32
 "Competent engineers have made estimates for the actual
 cost of steam cultivation, on the canal system indicated above,
 and allowing for all contingencies for unexpected expense,
 it appears reasonable to say that, with the yield of cane which
 can be secured on such lands, it will be possible to place the
 cane at the doors of the factories by means of a system of
 canals used in irrigation and cultivation at an expense which
 will fall below $2.oo per ton. This expense includes all the
 cost of cultivation, harvesting and transportation."

 "It is not necessary to dwell upon the fact that with cane
 produced upon such a cost, even the Island of Cuba could
 not compete with Florida in the production of sugar. There.
 is practically no other body of land in the world which pre-
 sents such remarkable possibilities of development as the
 muck lands bordering the southern shores of Lake Okee-
 chobee. With a depth of soil averaging, perhaps, eight feet,
 and extent of nearly a half million acres, with a surface al-
 most level, it affords promise of development which reaches
 beyond the limits of prophecy."

 These reports and conclusions of eminent scientists and
 agriculturists, made ten years or more since, have been most
 positively verified by time and the experience of practical
 growers, the crops now growing in this region on the lands
 described, more than justify their conclusions. The won-
 derful fertility and productiveness of these soils are evi-
 denced by the enormous crops now being produced thereon.
 Until 1896 there were no means of transportation into the
 region now under consideration. The building of the Florida
 East Coast Railway to Miami, that year, opened up a new
 territory, unknown previously to any but a few surveyors,
 pioneers, hunters and explorers. The exceeding productive-
 ness of these lands became at once'apparent. The margins
 of the Everglades where drained naturally by the streams,
 small areas cut off and artificially drained, have proved
 wonderfully fertile and productive. Enormous crops of
vegetables and fruits are produced on these lands at present.
Many thousands of settlers are now in the territory adjacent


S. I