lO. MIDDLE FLORIDA HAMMOCK BELT. 255 



2. "Ocklocknee clay," from 3V2 miles northeast of Midway, Gadsden 

 Co. Depth 8 inches. This is described as a heavy dark sandy loam of 

 variable texture, resting on a stiflf dark yellow or mottled red c'ay. (The 

 subsoil is used for brick-making at two places in Gadsden County and at 

 at least one place on the same side of the same river in Thomas County, 

 Georgia.) The soil lies in the bottoms of the Ocklocknee River, and al- 

 though it is occasionally overflowed, the vegetation is mostly long-leaf 

 pine, saw-palmetto, gallberry, etc., much like that of some flatwoods, and 

 very different from that in the flood-plains of muddy rivers. (It is doubt- 

 less low in available pot^ish, notwithstanding its clayey character.) It 

 is hardly ever cultivated. 



3. "Norfolk sand." Jefferson Co.; average of two samples, (localities 

 and depths not given). This is a gray, light brown, or yellow sand, medi- 

 um to tine in texture, with enough organic matter to make it loamy, under- 

 laid at a depth of 10 to 24 inches by yellowish or light gray sand of more 

 open structure. It is tlie commonest upland soil in Jefferson County, 

 and has a native vegetation of long-leaf and short-leaf pines, oaks, hick- 

 ories, and many other species. A good deal of it is under cultivation, and 

 it is evidently richer than the "Norfolk sand'' of Escam,bia County, de- 

 scribed on page 231, although it contains less silt and clay. 



4. "Orangeburg fine sandy loam," Jefferson Co.; average of two 

 samples (localities and depths not given). This is a "gray, brown, or red- 

 dish-brown medium to fine sandy loam, 8 to 15 inches deep." with ferru- 

 ginous pebb'es, and a subsoil of "very red clay containing from 40 to 60 

 per cent of medium to fine grades of sand with very little silt." It occurs 

 on rolling uplands, is a fairly productive soil (making about a third of 

 a bale of cotton to the acre without fertilizer), and is largely under cul- 

 tivation. 



5. "Gainesville sand," one-fourth mile w^est of Rutledge, Alachua Co.* 

 Depth 6 inches. This is "a gray loamy sand 8 inches deep, containing much 

 organic matter, underlain by a brown loamy sand of looser structure." 

 Weathered rock fragments are common in both soil and subsoil, and usu- 

 ally there is calcareous c'ay or part'y weathered limestone within three feet 

 of the surface. It is on high uplands with subterranean drainage, and the 

 native vegetation is large long-leaf pines and various hardwoods. It 

 is one of the most popular soils in the "Gainesville area," and nearly lialf 

 of it is under cultivation, the principal crops being corn and sea-island 

 cotton. 



6. "Portsmouth sandy loam,''t one mi'e northwest of Rocky Point, 

 Alachua Co. Depth 25 inches. This name is applied to soils varying 



*See footnote on next page. 



tMost other soils of the "Portsmouth" series (named for Portsmouth, 

 Va., and confined to the coastal plain from Delaware to Mississippi) are 

 flatwoods soils of low agricultural valre. ("These soils are developed 

 in flat to slightly depressed, poorly drained situations, and require ditch- 

 ing before they can be used for agriculture." — H. H. Bennett, U- S- Bu- 

 reau of Soi's. Bull. 96:248. 1913.) If the "Gainesville area" were re- 

 examined, this fertile residual high hammock soil, which resembles the 

 "Portsmouth" soils cnly in h:iving a 'arge proportion of sand and organic 

 matter, and must be very different chemically, would probably be classi- 

 fied differently. 



