GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA 277

its yield has not been computed because the chances of error are too great. For example, if only one or two farmers in a region raise a certain crop their yield in the census year might easily be below or far above the normal, in accordance with the principle set forth a few pages back, so that averages based on them might
be very misleading.
 "Vegetables" are left out of this table, because so many different kinds, measured in different units, are lumped together in the government census reports. Both federal and State censuses
give the number instead of acreage of fruit trees, apparently because some farms have only a few scattered trees whose acreage cannot be measured; but the average number of orange and grapefruit trees per acre is commonly reckoned at 70, and the acreage has been computed on that basis.

 TABLE 37.
 Average Yield per Acre of Certain Crops in Central Florida, 1909.

 REGIONS

 CROPSQ P M_ 4; __ _ Z; r
Corn (bushels) ------------ 16 0.61 12.01 13.31 14.61 13.71 12.41 15.71 11.5 11.6
Oats (bushels) ------------ 12.21 13.91 12.81 12.11 13.91 17.71 _-_- 10.01 13.1 14.0
Rice (bushels) -----------I ----I ----1 17.71 17.51 ---- 23.51 .--. I_..- 22.71 19.8
Peanuts (bushels ---------..-14.21 22.11 16.31 19.21 15.71 11.91 --__ 18.5 18.4
Hay (tons) ---------------- 1.0 1.61 i.ol 1.21 1.1! 1.21 1.11 1.5 1.2 1.0
Irish potatoes (bushels) -- 51.01 72.31 52-41 57.41 92.31 87.01 90.81 95.41 84.61100.8
Sweet potatoes (bushels)-_ 85.71 82.31 70.81101.51100.11 85.8 105.0 120.01 90.41 94.7
Sugar cane (tons) -------I 4.o 7.7 4.4 13.51 7.41 13.9 21.2 13.4 9.41 11.1
Sugar cane (gals. syrup) __ 1641 2211 1991 '451 1711 155 1791 294 1781 196 Oranges (boxes) ----------1 8i1 138 115 1031 1191 1761 1531 115 1221 123 Grapefruit (boxes) ------- 1521 --...1 1291 1461 103 1441 121! 98 129 112
Strawberries (quarts) ---- ---- 21301 68o.17371 __- I 16111 1777

 The yield of any crop of course fluctuates from year to year with the weather, etc., but should not change nuch from one decade to another, except for a slight increase as the population becomes denser, land more valuable, and farming more intensive. Natural fertility of soil seems to have little to do with crop yields, probably because differences in that respect are so easily eliminated by the use of a few dollars' worth of labor or fertilizer, or both. The Middle Florida hammock belt is unquestionably the