S30
 "The sub-soil is a well stocked receptacle and storage
 magazine, from which, by innumerable veins and rivulets,
 the lakes and ponds are fed. An open and com-
 paratively deep cut would soon cause a very active flow of
 the subterranean waters to its bed, which would probably be
 abundantly supplied with water from this source for a certain
 length of time. But gradually the level of these subterran-
 ean waters will be lowered by the unceasing drain, while the
 swamps may be reclaimed by the operation, their usefulness,
 as direct or indirect feeding reservoirs to the canal will be
 destroyed, or very materially impaired."
 Prof. H. W. Wiley, chief chemist of the U. S. Agricul-
 tural Department, in his report on these lands, published in
 the report of the Secretary of Agriculture for 1891, says:
 "The origin of the muck soil is of course vegetable mat-
 ter. There are no data for estimating the length of time re-
 quired for the formation of these muck deposits. It is known
 that it must have been of great duration."
 "In regard to the depths of the soil, it varies from the
 merest covering at the edges of the sand to from 15 to 16
 feet in its deepest portions. The greater part of the muck
 lands, as before indicated, will vary from 3 to 6 feet deep,
 while along the Okeechobee the average is much greater, the
 soil varies in color from almost jet black to black brown.
 The Okeechobee muck, however, is underlaid
 with a thick stratum of shell marl, containing pebbles very
 Srich in phosphorous, and this rests upon a coraline or lime-
/ stone formation."
 "The question of climate is also one of prime importance,
 especially in the consideration of the culture of sugar and
 rice.' The climate of Florida is divided dis-
 tinctly into a rainy and dry season. The rainy season begins
 early in the summer, the latter part of May or June, and con-
 tinues until about the middle of September or Ist of October.
 From October to June the climate of the central peninsula
Sof Florida is essentially dry, although showers may frequent-
 ly occur. There is also an advantage to the grow-
 ing cane crop in having the rainfall come during the hot