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 BALDWIN, A. S. 
 
 CLIMATOLOGY OF FLOR- 
 
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 CODRINGTOM, C. 
 
 ;; OF FLf 
 
GIFT OF 
 
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CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA, 
 
 A i I(ED HKFOHK 
 
 THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OK FLORIDA, AT THEIR 
 
 ANNUAL MEETING, HELD IN THE CITY OF JACKSONVILLE, 
 
 ON THE IfTH AND 18TII OF FEHRUAKY, 1875, 
 
 BY A. S. BALDWIN, M.D., PRESIDENT. 
 
 A ECTURE ON 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF FLORIDA, 
 
 BY C. CODRINGTON, ESQ., 
 
 Editor of "The Florida Agriculturist." 
 
 PRINTED AT THK OFFICE Cf* 1 "THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST.' 1 
 
 1875. 
 
YEAR. 
 
 EIGHT PAGES. 
 
 THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST is the only agricultural paper iu the State, and the 
 best in the South. If you wish to get reliable information about Florida, its climate. 
 soil, and capacity; accurate details as to the cultivation of the Orange and Tropical 
 Fruits, and the profits to be derived therefrom, subscribe to THE FLORIDA AGKH i : 
 TURIST, an 8-page weekly paper, 32 broad columns. 
 
 Opinions of the Press. 
 
 THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST comes to us regu- 
 larly, and is full of useful hints as well as personal 
 experience in the culture of Florida's fruits and 
 vegetables. It fills a void long felt in Florida jour- 
 nalism, is well worthy of support, and will become 
 almost a necessity to the fruit-grower in our State. 
 Apcdacliicola Times. 
 
 It is a capital paper, and every farmer or planter 
 who invests in the amount of subscription will have 
 his money back live, ten, and a hundredfold. In 
 fact, no man or woman who lives by the cultivation 
 of the soil can study his own interest and not be- 
 come a subscriber. St. Augustine Press. 
 
 The Monticello Constitution of February 25, 1875, 
 
 says : " THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST is the only 
 journal devoted exclusively to the interest of agri- 
 culturists, that is puolished in this State, and it 
 should receive a generous support. The proceed- 
 ings of the recent Fruit-Growers' Association are now 
 being published in its columns, which is of interest 
 not only to planters, but to every man who has a 
 permanent interest iu the State. The typoprapny 
 of the AGRICULTURIST is elegant, and it is edited 
 with marked ability." 
 
 THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST, published in Jack 
 souville, Florida, is destined to rank with the best. 
 It has improved from the start, and will no doubt 
 meet with a liberal support. Palatka Htralrl. 
 
 The following resolution was adopted at a recent 
 meeting of the Nassau county (Fla.) Agricultural 
 Society : 
 
 " Resolved, That, recognizing, as we do, the im- 
 portance of having a live public journal devoted to 
 the agricultural interests of our State, we cheerfully 
 endorse THE FLORIDA AGRICULTURIST, published at 
 Jacksonville, and earnestly recommend not only the 
 members of our own but other societies and all oth- 
 ers interested in the welfare of Florida, to subscribe 
 for and thus help to maintain a journal which is 
 doing so much to develop our resources." 
 
 A subscriber, writing from Duval county, Fla.. 
 says: "I must acknowledge the immense value of 
 your paper to me and all new-comers, as a guide 
 and instructor. Any one number is worth a year's 
 price. Your recipe for bots in horses is just the 
 thing. I had occasion to use it last week, and saved 
 a valuable horse. Nothing can be better than your 
 instructions for monthly planting. As we have no. 
 experience with this climate, we must learn from 
 those who have had it, and not many can afford to 
 lose one or two years experimenting. Too many 
 have already done so, and now they are gone away 
 crying down our State, simply because they would 
 not 'take, or could not get, proper advice. 
 
 Address, 
 ^..iid ten cents for a specimen copy. 
 
 "To parties in the oranire culture your paper 
 > must be doubled in value. The plain statement of 
 facts and experience from such able correspondents 
 as your Mr. Fowler, Dr. Mason, and others, togetli. 
 er with the work of M. Galleslo, furnishes valuable 
 information to be gotten nowhere e i would 
 mention many other merits, but any o 
 any single number of THE AGKICULTU T wUl tte 
 for themselves." 
 
 Another, writing from Manclicstei 
 "I am so well pleased with THE I 
 TURIST, although only in it* Sf'ft" 
 
 heartil v wish tliat every lover of Florida and to 
 1 charming climate mi^ht r.d it, nd bam. ,t a^ 
 irron-- their friends nt the North, that the\ Dl; , 
 on,, iui.il " , f ]?i ow . er8 .' Your puix-r i . 
 
 f tatc- -j H tin- vears before it could conn 
 SKi PP"'- . I trn*t your people arc ^ 
 . n 01 ,eer utfriciilturHl weekly. 1 am enjfa^ 
 acolbny for Florida, and intend.to rn 
 /t lo'-iition durinsr the coming sinnm' 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Medical Association of the State 
 
 of Florida : 
 
 As many friends, for whom I entertain a high 
 regard, have solicited it, and with whose wishes 
 I am disposed to comply, I have chosen Clima- 
 tology, or rather the Meteorology of Florida, as 
 the subject of an address which this Association 
 requires annually from its President. 
 
 While sensibly conscious of my inability to do 
 full justice to so important a subject, I am still 
 willing to make a*ny contribution in my power 
 towards the elucidation of it, and the establish- 
 ment of a better knowledge of our climate 
 among the profession and others interested 
 abroad, and among whom, after so much has 
 been written and disseminated, a great variety 
 of opinions seems still to exist, even while our 
 neighbors of the North and West, in consider- 
 able and constantly increasing numbers, are 
 making our State a winter resort, and, in many 
 instances, a permanent abode. And why is 
 there such a want of correct information in re- 
 gard to Florida, her topography and resources, 
 her soil and productions, and of the true charac- 
 ter of her climate, as it affects mankind, resid- 
 ing summer and winter, and year after year, 
 within her borders? Hitherto scores of invalid 
 visitors have kept partial meteorological records 
 during their winter sojourn here, and have been 
 sending them to their respective homes for pub- 
 lication, accompanied by such comments and 
 impressions as their state of health and feelings 
 might at the time dictate. Sometimes favorable 
 impressions were conveyed, and sometimes the 
 reverse, and these conflicting reports seem to 
 have produced upon the minds of medical men, 
 as well as of others, an impression that our cli- 
 mate was fickle, and as variable as were the re- 
 ports concerning it. Hence, it is important that 
 whatever of reliable meteorological data we may 
 possess, should be collected and subjected to an 
 analysis, and put into a shape that shall impart 
 the requisite information, and correct the false 
 impressions which seem to have been made from 
 unreliable reports based on very imperfect data. 
 In an endeavor to accomplish this, I have been 
 able to obtain numerous records of meteorolog- 
 ical observations made at various stations in 
 East and South Florida, but one from the Mid- 
 dle, and from but two in West Florida. These, 
 added to my own observations for the past thirty- 
 six years, comprise the material from which I 
 propose to work out the problem imposed upon 
 me as my task on this occasion. 
 
 We will first determine what is meant by the 
 term climate. " 
 
 According to Humboldt : " The term climate, 
 taken in its more general sense, indicates all the 
 changes in the atmosphere which sensibly affect 
 our organs, as temperature, humidity, variations 
 in barometrical pressure, the calm state of the 
 atmosphere, or the action of opposite winds, 
 the amount of electrical tension, the purity of 
 the atmosphere, and its admixture with more or 
 less noxious gaseous exhalations, and, finally, 
 the degree of ordinary transparency and clear- 
 ness of the sky, which is not only important, 
 with respect to the increased radiation from the 
 earth, the organic development of plants, and the 
 ripening of fruits, but also with reference to its 
 influence on the feelings and mental condition 
 of men." 
 
 "Reclus" gives the following as his defini- 
 tion : " All the facts of physical geography, the 
 relief of continents and of islands, height and 
 direction of the system of mountains, the extent 
 of forests, savannas and cultivated lands, the 
 width of valleys, the abundance of rivers, the 
 outline of the coasts, the marine currents and 
 winds, and all the meteoric phenomena of the 
 atmosphere, vapors, fogs, clouds, rains, light- 
 ning, and thunders, magnetic currents, or as Hip- 
 pocrates said, more briefly, ' The places, the wa- 
 ters, and tlie airs,' constitute, in connection with 
 latitude and longitude, what is called a climate." 
 These definitions are sufficiently comprehensive 
 to cover the entire subject, and they give a full 
 enumeration of the different factors or ele- 
 ments of climate. The first, in Humboldt's 
 enumeration, is, " Temperature" To elucidate 
 this, we have ample materials, and to make it 
 clear and easily understood, I have tabulated 
 the abstracts of mean temperature taken at 
 seventeen stations, besides my own. (See Ap- 
 pendix.) The names of the stations, their lati- 
 tude and longitude, is given, and the number of 
 years and parts of years, during which these 
 observations were made, are also given, and I 
 have also added to the tables and enclosed in 
 brackets the abstracts of other observations since 
 the following deductions wef*e made, and which 
 do not enter into them. From this table we 
 learn that the mean temperature of the spring 
 for the entire State is 71.62 degrees ; for the sum- 
 mer, 80.51 degrees; for autumn, 71.66 degrees; 
 for winter, 60.04 degrees ; and for the year, 70.95 
 degrees. And for the stations on latitude eighty- 
 two degrees North, and south of it, for the spring, 
 we have 74.94 degrees ; for summer, 81.93 de- 
 grees ; for autumn, 76.57 degrees ; for winter, 
 63.69 degrees ; and for the year, 74.87 degrees. 
 For the stations north of latitude twenty-eight 
 
THfc ' CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 degrees North, we have for the spring, 70.66 de- 
 grees ; for Bummer, 80.10 degrees ; for autumn, 
 70.23 degrees; for winter, 58.29 degrees; and for 
 the year, 69.82 degrees. There is not exhibited 
 any great difference between the northern and 
 southern portions of the State, but enough to 
 afford a choice of temperature during the differ- 
 ent seasons, if the visitor desires change. Dur- 
 ing tbe spring, the temperature south of twenty- 
 eight degrees latitude, is 4.28 degrees higher; 
 and for summer, 1.83 degrees ; for autumn, 6.34 
 degrees ; and for winter, 5.40 degrees higher than 
 it is north of latitude twenty-eight degrees. 
 
 It will be observed that the temperature south 
 of latitude twenty-eight degrees is, in winter, 5.40 
 degrees higher than north of twenty-eight degrees, 
 but that in summer it is only 1.83 degrees higher, 
 showing that the difference between the summer 
 and winter temperature if less south than north 
 of twenty-eight degrees. This is due to an astro- 
 nomical law, which will be referred to more par- 
 ticularly hereafter. No reasonable objection can 
 be urged to the temperature in any part of the 
 State for the entire year. Meteorology may be 
 said to be founded on the fact that the rays of the 
 sun constitute a force which produces nearly all 
 tbe changes which take place on the surface of 
 the earth. The forces of the earth itself, such as 
 gravity, chemical affinity, cohesion, electricity, 
 or magnetism, &c., are forces of quiescence, that 
 tend to bring matter to a state of rest at the sur- 
 face of the earth, from which it Is only disturbed 
 by the solar emanations. All elementary sub- 
 stances which constitute the surface of our planet, 
 with the exception of organic matter, have long 
 since gone into a state of permanent combina- 
 tion, and seem to have passed through intense 
 heat at some remote period of the past. " The 
 whole earth," says Professor Henry, " is an im- 
 mense slag, analogous to that drawn from the 
 smelting furnace, surrounded by a liquid and 
 aerial envelope, the former in a state of ultimate 
 chemical combination, and the active principle 
 of the latter, oxygen, finding nothing to combine 
 with except what has been released from former 
 combinations by the action of the sun." If, 
 therefore, the solar impulses were suspended, all 
 motion on the surface of the earth would cease, 
 the aerial and the ocean currents would stop, 
 and silence and death would reign supreme. The 
 earth in her revolutions around the sun describes 
 not a circle, but an ellipse, in one of the foci of 
 which is placed the sun, so that we are nearer 
 the sun at one part of the year than at another. 
 It has been mathematically shown that the earth, 
 as a whole, receives the greatest amount of heat 
 from the sun on the first day of January, and 
 the least on the fourth day of July (not on our 
 hemisphere, but on the whole earth.) 
 
 The variation of the distance of the sun from 
 the earth, however, produces no effect on the 
 different seasons, as many suppose, since the 
 rapidity of motion, or the shorter duration of 
 proximity to the sun, just compensates fur the 
 greater intensity of the sun's rays, due to the 
 near approach. Owing to the spherical form of 
 the earth the sun's rays strike it obliquely at all 
 places, except those over which the sun is ver- 
 tical, and where his rays are perpendicular, and 
 it is these vertical rays alone that produce re- 
 sults. The intensity of the rays will be greatest 
 
 over the equatorial regions during the year as a 
 whole, and will diminish to the poles. 
 
