GEOGRAPHY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA I/I 



ha\e described most of them in terms of vegetation, such as pine 

 land, hammock, swamp, scrub, and prairie;* and it is indeed diffi- 

 cult to avoid mentioning the vegetation in describing our various 

 soil types. 



The leading texture classes of soils in each region, as far as 

 known, have already been noted in the regional descriptions. In 

 the following pages the principal soil types of the whole area will 

 first be classified roughly by water-content, color, etc., and then 

 some mechanical and chemical analyses presented. As in all class- 

 ifications of natural objects or phenomena, there are all possible 

 gradations between adjacent categories, so that no sharp lines can 

 be drawn; and a few types difficult to classify are not mentioned 

 at all.f 



UPLAND (mainly DRY) SOILS 



JVhite sand. This consists of nearly white quartz sand, usually 

 rather coarse, and with less than 2% of silt and clay. It varies in 

 depth from a few inches to several f eet,$ and commonly passes rath- 

 er abruptly below into yellowish sand of similar texture. It is widely 

 distributed in central Florida, but most common in the lake region 

 and near the east coast. In the coast strip it is chiefly confined to 

 old dunes, but in the lake region, where it is very characteristic, 

 no constant relation to the topography has been made out. It has 

 been called "Norfolk sand with scrub oak vegetation" in the U. S. 

 soil survey of the "Ocala area" (i9i3)§, "Leon sand, rolling phase" 

 in that of Pinellas County (i9i4)§, "Leon fine sand, scrub phase" 



*See for example a paper on the soils of Florida by Dr. E. H. Sellards in 

 our 4th Annual Report (1912), pp. 1-79. This was published in more con- 

 densed form the following year in the 12th Biennial Report of the State Ag- 

 ricultural Department, pp. 249-299, and has been reprinted two or three times a? 

 a supplement to the Quarterly Bulletin of that department. 



tjust before completing this chapter the writer had the advantage of a 

 visit from Mr. J. Otto Veatch of the U. S. Bureau of Soils (formerly assistant 

 on the Geological Survey of Georgia), who has been making a special study 

 of Florida soils for the last year or two. He has made some helpful criticisms, 

 but of course cannot be held responsible for any errors that may remain. 



±In some of the government soil surveys the white sand is stated to be 

 a mere veneer a few inches thick, but this was probably not intended to apply 

 generally to large areas, for in a railroad cut about four miles west of Bartow, 

 if not elsewhere, it extends without perceptible change to a depth of at least 

 eight feet. 



§Reprinted in our 7th Annual Report, 1915. 



