BISCAYNE BAY, DADE CO., FLORIDA, Between the 25th and 26th Degrees of Latitude. A COMPLETE MANUAL OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THE CLIMATE, SOIL, PRODUCTS, ETC., OF THE LANDS BORDERING ON BISCAYNE BAY, IN FLORIDA. ALBANY: WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY. 1876. INTRODUCTION. The information contained in the following pages has been carefully collected almost entirely by Mrs. JAMES E. WALKER, of Albany, N. Y. The facts stated are but a small portion of the large amount of material in her possession. The compiler has endeavored to give due credit to all by name whose statements are given, so that none may suppose he has either drawn upon the resources of his imagination or appropriated the ideas and language of others as his own. HENRY E. PERRINE. _June_, 1876. In our northern States there are thousands of health and pleasure seekers who every fall eagerly hasten away from comfortable and luxurious homes to escape the rigors of approaching winter. Of late years the current of travel has been constantly increasing, being directed more and more toward that portion of our country which, beyond dispute, can now claim to be more healthful and free from disease than any other section of the Union. The statistics furnished by the Surgeon-General of the United States establish this fact. He says: “The diseases which result from malaria are of a much milder type in the Peninsula of Florida than in any other State in the Union. These records show that the rates of deaths to the number of cases of remittent fever has been much less than among the troops serving in any other portions of the United States. In the middle division of the United States, the proportion is one death to thirty-six cases; in the northern, one to fifty-two; in the southern, one to fifty-four; in Texas, one to seventy-eight; in California, one to one hundred and twenty-two; in New Mexico, one to one hundred and forty-eight; while in Florida, it is but _one to two hundred and eighty-seven_.” More will be said upon this subject further on. The facts compiled in this little pamphlet with great care, are not intended alone for the benefit of the invalid and mere seeker of pleasure. They are to attract the attention of the large number of people who for many years have been struggling in the various avenues of business, in our cities and large towns, men whose earnings, even if large in the aggregate, have been each year swallowed up by the increased cost of living in these later days. For those who would like a home in a more genial clime, where they can, by patient industry, within from two to six years, lay the sure foundation for a permanent income, where the expenses of living