4 BULLETIN 159, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



other soil series become more extensive toward the south. . The soils 

 of the Sassafras series, however, dominate in area all the Maryland- 

 Delaware Peninsula from the head of Chesapeake Bay to the lati- 

 tude of the southern boundary of Delaware. 



To the west of Chesapeake Bay, in the Maryland counties which 

 lie between the bay and the Potomac River, the soils of this series 

 are found in considerable area although they do not dominate the 

 section. They are principally found along the lower forelands and 

 terraces which border the bay and along the estuarine rivers which 

 empty into it, although some areas also extend across the lower 

 divides separating these waterways. 



South of the Potomac River the soils of the Sassafras series are 

 chiefly confined to low terraces along the tidewater estuaries and to 

 the low divide separating the Potomac and Rappahannock River 

 drainages. The soils have not been mapped in detail in any of this 

 territory. A small area of one type has been found in the vicinity of 

 Xorfolk, Va. It is not believed that any large areas of the Sassa- 

 fras soils will be found south of the Rappahannock River, since the 

 materials and manner of derivation of more southern Coastal Plain 

 soils would not be expected to give rise to soils of this class. 



It will be seen that the total area within which the soils of the 

 Sassafras series have been encountered is restricted to an elongated 

 oval whose broader southern extremity lies approximately in lati- 

 tude 37° X., and its narrow northern extremity is found upon 

 Long Island in latitude 41° X. 



The extreme length of this region from northeast to southwest 

 is approximately 300 miles, while the extreme breadth, in the lati- 

 tude of "Washington. D. C, is a little over 100 miles. 



Within the region outlined, the soils of the Sassafras series 

 occupy approximately one-third of western Long Island; one-half 

 of the Coastal Plain portion of the soil survey of the Trenton area, 

 Xew Jersey; nearly three-fourths of the area included in the soil 

 survey around Salem. X. J. ; from 50 to 80 per cent of the various 

 soil surveys in the Coastal Plain region of the Maryland-Delaware 

 Peninsula as far south as the southern line of Delaware ; only about 

 one-fourth of the soil survey area of Worcester County. Md. ; more 

 than one-half of the soil survey of Anne Arundel County, Md. : and 

 from 15 to 25 per cent of the areas which have been surveyed south 

 of this county and on the western side of Chesapeake Bay. 



THE NORTH ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN. 



The northern part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain consists of a low- 

 lying, gently sloping region which intervenes between the coast line 

 and the more elevated interior. It is only within the portion of this 

 physical division which extends from the southern end of Chesa- 



