The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1908-12-20

which take nitrogen from the air and
cryst2liZe it in the earth. This great
discovery was heralded from one end
of the civilized world to the other,
and il was thought by some that it
meant the earth's REGENERATION. But.
like many another supposedly valuable
discovery. this beautiful theory failed
to show satisfactory results in actual
application, and again the farmer is
being advised TO plant the pod-bearing
vines, upon the roots OF which the
nitrogen-fxing germs thrive naturally.
For more than a hundred thousand
years the soil of the yerglades has
been built up and enriched by this
same process. and it is now one OF
the richest nitrogen beds in the world.
Muck Worth S663 Per Ton.
have before me eleven Official
analyses of Everglades muck taken
from widely separated places. and
they vary but little. An average analy-
sis, obtained by dividing the sum OF
all of them by eleven, gives 2.21 per
cent nitrogen. Nitrogen has an aver
age commercial value OF fifteen cents
per pound, which means that the aver
age Everglades muck is worth $685.
per ton. Think OF it for a moment
More than four Thousand square miles
of level soil in a sIIb-tropdcaI climate,
lying from three to twenty feet thick
ON bed of solid stone, and having a
commercial value of more than six
dollars per toni Can you wonder
that a nation is interested in its re-
clamation. This soil is slightly def
Client In potash and phosphoric acid.
and, while enormous crops may De
grown without the addition of any fer
tflizer whatever, experience has de-
monstrated that the addition of these
cheap chemicals is q paying invest
ment. The raw soft phosphate (Which
is the kind needed on this soiD
abounds in the region just a few
miles northward, and cam be laid
down at FIT. Lauderdaie for about five
balance this acid can he had for about
the same price
The possibilities of this combina-
ton of soil, moisture and climate are
practically unlimited; but 1t is the
opinion of Governor Browari, and OF
many others who are acquainted with
the situation, that the growth of sugar
cane and the manufacture of sugar
will be the chief Industries During
the year 1906 the United States pro
duced 703.S3 IONS of sugar, of which
amount about seventy Per cent was
beet sugar During the year 1907,
while we wef6S consuming this pro
duction, we imported z, ITO, S9s tons of
sugar, for which we paid the enormous
sum of $92 SOC, 253, besides freight and
import duties. 10 lay this amount OF
sugar down in the ports OF entry cost
us within a few thousand dollars oil
all the money we received during the
- A. Of q II
products, corn, wheat and naval
stores combined. If this sum of money
were equally distributed among the
people of the United States. each man.
woman and child of every race and
color would receive nearly two dollars.
The Everglades are capable OF keep
ing all that money at home!
Growing Of Sugar Cane.
Louisiana produces more cane sugar
than all the other states of the Union
and certainly has some very
excellent cane lands. The average
yield of cane in that state is twenty
five tons per acre, and the average
available sugar content of that cane is
z per cent. The yield of cane in the
country, ascerta1ned by
striking an average on four hundred
and twenty acres for a number OF
years, is .thirty-fiye tons Of cane per
acre, and the average available sugar
The entire Everglades region contains
about four million acres of land Ad-
mirably adapted to the growing of
sugar cane, but we will eliminate al
except the four thousand square
miles covered by water, and which Is
now being reclaimed. If this area
were planted in cane, and should
yield thirty-five tons of cane per acre,
with an average available sugar con-
tent or 8 per cent, the net production
of sugar would be a little more than
seven million tons, or enough to sup
ply the demand in the United States
for more than two years.
Many experts have attested the
of the Everglades to the
production of sugar, but in all matters
saccharin the late Claus Spreckles
should probably be accorded the cour-
tesy of the last word, and here is
what ne said, after visiting sugar |
great at finding such a country for the |
production of sugar cane. The soil is !
rs rich as any that I have ever seen, |
and, with proper cultivation, the yield
should be equal to tnlt of any other |
country on the face CT the globe"
But" says some one, would not
this enormous production OF sugar
soon exhaust the soil?'' No. With /
proper care and cultivation it should
grow constantly richer. Sugar con- |
Lains no element of the soil, nor any |
ierivative of it 1t is a simple carbo-
hydrate, chemically expressed, C12I
H22 OIL. which, in common parlance.
would mean that Il is composed of one
part of water and one and one-eleyenthi
parts Of carbon, which latter has its
source in the sunshine and is present
in all organic matter. Had it ever
occurred to you that when you drop
= cube OF Crystal Dominique" sugar
INTO your coffee. you have merely add
ID a spoonful OF water ana a sunbeam?t
And had you ever thought that ii you
could squeeze out the water, you
would have a sparkling diamond at to
smbeuish q royal diadem? These
.hings seem Wondrous strange, but
such is the witchery practiced in Ma
lures laboratory. The nitrogen the i