 The sum of all the vertical rays from the ris- 
 ing to the setting of the sun. on any day, will 
 represent the whole intensity of the heat of the 
 sun on that day, received on any parallel of lati- 
 tude on the earth, and in this way may be calcu- 
 lated the relative amount of heat received on 
 differen Platitudes at different seasons of the year : 
 from this estimate we shall find that the amount 
 of heat received, during any given day of summer, 
 from the sun, at different northern latitudes, is 
 greater than that which falls on the equator 
 during the same time. This is shown in a table 
 found in L. W. Meech's paper, " On the Sun's 
 Intensity," published in the Smithsonian Contri- 
 butions in 1855, which table will be found in the 
 Appendix. On the 15th of June, the sun is more 
 than twenty-three degrees north of the equator, 
 and, therefore, it might be readily inferred that 
 the intensity of heat should be greater at this 
 latitude than at the equator, but that it should 
 continue to increase beyond this, even to the. 
 pole, as indicated by the table, may not, at first 
 sight, seem so clear. It will, however, be under- 
 stood, when it is recollected that the table indi- 
 cates the amount of heat received during the 
 whole day ; and though in a more northern lati- 
 tude, the obliquity of the ray is greater, and on 
 this account the intensity should be less; yet the 
 longer duration of the day is more than sufficient 
 to compensate this effect, and to produce the re- 
 sult exhibited, an increased amount of heat. 
 And although there is more absolute heat at 
 Jacksonville, Florida, during the entire year, 
 latitude thirty degrees twenty minutes, than 
 there is at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, latitude forty- 
 three degrees three minutes, yet there is more 
 heat received from the sun at the latter place, 
 during the three summer months, than at the 
 former, during that period, and Wisconsin is 
 liable to experience a higher temperature during 
 the summer months th/m is Florida during the 
 same time. 
 
 An analogous, but contrary result, is exhibited 
 in regard to the cold of winter, as will be seen 
 by the tables appended. It is on this principle 
 that, as we come from the north towards the 
 equator, we find the extreme variation of the 
 seasons becoming less and less as we advance. 
 The curve, representing the sun's intensity, very 
 nearly corresponds with that of temperature in 
 the equatorial regions, but it becomes more bent 
 in comparison as we proceed north. Lpon this 
 fact the greater equability of the temperature of 
 Florida is established over all places north of it, 
 so far as astronomical influences can affect it, 
 and not as liable to extremes of heat in summer, 
 nor of cold in winter. 
 
 There are other causes, however, not astro- 
 nomical which materially modify temperature in 
 all latitudes, and we must determine if any of 
 these influences are in operation here, and, if so, 
 what effects are produced. 
 
 What becomes of the heat received on the 
 earth from the sun's rays V Heat is indestructi- 
 ble and if it continues to accumulate on the 
 earth's surface, it will soon become so intense as 
 to render it an unfit residence for man, animals, 
 or plants. Although not in the order which I 
 3rst intended to discuss this element of climate 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 yet the theory of radiation of heat may very 
 properly be introduced here, in answer to the 
 above interrogatory what becomes of the heat'? 
 It is a well established fact that all bodies are 
 radiating heat, even while they are receiving it. 
 If the amount received in a definite time is 
 greater than that given off, the temperature will 
 increase. On the contrary, if the amount given 
 off is greater than the amount received, then the 
 temperature will decline. The earth is constantly 
 radiating heat into space, but only receiving it 
 from the sun during the day. The rays of the 
 sun are rays of high intensity, and have great 
 penetrating power, but the rays which the earth 
 gives off are of low intensity, and have feeble 
 penetrating power, unless the heat is accumula- 
 ted so as to make it intense. For example, those 
 of high intensity will pass through the glass of a 
 window into a room, and heat up the articles in 
 it, if they are not good conductors of heat. The 
 articles in the room will begin also to radiate 
 heat, but of low intensity, which cannot pass 
 back through the window. Hence ihe room 
 acquires and maintains a high temperature from 
 the accumulated heat received and not given off. 
 The atmosphere which envelopes the earth 
 produces a similar result. The rays of the sun 
 are transmitted through it to the earth, which, 
 in turn, emits rays of low intensity that do not 
 so readily penetrate and pass through this at- 
 mospheric envelope, but give rise to an accumu- 
 lation of heat at the surface. The resistance to 
 the transmission of heat of low intensity, de- 
 pends upon the quantity of vapor in the atmos- 
 phere, and, perhaps, also to the density of the 
 air itself. The radiation of the earth, therefore, 
 differs very much on different nights and in dif- 
 ferent localities. In places where the air is very 
 dry, the heat of the day is excessive, notwith- 
 standing the radiation which is going on, but 
 the nights become very cool. General Emery, 
 in his report on the boundary survey, states that 
 on some of the arid plains over which he passed, 
 there was a difference of sixty degrees between 
 the temperature of the day and that of the night ; 
 the air was so dry here that heat of low intensity 
 would be radiated, so that on one occasion, when 
 the camp ground was chosen in. a gorge, between 
 two steep hills, the interradiation between them 
 prevented the usual fall of the thermometer, and 
 it stood several degrees higher than on the plain 
 but a few rods off. Professor Tyndall, who be- 
 longs to a new school of philosophers, in an ar- 
 licle on radiation, uses the following language: 
 ' The observations of meteorologists furnish im- 
 portant, though, hitherto, unconscious evidence 
 of the influence of this agent, (vapor in the air.) 
 Whenever the air is dry, wo arc liable to ex- 
 tremes of temperature. By day, in such places, 
 the sun's heat reaches the earth unimpeded, and 
 renders the maximum high ; by night, on the 
 other hand, the earth's heat escapes unhindered 
 into space, and renders the minimum low, hence 
 the difference between the maximum and min- 
 imum is greater where the air is dryest. Wher- 
 ever drought reigns we have the heat of the day 
 forcibly contrasted with the chill of the night. 
 In the Sahara, itself, when the sun's rays cease 
 to impinge on the burning sands, the tempera- 
 ture runs rapidly down to freezing, because there 
 is no vapor overhead to check the calorific drain. 
 
 And here another instance might be added to 
 the number already known, in which Nature 
 tends, as it were, to check her own excess. By 
 natural refrigeration, the aqueous vapor of the 
 air is condensed to water on the surface of the 
 earth, and as only the superficial portions radi- 
 ate, the act of condensation makes water the 
 radiating body. Now, experiment proves, that 
 to the rays emitted by water, aqueous vapor is 
 especially opaque. Hence, the very act of con- 
 densation consequent on terrestrial cooling, be- 
 comes a safeguard to the earth, imparting to its 
 radiation that particular character which is most 
 liable to be prevented from escaping into space. 
 It might be argued, however, ithat inasmuch 
 as we derive all our heat from the sun, the self 
 same covering which protects the earth from 
 chill must also shut out the rays of the sun. 
 This is partially true, but only partially. The 
 sun's rays are different in quality from the earth's 
 rays, and it does not follow that the substance 
 which absorbs the one must necessarily ab- 
 sorb the other. Through a layer of water, for 
 example, one-tenth of an inch in thickness, the 
 sun's rays are transmitted with comparative 
 freedom, but through a layer of half this thick- 
 ness, as Meloni has proven, no single ray from 
 the warmed earth could pass. In like manner, 
 the sun's rays pass with comparative freedom 
 through the aqueous vapor of the air, the ab- 
 sorbing power of this substance being mainly 
 exerted upon the heat that endeavors to escape 
 from earth. In consequence of this differential 
 action upon solar and terrestrial heat, the mean 
 temperature of our planet is higher than is due 
 to its distance from the sun. A cobweb spread 
 over a blossom is sufficient to protect it from 
 nightly chills, and thus the aqueous vapor, at- 
 tenuated as it is in our air, checks the drain of 
 terrestrial heat, and saves the surface of our 
 planet from the refrigeration which would as- 
 suredly accrue, were no such substance inter- 
 posed between it and the voids of space." 
 
 I have dwelt longer on this particular element 
 of climate than I would have done, had not one 
 of the principal objections to our climate been 
 its " excessive humidity" and to meet this objec- 
 tion I have made lengthy quotations from author- 
 ities, from which it appears that humidity in the 
 atmosphere is essential to protect us from those 
 extreme diurnal changes of temperature which 
 so seriously detract from those climates where 
 they exist, and where the diurnal changes ex- 
 ceed the range that I have ever recorded between 
 the maximum and minimum of a mouth, when 
 several days, or weeks, perhaps, had intervened 
 between the extreme high and low temperature ; 
 indeed, the difference between the highest and 
 lowest that 1 have recorded, in thirty-six years, 
 is not so great as is the diurnal difference in 
 many places where a very* dry atmosphere ex- 
 ists. " I give an abstract, of my own records, for 
 the months of November, December, January, 
 February, and March, five months, as deduced 
 from several year's observations. The mean 
 diurnal range for November is thirteen degrees, 
 four-tenths ; for December, thirteen degrees, 
 nine-tenths; for January, fourteen degrees, 
 four-tenths ; for February, fourteen degrees ; 
 for March, fourteen degrees, nine-tenths. These 
 are the five months in which visitors are partic- 
 
a 
 
 THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 ularly interested, and they are also those in 
 which the greatest diurnal variation occurs dur- 
 ing the year. 
 
 The average number of frosts for the month of 
 January, in Jacksonville, in twenty-seven years' 
 record, is 5.4 ; for February, 3.1 ; for March, 1.3; 
 for April, 0.2; and no more until October, 0.2 ; 
 for November, 2.3 ; 1'or December, 5.2. The first 
 frost in the lall has occurred in October, four 
 times ; in November, sixteen times ; in Decem- 
 ber, seven times ; and twice the second frost has 
 occurred in February. There have been several 
 years in which no frost occurred in October; 
 there have been years in 'which none have oc- 
 curred in November or December. There have 
 been years when no frosts occurred in January, 
 none in February, still more in which March 
 was exempt ; very few frosts have occurred in 
 April, and none after. In 1858 a frost occurred 
 on the 28th of April, which is the latest re- 
 corded ; and there have been but four Aprils in 
 which frosts have been recorded ; and there have 
 been but four Octobers in which they have been 
 recorded. From these statements, an idea can 
 be formed of the average amount of freezing 
 weather in winter. December and January are 
 the oftenest visited with frosts a little over five 
 times in each month on an average. 
 
 As clearness of sky is connected with the sub- 
 ject of radiation, and is also an important ele- 
 ment of climate, it will be introduced here. I 
 have, in making up my results, of which I pro- 
 pose to present an abstract, counted those days 
 clear which were marked from up to 5, the 
 latter representing the sky half covered with 
 clouds. The month of January, from twenty- 
 two years' observations, has had an average of 
 20.3 clear days ;. February, for twenty-five years, 
 19.5; March, for the same period. 20.4; April, 
 25 ; May, for twenty-six years, 22.1 clear days ; 
 June, for twenty-five years, 17.1 ; July, for the 
 same period, 18.5 ; August, for twenty-six years, 
 19.1 clear days ; September, for twenty-four 
 years, 17.2 ; October, for twenty-five years, 19.2 ; 
 November, for twenty-four years, 20.0 ; Decem- 
 ber, for the same period, 20 clear days. For 
 spring, the average is 63.7; for summer, 55.1; 
 for autumn, 56.4 ; for winter, 59.8 ; and for the 
 year, 235 clear days out of 365, leaving 130 days 
 in which the sky was more than half covered 
 with clouds, and on some of which rain has 
 fallen. In January, there has been an average 
 of 6.6 rainy days f in February, 3.6 ; in March, 
 5.7 ; and in December, 5.4 rainy days, and these 
 constitute the four months in which visitors are 
 especially interested. In these months we have 
 an average of 21.3 rainy days out of 121 clays. 
 
