GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA Io9

 Agriculture. On account of its fertile soil this is probably the. most extensively cultivated region in central Florida, although the percentage of improved land cannot be estimated, for the reasons already given. But as it probably contains most of the farms in Marion County, the statistics for the average farns in that county ought to represent conditions in the hammock belt pretty well. (If we should add to-or subtract from, as the case may be-the Marion averages the differences between then and those for Levy and Citrus Counties already given, we would probably come still nearer to the actual conditions in the hammock belt, for outside of that belt nearly all the farming in the county is done in the limesink region).
 In 1850 about half the farms in central Florida were in Marion County, and the average farm (or plantation) in the county had 169 acres, of which 34.8 were improved. Its land and buildings were worth $1,055, its implements and machinery $94, and its livestock $531. In the next decade there was a great expansion, and the amount of improved land increased more than 70%. In i86o, when the ante-bellurn plantation system 'of the South had reached its height, the average Marion County planter owned 450 acres, of which 133.7 were improved, land and buildings worth $4,620, implements and machinery-$205, and live-stock $1,094. At this tine considerable sugar was being produced, an industry nade possible by the abundance of cheap labor, which does not exist in Florida now.* The Civil War of course made many former slaves farm proprietors, and thus reduced the average size of farms considerably; but unfortunately the census did not make any distinction between white and colored farmers until 1900. By iSSo the average farm in the county had shrunk to practicAlly the same size as in the pioneer days of 1850, having 15r acres, With 36.8 improved. The land and buildings were then worth $903, implements and mAchinery $31, and live-stock $204. The expenditure for fertilizers the previous year was 86 cents per farm or a little over
2 cents per improved acre.
 Agricultural conditions at the next three U. S. censuses are shown in more detail in Table 3.

 *But for this difficulty tea and silk could probably be produced here too.