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ITS AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.
The country along- the Gulf Coast offers unusual attractions to the general farmer, the ■•tock raiser, the market gardener, or the fruit grower The climate, the soil and the markets are all in his favor. The climate is more uniform than farther north, the summer heat seldom exceeding 90 degrees while the winter temperature rarely falls below 20 degrees, and the cold weather last only a few days. The rainfall is abundant, about bO inches annually, and is so well distributed throughout the year that crops rarely suffer from the drouth.
The surface soil is usually a mellow, sandy loam, which is easily worked and krpt in good condition. The subsoil, except a narrow strip along the water’s edge, is a heavy clay, coming to within a few inches of the surface, and this gives the loamy topsoil the very best foundation and makes it permanently productive with the use of only a small amount of fertilizer. Near the coast the lands are low and nearly level, but are sufficiently ro ling to give good drainage with little or no ditching. Hack from the coast ihe land rises gradually, reaching a height of about seventy-five feet within three miles of the iiuif. and becoming somewhat hilly. All of these lands have an abundant supply of springs and running streams. and fllowing artesian wells can be secured by boring to a depth of from 600 to 700 feet.
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STOCK RAISING.
For stock raising this region is one of the best in tlje whole country, as the pine woods furnish good grazing- the entire year, and there is never a month when crops are not growing-in the fields. At present the unfenced range is practically unlimited, and so well stocked with rich grasses that cattle feeding upon them are ready for the butcher at any time from May until December. Thousands of cattle spend the entire winter on the range, and probably less than one-third of the beef cattle grown here see an ear of corn or a pound of meal. Sheep raising has been an important industry. Sheep are practical];? self-supporting, as they live on the range during the er.ire year and receive no feed and have no shelter or protection except what they find for themselves. In fact, their ov:ners seldom see them except when they are rounded up for shearing and marking. Disease is almost unknown among them, and, while many young lambs are killed by dogs and hogs, the natural increase of the flocks is about 25 per cent. Annually, or more than enough to pay the slight expense? £ ■■"’’•'earing and marking, leaving all the wool as
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