FLORIDA.


not be desirable until many more settlers move in. It is
too lonely, and the means of transportation are too few


and irregular


but all who live in those regions are quite


unanimous in asserting that the climate is pleasant all the
year, and I have reason to believe life is just as pleasant
there in all seasons as anywhere, except for the lack of


society and transportation above mentioned.


If large set-


elements, towns, and cities were founded there, and regular
communication opened, it would be one of the most de-
lightful regions of America, healthy and agreeable, while
the products of its salt-water coast, fresh-water lakes and
rivers, fields, gardens, and groves would furnish to man-


kind, at all seasons, the


best and


most delicious of


foods that human nature craves.


" Like all other tropical countries, Tropical Florida has


its wet and dry seasons.*


The wet or rainy season is dur-


ing midsummer, which has a tendency to cool the atmos-
phere, and render the summer months cooler than they are in
the more northern portions of the State or in other portions
of the" Sbuodt* Duri g: the rainy season nearly the whole
o6tat'y fldoe&s, te fkowfoy, being so flat and level that
tha water does not flow 65t e8dily, A great portion of the
country requires ditching aAcd.'aning, and. w


systenf.4aQmethoh. gihll be adopite't jl tet 6f the surplus
water dturrg.fie tdifty gean, this p6rfon of the State will
prove the'*d6st proahctikea part of thel'oseth. It has but
few swamps or marshes, unless you conslelr'the Everglades
a marsh. The Alpativkee Swamp, upon the head-waters of
the St. Lucie River, is the only swamp of any magnitude in
Tropical Florida, and this part of the State has less swamps
than northern Wisconsin or Michigan. The country east


and south of the St. John's River has more swamps than any
other part of the State through which I have traveled
They are principally covered with cypress-timber, and, be-
ing easy of access from the St. Johns and Indian Rivers,
are valuable. There are fine lands upon Halifax River and
 *The following paragraphs are abridged from a report prepared by a
resident at the request of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration.


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