FLORIDA, with an area of 60,000 square miles, has a population of only 140,425―77,747 white and 62,677 black.  That division of the State known as East Florida, being all the territory south and east of the Suwannee river, and embracing the entire penisula between 25° and 31° of latitude, by reason of its fine climate, productive soil, extensive forests of valuable timber, numerous rivers affording excellent navigation, a thousand miles of sea-coast indented with bays and sounds, and the whole interior of the country diversified with beautiful lakes and ponds abounding in fish and fowl of various kinds, and of the most delicious flavor, can support a population of one hundred to the square mile with one-half the labor required to live in the eastern or middle States.

A large portion of the country is covered with pine forests, the trees standing at a considerable distance apart, without undergrowth; grass and flowers spread luxuriantly over the surface of the earth during the whole year, and, being unusually intersected with streams of pure water, cattle find excellent range. The pine land, though termed *barrens,” is, in many instances, not less productive than the numerous live-oak and other hard-timbered hummocks of the richest soil, so finely adapted to the culture of sugar, rice, cotton, corn, tobacco, indigo, and fruits. Limestone or marl underlies, pretty generally, the peninsula; springs are numerous, pure, and cool. Allachua, an interior county, is curiously diversified with savannas, lakes, ridges of hummock, and plains of pine barren. The soil, in one part, is covered with a rich black loam; in another, with sand mixed with limestone, sandstone, or flint. In some places, for a great extent, not even a pebble can be found. The savannas or prairies, covered with tall grass, are often fifteen miles in extent. Allachua and several adjacent counties are particularly rich in vegetable productions; the surface lies in graceful undulations, and in its natural state is covered with oak, pine, magnolia, orange, and madeira trees, cane-brakes, grape, and other vines.

Although East Florida embraces six degrees of latitude, no very great difference of temperature is felt between the north and the south. Mr. John Lee Williams, who wrote a valuable history of Florida, says that during a residence of eighteen years in the State, the greatest heat has been 96° Fahrenheit; but only three or four times has it risen to that height during that long period.  Generally 85° Fahrenheit is the maximum of summer heat, and 45° Fahrenheit the minimum of cold in winter. The mean temperature of St. Augustine is about 65° Fahrenheit.  The peninsula projects so far to the east as to divide the trade-wind; one portion of it passes up the coast, and forms the charming sea-breeze which makes the climate, even in summer, so agreeable and refreshing. The metcorological statistics published by Surgeon General Lawson, United States army, as derived from diaries kept at all the military posts, show that the coast of East Florida, in equableness of climate, surpasses Italy.

It produces the long staple or Sea Island cotton of commerce, over any part of the peninsula, with a productiveness surpassing the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia, to which this staple has been hitherto limited, and can supply any quantity of it to which the consumption will ever reach. It produces sugar, with great advantage over Louisiana or Texas, having a superior climate for the canc; and has sugar lands enough to supply the consumption of the United States.

It is a great mistake to suppose that sugar cannot be made to advantage without the investment of large capital. The cane produced on less than ten acres of ground is usually ground in a wooden mill, which does not cost one hundred dollars, (generally the work of the farmer himself,) while the juice is boiled in the common utensils of his kitchen, or, at best, as the New England farmer manufactures his maple sugar. The yield is usually greater, in proportion to the stock worked, than where the machinery has cost ten or fifteen thousand dollars. Cane is cultivated with more ease than corn, not requiring so much hoeing. From midsummer to the time of harvesting the hands may be employed in other business; and even at the time of taking off the crop no great increase of hands is required, as in Louisiana or Texas, where frost prevails. One hand can cultivate six acres with the hoe, or ten to twelve with the aid of a horse and plough. At the same time he can raise other crops sufficient to subsist himself and family. Twelve hundred pounds of sugar to the acre is an average yield, though four thousand pounds have been produced.  The molasses is always expected to pay the expense of manufacturing.

Cuba tobacco is, next to sugar, most in favor with small planters. The flavor is thought to be not inferior to the production of the famous district of Vuelt de Abajo, in the island of Cuba, when grown on old land well manured.  The sandy soil near the sea-coast is well adapted to this production. Ordinary seasons give three good cuttings from the same stalks. Seven hundred pounds is an average crop to the acre, which, when Virginia or Kentucky tobacco would not bring more than six cents, readily sold in market at from fifty to seventy-five cents per pound. The same tobacco would now command two dollars.

