4

 LANDS.
 The lands acquired by the company are generally known
as the "Everglades of Florida," an elevated basin, separated
from the Atlantic Ocean by a ridge of limestone, being an
average of five miles from tide water, on the eastern
boundary.
 The surface of the Everglades above tide water on their
eastern edge averages eleven feet, with a slope on their sur-
face from tlhir eastern border to their apex of nine feet,
making a total fall of twenty feet for drainage purposes.
 The Everglades basin is filled with a soil of extreme fer-
tility, being composed of drift or alluvium, mixed'with de-
cayed vegetable matter (muck), and is generally underlaid
by a deposit of marl, a source of much fertility and a cor-
rective of acidity.
 The bottom of this basin is practically above tide water,
rendering the drainage a simple process.

 NATURAL DRAINS.
 The limestone ridge on the eastern edge of the glades
has been pierced to the waters of the glades by numerous
streams-the Hillsborough, Miami. Cypress, Middle, Little,
New, Arch and Snake Rivers, all of which streams cross the
ridge into the territory controlled by this company.
 These rivers have penetrated through the rocky ridge to
the ocean. Their falls or rapids at their heads are gradually
working westwardly, and in time would, by natural means,
effect the drainage of the Everglades.

 ARTIFICIAL DRAINS.
 The object of this company is to remove the barriers at
the heads of the various rivers, and from thence run canals
or channels into the body of the Everglades, with necessary
laterals to quickly remove the impounded water and prepare
the soil for agriculture.