mewhat precarious venture, and has depended for existence very largely
upon tariff protection and bounties paid to the American sugar-makers.
Tobacco manufacture centres at Tampa and Key West. Cuban leaf is there
converted into cigars.

Fruit culture is a great industry. Millions of melons and great
quantities of pineapples, oranges, and small fruit form the early crop
that is shipped North. The orange groves are mainly in Florida. The crop
is exhausted about the time that California oranges are shipped East. A
great deal of tropical fruit is brought from Mexican, Central American,
and South American ports. This trade is controlled mainly at _Mobile_,
which is also a lumber-market.

=The Arid Plains and the Grazing Region.=--This region includes the high
plains approximately west of the 2,000-foot contour of level, together
with a part of the plateaus of the western highland region. It is
essentially one of grazing. Formerly there was an attempt to make
wheat-growing the chief industry, but on account of the limited rainfall
not more than three crops out of five reached maturity.

The earlier cattle-growing was carried on in a somewhat primitive
manner; the cattle herded on open lands, wandering from one range to
another, wherever the grazing might be good. The ownership of the cattle
was determined by the brand the animal bore,[53] and the herds were
"rounded up" twice a year to be sorted; at the round-up the "mavericks,"
or unmarked calves and yearlings, were branded. In time the ranges
became greatly overstocked; the winter losses by starvation were so
heavy that a better system became imperative. "Rustling," or
cattle-stealing, also became a factor in improving the methods of
cattle-ranching. The cautious rustler would purchase a few head of
cattle and add to the number by capturing stray mavericks.

[Illustration: A DESERT REGION--TOO DRY FOR THE PRODUCTION OF
FOOD-STUFFS]

[Illustration: OPEN GRAZING RANGES, IN WESTERN HIGHLANDS]

Both the legitimate graziers and the rustlers at first were bitterly
opposed to fencing the land. In time, however, the grazier was compelled
to do this, and also to grow alfalfa for winter foddering. The great
open ranges have therefore been broken up and fenced wholly or in part.
The fencing, moreover, has kept a dozen or more of the largest
wire-mills in the world turning out a product that is at once shipped
West. As a rule, the top wire is set on insulators and used for
telep