Rice is a valuable crop when fresh water can be had to flow the ground during the dry season. The upland rice, however, may be cultivated without water. Pine lands, upon which cattle have been herded for a few weeks, have often produced sixty bushels of rough rice to an acre. With one month’s labor, one hand, with a horse and plough, can cultivate ten acres of rice.

During the British occupation of the country indigo was the principal staple of the Florida planters. None brought a higher price in the London market, except that from Caracas, which owed its preference to superior manufacture.  Except sugar, this is the most certain crop in Florida. It is indigenous to the country, abounding in the pine barrens, and even in the old fields cultivated by the British nearly a century ago, in spite of time and the constant cultivation of other products.

The climate is the best in the world for the production of silk. Every species of mulberry grows as far south as the 27th degree of latitude.

The Cochineal insect [used to make a natural dye -ASC] is a native of Florida. The Nopal, on which the insect feeds, is also a native plant.

Corn is the most important article of food in a southern climate. To the negro it is indispensable, and many of the white inhabitants prefer corn bread to that made of wheat.  Although Florida lies south of the corn-growing belt, very good crops are nevertheless produced in the State. Forty bushels to the acre are often gathered on the best land, but from ten to fifteen bushels is the average crop. Guinea corn, Otaheite corn [both of these appear to be some form of what we now call grain sorghum -ASC], and millet succeed very well. The latter, in particular, is a useful crop.

The sweet potato and the yam find in the Florida pine land their natural soil. Four hundred bushels are often produced to the acre. The common potato produces a good crop if planted in the winter. Cabbages planted in November grow to a great size. Pumpkins, squashes, and melons are produced with indifferent culture, and are of delicious flavor. Peas, beans, and, indeed, all the garden vegetables of the temperate or the torrid zone succeed perfectly well in Florida.

Fruits are abundant and in great variety. The apple does not succeed, but the quince bears in the northern part. Figs are abundant and of a rich flavor.  Peaches, nectarines, and apricots succeed perfectly. The Florida orange is larger and more aromatic than the Cuban. The pomegranate, the guava, citron, “forbidden fruit,” or shaddock, lemons, and limes are produced with ease, and everywhere abundantly. The cocoanut flourishes south of the 27th degree of latitude.  Wild plums and grapes are in great variety. Some of the cultivated species of the latter produce two crops annually.  The pineapple and banana are cultivated with success. The olive and the tamarind are growing in many places. Arrow-root is a profitable crop. The pistache was greatly cultivated by the Seminoles. This vine [pistache (pistachio) is a tree, not a vine! -ASC] produces a large crop on sandy land. It is a native of Spain, whence it has been transferred to the gardens of Italy. In Florida it is perfectly naturalized. Grasses are numerous and nutritious. There are few spots of uncultivated land not covered with grass. Deer, as well as cattle, in vast herds, fatten on the wild grasses of the forests and prairies.

The late Bernard M. Byrne, surgeon United States army, was stationed many years both in Texas and Florida. Devoting himself to an attentive study of the soils and productions of the two States, respectively, his views, modified by practical experience in cultivation, will be an excellent guide to persons emigrating to Florida. While there is in every State and Territory of the Union a large proportion of barren and poor lands, the ratio of these lands differs greatly in different States. Florida has a due proportion of poor lands; but, compared with other States, the ratio of her barren and worthless lands is very small. With the exception of the everglades, covering only a portion of Dade county, and a few irreclaimable cypress swamps of no great extent, there is but a small portion of Florida which cannot be made tributary to some agricultural purpose under her tropical climate. She has no mountain wastes, no barren prairies, and there are but few acres of uncultivated lands in the whole State that are not covered with grass or valuable timber.

As the opinion has been very widely disseminated that Florida is composed of swamps and everglades, or barren, sandy plains, a brief description of her lands will be interesting to agriculturists generally, and particularly to those who desire to produce in our own,almost everything which our comfort or our luxury draws from other countries.

Pine lands (yellow pine) form the basis of Florida. These lands are usually divided into three classes, denoting first, second, and third rate pine lands, according to the field-notes of the original surveys of the country.

That which is denominated first-rate pine lands, in Florida, has nothing analogous to it in any of the other States. Its surface is covered for several inches deep with a dark vegetable mould, beneath which, to the depth of several feet, is a chocolate-colored sandy loam, mixed, for the most part, with limestone pebbles, and resting on a substratum of marl, clay, or limestone rock. The fertility and durability of this description of land may be estimated from the well-known fact that it has, on the upper Suwannee and in several other districts, yielded, during fourteen years of successive cultivation, without the aid of manure, four hundred pounds of Sea Island cotton to the acre. These lands are still as productive as ever, so that the limit of their durability is yet unknown.

