FLORIDA

FLORIDA, "Land of Flowers," the most southern of the American States, forms a bold peninsula on the E. side of the Gulf of Mexico, and has on its eastern shore the Atlantic; has a coast-line of 1150 m.; the chief physical feature is the amount of water surface, made up of 19 navigable rivers and lakes and ponds to the number of 1200, besides swamps and marshes; the climate is, however, equable, and for the most part healthy; fruit-growing is largely engaged in; the timber trade flourishes, also the phosphate industry, and cotton and the sugar-cane are extensively cultivated; a successful business in cigar-making has also of recent years sprung up, and there are valuable fisheries along the coast; Florida was admitted into the Union in 1845; the capital is Tallahassee.