272 FLORIDA.

ery, it is nearly as valuable as raw silk. These are the
crops for North Florida.
 CASSAV ~Ana oT, ETc.-The cassava, from which
starch and tapioca are made, does astonishingly well in
Florida, and attains great size. The Hon. John G. Sin-
clair, of New Hampshire, has erected a cassava starch-mill
at Interlaken, in Orange County, and by experiment on his
own place he has shown that from four to six hundred
bushels to the acre can be raised on high pine-land with
little fertilizing. The starch yielded by it is excellent in
quality, and finds a ready sale to Northern manufacturers.
Here, probably, is the germ of a great industry; for the
cassava can be grown right in the orange-grove without
damaging the trees. Florida arrow-root grades in quality
and price with the best Bermuda, and is easily cultivated.
Comptie, the bread-root of the Indians, grows without any
cultivation.
 TIMBER AND LUMBER.-Of all the States Florida has
the largest area of original growth of timber. Excluding
land in cultivation, the area covered by lakes, rivers, savan-
nas, etc., there are probably nearly, if not quite, thirty mill-
images of land covered with timber, and of this the yellow
pine is fully three quarters. The level and rolling lands
are mostly covered with the yellow and pitch pine, which
attains a great size in girth and length. The lower lands
near rivers, lakes, and swamps abound in valuable timber,
of which live-oak, other species of oak, hickory, ash, birch,
cedar, magnolia, sweet-bay, gum, and cypress constitute a
great proportion. The redar is particularly adapted for
lead-pencils, and is largely exported to Europe for the best
manufactures, as also North and East. The magnolia and
bay are fine woods for ornamental furniture ; the cypress is
valuable for shingles, sash, doors, blinds, and inside finish,
railroad-ties, etc. The yellow and pitch pines have a world-
wide reputation as being the best for any and all uses where