E. T. HUMBLE-THE SOILS OE TEXAS. 
35 
Again, the period of their deposition was one replete with animal life, 
and the bones of the herds of horses, elephants, camels, etc., which were 
entombed with them have added greatly to their fertility. 
In the southwestern portion of the State this is one of the most import¬ 
ant, if, indeed, it be not the chief soil, since it is not only widespread 
itself, but in its denudation from other areas some of its remains have 
become incorporated with the underlying materials, altering them to a 
certain extent and aiding to form many of the black shelly prairies of the 
region. 
Where the Reynosa is the surface material, and its sandy or clayey 
limestones or clays have been fully altered by weathering, it yields a dark 
brown or black waxy soil; as it is mixed with different amounts of sand 
it gives rise to chocolate or mulatto soils, all of them very fertile and 
many of them especially adapted to fruit culture. 
This plain is principally a prairie region, but a scattering growth of 
oaks and mesquite appear on it in places. 
Being more rolling than the Coast Prairies, drainage is much better, and 
its physical condition is such as to add greatly to its value as a soil. 
Analyses Nos. 4 and 5 give the chemical composition of black waxy 
soils from Victoria and Chappell Hill, which are formed from the limy 
clays of the Reynosa plain, while Nos. 6 and 7 illustrate the extreme 
poverty of some of the sandy soils, as at Colmesneil. 
4* 
5* 
6+ 
7t 
Insoluble matter. 
Soluble silica.. 
55 . 136 . 
• 22.415 
.429 
.213 
1.050 
1.092 
.064 
11 .280 
1.245 
.093 
.280 
j - 5.914 
75.530 
12.183 
.235 
.145 
.948 
.447 
.056 
2.266 
4.161 
.108 
.075 
J- 3.741 
97.584 
98.168 
Potash. 
Soda... 
Lime. 
Magnesia. 
.079 
Manganese. 
Iron. 
.750 
.780 
Alumina. 
Phosphoric acid. 
Sulphuric acid. 
Water. 
.370 
1.180 
• .300 
.670 
Organic and volatile . 
99.511 
99.925 
99.963 
99.918 
* Cotton Production, Tenth Census, p. 32. 
t Bulletin 25, Tex. Ag. Ex. Sta., p. 261. 
Oakville or Grand Gulf.— Where the materials of the Oakville beds 
are exposed in East Texas they give rise to sandy soils and marly sands. 
These can be seen between Huntsville and Riverside in Walker county 
and north of Brenliam. In the southwest they are exposed over a wider 
area, and the soils are loams, varying greatly, however, in the relative 
