The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-01-05

mold: the natural drainage OF both
Ia fair, though these two land types
are quite fiat in topography and are
susceptible to perfect drainage at
very low cost.
These Cape Sable hammocks are
the only truly tropical forest growths
to be found in the United States prop
er, and though the growth is very
dense the land can be cleared at rel.
alive low cost, as the trees are in
every cast shallowly rooted and can
lie easily pulled with suitable power.
The hammocks contain a vast
amount of very interesting botanical
material; practically all the species
present are truly tropical, and this
little known land should prove to be
a veritable paradise to the botanist.
Without quoting botanical names, it
might be Of interest to give the fol-
lowing very incomplete partial list Of
native fora: Tropical buttonwood,
rawpaw, sable palm, mastic plum,
African dogwood, pigeon plum, CHINA
mon, rubber trees, tropical tree cot.
ton, gumolimbo, manginela, black
mangrove, Cherokee tree bean, some
thing like half hundred species Of
orchids and other air plants, and
many species of tropical cacti. Also
the true red Honduras mahogany is
found native to this part Of Florida.
The major portion of something
over 100000 acres of this Cape Sable
area, with fair natural drainage and
susceptible to both rapid and cheap
perfect drainage by surface ditching.
Is the open prairie type The writer
would hazard a guess that full three
quarters of the total area of available
arabic land could be classed s prairie,
or, say a total of 10000 acres.
1t was these prairie types of soil
that had reference to in the first
part of this paper, as being suitable
Tor the immediate production of large
quantities of human foodstuffs, be.
cause OF ease and rapidly of seed-bed
preparation, the ideal tractor farming
conditions, where individual fields Of
thousands of acres could easily be DOS.
. sible and large farm units (alwavs
the most economically could be the
rule. With a battery of 10 modern
tractors with proper implement eouip.
ment, and working the crews in three
shifts OF eight hours each, it would ho
ooth easy and practicable to plow,
DISK, harrow and plant from 2oo n
GOV acres OF land each day of "a
hours.
AS the writer specialized in agricul
tural bacteriology in college and mi,
Verslty' he can vouch for the follow.
ing; The old theory that soil fertil
i'y IS solely a chemical problem has
Deen exploded by the teachings NJ
modern agricultural science. TODAY
we Know that true soil fertility is more
a matter of biology (soil bacteriologv,
than OF chemistry. Oxygen, a slight
aikalinlty of the soil and an abun
uahce OF humus, together with pron
er degree of temperature and mot,
lure condition of the soil medium, are
prerequisite factors for MAXIMUM,
growth and development of these soi,
mlcroorganisms so essential to every
fertile soil. These Cape Sable mari
SOILS are by chemical nature notbino
more than carbonate of lime in a very
ninety divided physical state therefore
they are basic in character and can
never become acid, but must ALWAYS
snow an alkaline reaction. Again
mari SOILS to a very marked degree
resemble the typical clay tyne of soils
III the physical properties of great
moisture absorption and conservation
powers, as we'll as to hold and retain
much plant food that might otherwise
be subject to loss by teaching. Still
by far the most valuable property OF
basic mari soils is the fact that they
offer an ideal slightly alkaline envi
ronment for the life,giving soil bac
terra.
1t was the Great Napoleon, be
lleve, who made the statement that
"an army travels on its belly" A
wartime ration must contain an
abundance of both protein and fats
food for the making of muscle and
heat energy. 1t took the Civil War
to popularize the bean as human
food with the American people; in
fact our most commonly used legume
TOOK its name, navy bean, from this
source.
Who're are hnt two lnrnr,ns ao,........