 I have not calculated the results for the other 
 stations in the State in relation to this subject, 
 but from a pretty careful examination of them, 
 I judge that the results would not materially vary 
 from what I have given from my own tables : 
 and, on the whole, the preponderance of clear 
 over cloudy and rainy days, speaks decidedly in 
 favor of our climate, as being characterized by a 
 fair amount of pleasant weather. The term rel- 
 ative humidity, as used in our meteorological 
 tables, is calculated to produce on the minds of 
 those who have not especially informed them- 
 selves of its real value in absolute moisture 
 which is contained in the atmosphere, a very 
 
 erroneous impression. When the temperature is 
 fifty degrees, the barometer 30.00, and the rela- 
 tive humidity marked 100, there is in one cubic 
 foot of air only about four grains of water. If the 
 temperature is one hundred degrees, ihe barom- 
 eter the same as before, 30.00, and the relative 
 humidity still recorded 100, a cubic foot of air 
 will contain twenty grains of water. Now, if 
 the temperature is again reduced to fifty degrees, 
 the barometer the same, 30.00, and the relative 
 humidity recorded still 100, the cubic foot of air 
 will have parted with sixteen grains of water, 
 and it will be still saturated, although it contains 
 but four grains, only one fourth of the weight of 
 water that it did at the temperature of one hun- 
 dred degrees. Very few would appreciate this 
 difference by looking at the record ; if they have 
 relative humidity recorded at 100, they would, 
 without understanding it, pronounce the climate 
 a very clamp one, and this, no doubt, has led 
 many to believe this climate to be excessively 
 damp, as it has often been considered. Let us 
 reverse the calculation just given ; suppose in- 
 stead of the temperature being fifty degrees, it 
 was one hundred degrees, and there was no ac- 
 cession of moisture, the cubic foot of air would 
 contain four grains of water ; whilfe a cubic foot 
 of air is capable of containing twenty grains at, 
 that temperature, it is clear that four grains will 
 only saturate one-fourth of it, and one-fourth of 
 100 would be twenty-five ; and if many should 
 see in the column of relative humidity the record 
 twenty-five, they wor.ld be very well satisfied 
 that this was a ver} r dry climate, and yet there is 
 no less absolute moisture in it than there was 
 when recorded 100, and the temperature fifty de- 
 grees. 
 
 I have bec!n thus particular in endeavoring to 
 place this matter in a clear light, because it has 
 been the cause of much disparagement of our cli- 
 mate, from the fact that the term relative humid- 
 ity has not been understood by the objectors. I 
 have determined from my own tables the relative- 
 humidity approximately by taking the mean tem- 
 perature of the month, and the average difference 
 between the dry and wet bulb thermometers, the 
 mean of the dry bulb being the same as the mean 
 temperature of the month, and with these I de- 
 duce the relative humidity by the assistance of 
 the tables provided for the purpose, and the fol- 
 lowing is the result : For the month of January, 
 the relative humidity is 67.20; for February, 
 67.15; for March, 57.50; for April, 63.20; for 
 May, 62.60; for June, 73.3; for July, 74.7; for 
 August, 73.4; for September, 76.8; for October, 
 74.4 ; for November, 71.5 ; for December, 74.0 ; 
 for spring, 61.0: for summer, 73.8; for autumn, 
 74.2 ; for winter, 69.4 ; for the year, 69.6 ; the an- 
 nual and winter mean being nearly the same, 
 showing a considerable amount of moisture in 
 the atmosphere, but by no means an " ex- 
 cessively damp climate," for the annual mean 
 shows that upon an average there is but (5.7) five 
 and seven-tenths grains of water to the cubic foot 
 of air, not deleterious to, or uncomfortable for 
 respiration, and to keep the air passages properly 
 lubricated, but enough to prevent those great 
 diurnal extremes of temperature so deleterious 
 to the health and comfort of mankind. Here, as 
 well as elsewhere, where rain falls, there must 
 be times when the air is fully saturated, else 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 there could be no precipitation, and agriculture 
 or fruit-growing could not be prosecuted to ad- 
 vantage, nor would it be a comfortable residence 
 for man. 
 
 In its topography, Florida presents no moun- 
 tains and no elevated plateaus exceeding -300 feet 
 above the sea, by which it% bounded on all sides, 
 except on its northern border ; but it is not, as 
 many times represented, a low, flat, marshy coun- 
 try, !br in many portions its surface is undulating 
 and rolling. Its area covers 59,248 square miles 
 of pine land, oak hammocks, flat savannas, nu- 
 merous clear fresh water lakes and rivers, which 
 add beauty to the landscape, comfort, pleasure, 
 and subsistence to the inhabitants in their vicin- 
 ity, for most of the two latter are liberally stocked 
 with fine varieties of fish. Many of our springs, 
 and small lakes even, are artesian, and rise from 
 the substrata of rocks upon which the arable soil 
 is based, and pour out copious streams of water 
 to augment the volume of our rivers, which dis- 
 charge into the sea. The probable sources of 
 these are in the higher lands on our northern 
 border, and are supplied by the rainfall of neigh- 
 boring States. The State is, in some portions, 
 traversed by subterranean streams of consider- 
 able size, whose course, in many instances, is 
 marked by the line of funnel-shaped sinks, where 
 the sand above the rocky strata has filtered down 
 through abrasions of the rocks, and has been car- 
 ried off by the current beneath, leaving the sink, 
 at the bottom of which water is always present, 
 and in many of which fish are abundant. Most of 
 these subterranean streams have their outlets in 
 the springs above described, but some are known 
 to discharge into the sea off the Atlantic coast of 
 the Peninsula, and with sufficient force to dis- 
 place the denser salt water, so that fresh water 
 has often been obtained at sea, simply by draw- 
 ing it up in buckets over the vessel's sides. 
 Many of these artesian fountains are mineral ; 
 sulphur, iron, magnesia, lime, &c., being the con- 
 stituents. There are but few extensive marshes 
 in the State. At the sources of the rivers, on the 
 summits, are often found savannas, covering 
 many acres, but they do not, like the marshes 
 and savannas in many other countries, consist of 
 deep alluvial deposits, which have been brought 
 down from higher elevations, because these are 
 the summits themselves from which the water 
 supply of the rivers come. This is a peculiarity 
 in Florida, and the residents around these savan- 
 nas are not specially liable to diseases of a mala- 
 rial character. That large area on the lower end 
 of the Peninsula called the Everglades, and cov- 
 ered by water, is by many supposed to be marshy; 
 but such is not the fact, for it is simply a shallow 
 lake, elevated above the ocean some ten or more 
 feet, surrounded by a rocky rim, with >\ sandy 
 and rocky bottom/ containing clear fresh water, 
 which is discharged through fissures or apertures 
 in the rocky rim into Key Biscayne Bay, and 
 probably through outlets on the west sicfe into 
 the Gulf. At the north of the Everglades is 
 Lake Okeechobee, the largest body of fresh wa- 
 ter in the interior of the State, ft is fed by the 
 Kissirnmee river, whose source is in the same sa- 
 vanna, or summit level, which is the source of 
 the St. Johns river. Its outlet is into the Ever- 
 glades. Interspersed through this savanna, and 
 that at the head of the Ocklawaha river, are nu- 
 
 merous lakes, which, by modifying and equaliz- 
 ing the temperature, render the country around 
 their borders peculiarly adapted to the culture of 
 oranges and other tropical fruits, while at the 
 same time the residents in general enjoy good 
 health, both summer and winter. 
 
 There are here, as well as in every newly- 
 opened country, some localities where diseases, 
 termed malarial, will for a time prevail, but are 
 here of a mild form and easily managed. Having 
 alluded in this general way to the topography of 
 the State, we will now give an abstract of "the 
 rainfall, the materials for which consist of rec- 
 ords from nine stations in the peninsula, and two 
 in West Florida. I regret that I have none f rom 
 the Middle District. From my own experience 
 here, I am satisfied that to be able to determine 
 satisfactorily the amount of rain which falls on 
 any locality, the observations should be extended 
 over a period of at least ten years, in order to ob- 
 tain a fair mean, for I can select from my own 
 tables, one, two, and three years, and which 
 sometimes come in succession, that are peculiarly 
 dry years, or peculiarly wet ones, from which, i"f 
 a mean was struck, it would not be a fair average. 
 Our so-called rainy season, though sufficiently 
 marked to warrant the designation during most 
 years, is not always so well defined. It generally 
 embraces a period of about sixty days, and ordi- 
 narily commences about the middle of June, and 
 terminates about the middle of August, but it 
 oscillates from May to September. Sometimes 
 the rainy season apparently commences, and per- 
 haps daily showers will recur regularly for one 
 or two weeks, or more, and then, perhaps, weeks 
 of clear, settled weather will be interpolated, and 
 the rainy reason will come on again, and con- 
 tinue, so that about the usual complement of 
 rainy days will occur. During the rainy season, 
 the rain is by no means continuous, but comes in 
 showers of from a half to one hour or more in 
 continuance, and between the hours of from 1 to 
 4 P. M. ; sometimes, but not always, attended 
 with thunder and lightning. 
 
 Before the shower, the atmosphere may be 
 hot and sultry, but afterwards the sun shines out, 
 the air is pure, cool, and refreshing. The show- 
 ers generally come with such regularity that 
 they need not interrupt business, labor, or 
 pleasure, only during their continuance, for 
 timely preparation to avoid them can be made 
 if desired. Sometimes they are preceded by 
 squalls of wind, which might endanger small 
 crafts on the river, if ordinary precaution was 
 not taken. Occasionally a fall of hail will 
 result, if the clouds fimu different directions 
 meet, as is sometimes the case, but instances 
 where damage has been done to vegetation have 
 been very rare. The moisture evaporated from 
 the Gulf is the principal source of our summer 
 showers. In the appendix will be found the 
 table showing the rain-faR of the State. Here 
 are eleven stations scattered over the State. 
 You will observe that iu the peninsula the sta- 
 tions of Fort Myers and Fort Pierce, the former 
 on the Caloosahatche, on the west, and the 
 latter on Indian river, on the Atlantic, furnish 
 the largest amount of water. These show that 
 the watershed supplying the Everglades and 
 the St. Johns receives the greatest rain-fall. 
 Pensacola, in the west, receives the next greatest 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 amount, and Tampa the next. Take Tampa, 
 Fort Myers, and Fort Pierce, we have a rain- 
 fall of sixty inches during the year, and this 
 district is marked sixty iuches on the Hyetal 
 cliarts, which have been constructed to show the 
 rain-fall of the United States ; and in the west 
 there exists another such region, in the eastern 
 portion of which Pensacola is located. This 
 is also marked sixty inches, and are the only 
 localities in the United States, except one other 
 on the Pacific coast, at the mouth of the Columbia 
 river, Oregon, that is marked as high. The rain- 
 fall of the State north of north latitude twenty- 
 eight degrees, and east of Pensacola, is about 
 forty-four inches annually on the average. I 
 have recorded an annual fall as low as thirty-five 
 inches in Jacksonville, and as high as sixty-seven 
 inches ; hence I conclude that the mean given 
 to St. Augustine, 31.80, does not represent the 
 average rain-fall of the place, and was deduced 
 from one and a part of four years' observations. 
 The annual rain-fall of 1857, as reported by Dr. 
 Mauran, was 40.85 inches, which is low in com- 
 parison with other stations, except Fort Mead, 
 which is 40.22 inches. There are causes which 
 are known, that account for the smaller amount 
 of rain-fall at St. Augustine. I have often, when 
 on the sea islands on the Atlantic coast, witnessed 
 the influence which the sea-breeze exerted in 
 preventing the rain cloud approaching from the 
 west, from reaching the coast. 
 
 I have, in the early summer, just after the 
 rainy season had set in here, often gone to the 
 islands, and not a drop had fallen there yet ; nor 
 on the mainland which lay immediately on the 
 coast ; and I have seen the clouds approach from 
 the west or southwest, and would be arrested 
 over the mainland one or two miles distant, and 
 in sight, and pour down rain freely for an hour 
 or more, but not a drop would fall on the island 
 where I was ; and this action of the sea-breeze, 
 no doubt, accounts for the smaller amount of 
 rain-fall at St. Augustine, situated as it is on the 
 coast. In a short time, however, the summer 
 rains reach the coast, because the easterly winds 
 become less prevalent in June and July than 
 previously. I have also noticed that the winds 
 and rain clouds were disposed to follow the 
 course of the river, through its different reaches, 
 during the summer, sometimes to the advantage 
 and sometimes to the detriment of those passing 
 up and down in small boats. Rain, in many 
 instances, will pour down on the river itself, 
 while scarcely a drop will fall on the banks. I 
 have often seen rain apparently falling on a 
 point five miles above this city, but upon inquiry 
 none had fallen there, or here, but there had 
 been a smart shower on the river between the 
 two places. I mention this fact now, as I shall 
 use it hereafter to illustrate phenomena which 
 may have an important bearing upon the cli- 
 mate of Florida. The amount of rain meas- 
 ured in any one locality may not give the exact 
 amount which has fallen on the region around 
 in the vicinity. There are several causes which 
 may, and often do, produce discrepancies in the 
 results of different observers. An elevated rain 
 gauge is not likely to measure as much as one 
 on the surface of the earth, because when the air 
 is saturated, a drop of rain passing through 
 it from the upper to the lower gauge, will in- 
 
 crease in bulk during its passage; hence the lower 
 
 one will measure the most. In the same place, 
 with but few rods intervening, the results given 
 by two observers may be unlike. Showers in nar- 
 row lines often fall so that one gauge would 
 have a sensible quantfcy for measurement, while- 
 over the other there was but a sprinkling of 
 rain, and none to measure. The results given 
 arc, therefore, but an approximation to the 
 exact truth, but taken through a long period of 
 time the results may be considered entirely reli- 
 able if the measure has been properly placed. 
 
