WATER SUPPEY OE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN EEORIDA. 127 
for the four seasons is as follows: Winter, 5.3 inches; Spring, 
5.5 inches; Summer, 12.6 inches; Fall, 14.5 inches. The mean 
precipitation for the several months of the year at Key West is 
as follows: January, 2.0 inches; February, 1.6 inches; March, 1.2 
inches; April, 1.2 inches; May, 3.1 inches; June, 4.2 inches; 
July, 3.7 inches; August, 4.7 inches; September, 7.0 inches; Oc¬ 
tober, 5.4 inches; November, 2.1 inches; December, 1.7 inches. 
SOILS. 
The geologic, topographic, climatic and drainage conditions 
have much to do with the character of soils. Since the inorganic 
constituents of soils are derived primarily from the decay of pre¬ 
existent formations, the character of the soil is determined to a 
considerable extent by the formation from which it is derived. 
The thickness and manner of accumulation of the residual ma¬ 
terial as well as accumulation of the organic constituents is af¬ 
fected by the topographic, climatic and drainage conditions. The 
following are the more prominent soil types in the part of Florida 
covered by this report: 
Rolling pine lands : This type includes light, sandy, well- 
drained soils. The native vegetation is pine and wire grass. 
Oaks and other hard wood trees occasionally occur. The saw 
palmetto is for the most part absent. This type of soil pre¬ 
dominates in the lake region of Florida. 
Palmetto flatwoods : The palmetto flatwoods occur over an 
extensive area in Florida. This type of country is flatter than 
the sandy pine land and not so well drained. The native vege¬ 
tation of these lands consists chiefly of pine, saw palmetto and 
wire grass. The sand is dark at the surface, becoming lighter 
below. As a rule the so-called “hardpan” underlies the palmetto 
flatwoods. This “hardpan” consists of sand stained with organic 
matter and has the appearance of being partly cemented with 
iron. When dry it is fairly well indurated, but as a rule it may 
be penetrated with the soil auger. The transition in the bore 
hole from the light colored sand to “hardpan” is abrupt. The 
"‘hardpan” itself is very dark colored at the top and grades into 
chocolate colored sands below. 
