Galveston Series. 51 



is carried on in them with less detail than in other areas; still, 

 where the areas are large and have not been subject to local 

 stream erosion the character of the material is not subject to very 

 much local change. The agricultural value of these lands is very 

 small, depending mainly upon the j^asturage afforded and the 

 coarse hay that can with difficulty be harvested; and, on the 

 other hand, they are a distinct menace to health, as they form 

 the breeding place of disease-carrying insects. Efforts have been 

 made to drain such soils and to reclaim these marshes with great 

 success, the possibilities of successful reclamation, however, de- 

 pending upon the engineering problems connected with the keep- 

 ing out of the tides and the efficient subsequent drainage of the 

 land. A vast amount of such reclamation work has been done in 

 Holland, and some important though relatively small areas have 

 been reclaimed in the United States. 



Other members of this group are the inland swamps, muck, 

 and meadow areas. 



GALVESTON SERIES. 



Galveston sand. — Light gray to white sand, 12 inches in depth, 

 containing usually a large percentage of fine particles of shell. 

 Subsoil is of same character as soil, a little lighter in color, and 

 with larger shell fragments. Occurs as a narrow ridge along 

 coasts, the texture being due to wave action. Generally unpro- 

 ductive and nonagricultural. 



12 3 4 



Soil (2) 31 69 



Subsoil (2) 30 71 



Acres. 



Brazoria, Tex 1, 152 



Dover, Del 64 



Long Island. X. Y 12, 224 



Acres. 

 Norfolk, Va a 10, 752 



Worcester Countv, Md 8. 064 



Galveston sandy loam. — Surface mass of sandy loam and eel-grass 

 turf a])out 12 inches deep, underlain Ijy gravelly sandy loam. 

 Occupies shore lines and barrier beaches, and owes its origin to 

 wind-blown sand, mixed with the finer materials of the coastal flats. 

 Where diked and drained, makes a productive soil much lighter 



a This includes some Dunesand, but the whole area is of so little agricultural 

 importance that the two types were not separated. 