 In order to be able to understand many otncr 
 meteorological phenomena, it will be necessary 
 to have at least a general knowledge of the laws 
 which govern the barometrical pressure of the 
 atmosphere, and especially its relation to the 
 theory of the circulation of the winds. The ac- 
 cumulation of the atmosphere over head causes 
 barometric pressure, producing a rise of the 
 column of mercury in the instrument. Now the 
 atmosphere has the credit of extending to vari- 
 ous altitudes, from forty to even two hundred 
 miles, but it may be put at about fifty miles as 
 the upper surface of the atmosphere, the lower 
 strata being the most dense, and becoming less 
 and less so as we go up. The barometer at the 
 sea level stands at 30.00 inches, and at 3.4 nailer 
 above the sea level the barometer stands at 15.00 
 inches, so that one half of the atmosphere in 
 weight is below that level, and which is much 
 below the top of many of our mountains, and 
 very much below the elevation to which bal- 
 loons have attained. When air is heated, either 
 by the direct influence of the sun, or by currents 
 of higher temperature, its particles expand far- 
 ther than what is due to their relief from pres- 
 sure ; they become lighter and ascend higher into 
 space, and spread out and flow off laterally. 
 Under this column the barometer will fall be- 
 cause of the diminished pressure. The contrary 
 takes place when the air is condensed by cold ; and 
 when the aerial masses flow together to fill up 
 the space left void by condensation, the weight 
 of the column is increased and the barometer 
 rises. A fall of the barometer, unlike that of 
 the thermometer, indicates an increase, while its 
 rise indicates a diminution of temperature. 
 This is so much the case here in Florida, that 
 from the barometer alone we obtain a close ap- 
 proximation to temperature, as well as atmos- 
 pheric pressure. I have often amused myself in 
 the construction of a diagram on which I have 
 protracted the curves of the thermometer and of 
 the barometer, making the figures of one in- 
 crease from the top downwards, and the other 
 from the bottom upwards, and the parallelism 
 thus shown between the curves was remarkable. 
 But this was not so at the North and in New 
 England, and this is another fact which shows 
 ours to be the more equable climate. At the 
 North, and in New England, pressure and tem- 
 perature are both liable to frequent fluctuations 
 and attended with storms of greater or less sev- 
 erity. This equability of pressure does not ex- 
 ist to the same degree as here, in the islands of 
 the gulf south of us, for there, there are often 
 sudden and rapid fluctuations, which indicate 
 dangerous atmospheric disturbances, which por- 
 tend or accompany storms of a violent and 
 cyclonic character, which take a spiral course, 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 and under the influence of which we are occa- j 
 sionally, but very seldom, brought at least here, | 
 on the base of the Peninsula. 
 
 This parallelism of the barometer and ther- 
 mometer curves, was noticed by Professor Rus- 
 sell, an eminent Scotch meteorologist, who vis- 
 ited this country several years ago, and lectured 
 at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and 
 he found that it existed in the States south and 
 west of the Allegbany range. The pressure of 
 the atmosphere varies over different degrees of 
 latitude. At the Equator, says Reclus, the bar- 
 ometer stands at about 29.84 inches, but from 
 latitude ten to thirty, or thirty-five degrees north, 
 it increases so that it stands at or above 30.00 
 inches, and this after being reduced so as to ob- 
 tain the pressure only. I will here remark, 
 that we are in this latitude under the belt of 
 high barometer, for the mean of my own obser- 
 vations shows, that the barometric pressure is 
 about 30.100 inches, one-tenth of an inch above 
 thirty inches. The results at the signal station 
 here, confirm this; at New Orleans and along 
 this line of latitude, similar results are observed, 
 and this belt of high pressure is the dividing line 
 between the trade wind belt of the tropics, and 
 the belt of westerly winds north of the trade 
 winds. And a belt of high barometer divides 
 the westerly wind belt from the Polar belt, to 
 which I shall more particularly refer presently. 
 There are other minor oscillations of the barom- 
 eter which it is not necessary in this discussion 
 to refer to, and 1 will now proceed to discuss 
 one of the most important elements of climate, 
 the atmospheric circulation, or the system of 
 winds of the Northern Hemisphere, as they affect 
 us in these latitudes. The sun here is the great 
 motive power which destroys the equilibrium of 
 the atmosphere, and gives r'ise to all the currents 
 which circulate over land and sea. In obedience 
 to physical law, the repulsion of the atoms of 
 the air are increased by being brought closer to 
 each other by pressure, and it is also increased 
 by the addition of heat. If water at ordinary 
 pressure is converted into steam or vapor, a 
 cubic inch of water is transformed into about a 
 cubic foot of vapor; the atoms of vapor are, 
 therefore, twelve times farther apart than when 
 they were in a state of water. The action of 
 heat has had the effect of putting every atom in 
 a state of repulsion with regard to its fellows. 
 Every one tends to fly off from the other with 
 as much force as if each was under the influ- 
 ence of a powerful spring. This intensity of 
 the repulsion of the atoms constitutes the force 
 of vapor. The density of the air at the sur- 
 face, and its levity in the upper atmosphere, 
 tends to produce an equilibrium of the whole 
 atmospheric mass, but in a most delicate kind of 
 balance, liable to be disturbed by the slightest 
 accession of heat in any part of the mass. Un- 
 derstanding this delicacy of balance, we proceed 
 to demonstrate what effect the addition of heat 
 has on the general circulation of the atmosphere. 
 The atmosphere within the tropics being 
 heated, expands and rises upwards, the denser 
 air on either side, north and south, presses in to 
 fill the void made by the ascending column, and 
 a surface current would thus be established back 
 to the pole ; the heated air at the equator rises 
 up until the levity of the air above on each side 
 
 will allow the ascending column to flow off lat- 
 erally north and south to the poles; and thus 
 we have an upper current from the equator to 
 the pole established, which unites and becomes 
 continuous with the suri'ace current from the pole 
 to the equator, and would continue to pass in 
 this current continually, all the while endeavor- 
 ing to restore the lost equilibrium. But these 
 currents cannot restore lost equilibrium, because 
 of the constant addition of heat at the equator, 
 and the distribution of it towards the pole, and 
 they cannot flow along the meridians in conse- 
 que'nce of the rotation of the earth from west 
 to east ; but those at the surface will take a wes- 
 terly course, while those above will flow in an 
 easterly direction. When the upper current has 
 reached the thirtieth degree of latitude, owing to 
 the spherical form of the earth, the meridians 
 have so closely approached each other, that space 
 sufficient is not allowed for the wind to flow in 
 the same plane, and the result of this necessity 
 is, that that part of the upper current is forced 
 down to the earth, and returns back, mingled 
 with the surface current, and makes the trade 
 wind of the tropics ; and another portion in its 
 conflict with the surface current creates a new 
 belt of winds, which constitute the belt of wes- 
 terly winds north of the trade wind belt, and a 
 portion of the upper current still passing on, un- 
 til in consequence of the still diminishing space- 
 between meridians in the plane of the upper cur- 
 rent, another descent is made to the earth, and 
 the northern boundary of the westerly belt is 
 there established, which is also the southern 
 boundary of the polar belt, which extends to the 
 pole, where the winds are southerly. (I am of 
 course referring to the Northern Hemisphere.) 
 This is the theory of the atmospheric circulation, 
 described in my own language, as succinctly as 
 possible, and now I propose to bring to bear 
 upon this subject the result of an analysis of the 
 observations taken at over six hundred stations 
 on land on the Northern Hemisphere, made by 
 Professor Coffin, in his great work on the winds 
 of the Northern Hemisphere, and from observa- 
 tions innumerable, furnished by the wind and 
 current charts of the Atlantic and Pacific ocean, 
 collected by Professor Maury. 
 
 Professor Coffin's work was published as Con- 
 tributions to Science, by the Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution, in 1850, in which there is shown great re- 
 search, and an almost infinite amount of labor, 
 and his results are now accepted in all parts of the 
 civilized world as reliable authority; and after 
 concluding his labors, he modestly asks : " Do 
 not the results authorize us to lay down the fol- 
 lowing, as a general description of the winds of 
 the Northern Hemisphere ? First. That from 
 high northern latitudes the winds proceed in a 
 southerly direction, but veer to the west as they 
 approach a limit running* from about latitude 
 fifty-six degrees on the western continent to about 
 latitude sixty-eight degrees on the eastern, where, 
 they become irregular and disappear. Second. 
 That farther south there is a belt of westerly 
 winds, less than two thousand miles in breadth, 
 encircling the earth ; the westerly direction be- 
 ing clearly defined in the middle of the belt, but 
 gradually disappearing as we approach the limits 
 on either side. Third. That south of the zone 
 last named, the mean direction of the wind it 
 
10 
 
 THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 easterly." Or, in other words, he determined 
 that in the northern belt lie found the winds 
 were northerly, in the middle belt westerly, and 
 in the tropical belt easterly. There were local 
 influences in different localities to render the \ 
 winds conflicting, and it was a difficult task to , 
 reduce them all to their mean normal direction, ; 
 and establish the results which conform to the j 
 theory of atmospheric circulation in most par- j 
 ticulars. There are some localities where the ! 
 local influence predominates over the general, ; 
 in giving direction to wind currents, of which i 
 he became fully aware. In making his reduc- 
 tions, he assumes that the wind in its normal 
 course is one hundred, aud in reducing conflict- ; 
 ing winds to the normal course, that a certain 
 amount of their force and velocity in moving in i 
 that course has been lost by conflicting forces, \ 
 and the rate of progress given is a fraction of ; 
 one hundred. It, for instance, we take St. Au- 
 gustine, as reduced from four years' observations j 
 of the direction and force of the wind at that j 
 place, the mean direction for the mouth of Jan- I 
 uary, was found to be North nine cleg, twenty- ' 
 seven min. East, for February, South seventy- i 
 eight deg. fifty- three min. East, for March, South j 
 eighty-one deg. fifty-two min. East, for April, 
 South seventy-tour cleg, thirty-two mins East, for 
 May, South sixty-five deg. twelve min. East, for 
 lune, South eighty-live deg. twenty -nine min. 
 East, for July, South sixty-one deg. five min. 
 Bast, for August, South fifty-four deg. forty-eight 
 min. East, for September, North seventy-six deg. 
 forty-two min. East, for October, North fifty- 
 seven cleg, twenty-six min. East, for November, 
 North thirty -seven deg. fifty-eight min. East, for 
 December, North fifty-six deg. thirteen min. 
 East, and for the ybftf, reduced to a mean, was, 
 North seventy-nine deg. nineteen min. East, be- 
 ing not quite two degrees North of East, and 
 the rate : of progress was twenty-five, only 
 one-fourth of the rate of its normal course. I 
 give this as an illustration of his process of re- 
 duction, from months to yearly means. I put in 
 tabular form, several points in Florida, in order 
 to determine the mean direction of the wind in 
 all parts of the State, and will give the yearly 
 means and the number of years covered by the 
 observations ; aud here, as well as in other ob- 
 servations, it is desirable to have as extended 
 a series as possible, to obtain exact results. 
 
 For St. Augustine, from four years' observa- 
 tions, the mean direction was, N. seventy-nine 
 degrees nineteen minutes E. Rate of progress, 25. 
 
 For Fort King, from three years' observations, 
 the mean direction was, S. four degrees fifty min- 
 utes W. Rate of progress, 17. 
 
 For Tampa Bay, from six years' observations, 
 the mean direction was S. thirty-six degrees five 
 minutes W. Rate of progress, 11. 
 
 For Pensacola, for seven years' observations, 
 the mean direction was, S. twenty-three decrees 
 forty-eight minutes W. Rate of progress, 19. 
 
 For Cape Florida, from one year's observa- 
 tions, the mean direction was, S. forty-seven de- 
 grees fifty-nine minutes E. Hate of progress, 20. 
 
 For Carreysford Reef, from one year's obser- 
 vations, the mean direction was, N. eighty-two 
 degrees twenty-five minutes E. Rate of progress, 
 8fc 
 
 For Indian Key, from one year's observations, 
 
 the mean direction was, eighty-nine degrees 
 forty-four minutes E. Rate of progress, 47. 
 
 For Tortugas Island, from one year's observa- 
 tions, the mean direction was, N. sixty-five de- 
 grees twenty-nine minutes E. Rate of progress, 
 48. 
 
 For Key West, from four years' observations, 
 the mean direction was, N. seventy-eight de- 
 grees six minutes E. Rate of progress, 38. 
 
