GEOGRAPHY AND VEGETATION OF NORTHERN FLORIDA. 399 



which is reached by the roots of trees but not by those of herbs. For strange 

 to say, the native herbs of region 13 are nearly all species characteristic of high 

 pine land and sandy hammocks, the red oak and dogwood forests being almost 

 devoid of herbaceous vegetation. In this particular this region is much like No. 

 II, but a good deal different from Nos. 4 and 5, and very, very different from 

 Nos. I and 3; although the arborescent flora of these six hardwood regions 

 (which are shaded on the map) has much in common. But the fact that there 

 is more potash, lime, phosphorus, iron and alumina in the soil than in the sub- 

 soil would not be easy to explain on the last hypothesis, nor would the pro- 

 ductivity of the soil ; for it is not likely that the roots of annual crops go as 

 deep as three feet. (The soil is indeed loose and easily penetrated for consid- 

 erable depths, but so is that of regions 12 and 17, which are much less fertile.) 

 This soil problem thus adds one more to the several mysteries or curiosities 

 for which Wakulla County is already noted.* 



No. 5 contains more lime than any of the others in this lot ,as was ex- 

 pected, and also more humus, which is often correlated with lime. (This was 

 the only one of the last six soils in which earthworms were noticed.) It con- 

 tains considerably less lime, though, than the clayey soils previously analyzed, 

 and whether the amount of lime in it completely explains the peculiarity of its 

 vegetation or not cannot be said to be definitely settled. 



No. 6 is the poorest of the six in humus, but the richest in phosphorus, 

 which might have been expected, as it comes from the phosphate country. It 

 contains less phosphorus than the (more clayey) soils of regions i and 11, 

 however, if we may judge from the analyses. 



*The name of the county is said to be an Indian word meaning mystery. 

 (See Norton's Handbook of Florida, 3d edition, 1892, pp. 98, 347.) 



