219 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT.
NATURAL DIVISIONS OP THE STATE.
As peat is by no means universally distributed in Florida, its occurrence will be better understood if the geography of the State is described first. The geographyv of Florida is much more complex than any one who has not been in the State can possibly realize, There- is probably not a more diversified state in the Union, except California, and that owes much of, its diversity to its large size, its high mountain ranges, and its many different climates. Florida with only about one-third the area of California, a maximum elevation above sea-level of scarcely more than 300 feet, and not much diversity in climate, has a great many more different kinds of native trees than any other state, and its other productions are correspondingly varied.
PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFICATION.
The task of dividing Florida into natural geographical regions is by no means an easy one, and very few serious attempts to do it have been made. The method of classification used will depend somewhat on the previous experience of the, geographer, and what it is he is studying the distribution of. For instance, to a botanist a certain narrow strip along the upper Apalachicola River is very important, for it contains two trees not found anywhere else in the world, and several other plants not found elsewhere in Florida; but this strip does not differ notably in its peat resources from adjoining regions, and it is too narrow f or any estimates to be made of its population. Again, to the geologist the Everglades differs from the country east and west of it only in being a few inches or feet lower, and therefore inundated most of the time; but this region is very important to the botanist on account of its interesting vegetation, and of very little interest to the forester and statistician on account of the absence of trees, population and crops. Also, a geological map of Florida, showingT the distribution of the rocks, which are in most places 'buried dcep under sand or clay, would differ considerably from a soil map, and that in turn from a temperature map, etc.
The classification here adopted is based primarily on the two