The Florida agriculturist., 1909-10-01

Commissioner Of Agriculture B. E.
McLin incorporated in his last quarter
ly report a brief description Of the
lands of Florida, from which the fol-
lowing extracts are taken. Want Of
room prevents publication Of the entire
paper but the additional classificatiOns
will appear in the November number of
the Agriculturist:
The average soil of Florida is sandy,
mixed with more or less clay, lime and
organic matter. The greater portion of
the lands may be designated as pine
lands, because of the pine timber which
predominates There are lands on which
the timber is mixture of pine, white
oak, red oak, water oak, live oak, gum,
bay, hickory, magnolia, cabbage pal
metto, etc.; these lands are termed
mixed hammock lands.
The general classification of soils is
in the following order: First, second
and third rate pine lands, and high
hammock, low hammock and sWamDY
lands.
The pine lands cover much the larger
portion Of the State and the soil is ap
parently all sand, but not so; over a
greater portion of the State this sand is
thoroughly mixed with small particles
Of shells which contain carbonate Of
lime, other minerals and decomposed,
finely granulated vegetable matter. 1t
Is
of poor lands, just as have all other
States and countries, but compared with
some other States, the ratio is very
small With the exception Of very
small area of supposedly irreclalm-
able swamp lands, there is scarcely
an acre in the entire State which
cannot be made, under the won
climate, to pay tribute to mans energy.
Lands, which in a more northerly
climate would be utterly worthless,
will in Florida, for the reasons above
stated, yield valuable productions.
First class Pine Lands.
First class pine land in Florida is
wholly unlike anything found in any
other State It's surface is usually COW
cred for several inches deep with
dark vegetable mould, beneath which
to the depth Of several feet is a choco-
late colored sandy loan, mixed for the
most part with limestone pebbles and
resting upon a substratum OF mari, clay
or limestone rock The fertility ana
durability of this character of land may
be estimated from the we'll known fact
that in the older settled districts this
kind of soil has been cultivated for as
many as twenty years successfully IN
corn or cotton without a pound of any
sort of fertilizer, and are still as pro-
ductive as ever; practically, then, these
lands are indeStructible. 1t is on TINS
class of lands that both truck and fruit
growing is most successful, and which
produces the finest quality of sea island
cotton. Tt is also fine farming land
and yields good crops under ordinary
methods of cultivation. BY the grow
ing of leguminous plants these soils
and all other pine lands can be contin-
ually kept in a high state of fertility.
Second Class Pine Lands.
The second class pine lands, which
make up the largest portion Of lands
are practically all productive. They
are not hilly, but for the most part un-
dulating in their surface. In some
places, however, these elevations
amount to hills. Some Of these hills
in fernando county are regarded
among the highest points in the State.
Underlying the surface is clay, mari,
lime rock and sand. These lands, from