The “second-rate pine lands,” which form the largest proportion of Florida, are all productive, and can, by a proper system of cultivation, be rendered much more valuable than the best lands in Texas. These lands afford fine natural pasturage; they are heavily timbered with the best species of yellow pine, and are for the most part high, rolling, healthy, and well-watered.  They are generally based upon clay, marl, or limestone. They will produce for several years without the aid of manure, and when "cow-penned” they will yield twelve hundred pounds of the best quality of sugar to the acre, or about three hundred pounds of Sea Island cotton; or they will, when properly cultivated, produce the finest quality of Cuba tobacco, oranges, lemons, limes, and various other tropical productions, which must, in many instances, render them more valuable than the best “bottom lands in more northern States.

Even pine lands of the "third rate,” or most inferior class, are by no means worthless, under the climate of Florida. This class may be divided into two orders:  the one comprising high, rolling, sandy districts, which are sparsely covered with a stunted growth of "black jack” and pine; the other embracing low, flat, swampy regions, which are frequently studded with “bay galls,” and are occasionally inundated, but which are covered with luxuriant vegetation, and very generally with valuable timber. The former of these, it is now ascertained, are, owing to their calcareous quality, well adapted for the growth of Sisal hemp, which is a valuable tropical production. It is scarcely necessary to add that the sccond order of “third-rate pine lands,” as herein described, is far from being worthless. These lands afford a most excellent range for cattle, besides being valuable for the timber and naval stores which they produce.

There is one general feature in the topography of Florida, which no other country in the United States possesses, and which affords great security to the health of its inhabitants. It is this: that the pine lands which form the basis of the country, and which are almost universally healthy, are nearly everywhere studded, at intervals of a few miles, with hummock lands of the richest quality. These hummocks are not, as is generally supposed, low, wet lands; the contrary, they are high, dry, and undulating, and never require either ditching or draining. They vary in extent from twenty acres to twenty thousand acres. Hence the inhabitants have it everywhere in their power to select residences in the pine lands, at such convenient distances from the hummocks as will enable them to cultivate the latter without endangering their health, if it should so happen that any of the hummocks prove to be less healthy than the pine woods.

Experience in Florida has satisfactorily shown that residences only half a mile distant from cultivated hummocks are entirely exempt from malarial disease, and that the negroes who cultivate those hummocks, and retire at night to pine land residences, maintain perfect health. Indeed, it is found that residences in the hummocks themselves are generally perfectly healthy a few years after they have been cleared. Newly cleared lands are generally attended with the development of more or less malaria. In Florida the diseases which result from such clearings are usually of the mildest type, (simple intermittent fever,) while in nearly all the other southern States they are most frequently of a severe grade of bilious fever.

A general interspersion of rich hummocks, surrounded by high, dry, rolling, healthy pine woods, is a topographical feature peculiar to Florida, and forms, in this respect, a striking contrast with Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, whose sugar and cotton lands are generally surrounded by vast alluvial regions subject to frequent inundations, so that it is impossible to obtain a healthy residence within many miles of them.

The lands in Florida which are, par excellence, denominated “rich lands,” are, first, the “swamp lands;” second, the “low hummock lands;” third, the “high hummocks;" and fourth, the “first-rate pine, oak, and hickory lands.”

The swamp lands are unquestionably the most durably rich lands in the country. They are the most recently formed lands, and are still annually receiving additions to their surface. They are intrinsically the most valuable lands in Florida, being as fertile in the beginning as the hummocks, and more durable. They occupy natural depressions or basins, which have been gradually filled up by deposits of vegetable debris, &c., washed in from the adjacent higher lands. Ditching is indispensable to their successful cultivation. Properly prepared, their inexhaustible fertility sustains a succession of the most exhausting crops with astonishing vigor. The greatest yield of sugar ever realized in Florida was produced on this description of land, viz: four hogsheads, of 1,200 pounds each, per acre. This was raised on Dummitt’s plantation, near New Smyrna. Sugar-cane is well known to be one of the most exhausting crops, and is usually grown without rest or rotation.

Low hummocks, which, from” the fact of their participating of the nature of hummocks and swamps, are sometimes termed swammocks, are not inferior to swamp lands in fertility, but perhaps are not quite as durable. They are always level, or nearly so, and have a soil of greater tenacity than that of the high hummocks. Some ditching is necessary in most of them. The soil is always deep, and extremely well adapted to the growth of cane.

