2 BULLETIN 159, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



the areas consist of closely related outwash material deposited in 

 connection with the glaciation of the Long Island area and others 

 seem to be derived from older coastal plain deposits. The materials 

 entering into the formation of the soils of the Sassafras series have 

 been derived from the Appalachian Eegion, the Piedmont Plateau, 

 from glaciated areas immediately to the north of the principal areas 

 of their occurrence, and from the underlying Coastal Plain deposits 

 reworked in some cases. The latter materials are dominant in the 

 sections nearest to tidewater while the mingling of materials from 

 other sources is more pronounced along the inland border of the 

 general region in which these soils occur. 



The soils of the Sassafras series are distinguished from those of 

 the Norfolk series by the predominant gray color of the surface soils 

 and the yellow color of the subsoils of the latter series and by the 

 reddish color and presence of the underlying beds of gravel or coarse 

 sand in the case of practically all areas of the Sassafras soils. 



The soils of the Elkton series, which are found closely associated 

 with those of the Sassafras series, are marked by the gray color of 

 the surface soils and the mottling of yellow and gray in the sub- 

 soils. They are characteristically not so well drained as the soils 

 of the Sassafras series. 



The soils of the Portsmouth series, which are also associated with 

 those of the Sassafras series, are distinctly dark gray to almost black 

 at the surface and light gray in the subsoils. They are always 

 poorly drained in their natural state. 



The soils of the Collington series are darker in color at the sur- 

 face and usually show a greenish tinge, due to the presence of green- 

 sand marl in the subsoil. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The soils of the Sassafras series are confined to the northern por- 

 tion of the Atlantic Coastal Plain. (See fig. 1.) Considerable areas 

 of the soils of this series have been mapped in the central and west- 

 ern portions of Long Island. A broad belt of soils classed with the 

 series has been found to extend through central New Jersey from 

 the vicinity of New Brunswick southwestward to the region around 

 Camden and thence southward along the Delaware River and Dela- 

 ware Bay to Bridgeton, N. J. This belt is interrupted by occur- 

 rences of other Coastal Plain soils, and is more nearly continuous 

 after the Delaware drainage area is reached. The same general area 

 is continued west of the Delaware by narrow areas along the river 

 in the extreme southeastern part of Pennsylvania. 



A large part of northern and central Delaware from the vicinity 

 of Wilmington to that of Dover is occupied by the different soils 



