elsewhere on the refuge. Tuxedo s6ils, which occur 1 on about half the south 

 tract and on a small part of the west tract, are homogeneous and, there- 1 

 fore, not typical soils, since the long-time occupation of the land "by veg- 

 etation has not resulted in layers of varied composition. Tuxedo soils 

 are the most subject to erosion and the least productive, agriculturally, 

 of any on the refuge. 



The content of organic matter is mostly low, and hydrogen-iron concen- 

 trations range from neutral to strongly acid. The texture of the soils 

 varies from silt loams to gravelly sand. Impervious subsoil in many places 

 causes a perched, or confined, water table, with the result that a subsurface 

 reservoir is formed, allowing even a sandy surface soil to support a char- 

 acteristically marshy vegetation. 



Vegetati on 



Tlie greater part of the refuge is now forested, but, except for the 

 bottom land, nearly all appears to have been in cultivation at some time 

 during the -oast 200 years. The bottom-land forest, although much logged 

 over, contains some old trees ard its present composition in many places 

 probably is similar to tha„t of virgin forest. Some of the upland, with 

 white oak ( Q ue re us alba) now dominant, as well as some areas of poorest 

 soil, grown with pitch pine (Pinus ri glda, ) , may have been continuously for- 

 ested. Much of the upland forest, however, is composed of dense, pure or 

 mixed strands of Virginia pine (?. virginiana) and Ditch pine (of uniform 

 age in a given tract) that have reclaimed formerly cultivated land. This 

 is clearly evident from a study of an airplane photographic mosaic of the 

 area as well as from observation on the ground. 



The cleared land is in all stages of recovery from cultivation. A 

 large area of recently farmed land is in the vicinity of headquarters near 

 the northwest end of the west tract. A second, smaller area (the one most 

 recently and intensively farmed) is near the southeast end of the west tract. 

 Another large area occupies the greater part of the east tract, and there 

 is a smaller area on the east side of the south tract. A few isolated 

 fields are scattered elsewhere through the refuge. Old orchards and cul- 

 tivated dooryard plants are conspicuous local elements of the vegetation 

 on each of the unworked farms. 



In this recovery from cultivation, weeds of a great variety are the 

 first invaders of the unused cornfields. 3roomsedge ( Andropogon virginicus ) 

 soon appears, becoming dominant in fields 3 to 5 yea,rs removed from culti- 

 vation. Pines (particularly Virginia pine) then invade the "broomsedge- 

 dominant fields and within a generation commonly form a closed canopy. 

 Eventually, deciduous trees may be expected to invade as the pine forests 

 "become more open, but no observations have been made on how soon this oc- 

 curs or on the sequence of species and associations. Whether good examples 

 of the regional climax forest are to be found on the refuge has not been 

 determined, but tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is thought to be an 



