Bisbee daily review., 1911-07-02
HE srsEE REWEw BBEE ARzON SUNDAY MORNING. uY 1e

give any figures or data bearing upon the feasibility of this drainage pro feet. because that subject has been so often and so thoroughly thrashed out by government engineers and survey ors that there is no longer any reas- enable basis for doubt Also. enough practical results have already been accomplished to convince even the most skepticaL
 1 Now, having briefly considered the past history and the present status of the Everglades. let us turn to the flu ture and ascerain. if we may, what it promises in return for all this striy- ing and sturdy toll
 What About the Future?
 The most important point to be con- sidered is the fertility of the soil, for it matters not how fayorbly located any region may be with reference to climate and marketing facilities, if the land is unproductive all these things count for naught. All wealth must spring from the soil. and every thing else is good or inferior in the same ratio that the land is rich or FOOT. The soil of the Everglades is rich. not only in isolated places, but uniformly rich. The manner of it's formation. as already described. can mean nothing else than almost un- varying uniformity.
 Nitrogen is the expensive element in all weli-balanced fertilizers, and is likewise the element in which most farming lands are deficient. For a million years, perhaps, nitrogen-hxing process has gone on in the Ever glades. and today the soil is probably richer in this valuable constituent than is that of any other considerable area on the face of the globe. have before me eleven official analyses of Everglades muck taken from widely separated places. and a mean andy. sis obtained by adding them all to- gether and dividing the sum by elev- en, shows 2.2t per cent nitrogen.
 Nitrogen is computed to be worth fifteen cents per pound. which would place the commercial value of the average Everglades soil at S6.63 per ton Think of it for 8 moment, Four thousand square miles of soil varying in depth from four 10 twenty feet. sit uate in a subtropical climate. and having an actual commercial value of more than s6 per ton, Can you wonder that a nation is interested in it's rec lamation?
 The soil is slightly deficient in pot ash and phosphoric acid. but that de- feet is easily and cheaply remedied. Phosphate abounds in the region lying just a few miles northward and the raw soft phosphate. which IS the kind needed on this soil, can be laid down at Fort Lauderdale for about S per ton Sufficient potash to balance this acid can be had for about the same price. Enormous crops can be grown without any fertilizer whatever, but experience has demonstrated that the addition of these cheap elements in which the soil Is deficient is a good investment.
 The possibilities of this combina- ton of soil. moisture and climate are almost unlimited, but it is the opin- ion Of Governor Broward. and many others who have carefully studied the situation that the growing of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar will be the chief industry.
 Possibilities For Sugar.
 Louisiana produces more can sugar than all the other states combined, and certainly las some very excellent cane lands. The average yield per acre in that state is twenty-five tons of cane. and the average available sugar content Of that cane is seven per cent The average cane production Of the Everglades, ascertained by striking an