172 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I3TH ANNUAL REPORT 



and "St. Lucie fine sand" in Hernando County (1915), "St. Lucie 

 sand" and "St. Lucie fine sand" in the "Indian River area" ( 1915 ), 



and "St.ef^y6^iJs^^Q/|ica^\ffli^9f<fii^liiC£W.H^t>^to Some 



ever, rather than different interpretations on the part of the soil 



surveyors. 



This sort of soil is represented in the tables a few pages farther 

 on by mechanical analyses 37, 38, 46 and 47. and chemical analyses 

 D and K (which unfortunately are incomplete). As compared 

 with other soils of the area it is very poor in potash, clay, humus, 

 and animal life, and it seems likely that in some cases at least it has 

 been derived from the creamy sand next to be described by long- 

 continued leaching out of soluble materials, a process which in the 

 creamy sand seems to be constantly counteracted by animal agencies, 

 as explained on the next page. Just what keeps these animals out 

 of the white sand remains to be explained ; but it may be that they 

 are very slowly encroaching on it year by year. 



The A-egetation on the white sand on uplands is nearly always 

 of the scrub type, described farther on in the chapter on vegetation 

 Where it is low and flat, however, it may bear vegetation of the 

 flatwoods type, with pines and saw-palmetto predominating; and 

 there are various intermediate conditions. Whether the white color 

 extends down only a few inches or several feet does not make as- 

 much difference in the vegetation as one might imagine; which 

 seems to indicate that the top soil is more important to plants than 

 the subsoil. 



In the interior this soil is almost never cultivated, but along 

 the east coast great quantities of citrous fruits and pineapples and 

 even some vegetables are raised on it, of course with the aid of lib- 

 eral applications of fertilizers. 



Cream-colored sand. This is by far the most extensive type of 

 upland soil in our area, especially in the lime-sink and lake regions 

 It includes most of the "Norfolk sand," "Norfolk fine sand" and 

 "Norfolk sandy loam" and some of the "Gainesville fine sand" 

 of the government soil surveys, and is represented in the tables by 

 mechanical analyses 6-9, 27, 28, 39. 40, and chemical analvses E. 

 ■F, L and M. 



It consists of medium to fine-grained incoherent quartz sand, 

 with 3 to 8% of silt and clay, and is usually very homogeneous to 

 a depth of several or many feet, so that few if any roots go all the 



