96 
FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
ust 6.2 inches;/September 8.i inches; October 5.1 inches; Novem¬ 
ber 2.5 inches; December 3 inches. 
At New Smyrna the annual rainfall as shown by the same 
report is 51.1 inches. The mean for the four seasons is as follows: 
Winter 8.4 inches; Spring 6.8 inches; Summer 17.4 inches; Fall 
18 5 inches. The mean precipitation for the 'several months of 
the year at this station is as follows: January 2.8 inches; February 
3.6 inches; March 2.6 inches; April 1.6 inches; May 2.6 inches; 
June 6.2 inches; July 5.6 inches; August 5.6 inches; September 
9.2 inches; October 6.7 inches; November 2.6 inches; December 
2 inches.* 
The prevailing winds in the fall and winter in eastern Florida 
are from the northeast. During the late spring and summer the pre¬ 
vailing winds at Jacksonville are from the southwest. Farther 
south at New Smyrna the prevailing winds during the summer are 
from the southeast. 
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-ex¬ 
istent formations, the character of the soil is determined to a con¬ 
siderable extent by the formation from which it is derived. The 
thickness and manner of accumulation of the residual material 
as well as accumulation of the organic constituents is affected 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 drain¬ 
ed 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 predominates in the 
lake region of Florida. (PI. 12, Fig. 2). 
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 vegetation 
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 tannic or organic 
*United States Weather Bureau, Bull. Q, Climatology of the Eastern 
United States, by Alfred Judson Henry, pp. 353, 355, 1906. 
