lies hammock-land several miles wide; the soil of rich humus 

 is underlaid by limestone and marl, or by a yellow sand, 

 and supports a heavy growth of hardwood trees and cabbage 

 palmettoes. West of this tract is a belt of prairie, open 

 lands devoid of trees, which is due to overflow during the 

 rainy season. The soil consists of light-colored sand under- 

 laid by clay or by hardpan; the native growth consists of 

 grasses. As a rule the prairies occupy basins depressed 

 below the level of the surrounding country, which is covered 

 with pine and cabbage-palmetto. 



Further west, from the northern boundary of the county 

 southward for about thirty miles, and from two to six miles 

 wide is high rolling pine country. Its soil is a well- 

 drained sandy loam, carrying a native vegetation of pine 

 and wire-grass, interspersed with oak and other hardwood 

 trees. Small areas of high pine-land are scattered through- 

 out the eastern part of the county. South of this is rolling 

 pine-shrub, very sandy, with a dense growth of shrubby 

 plants, until the St. John's river is reached with its varying 

 banks of hammock, prairie, and swamp-land. 



The remaining part of the county consists of flat woods, 

 interspersed with cypress- and cedar-ponds. The native 

 vegetation of the palmetto-flatwoods is chiefly pine, 

 saw-palmetto and wire-grass. The surface is a dark sand, 

 as a rule not well drained, the underlying ''hardpan" where 

 the sand contains tannic or other organic acids and iron, 

 preventing the free movement of the water. When the 

 saw-palmetto is absent the flatwoods are called open. The 

 open flatwoods are dark gray with a subsoil of clay or 

 sand, and no hardpan; its vegetation is chiefly pine and 

 wire-grass with little or no underbrush. (Compare: Dr. 

 E. H. Sellards "Classification of the soils of Florida"; also 

 his fifth annual report of "Florida State Geological Sur- 

 vey.") 



The mean temperatures for January-December are 

 resp: 57, 59, 65, 67, 73, 78, 80, 80, 78, 73, 66, 58 

 (degrees Fahr.), although the thermometer may go 

 up to 100, while the lowest temperature recorded is 

 16 F. 



The mean precipitation for January- December is resp. : 

 2.8, 3.6, 2.6, 1.6, 2.6, 6.2, 5.6, 5.6, 9.2, 6.7, 2.6, 2.0 

 (inches). Annual rainfall 51.1 inches, (U. S. Weather 

 Bureau.) 



