THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST. 



region a slight sinking of the land brought out even more 

 strongly the features owing to depression. It seems prob- 

 able that at some time during the oscillations of level, that 

 the sea having eaten away the coastal plain, finally reached 

 the barrier of the terminal moraine. The moraine gave 

 away in places, channels were formed and detached portions 

 remained to form islands recognized today as Block Island, 

 Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the many lesser islands 

 streaming from the end of Long Island toward Cape Cod, 

 while the eroded portions are represented by the great sub- 

 merged ridges known as the Nantucket or other shoals. 



II. 



SOILS AND VEGETATION. 



"Soil maps of Long Island show four broadly defined 

 types of soils: (1) stony loams and gravels which occupy 

 the terminal moraine and the narrow plateau between the 

 northernmost moraine and the north shore as in the vicinity 

 of Cold Spring Harbor; (2) coarse sandy loams which con- 

 stitute the greater portion of the out wash plains; (3) fine 

 sandy loams which form the outer fringe of the outwash 

 plains and those portions of it adjacent to the old drainage 

 ways; (4) clay loams that form a transition type between 

 the upland and the salt marsh and the beach sands. While 

 the clay loams have greater natural fertility than the sandy 

 loams they are often found on lands too rough for cultiva- 

 tion and the great market gardens are found on the out- 

 wash plains principally where many of the conditions are 

 ideal. 



Of the soil types apt to be encountered in the area cover- 

 ed by the accompanying list of plants there is first the Alton 

 stony loam which is found in the immediate vicinity of Cold 

 Spring Harbor. "A large portion of the Alton stony loam 

 was formerly predominantly forested with chestnut and a 

 characteristic undergrowth of mountain laurel, the moraine 

 particularly, bearing scarlet and red oak, some white oak, 

 hickory, chestnut, and in a few localties scattered pitch pines. 

 Dogwood forms a notable undergrowth with masses of fern 



* For a detailed discussion of the soils of Long Island see Soil 

 Survey of the Long Island Area, N. Y. Bonsteel, J. A. and party, 

 U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Bureau of Soils, 1903. 



—18— 



