with innumerable islands of all sizes, which are covered with a low dense undergrowth, out of which occasionally rises a huge pine or palmetto. The water is 6 or 8 feet deep, and is filled with a long rank grass which grows from a vegetable deposit at the bottom. The banana and plantain grow well in this region.

The principal bays are Pensacola, Choctawhatchie, St. Andrew's St. Joseph's, Appalachicola, Appalachie, Waccasassa, Tampa, Charlotte Harbor, Oyster, and Ponce de Leon bays, all on the west side. Pensacola Bay affords an excellent harbor, and is the principal naval station of the Republic in the Gulf of Mexico.

The rivers of the State are the Perdido, a small stream separating Florida from Alabama on the west; the Escambia, Yell-sow, Choctawhatchie, Ocklockonee, and Suwanee, which rise in Alabama and Georgia and flow into the Gulf of Mexico on the south, none of them being over 50 or 60 miles in length. The others are the Carlosahatchie, through which Lake Okeechobee discharges its waters into the Gulf, the Withlacoochee and Tampa, on the west, and the St. Mary's (partly separating the State from Georgia), the St. John's, and Indian rivers, emptying into the Atlantic on the east. The Indian River is a mere inlet from the ocean entering the State at its southeast part, and extending north and south. It is about 100 miles long, and of very unequal breadth. The St. John's is the principal river of Florida. It rises in a marshy tract near the central part of the peninsula, and

flows in a generally northwest course into the Atlantic in the northern part of the State. It is over 200 miles long, and is navigable for steamers to Pilatka, about 60 miles. Vessels drawing 8 feet of water ascend the river for 107 miles. The country along the greater portion of the stream is a region of cypress swamps and pine barrens. The Appalachicola is navigable for vessels to its head.

A chain of lakes extends through the centre of the peninsula. The most southern of these is Lake Okeechobee, about 20 miles long.

CLIMATE.

The climate is mild and pleasant. It partakes largely of the characteristics of the torrid zone, on the borders of which the State lies. It is of great benefit to invalids. A writer in the New York Observer thus speaks of it:

"As to the most desirable localities for invalids, the most accessible are on the St. John's River and St. Augustine. The interior or central portion of the peninsula may present a climate even better for

pulmonary invalids; but those parts of the country are not supplied with suitable accommodations, and are not much visited.

"Range of the thermometer and the weather. The Army Mateorological Register gives the monthly mean temperature for 20 years at St. Augustine, and for 31 years at West Point, N. Y., as follows:

"Most of the common garden vegetables flourish all winter, oranges ripen on the trees, roses bloom, and mocking-birds sing. A few times we have frost-three times, I believe, last winter. Do not suppose there are no changes of temperature, though there are fewer than in any other State. There are many, and, at times, they are sudden; but the thermometer rarely goes down to freezing, and the shock is far less to a delicate constitution than where it goes far below. During the greater part of the time the sun shines brightly, and invalids can be in the open air. This is the greatest benefit of the climate. I have known many who dared not set foot on the ground from November to April at the North, who have spent part of every day walking, riding, playing croquet, or hunting and fishing. Often, parties are formed who go down the peninsula, camping out, and, as they get beyond the reach of frost within 100 miles south of St. Augustine, such life is most enjoyable for those who have strength for it. Much of the time during every winter we sit with open doors and windows. Above all things, it is important for those who come here for health to keep as much as possible in the open air."

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.

The soil is generally sandy. In the hummocks, however, it is mixed with clay. It is fertile, and yields abundant returns with judicious culture. The best lands in the State are in the marshes. With a proper system of drainage they could be made the most productive spots in America.

The natural growth of the State is very rich. The live oak and other varieties of this tree, so highly prized by ship-builders; the cyprus, pine, hickory, dogwood, magnolia and laurel abound. The timber trade of the State is very valuable, and is growing in importance every year.

"Cotton, corn, sugar-cane, rice, potatoes, and fruits are the princi

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pal crops, but under the present system of culture yields are small and agriculture not profitable. In a number of counties cotton has been the specialty, but under present prices its production will doubtless decline in favor of other crops. Sugar-cane is considered a good crop, and is getting more in favor; it is easily cultivated, and, as our Leon correspondent says, 'would be a good crop for white labor.' In Baker county, sea-island cotton and sugar-cane are the chief productions. Duval county, sweet potatoes, corn, and sugar-cane; corn yielding twenty bushels per acre, sweet potatoes one hundred to two hundred bushels, sugar-cane two hundred gallons syrup and two hundred pounds of sugar; the latter is the most profitable crop. In Alachua, sea-island cotton is the specialty, of which our reporter says: The price of this cotton last year ranged from 40 cents to $1.60 per pound; this year, from 35 to 90 cents. The average yield is about eighty-five pounds of lint per acre, but as high as four hundred pounds have been raised. At 50 cents, with the present labor, it is a paying crop. Cotton is a hard crop to raise, takes the whole year, and, for the labor expended, is the least paying crop in the country. During the past season ninety-nine out of every hundred have lost money. Corn produces an average of eight bushels on pine lands, and fifteen bushels on hummocks. Sugar-cane does well, but is raised for home consumption only.' Wheat is not grown as a crop in Florida, though a correspondent writes from Levy county, that he thinks it would do well on their hummock lands; and our Manatee reporter says he has sown a package sent from this department, and it now looks as well as he has ever seen wheat in Maryland or elsewhere. There are a variety of natural grasses growing throughout the State, and, as a general rule, cattle are pastured on the wild lands and without expense, frequently the whole year round. Among the grasses named by our correspondents are, Bermuda grass, crab-grass, crow-foot, joint-grass, carpet-grass, wireOur Levy county correspondent writes:-The grasses are all wild; stock runs out all the year in the woods. They are gathered in the spring, and penned every night until about August, when they are again turned out to run during the fall and winter. While kept up they are branded, and the cows are milked, though they are generally small, and give but little milk, from one to three quarts per day.'"* Tropical fruits are easily cultivated in this State.

grass, etc.

* Agricultural Report for February, 1868.

Oranges and lemons are raised in considerable quantities; also, bananas, citrons, figs and other fruits, and it is believed that coffee can be successfully cultivated in the southern part.

The agricultural statistics for 1869 are incomplete and unsatisfactory. They are as follows:

The undergrowth of the State, as we have remarked, is very rank. Huge alligators and snakes abound in the swamps; the rivers are well stocked with fish; and turtle, oysters and wild fowl abound along the coast.

COMMERCE.

This State has little or no foreign commerce. Its trade is almost entirely with the States north of it, and its exports consist of cotton, rice, naval stores, and fruits. In 1860 the exports of the State amounted to $1,330,230, and the imports to $336,931.

MANUFACTURES.

Very little attention is paid to manufactures. In 1860 the capital invested in them amounted to $6,675,000. The annual product was valued at $2,700,000. The lumber trade almost monopolized this, the value of sawed and planed lumber being $1,470,000.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.

In 1868 there were 407 miles of completed railroads in Florida, constructed at a cost of $8,888,000. The principal towns are connected with each other, and with all parts of the Union by railroad.