High hummocks are the lands in greatest repute in Florida. These lands from low hummocks, in occupying higher ground, and in generally presenting an undulating surface. They are formed of a fine vegetable mould, mixed with a sandy loam in many places two feet deep, and resting, in most cases, on a substratum of marl, clay, or limestone. This soil scarcely ever suffers from too much wet; nor does a drought affect it in the same degree as other lands. High hummock lands produce all the crops of the country in an eminent degree. Their extraordinary fertility and productiveness may be estimated by the fact that in several well-known instances in Marion county, (Clinch’s, McIntosh’s, &c.,) three hogsheads of sugar per acre have been made on this description of land, after it had been in cultivation six years in successive crops of corn, without the aid of manure.

The "first-rate pine, oak, and hickory lands” are found in pretty extensive tracts in many parts of the State.  From the fact that these lands can be cleared at much less expense than the swamp and hummock lands, they have heretofore been preferred by the small planters, and have proved remarkably productive.

There are, besides the lands already noticed, extensive tracts of savanna lands, which approximate in character, texture of soil, and period and mode of formation, to the swamp lands, differing only in being destitute of timber.  Some of these lands, however, are extremely poor.

From the landing of the Spanish adventurer, Pamphillo de Narvaez, in 1528, to the Jeff Davis rebellion, in 1861, slavery has brooded like night over this region, so appropriately called "the land of flowers.”  Whether prompted by Spanish cupidity for gold, or the Anglo-Saxon’s ambition for empire in a textile plant, three centuries of violence and injustice have not suffered a single generation to pass away undisturbed by internal dissensions or hostile invasions.  Velasquez, Narvaez, and De Soto, in the first half of the 16th century; the religious crusades, projected by Philip II of Spain and Charles IX of France, in the latter part of that century; the relentless wars between Catholic and Huguenot, and of Christian against aborigines, are an unbroken history of bloody persecutions.  Menendez massacres a French colony, and erects a monument of his atrocity near the spot, with this inscription: “Not as Frenchmen, but as heretics.”  De Gourgas, to avenge the horrid butchery of his countrymen, sails from France with an expedition which lands in Florida, and, in turn, attacks the Spanish in their stronghold. Scarcely a man escapes death.  Gourgas ordered the Spaniards to be hung on the spot where he found the skeletons of the former colonists, and affixed this label: “Not as Spaniards, but as murderers.”  Later, the English colonies in Carolina and Georgia renewed the contest against the Spanish, and made frequent incursions into Florida, until the acquisition of the territory in 1763. Great improvements were made by the English during the twenty years they held possession of the country. They encouraged agriculture in the east and west by offering bounties on indigo, and for the increase of naval stores. The country became cultivated to a great extent, and more sugar and rum was manufactured in East Florida than at any period since. The natives, generally, retired from the towns and commenced raising horses and cattle in the deep forests. The country was extensive and full of game; the climate mild, producing many fruits.  All these circumstances tended to invite the neighboring Indians to collect and settle, especially around those pleasant prairies and old fields abounding in peach and persimmon orchards and wild orange groves. These grew to be a nation, under their old name—"Seminoles,” or wanderers. The recession of the country to Spain, in 1783, operated as a blight on the whole land. The English population removed en masse, as the Spanish had done before, abandoning their plantations, gardens, villages, and towns. A military government succeeded, followed by a general neglect of agriculture; fields were suffered to grow up with briers, and sugar-houses to rot down. In 1812 the Georgians again carried war into Florida, and compelled the Spanish commandant of Fernandina to surrender. Seven years later Spain ceded East and West Florida and the adjacent islands to the United States. The country settled rapidly, under the new government, and the cultivation of sugar-cane, cotton, and tobacco was widely extended, until checked by the Seminole war, which lasted twenty years, and nearly devastated the country. Surpassing all the enormities and crimes of her past history is the great slaveholders' rebellion which now convulses the nation.

With capabilities and resources possessed by no other State, the longest settled, and, since admitted to the Union, patronized by the government more lavishly than any of her sister States, Florida is not at the present moment so great and prosperous as when ceded by Great Britain to Spain, eighty years ago.  She is even below what she was when northern arms delivered her from the Seminole Indians. Permanent peace and security, and an uninterrupted prosperity which shall grow with her growth, can only be hoped for under a free constitution. With that, her deserted fields and waste places will bring rich returns to industry, and be the homes of a happy people.