FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 



VEGETATION OF SOUTH FLORIDA 



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drainage district issued by the trustees of the internal improvement fund, 

 November, 1911, gives the depths of the muck along the various canals and sur- 

 vey routes. Along the Miami Branch Canal from north to south, the depth* of 

 the muck is 10, 4, 6.5, 5.5, 7, 6.5, 7, 3.8, 4, 6 feet. Along the North New River 

 Canal, the determined muck depths are from Lake Okeechobee to the eastern 

 edge of the Everglades 10, 2.5, 8, 7, 6.5, 5, 4, 3.5, 4.5, 7, 7, 6, 5 feet. The depths 

 as measured along the West Palm Beach Canal in the extreme northeastern 

 part of the Everglades region are 10, 8, 10, 3, 4 feet. The depths along an east- 

 west line from Brown's store to the eastern rim of the Everglades are 2, 4, 3, 5, 

 4.5, 5, 2 feet. The depth of the muck along this line averages 4.5 feet (1.36 

 meters) . The top soil is a turf composed largely of saw-grass roots, except in the 

 leads and shallow basins, where the saw-grass does not grow. Here the vegeta- 



FIG. 2. 



Section of Everglades west of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., after Samuel Sanford, Second Annual Re- 

 port, Florida Geological Survey, 1908-09: 193. 



tion is more completely decayed and is so loose when saturated with water 

 that one sinks to the bottom sand, or rock. The "leads, " filled with water and 

 water-lilies alternating with saw-grass, give a deceptive undulating appearance 

 as one looks across the expanse, though, as will be noted, the slope is gradual. 

 The islands scattered over the Glades form an insignificant part of the whole 

 probably less than one-half of one per cent, of the entire saw- grass marsh. 



The people of South Florida speak of the "Upper" Glades and the 

 "Lower" Glades, the former term being applied in general to the marsh be- 

 tween Lake Okeechobee and the north line of Township 51, and the latter to 

 the territory south of that line. There is but little peat on the rock in the 



* As the numbers are taken from the original map they are given unaltered without reduction 

 to the metric system. 

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