 The mean direction of the winds at Pensacola, 
 is up the valley of the Mississippi, and those 
 next prevalent are down and towards the Gulf 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Those south of the twenty-eighth degree of 
 latitude, when reduced to a mean direction, would 
 be a little north of east or N. eighty degrees 
 eight minutes E., with a rate of progress of 35, 
 would blow across the Gulf towards Mexico, 
 and be deflected upwards, and would enter the 
 valley as a southerly wind, while those north of 
 twenty-eighth degree would be S. thirty-eight 
 degrees four minutes E., would blow up the 
 Atlantic coast towards the Alleghany range, 
 and as their rate of progress would be but 10, 
 they would not surmount the range, and 
 would follow the coast to the east of the 
 range. These results show that our winds par- 
 take of the monsoon characteristics, and in sum- 
 mer blow towards the land when it is heated. 
 But the direction of those above the twenty- 
 eighth degree of latitude on the Peninsula blow 
 up the Atlantic coast, but the rest are carried up 
 the valley of the Mississippi, and this valley is 
 one of those extended plateaus, which, when 
 heated by the sun in summer, would draw the 
 winds from the adjoining seas, to supply the 
 void made by the rarefication and ascension of 
 heated air over its extended area. The influence 
 of the valley of the Mississippi upon the weather 
 of the United States is much greater, in my opin- 
 ion, than has been heretofore accredited to it. 
 The valley is open on the south to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, aud is bounded on the West by the 
 Rocky Mountain range, which has a direction 
 from southeast in the lower end of the valley to 
 northwest, and extends to the polar basin in the 
 north. At the lower and southern portion it has 
 the Alleghany range for a boundary on the east, 
 which has a direction from southwest to north- 
 east, and its southern termination is as far west 
 as the eighty-ninth degree of longitude, and west 
 of any meridian that passes over Florida. 
 
 This valley, however, does not terminate at the 
 sources of the Mississippi river, but extends still 
 northward until it reaches the polar basin ; no 
 ridge of mountains crosses the valley to separate 
 the lower part from the polar basin, or prevent 
 the winds of the polar regions from traversing 
 its entire length; nor those from the Gulf of 
 Mexico, which alternately move up and down 
 this valley the one cold and dry, and the other 
 hot and loaded with moisture from the Gulf, the 
 Caribbean Sea, and from the equatorial regions 
 of the Atlantic farther south. In this valley are 
 exhibited some of the most interesting and re- 
 markable meteorological phenomena that arise 
 on the face of the globe, and which give char- 
 acter to the climate of the Northern, Middle, 
 and New England States. In the summer, this 
 extended plateau is heated by the rays of the sun, 
 the atmosphere being rarefied and" ascends, the 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 11 
 
 rain-bearing winds from the Gulf and below 
 rash up the valley, distributing their rains, 
 which give it its wonderful fertility, which 
 winds are, however, replaced, or alternated, 
 by those cold, disagreeable winds, termed the 
 northers, which visit Texas, Mexico, and, in a 
 modified form, Cuba and the other West India 
 Islands, and perhaps the lower point of our Pen- 
 insula. These northers have heretofore been 
 considered deflected trade winds. But Iain dis- 
 posed to differ with those who have entfcriained 
 this opinion first because most, if not all, of this 
 valley is not in the trade wind belt, but north of 
 it-, and in the belt of westerly winds, which has 
 been shown by Professor Coffiin to encircle 
 the earth. I object, in the second place, to this 
 view, because there is a more natural and simpler 
 mode of explanation of the phenomena. I have 
 observed, and so have many others, who have 
 had their attention drawn to the matter, that 
 winds are disposed to follow water-courses, in 
 well-defined valleys, in preference to blowing 
 across them. I have remarked previously, that 
 such was the case in the valley of the St. Johns, 
 which is by no means as well defined a valley as 
 many others. 
 
 But Professor Coffin, in his efforts to reduce 
 conflicting winds to their normal direction, found 
 it very difficult to do so, when well-defined val- 
 ;eys existed, and this is the conclusion to which 
 lie arrived, after giving the subject more study 
 than has been given to it, probably, by any other 
 man* Says he : "In any well-defined valleys of 
 considerable extent, it is a well-known fact, that 
 the winds are influenced to take the direction of 
 the valley. An example is given of the Hudson 
 River Valley, where half of the winds or more 
 follow the river up and down ; and yet, (says he") 
 the mean direction of the winds of"tlie whole is 
 nearly at right angles to it." Now r if we make 
 application of this well-established principle to 
 the Mississippi Valley, which certainly is a well 
 defined one, what is the result V As the winds 
 of the polar belt have been shown to have a 
 southerly direction by Professor Coffin, there is 
 nothing to prevent their free entrance into that 
 broad northern mouth of this valley, and the 
 high wall of the Rocky Mountains on the wes- 
 tern boundary of the valley for its entire length 
 would tend to continue this direction to the Gulf 
 of Mexico, and even beyond, for the mountains 
 of Mexico, the Sierra Madre, are but the contin- 
 uation of the Rocky Mountain range, extending 
 to Central, and even South America, curving to 
 the eastward, so as to embrace the Caribbean 
 Sea, and then taking a southern direction, and 
 joining the Andes. This is the course taken by 
 the polar winds, and they constitute the north- 
 ers, which are cold and disagreeable, and these 
 polar winds also are probably the main cause of 
 those sudden atmospheric disturbances which 
 are generated so frequently in the sea of the 
 Antilles those terribly destructive hurricanes 
 and cyclones. The direction of the Mississippi 
 valley is at right angles with the westerly belt of 
 winds as defined by Coffin, but the winds of this 
 belt in their course from the Pacific have to sur- 
 mount the Rocky Mountains, and necessarily 
 pass high over the valley, especially if it is al- 
 ready occupied by the surface currents either 
 from the north or south. The winds from the 
 
 polar basin would move close to the surface in 
 consequence of their greater density, due to dry- 
 ness and cold. If the rain -bearing winds from 
 the south should meet those from the north with 
 anything like equal force, there would necessa- 
 rily be a conflict in opposing directions, and a 
 mingling of the winds from opposite directions, 
 and some new direction would be given to the 
 opposing currents. They could not return back 
 upon themselves; they could not go tar west, on 
 account of the barrier opposed by the Rocky 
 Mountain wall, and they could not be deflected 
 readily to the southeast, because they would be 
 met in that direction by the Alleghauy range 'i 
 Now what way or direction is open to them '! 
 They can go to the east or northeast. And in 
 this conflict of winds from north and south, the 
 mass might, and probably would, be elevated and 
 carried up the eastern slope of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, until brought into the influence of the high 
 westerly belt of winds, and then would be swept 
 across the. States north of the Alleghanies, as 
 storm winds which would pass off the coast of 
 New England, and follow the Gulf Stream, 
 which is a river in the ocean, or turn further 
 north, and pass down the St. Lawrence, another 
 well-defined river valley through which winds 
 are disposed to blow. 
 
 The winds which come over the Rocky Moun- 
 tains have hitherto been considered the great 
 weather breeders of the Mississippi Valley, and 
 of the Northern States. It you examine the 
 weather charts which accompany the monthly 
 reviews issued by the; Bureau of the Signal Ser- 
 vice of the United States, at Washington, you 
 will observe the track of storms there laid down, 
 marked by a continuous black line ; so far as the 
 track has been defined from actual observations, 
 this line commences in the Valley of the Missis- 
 sippi generally, and extends eastward, but not 
 unfrequently you will find a clotted line from 
 'over the top of the Rocky Mountains, which is 
 made to connect with black lines representing 
 the observed storm track ; this dotted line re- 
 presents the supposed course and source of the 
 storm from the Pacific Ocean over the Rocky 
 Mountains. The majority of the storm tracks 
 commence in the valley, ami take the directions 
 indicated, but some come from low down the 
 valley, and pass up in a direction from south- 
 west to northeast, along the western base of the 
 Alleghanies, and some few commence in the 
 Gulf, pass diagonally across the Peninsula of 
 Florida, and up the Atlantic coast east of the 
 Alleghany range. That the cold storms which 
 traverse the plateau north of the Allegbanies 
 come from the Pacific over the Rocky Mountains, 
 is, I think, a mistaken supposition, lor the tem- 
 perature of the Pacific side of our Continent is 
 much higher than on the Atlantic side in the 
 same latitude, as is shown by the isothermal 
 lines on all our weather Charts. A cubic foot of 
 the atmosphere from the Pacific side might be 
 carried over the Rocky Mountains, and when on 
 the summit it would be cold, because its bulk 
 would have expanded to that of several cubic 
 feet, and its heat being diffused through an in- 
 creased bulk, it would be comparatively cold ; 
 but, after it had come over and again been sub- 
 jected to pressure in the valley, it would have 
 lost little or none of its specific heat in its pas- 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 sage over, and cannot account for the cold ex- 
 perienced in these storms, nor for the amount of 
 vapor condensed to produce the rain which ac- 
 companies them. And if it is admitted that the 
 rain-bearing winds from below bring the vapor 
 up from the Gulf, why not admit that the cold 
 dry winds from the northern end of the valley 
 is the source of the cold winds which does pro- 
 duce the condensation, and cold, also, which is 
 experienced all over the plateau where the great 
 lakes are situated, and over New England? The 
 explanation here advanced, as to the influence of 
 the winds of this great valley in producing the 
 northers which visit Texas, Mexico, and the isl- 
 ands of the Antilles, and as the breeder of tire 
 stornis'in the Northern and Middle States, is, in 
 my opinion, the true one in the main ; there may 
 be, and no doubt there are many minor influen- 
 ces which I have not enumerated which enter 
 into and modify the phenomena witnessed in 
 these storms. 
 
 Prof. Espy used to consider the winds of the 
 Pacific, coming over the Rocky Mountains, as 
 the cause of the storms which swept across that 
 northern plateau in which the upper lakes are 
 situated ; but there was a peculiarity in his 
 weather charts, and this was a line extending 
 north and south, of considerable length, repre- 
 senting the storin travelling broadside eastward, 
 moving majestically and slowly along ; but, had 
 it corne over the Rocky Mountains, would it have 
 presented that kind of front ? The elevation of 
 the Rocky Mountains is unequal ; there are 
 high peaks and comparatively low walls and 
 gorges between them. Now if the winds were 
 pressing with great force, they would rush 
 through the gorges between the various peaks, 
 not in those broad masses, but in narrower 
 streaks, which would not present the broad front 
 which he describes. But if the storms were pro- 
 duced by the winds of the valley meeting frorfl 
 the north and south, and were elevated until they 
 were brought into the influence of the westerly 
 belt of winds, the storm would then present the 
 peculiar front, elongated from north to south, 
 which he has so correctly described. 
 
 Now, in this connection, I will refer more 
 particularly to the phenomena to which I have 
 above merely alluded, as connected with the 
 currents passing up and down the Mississippi 
 Valley. I mean the violent character of the cir- 
 cular or spiral storms in the Gulf and Caribbean 
 Sea, called cyclones. The spiral movement of 
 the wind in cyclones, in the Northern Hemis- 
 phere, is from the west to east, by south, and 
 from east to west, by north. The cyclones in 
 the Southern Hemisphere are in the opposite di- 
 rection, that is, the spiral movement of the wind 
 is effected from west to east, by north, and from 
 east to west, by south, and it has been explained 
 as being the result of the meeting of the conflict- 
 ing currents of the air, throwing them into spirals; 
 and by some, that there is some cause in opera- 
 tion, peculiar to each hemisphere, which causes 
 them to revolve in opposite directions in the re- 
 spective hemispheres. Without attempting logo 
 into a solution of the difficulties which attend 
 the theories advanced, I only wish now to sim- 
 ply direct your attention to the conformation of 
 the mountainous border of the valley of the 
 Mississippi, and of the Gulf of Mexico, and of 
 
 Caribbean Sea. In latitude thirty degrees, where 
 the 108th degree of longitude crosses it, to be- 
 low latitude ten decrees N., where the seventy- 
 fifth parallel of longitude crosses that, there is a 
 regular curve in the mountain range turning 
 eastward, as you go south, (and in this curve lies 
 the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea), so 
 as to give a spiral direction of the winds that 
 are forced down the valley to the Mississippi, 
 and over these partially inclosed basins of water. 
 Without insisting that these winds are the cause 
 of the cyclones which are first formed over these 
 bodies of water, the direction given to the winds, 
 which are deflected from their northerly course- 
 by the curve of these mountains, would be a 
 spiral corresponding with those which the 
 cyclones of the Northern Hemisphere take, 
 and if these winds do not create them, they 
 are calculated to give force and intensity 
 to those already formed. The diameters 
 of these circular storms are at first compar- 
 atively small but violent in force. After leav- 
 ing the tropics, they are relieved from the lat 
 eral pressure of the N. E. trade winds, and have 
 a free path before them, and soon come into the 
 influence of the belt of westerly winds, bending 
 in a graceful curve to the north and northeast, 
 enlarging the diameter of the spirals, and conse- 
 quently lose their violence as they advance, and 
 usually following the course of the Gulf Stream. 
 Meteors of lesser magnitude than the cyclone 
 are often formed by the meeting of conflicting 
 winds, and form whirlwinds on land, and water- 
 spouts at sea. Some of these are destructive in 
 their effects, and sometimes enlarge into local 
 cyclones; but these we are not called upon to 
 discuss in this connection. From what has been 
 shown, it follows as a legitimate result of the oper- 
 ation of natural influences around us, that our po- 
 sition is a favorable one, and is out of the track of 
 the storms which so frequently visit our neighbors 
 of the North; and that we are also out of the track, 
 and protected from these terrible terrestrial 
 influences which so violently disturb the equili- 
 brium of the atmosphere south of us, nearer the 
 tropics. The conflicting winds which are war- 
 ring in the Valley of the Mississippi for the mas- 
 tery, do not often overleap the summits of the 
 Alieghanies to give us a taste of the quality of 
 the storms which are carried eastward over the 
 Northern plateau ; nor do those which, in the 
 (onn of northers, visiting Texas, etc., reach us, 
 but pass us. by on the west, and expend their 
 force upon the coasts and islands of the Gulf and 
 Caribbean Sea, and those cyclones which are born 
 in the sea of the Antilles, pass around us, seldom 
 making us a visit that is to our disadvantage, but 
 have a tendency to remove all noxious admixture 
 in our atmosphere, if any such exist, and substi 
 tuting an atmosphere that has been purified by 
 the tempest, which has raged to the south and 
 east of us, the direction from which our princi- 
 pal winds come, and toward which they blow, 
 while these kind of storms pass on our borders. 
 When treating of temperature, I neglected to 
 notice a statement that I have seen in print rela- 
 tive to the extremes of temperature which had 
 occurred in Florida. It has been stated that the 
 thermometer here had been minus eight degrees, 
 or eight degrees below zero. Nothing of the kind, 
 I will venture to say, has ever been recorded, nor 
 
THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
 has any tradition ever handed down any such 
 event. In the month of February, 1835, occurred, 
 probably, the coldest weather which Florida has 
 ever experienced since it has been known, by a 
 white man at least. At the time alluded to, the 
 thermometer was down to eight degrees above 
 zero, and great damage was done to the orange 
 and other trees at that time, and there were 
 standing trees on the St. Johns river, and also, I 
 think, at St. Augustine, which were a hundred 
 years old at least, and they were killed with the 
 rest, and this is an evidence that for a hundred 
 years at least, such a frost had not occurred. I 
 have once recorded the thermometer sixteen de- 
 grees above zero, and have three times recorded 
 it as low as twenty degrees above zero in the 
 last thirty-six years. It is not claimed for Flor- 
 ida that she is'entirely exempt from all those in- 
 iliuences which produce extremes of temperature 
 north of us, but their effect upon Florida, in 
 comparison with other places north and west of 
 ,us, is greatly modified here, so that we can claim 
 to have a very equable climate in comparison. 
 
 And now, gentlemen, having occupied so much 
 of your time, and having, I believe, discussed 
 the various topics which constitute the factors 
 of the climate, I am admonished of the propriety 
 of bringing this address to a close, and will do 
 -so by giving a succinct summary of what we 
 have found to be the results of the analyses of 
 the material which has been above elaborated. 
 In regard to temperature, that has been found 
 excessive in neither extreme throughout the en- 
 tire year, but quite equable. Atmospheric dis- 
 turbances, of a serious character, are not as fre- 
 quent here as either north or south of us, for our 
 equable temperature has been shown to have an 
 astronomical cause, which gives us less heat in 
 summer, and less cold in winter, than in North- 
 ern latitudes. And the regularity of barometri- 
 cal pressure in its relation to temperature, shows 
 that there is a remarkable and equable relation 
 existing between the two. The humidity of the 
 atmosphere has been shown to exist to such an 
 extent as to prevent those extreme diurnal varia- 
 tions of temperature which are inimical to both 
 comfort and health, and, on the other hand, the 
 absolute amount of water in the atmosphere is 
 too small to render it objectionable to even deli- 
 cate lungs. The fall of rain occurs principally 
 in showers during the summer and autumn, 
 when the agricultural interests most require it. 
 The winter is the dryest season and the spring 
 next, in the latter part of which it is sometimes 
 quite dry. 
 
 The showers which occur in summer are of 
 short duration, and come on with considerable 
 .regularity, making the summer more pleasant 
 and the air pure and cool. The atmosphere, as 
 has been before remarked, is comparatively 
 calm, and what winds we do have are seldom ot 
 a violent or destructive character. 
 
 We have, on an average, about twenty clear 
 days in the month, or about two hundred and 
 forty in the year. The excessively cloudy 
 weather which has characterized the January of 
 this year, 1875, is a marked exception to all for- 
 mer years since my residence in Florida, and 
 has most probably resulted from some general 
 disturbance of the atmosphere, which has, at 
 the North, produced such intense cold as will 
 
 probably be remembered hereafter as one of 
 those cold winters which, at long intervals, will 
 visit a country, but we should after all consider 
 this character of weather as a blessing in disguise, 
 as not the tenderest vegetable which has been 
 exposed to all weathers has been injured by frost 
 this winter. The e'lectric tension of the atmos- 
 phere has been considered one of the elements 
 of climate, but into this subject 1 have made no 
 investigation, nor am I aware that any special 
 attention has been paid to it. I will not, there- 
 fore, make any pretence of showing what, if any, 
 influence it may have on our climate. This is 
 one of those quiescent forces of the earth which 
 are roused into activity by the action of the sun's 
 rays. I have not deemed its influence sufficiently 
 important to make it the subject of special study 
 in connection with meteorology. I have kept 
 a record of thunder showers, and from that I 
 find that most of them have occurred in the 
 spring, summer, and autumnal months, and very 
 few in the winter. Sometimes we have cloud 
 lightning, without audible thunder, on the hori- 
 zon, in the evening. We have occasionally had 
 some beautiful exhibitions of the Aurora Bo- 
 realis, some of which might be termed gorgeous. 
 Meteors and shooting stars are not un frequently 
 observed, and some other meteoric phenomena 
 have been observed, which it is unnecessary to 
 allude to here. As the admixture of foreign "sub- 
 stances in the atmosphere is referred to in Hum- 
 bolt's definition of climate, I would remark that 
 probaWy there may be some admixture of saline 
 matter near the sea-shore, as some vegetables will 
 not grow there,which do in the interior. Carbonic 
 acid gas probably exists in a moderate amount. 
 
 As the generation of ozone is accomplished in 
 the laboratory by the transmission of electricity 
 through oxygen, its formation is probably effect- 
 ed to a greater or less extent during our sum- 
 mer thunder showers; but I have no facts to 
 demonstrate its existence, or its effect upon 
 health. The subject of miasmata I have spoken 
 of already, and we have nothing in Florida to 
 render it the cause of disease more than in any 
 country north of us, where new soil is turned 
 up to the air and sun. The heat which we have 
 does not seem to generate anything of the kind \ 
 here more than elsewhere. Florida is, happily, 
 free from many of the diseases which are preva- 
 lent elsewhere. The only records to which we 
 have hitherto had access, are those of the army, 
 when troops have been stationed in different 
 portions of the State, some of which might be 
 suspected of being sickly; but these present the 
 gratifying result that Florida is one of the 
 healthiest States in the Union. I trust that under 
 the auspices of this association, a systematic 
 effort will be made to secure reliable information 
 as to the vital statistics o the State, and the 
 character of the hygienic "condition of the resi- 
 dents generally and locally. 
 
 I have now performed the duty assigned me. 
 I have analyzed the materials which I had col- 
 lected, and which I believe on the whole to be 
 sufficiently reliable from which to derive a fair 
 result, and if the results of their analysis shall 
 have the effect of imparting a more correct 
 knowledge of the climate of Florida as it, really 
 exists, the labor which hns been required to ar- 
 rive at these results will be amply repaid. 
 
14 
 
 THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA. 
 
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THE CLIMATOLOGY OF FLORIDA THE RESOURCES OF FLORIDA. 
 
 15 
 
 S. W. Meectis Table, showing the Sun's Diurnal Intensity at every Ten Degree* of Latitude i7> tic 
 
 Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 
 LAT. 
 
 5" 
 
 LAT. 
 10" 
 
 LAT. 
 
 20" 
 
 LAT. 
 
 30" 
 
 LAT. 
 40o 
 
 LAT. 
 50" 
 
 LAT. 
 00 
 
 LAT. 
 
 70" 
 
 LAT. 
 80" 
 
 LAT. 
 90o 
 
 
 77 1 
 
 67.2 
 
 ." S 
 
 42.8 
 
 30.1 
 
 165 
 
 5 1 
 
 
 
 
 January 10 
 
 78.1 
 
 08 9 
 
 58.2 
 
 45.8 
 
 32.7 
 
 193 
 
 7.2 
 
 
 
 
 January 31 
 
 7il.fi 
 
 31,7 
 
 (il 9 
 
 49.7 
 
 38.6 
 
 25.0 
 
 11.9 
 
 i.4 
 
 
 
 
 SI (1 
 
 74. r 
 
 60,6 
 
 
 45 1 
 
 31.9 
 
 19.0 
 
 6.4 
 
 
 
 March 2 
 
 81..6 
 
 78.0 
 
 71.3 
 
 62.9 
 
 
 41.1 
 
 27.0 
 
 14.5 
 
 2 1 
 
 
 March 17 
 April 1 
 
 82.0 
 
 80.8 
 
 80.2 
 
 SI. 4 
 
 ,T,.O 
 79.5 
 
 09.6 
 75.!i 
 
 61.1 
 
 08.9 
 
 50.2 
 60.2 
 
 37.1 
 
 49 9 
 
 25.5 
 
 :iS.O 
 
 11.6 
 25.6 
 
 20.5 
 
 April Hi 
 
 79.0 
 
 81.7 
 
 82 
 
 79.5 
 
 75.1 
 
 08 6 
 
 01.1 
 
 51 4 
 
 44.0 
 
 44.0 
 
 May 1. . 
 
 7li.!t 
 
 81.5 
 
 83.7 
 
 83 
 
 80.8 
 
 77.1 
 
 70.9 
 
 84.6 
 
 64 3 
 
 85.8 
 
 May Hi 
 
 74.7 
 
 S0.8 
 
 84.7 
 
 86.7 
 
 8-5.7 
 
 83.3 
 
 79.7 
 
 76.8 
 
 80.3 
 
 81.5 
 
 May 31 
 
 73.0 
 
 SO 1 
 
 S5 1 
 
 87.8 
 
 AS. 9 
 
 87.8 
 
 85 7' 
 
 86.8T 
 
 91.0 
 
 924 
 
 .illlU 1 1.') . 
 
 72.0 
 
 79.1) 
 
 S." 2 
 
 88.4 
 
 90.1 
 
 89.9 
 
 88.8 
 
 91.7 
 
 96.1 
 
 97.6 
 
 July 1 
 
 (2.0 
 
 79.5 
 
 85 
 
 88.5 
 
 90.4 
 
 89.5 
 
 88.4 
 
 90.8 
 
 95.1 
 
 96.6 
 
 July l(i 
 
 73 
 
 7'9 8 
 
 84 7 
 
 87 5 
 
 87 li 
 
 si; 5 
 
 84 1 
 
 84 3 
 
 88 3 
 
 89 7 
 
 July 31 
 
 74.7 
 
 S0.4 
 
 839 
 
 A5.1 
 
 84.5 
 
 81.6 
 
 
 73.4 
 
 ;6.2 
 
 
 !5 
 
 76.7 
 
 so.s 
 
 S2 7 
 
 S2 4 
 
 79 8 
 
 
 68.2 
 
 60.9 
 
 59.2 
 
 60.1 
 
 Au"u.-t 30 
 
 ;x.5 
 
 80.7 
 
 80.6 
 
 
 72.1 
 
 65.5 
 
 57.3 
 
 47.7 
 
 38.8 
 
 38.9 
 
 September 14 
 
 79. S 
 
 79.S 
 
 ;? 5 
 
 72.8 
 
 05 9 
 
 588 
 
 46.9 
 
 34.5 
 
 21.9 
 
 14 7 
 
 September 29 
 October 14 . 
 
 80.5 
 80.7 
 
 78.4 
 
 76.4 
 
 73.8 
 
 U9 ; 
 
 67.0 
 61 
 
 57.8 
 50 2 
 
 47.0 
 382 
 
 36.2 
 
 25.7 
 
 22.5 
 126 
 
 9.0 
 1.0 
 
 
 October 29 
 
 79.9 
 
 73.5 
 
 Ii5 
 
 54 (i 
 
 42 5 
 
 30 1 
 
 175 
 
 5.2 
 
 
 
 November 18 
 
 78.8 
 
 70.7 
 
 iiO 8 
 
 49.8 
 
 37.1 
 
 23.8 
 
 11.0 
 
 0.9 
 
 
 
 November 28 
 
 
 68 3 
 
 57 8 
 
 45 3 
 
 31 8 
 
 18 9 
 
 6 8 
 
 
 
 
 December 13 
 
 76.9 
 
 66.9 
 
 55.4 
 
 43.0 
 
 30.3 
 
 16.3 
 
 4.9 
 
 
 
 
 By the above table, the amount of sun's rays which fall on the day given is shown on the different degrees of Lati- 
 tude! The table has been computed fr intervals of fifteen days, and expresses the results in vnits of intensity. The 
 choice of a unit being entirely arbitrary, the intensity of a day on the Fquator, at the time of the vernal Equinox, is 
 here assumed to be 81.5, and other values are expressed in that proportion. In the last three columns for the Frigid 
 Zone, the braces' in'clude values for the days when the sun shines through the whole twenty-four hours: the blank 
 spaces indicate periods of constant polar night. 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF FLORIDA. 
 
