4 SOIL SURVEY OF PAYNE PRAIRIE, FLORIDA. 



36 inches, though in this case the lower part is generally somewhat 

 sticky from the clay it contains. Again the clay may be encoun- 

 tered almost at the surface. Toward the outer edge of the basin the 

 subsurface soil is deeper and the surface soil not so dark or deep, 

 while toward the center the black surface layer is uniformly deeper 

 and more mucky. This type represents the part which is mostly out 

 of water at the present time. 



This soil supports a strongs sod of broom sedge and a coarse-bladed 

 grass. During the last few dry seasons the broom sedge has taken 

 hold of this part of the basin. Dogfennel and sow thistles are con- 

 spicuous weed growths and also the " coffee bean," a weed that grows 

 luxuriantly upon this class of soils. The water in the lake is en- 

 croaching upon this soil at the present time. Some higher spots 

 have been cultivated to corn and have given 50 bushels to the acre 

 in favorable seasons. 



Portsmouth sand represents the condition where the sand exceeds 

 36 inches in depth. There is only a small area of this, and it lies 

 next to the rim of the basin at Alachua Sink. It consists of black 

 to grayish-black medium sand or loamy medium sand, with a depth 

 of 8 or 10 inches, underlain by light drab colored medium sand. 

 This type is largely made up of the wash from the immediate slopes. 

 While it tends to a grayish color, it has been submerged enough, and, 

 with the growth and decay of vegetation, has had enough organic 

 matter left in it to darken the immediate surface. Broom sedge and 

 dogfennel are the predominant growths upon it. 



Portsmouth loam. At the eastern end of the lake basin on the 

 north side of Prairie Creek there is a small area of Portsmouth loam. 

 It occurs in a slight troughlike depression. At the time of this 

 survey it was indicated by a very rank growth of dogfennel and 

 " coffee bean." The soil consists of a black mucky loam or almost a 

 muck to about 15 inches, and immediately overlies stiff plastic sticky 

 sandy clay, like gumbo, and of bluish to light-drab color. In a few 

 inches the subsoil becomes mottled or streaked with yellow or 

 yellowish-red, the mottling increasing with depth. This soil is the 

 nearest approach to muck found in the Prairie. 



Portsmouth clay. This type covers by far the greater part of 

 Payne Prairie, and is at the present time all under water, varying 

 from a few inches to some feet in depth. Only where the water was 

 shallow could examination be made by driving into it, but driving 

 in here and there some distance, and across the Prairie in the vicinity 

 of Rocky Point, an idea of the type could be formed. The area of 

 this soil is roughly defined by the growth of " maiden cane " and a 

 water-loving grass that grows under similar conditions. There are 

 a number of open ponds without any growth, representing deeper 

 basins in the Prairie; also places where water bonnets and water 



