GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 141

 Population. As Osceola County is almost entirely in this region, its population is probably typical enough of the whole. The nuiber of inhabitants per square mile ranged from 1.7 in 1890 to 3.1 in 1910 and 6.1 in 1915, since when there seems to have been a decrease, though the cutting off of Okeechobee County in 1917 makes exact comparisons between 1915 and 1920 impossible. In 1910 the proportion of native whites was 80.2%, the highest in central Florida; of foreign whites 2.9% and of negroes 16.8%. The only
incorporated places in the whole region were Kissimmee, with 4,221 inhabitants, St. Cloud, with 2,080 (all white, with a considerable number of Union veterans), and Taft, with 216 (mostly negroes).
 The. leading religious denominations among the whites in 1916 were Baptist, Southern Methodist, Northern Methodist ( ?), Disciples of Christ, Northern Presbyterian, and Catholic; and among the negroes Baptist, African Methodist, Northern Methodist (?), Primitive Baptist, and A. M. E. Zion.
 Agriculture. There are great variations in size and type of farms in this region, from small truck farms and orange groves such as are found all over central Florida, and larger 'sugar-cane plantations near the edge of the lake region, to enormous cattle ranches with very little cultivated land, these last mostly near the Kissimmee River.* On account of these variations the bare statistics for Osceola County, or any similar area that we might have data for, give a rather imperfect picture of the conditions.

metto, Pinus clausa, P. serotina, Gordonia, Hex Cassine, Serenoa, Hypericunm fasciculatum, Qziercus myiltifolia, Pieris nitida, Cholisma fruticosa, Bejaria, Spartina Bakeri, Tillandsia fasciculata, Sarracenia minor, Tillandsia recurvata, Doellingeria, Polygala cyniosa, Anchistea, Dichromena latifolia, Polygala Rugelii, Aletris lutea, Nymphaea, Sabbatia grandiflora, and Aristida spiciformnis.

 *Most of the cattlemen depend mainly on free range, and own very little land, but there is one company with headquarters in the southeastern corner of Polk County that is said to have 226,ooo acres fenced and to' own 36,ooo cattle. As in some of the grazing regions of the West, there have been some conflicts between the cattlemen and the small farmers Wvho are gradually encroaching on the free range, with occasional bloodshed.