 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : So much notice is 
 now being attracted lo Florida as a home for 
 new settlers, that I consider it essential to give 
 to the public some description of the products 
 that can be grown here to the best advantage. 
 The value of the State for raising tropical pro- 
 ducts is little known. There are few people in 
 I lie United States capable of advising on these 
 subjects. No books on tropical agriculture can 
 be had here, as there has never been any demand 
 for them. Before the war, cotton monopolized 
 everything, and was considered the only crop 
 worth growing ; the few tropical plants brought 
 here were cultivated more for curiosity than use. 
 Cottou-growing was respectable. The cotton 
 lords were the aristocracy. A man that grew 
 sweet-potatoes or cabbages for sale was looked 
 down on as a li cracker," and could not even speak 
 to u cotton-planter without taking oft' his hat. 
 But it is so all over the world ; those who can 
 command many are the most respected. You 
 must, many of you, have noticed these cot- 
 ton lords at Saratoga and other places North, 
 with their grand display and retinue of servants. 
 
 The war has made a change ; these large for- 
 tunes are harder to make, as now cash wages 
 have to be paid, and many planters impoverished 
 by the war are now struggling for bare exist- 
 ence. It was the case, formerly, in the West In- 
 dies. Sugar was the great staple. Sugar-grow- 
 ing only was respectable. Sugar-planters, my 
 own father among them, owned large numbers 
 of slaves. These sugai -planters made periodical 
 visits to England, astonishing all by the grandeur 
 of their display. They were'called West Indian 
 C'omets, they appeared and Disappeared so sud- 
 denly. Some of these inert committed astonish- 
 ing follies. One named Papley shod his horses 
 with silver shoes. Others entertained royalty, 
 and spent the income of years in one brief cam- 
 paign. They returned to their homes with their 
 properties deeply mortgaged, which took years 
 to clear off. Freedom !nis altered all this. Those 
 that are now alive are in deep distress, encum- 
 bered with debt, and their descendants only look 
 to their former splendor with regret. 
 
 I have lived in the tropics for twenty-seven 
 years ;is a practical cultivator of the soil. I 
 
1G 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF FLORIDA. 
 
 lived in my younger days on a farm in Connec- 
 ticut, and can more fully point out the value of 
 this State for the cultivation of tropical products 
 for which the people of the United States are 
 now paying hundreds of millions of dollars an- 
 nually ; and I now tell you candidly that Florida 
 is going to be the jewel State of this country, and 
 that before many years are over our heads. 
 
 Farmers from the North who come here in- 
 quire, " how many bushels of corn per acre can 
 you grow V" " How much wheat ?" " Canyon 
 grow clover and timothy ?" or some other ques- 
 tion of the like. They know no better. We do 
 not want to grow wheat ; we can do without 
 growing corn. We have other things more valu- 
 able than clover and timothy. There is not a 
 single tropical product that can be cultivated but 
 what will give ten times the return that any of 
 those just mentioned will. What would you 
 think of a planter from Cuba settling in Virginia 
 and sending to Cuba for cane seed to plant there, 
 or setting out a grove of oranges and lemons V 
 You would all put him down as crazy. That is 
 just what Northern men do who come here. 
 They do not inquire and seek out those things 
 that are most congenial to the soil and climate. 
 They do not get plants and seeds from countries 
 possessing the same climate, and which common 
 sense dictates as those most likely to succeed. 
 They do not calculate that we are near to the 
 tropics, and far removed from the cold region, 
 but they still look for all the products of the 
 latter, and ignore the former. 
 
 CLIMATE. 
 
 In the first place I will give some description 
 of our climate. Northern people believe that 
 this country is a hot-bed, reeking with malaria iii 
 the summer months. Never was a more mis 
 taken idea. It is much cooler here than it is in 
 the North, for there is a fine breeze blowing al- 
 most all day, and the nights are invariably cool. 
 Being nearly surrounded with water, we get the 
 saline atmosphere fresh from the sea. Take the 
 city of Jacksonville as an example. You must 
 remember that it is not a city with the usual 
 healthy inhabitants of a Northern city. Many 
 of the people are invalids obliged to remain here 
 or go North and die. Now this city contains 
 12,000 inhabitants, and the mortality last year 
 was eighty-six. Can any other city in the United 
 States show a better return than this ? Not three- 
 quarters of one per cent. Osceola predicted that 
 the moss on the trees would be the funeral drap- 
 ery of the white man, but his prediction can be 
 shown to be false. Over one hundred years ago 
 a number of immigrants were brought here from 
 Minorca. Now the peasantry of that island are 
 among the lowest in Europe. Have they degen- 
 erated here ? Nothing of the kind. They have 
 increased in number and physique, and the wo- 
 men are now as handsome and the men as robust 
 as any in the United States. Take again the 
 children of invalids who have settled here. 
 Many of these invalids are afflicted with heredi- 
 tary complaints, but we have seen as yet none of 
 them being transmitted to the children, who are 
 generally strong and healthy. Chills and fever 
 we have at certain times, but can you point out 
 to me any part of the United States exempt from 
 \them? In 1850 I had the worst chill with which 
 
 I was ever afflicted, in the city of New York. 
 It depends also on the constitution of the person. 
 Some are more subject to it than others. My 
 brother has been in this State seven years, and 
 never known a day's illness. In five years' resi- 
 dence I have only had two or three attacks, 
 which speedily yielded to proper medicine. My 
 wife, in a three years' residence, has only had one 
 slight attack. Chills and fevers are disagreeable 
 and weakening, but seldom fatal. They will 
 hang about some people for months without any 
 perceptible effect on their appearance. ' So little 
 fear have the native Floridians of chills, that 
 many do not even take medicine to check them. 
 
 We will now take the subject of fruit. From 
 the last report on these we find that the value of 
 oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, and pine-apples, 
 brought into this country from foreign ports to 
 our Eastern ports.amounted to $7,000,000; but this 
 is not the real value of the fruit, it is only the ml 
 valorem value in the countries they come from. 
 In Cuba and Jamaica, oranges sell at $ 1 to $1.25 
 per thousand ; in Florida they sell at over that 
 per hundred, so that we can safely value the for- 
 eign fruit consumed here at $70,000,000, and 
 fruit which can be supplied by this State and of 
 a much better quality. Here we begin to get 
 some idea of the value of Florida. But that, is 
 not all ; there are thousands of people who 
 never see an orange or a pine-apple, and who 
 would gladly buy them if they could not the 
 shrunken, half-ripe stuff, but the real, luscious 
 fruit that we produce. These foreign fruits 
 have to be gathered before they come to matur- 
 ity, so as to keep on the long voyage. We can 
 put ours in almost any of our Northern markets 
 in four days at the most. There we have the ad- 
 vantage. Now, the whole State of Florida can 
 be included in the orange belt. There are cer- 
 tain localities where they may thrive better 
 than others, but they will do in all parts with 
 proper protection. In a grove containing 100 
 trees an average of 1,000 oranges to a tree can be 
 safely depended on ; say 100,000, at even one 
 cent each, will give an income of $1,000 per an- 
 num ; and now keep in mind that those 100 trees 
 can be grown on one acre of land. Is there any 
 other part of the United States where such a 
 thing can be done ? What do we care for your 
 twenty bushels of corn per acre, of a value of 
 $20, or your thirty bushels of wheat, uot worth 
 $30? You will say, " Yes, but the orange tree 
 takes years before it can produce this." -I have 
 not done yet ; I will soon show you products 
 that can be grown here that will produce in as 
 short time as your corn and wheat, and worth 
 ten times as much. Let us get back to fruit. 
 Lemons grow here larger and as fine-flavored 
 as any from the Mediterranean. They are not 
 so hardy as the orange, but Southern Florida 
 possesses a climate admirably suited to their 
 culture ; and the same with limes. As the pro- 
 duction of these proceed, they can be converted 
 into citric acid, which meets a ready sale at all 
 times. The rinds also possess a volatile oil that 
 is very valuable. Of the sour oranges we here 
 do not yet know their valuable properties. 
 Wine has been made from them here, but I can 
 inform you that millions of these fruit are taken 
 
THE .RESOURCES OF FLORIDA. 
 
 from the West Indies to Scotland, where the 
 riud is manufactured iuto Scotch marmalade 
 mid exported into nuinhers of countries, the 
 United States not excepted. What is to prevent 
 our manufacturing them on the spot and sending 
 away vast quantities of this delicious condi- 
 ment, and a valuable adjunct to the breakfast ta- 
 ble, as also a most wholesome one? The man 
 who starts the enterprise will soon make a fortune. 
 
 With regard to pine-apples, they are now 
 largely produced ou the islands in Southern 
 Florida. This production can be increased to 
 any extent, so as to render us independent of 
 foreign countries. With railroads and canals ex- 
 tending down the peninsula, we can put those 
 delicious fruits into the Northern markets in a 
 high slate of perfection. Here is American capi- 
 tal being used on the foreign island of Nassau 
 for the purpose of canning this fruit, and yet we 
 can grow them to the bfst advantage in our own 
 country. You do not know what a real good 
 pine-apple is. Once taste the Ripley, or the Su- 
 gar-loaf pine, when perfectly ripe, and you will 
 find that it is really food for the gods; it melts 
 in your mouth. \\ hen the Great Southern Kail- 
 road is completed, or the Indian river canal 
 opened, you will then be enabled to go down and 
 judge for yourselves. 
 
 With regard to bananas, a great advance is 
 going on here in their production. I have seen 
 as fine-looking bananas grown near Palatka, 
 and even as high as Pernandina, as I ever saw 
 in the West Indies ; but, unfortunately, we have 
 not the best kinds of this fruit; they will, how- 
 ever, soon come, and then Southern Florida 
 will be able to supply the North with all that 
 are required. Not only the fruit, but a valuable 
 cordage can be got from the stalk of the ba- 
 nanas, rendering us independent of foreign coun- 
 tries for our bagging materials. 
 
 The culture of the Spanish guava is extend- 
 ing as a fruit. We cannot depend on any addi- 
 tion to our wealth by sending this fruit out of 
 the State, but as a preserve it commands a high 
 price, and a high protective duty being in our 
 favor, guava jelly and marmalade will pay to 
 manufacture. In the West Indies, the guava 
 grows wild and forests of them can be seen. 
 They are a different guava to those grown here, 
 and a more hardy variety. I have introduced 
 them, as they are superior lo the Spanish guava 
 lor preserving, hut not such a good edible fruit. 
 
 The other fruits that can be cultivated in Flor- 
 ida, I will mention cursorily. 
 
 The Avocado pear already grows in Florida 
 in the southern parts. There are several varie- 
 ties, the most valuable kinds not having been in- 
 troduced. This is more a vegetable than a fruit, 
 and is eaten as a vegetable butter. Where one 
 variety will grow others will also succeed, and 1 
 hope that this delicious vegetable will be better 
 known and appreciated. 
 
 Bread fruit. Fancy to yourselves a tree as 
 large as our largest live oak, with from one to 
 two thousand loaves of bread on it, weighing 
 from ten to fifteen pounds each, and you will 
 have some idea of this vegetable, for fruit is a 
 misnomer. Whether the introduction of this 
 product will be a curse or blessing, time can only 
 show. Where bread fruit grow, people get lazy; 
 
 all that is required is to pick one, throw it into 
 the fire, and, when cooked, a plenteous meal is 
 furnished. In the West Indies they continue 
 bearing from May to November, and there is not 
 a day but what you can pick dozens of the fruit 
 off the tree fit for food. They will not keep 
 more than a few hours after being plucked, and 
 cannot be sent any distance on that account. In 
 some places in Jamaica they are so plentiful 
 that it is impossible to use them all. The 
 food is light and wholesome something like 
 a mealy potato. I am of opinion they will 
 grow in any part of Florida, if a little pains 
 is taken to acclimate them in the colder parts. 
 
 I will now take the cocoanu.t, the fruit of 
 fruits. These grow well in Southern Flor- 
 ida, and I think could be gradually ex- 
 tended along the sea-coast up. Every part 
 of this fruit is valuable, as also the tree. 
 It will grow on the bare sand where nothing 
 else can germinate, and continue bearing for 
 nearly one hundred years. The root is a valua- 
 ble ornamental wood ; the body serves for fenc- 
 ing ; the heart is a valuable esculent ; the leaves 
 form covering for houses. From the tree cun be 
 extracted a juice that can be made into sugar or 
 spirit. The nut is food ; the shell of the nut 
 makes lamp black ; the outer covering is a fibre 
 for ropes, matting, and a variety of other uses. 
 Vast quantities of these nuts are introduced into^ 
 the United States from the West Indies, but we* 
 can grow all we require in this State, and save 
 all that outlay of money. 
 
 Of other fruit, we can grow the mango, star 
 apple, anonas, ackee, Otaheite apple, Jack fruit, 
 Spanish plum, maumee, cashew, pawpaw, and 
 numbers of others only known to most of you by 
 name, but which your own country can furnish 
 and make you familiar with. All we want is en- 
 terprise to bring them here. 
 
 SUGARCANE. 
 
 One of our most valuable products, and one 
 that can be produced here to supply the wants 
 of the whole Union, is the sugar-cane. We have 
 lands to any extent suited to its culture. I have; 
 seen a yield here of sugar to the acre as good as 
 1 ever saw in the West Indies, and of superior 
 quality to that made there. Not a mile from 
 Jacksonville a return of $500 per acre has been 
 got from sugar. I have been a sugar planter in 
 the West Indies for twenty-seven years, and 
 jiever yet saw the Bourbon or white cane grow 
 on such land as produces it here. There are no 
 enemies to destroy it as there are in the West 
 Indies. The cultivation is infinitely easier, and 
 it is also much easier to convert the juice into 
 sugir. How much money do you think the 
 United States pays Cuba for sugar ? Millions ! 
 But we will soon have to look to our own coun- 
 try for the supply. Before many years aye 
 months are over our head*?, you will not get 
 any sugar in Cuba. If this war of extermination 
 goes on, the sugar estates will all be destroyed ; 
 if the patriots succeed in getting the island, and 
 the slaves are made free, there will be very little 
 sugar produced, as in other West Indian islands. 
 It therefore behooves the people of these United 
 States to prepare in time, and encourage the 
 production in their own country, or they will' 
 have to pay a pretty sum soon for foreign sugar. 
 
18 
 
 THE RESOURCES OF FLORIDA. 
 
 This sugar question is one that I could dilate on 
 for a wholo day, but I cannot now take up too 
 much time in explaining fully. I must, there 
 fore, stop, and discourse on starches. 
 
 STARCHES. 
 
 The United States export large quantities of 
 potato and corn starches, and pay the full value 
 in buying arrowroot, tapioca, and others from 
 foreign countries. There is not the least neces- 
 sity for our paying one cent ; we can grow them 
 all in this State to the best advantage. Having 
 been the largest grower and manufacturer of 
 arrowroot in the world, I feel myself compeient 
 to give an opinion on this subject. I have seen 
 as good arrowroot grown here as I ever grew in 
 Jamaica, that would give 1,000 pounds of starch 
 to the acre. Bermuda arrowroot retails in the 
 stores at one dollar per pound. We can make 
 equally as good ; it only depends on the wash- 
 ing ; so that our 1,000, at even twenty-five cents 
 per pound, would give $250 to the acre. 
 
 Cassava grows here as good as I ever saw it in 
 the West Indies. From this plant tapioca is 
 made. If the root of the cassava is made into 
 tapioca it will produce one ton to the acre, worth 
 at the least $800. From the juice of the cassava 
 the famous casareep is made a sauce that is 
 used for making the pepper-pot of Demerara, 
 and which sells at $2 per bottle. I have sold it 
 as high as $5 per bottle. 
 
 Another valuable starch producer, that almost 
 grows wild here, and appears indigenous to the 
 country, is the tons les mois. It is planted here 
 in gardens as an ornamental shrub, the value not 
 being known. The starch from this plant is 
 most wholesome, and made into puddings and 
 pies can be eaten by the weakest invalid, or 
 most dyspeptic stomach. I think, if cultivated, 
 1,000 pounds of starch could be produced per 
 acre. From two small bulbs the size of small 
 onions I made two tablespoonfuls in presence of 
 the Hon. D. L. Yulee and wife in Fernandina. 
 I assert that the production of the valuable 
 starches will yet be one of the most remunerative 
 businesses in Florida, 
 
 MEDICINAL ROOTS AND HERBS. 
 
 I will now show you another branch of agri- 
 culture, and by no means a despicable one. I 
 mean our medicinal roots and herbs. There is 
 not a country in the world that could produce 
 these to more advantage than this State of Flor- 
 ida. We have already growing wild a number 
 of plants that are now being made use of, but 
 there is no doubt that there are other kinds 
 among us that we do not know the uses of, or 
 the value, and which only a botanist can find 
 out. There are an infinite number of others 
 that can be grown here if the plants are intro- 
 duced, some of them of a valuable nature and 
 bearing high prices. This shows us how neces- 
 sary it is that a National Botanical Garden 
 should be established here. It will not confer a 
 benefit on the State of Florida alone, but the 
 whole United States will be enriched by it. Es- 
 tablish this garden, put practical and scientific 
 men at the head, and there is no end to the good 
 that will result. The cost will be small, and that 
 only for a limited time, for an orange grove can 
 be started in connection which eventually would 
 cover all expenses. But suppose the government 
 expends $100,000 per annum in making a first- 
 
 cla^s affair, it would be the best investment that 
 has ever been made in these United States. In 
 tlie event of a war with a strong maritime nation 
 like England, the United States, having a vast 
 extent of coast to protect, could only stand on 
 the defensive. Her fleet is not strong enough to 
 act offensively, or if even strong enough she 
 could not do so, for she has not a coaling station 
 in any foreign port. At her own request coal 
 having been made contraband of war, no foreign 
 nation could supply her fleet, so that it will be 
 an act of folly in her to send out one. Acting, 
 then, on the defensive, she will be debarred from 
 intercourse with nations that at present supply 
 these products; how necessary, therefore, is it 
 for her to encourage the production of all these 
 articles within her own borders, and not only to 
 encourage but stimulate their production. The 
 wisdom of a nation is, therefore, iu forestalling 
 events, and not waiting for it to catch them un- 
 prepared. 
 
 COTTON. 
 
 I have not included io this address any men- 
 tion of cotton-growing in this State, and which 
 is at present one of the chief staples of the 
 State. Having been intimately connected with 
 the cotton growing, and the efforts made to stim- 
 ulate cotton-growing in other countries by Great 
 Britain during the civil war here, I can only say 
 that in my opinion the cotton planter has a heavy 
 competition to overcome from India and Egypt, 
 the former in short and the latter iu long staple. 
 The price of labor is so low in those countries 
 that we cannot compete with them in cheapness. 
 Our only salvation lies in \\\e-q>.iality of our sta- 
 ple being superior. The culture of cotton, how- 
 ever, in those countries, as an article of export is 
 comparatively new, and the quality will continue 
 to improve. Even as it is, overstocking the mar- 
 ket with an article of inferior grade has a ten- 
 dency to lower the price of the best kinds. I 
 have cultivated all descriptions of cotton, and I 
 can inform you that there is very little difference 
 between Egyptian and sea island cotton. I have 
 shipped and sold the Egyptian in the Liverpool 
 market under the name of sea island, and the 
 difference was never discovered there. In time 
 of war the cotton would also be shut out from 
 foreign market and be of no value to us. 
 
 VARIOUS PRODUCTS. 
 
 I have little time to give to other things that we 
 can cultivate here with advantage, as dye woods 
 and spices, many of which would do well. The 
 introduction of logwood would be for our benefit, 
 as the tree has a tendency to make the land on 
 which it grows dry, so that if planted in our 
 marsh lands they may be reclaimed and made 
 valuable. Ginger already grows well here, and 
 the cultivation could be extended with profit. 
 Wherever ginger will grow, so can tnmeric, hut 
 the demand for it is limited. 
 
 Spanish tobacco promises to be a staple pro- 
 duct of this State. There is immense wealth in 
 it. One count)' in the State before the war grew 
 $200,000 worth. Attention is now being drawn 
 to it again, and before long large quantities will 
 be grown, and of a superior quality. 
 
 No other State *bf the Union is more suitable 
 for the manufacture of paper than this. The 
 materials are more than plentiful. All the paper 
 
THE RESOURCES OF FLORIDA. 
 
 19 
 
 manufactories in the world could uot exhaust 
 our stock of palmetto, which has been proved to 
 make excellent paper ; but in our marsh grasses I 
 am confident we have a great source of wealth 
 for this industry. For many years England has 
 been receiving from Spain hundreds of thou- 
 sands of tons of a grass called Esparto, for mak- 
 ing paper; but the revolution in that country 
 has put a stop to this supply, and they are now 
 looking to other countries for a fresh opening. 
 The straw of tbe wild rice from the Canadian 
 lakes is now attracting their attention ; but we 
 have grasses here that, I think, will answer the 
 purpose, being free from silex and easily pro- 
 curable. Vessels can load almost on the spot, 
 while straw from the Canadian lakes has to be 
 brought a long distance before being transhipped 
 to England. But what is to prevent our work- 
 ing up this material on the spot and save all ex- 
 pense of carriage ? Paper can be made here all 
 the year round, for we have no cold weather to 
 interfere with it. 
 
 GRASSES. 
 
 I have previously told you that we do not care 
 about clover or timothy, and for this reason, we 
 have natural grasses here that answer for fod- 
 der purposes equally as well. From our crab 
 grass can be made excellent hay. Mr. Fowler, 
 of Port Orange, mentioned at the List meeting 
 of the Fruit Growers' Association that he had 
 made four tons of hay per acre from this grass. 
 Mr. C. D. Brigham, who has established a sugar 
 plantation only ten miles from this city, feedvS 
 over a dozen head of mules and cattle, and never 
 buys a pound of hay; he makes his own from 
 the same grass. lu the Guinea grass that I have 
 introduced here lately, and which is found to 
 thrive admirably, this country will have a mine 
 of wealth. As soon as it gets extensively planted, 
 we will be able to export cattle to any extent, of 
 the finest description of beef. The horses and 
 mult-s in the West Indies are fed on this grass ; 
 they work all the year round, Sundays excepted, 
 and never taste a particle of grain of any kind ; 
 in fact, they will not eat it if offered to them. 
 The grass possesses both fattening and strength- 
 ening properties. Those who have already grown 
 it since its introduction, have cut it four times a 
 year, and estimate the yield of hay at ten to 
 twelve tons per acre. Have you any grass in 
 the North to beat this? We don't want your 
 clover or timothy, and the expense of replanting 
 
 every year. Guinea grass is a perennial ; once 
 planted, lasting for years with a trifling expense. 
 When it is more known and appreciated we 
 will show you cattle worth looking at. 
 
 FISHERIES. 
 
 Another source of wealth that we have are 
 our fisheries. Every river, lake, or pond in the 
 State abounds with most delicious fish in end- 
 less variety. We can stock the Northern mar- 
 ket with shad in the winter season. In summer 
 we have the river swarming with mullet, which 
 can be salted and packed for exportation, the 
 heads and intestines being con verted into oil and 
 manure. We have quantities of other fish that 
 can also be made into manure. Mr. Brigham 
 and a few others are now catching and using 
 them for that purpose. 
 
 At certain seasons any quantities of shrimps 
 can be caught, and there is a fortune for some 
 one who will enter into the business of potting 
 them. Our coasts abound with the finest kind 
 of oysters, which can be taken out and canned 
 almost on the spot. The shell can be burnt into 
 lime and used for enriching our lands. 
 SAND. 
 
 People who come to Eastern Florida the first 
 time turn up their nose at our sand and laugh at 
 the idea of growing anything on it, but I can 
 inform you that this sand is not like the sand of 
 New England or Michigan. Ours contains at 
 least 25 per cent, of lime, and I have never seen 
 land in any place that is so grateful for the 
 smallest quantity of manure. The vegetables, 
 strawberries, &c., now being brought into our 
 market, and the specimens of sugar-cane, &c., I 
 now place before you, is a sample of what can 
 be done with it. In Central and Western Flor- 
 ida, however, there are as rich lands as any one 
 can desire, capable of supporting a vast popula- 
 tion. 
 
 I think that I have shown you conclusively 
 that this is the most valuable State of the Union, 
 but people do not know it. There are few peo- 
 ple who are capable of pointing out in what this 
 wealth consists. Before long they will all be 
 turned to account, and be fully developed. 
 There are numbers of other things that my time 
 will not allow me to enter upon our timber 
 trade for one ; but this is well known to all. I 
 have confined myself to a description of those 
 articles that are little known, even to those re- 
 siding in the State. 
 
BERKELEY 
 
 Books not "turned on time a 
 per volume after tn | r ^ irc 
 
 IIRECT ROUTE 
 
 Florida 
 
 UNSURPASSED. 
 
 r Transfer of Baggage 
 
 TS IN FLORIDA. 
 
 i 
 
 sonville, Pensacola & Mobil 
 mpany's Railroad. For fui 
 
 LPCKE, Agent, 
 
 5 William Street, New York 
 
 JOHN B. KING, JR| 
 
 iINC, 
 
 "liCHANTSl 
 
 
 IN 
 
 NAVAL STORES, COTTON, SUGAR, SYRUP,! 
 
 No. 187 Pearl Street, New York, and Fernandina, Fla. 
 
 AGENTS FOR NEW YORK AND FERNANDINA STEAMSHIP LINE. 
 
Makers 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 
 PAT. JAN 21, 1908 
 
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