284 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
Scranton Series. 
The Scranton soils are characterized by their dark-gray to black 
surface soils and friable yellow subsoils. The former have the char¬ 
acteristics of the Portsmouth series; the latter resemble the subsoils 
of the Norfolk. In the poorer drained areas grayish mottling is fre¬ 
quently noticeable in the.deeper subsoil. The surface is flat and the 
land is generally in need of drainage, such as can be secured in most 
cases by constructing ditches. The Scranton soils are most exten¬ 
sively and typically developed in the flatwoods country near the 
coast of the South Atlantic States and in the low flatlands near the 
Gulf of Mexico, east of the Mississippi River. 
SCRANTON FINE SANDY LOAM. 
The surface soil of the Scranton fine sandy loam, to an average 
depth of 6 inches, consists of a black or dark-gray fine sand, wfrich, 
on account of its high organic-matter content, has’a decidedly loamy 
feel. This material passes abruptly into a pale-yellow or grayish- 
yellow fine sand, which is uniform in texture and color to> a depth 
averaging about 28 inches, where a yellow or slightly mottled yellow 
and gray fine sandy loam or friable fine sandy clay is encountered. 
In places the fine sandy loam or fine sandy clay does not occur within 
the 3-foot section, in which case the soil would have been mapped as 
the fine sand of the series but for the patchy occurrence of such 
bodies. 
The type is intermediate between the poorly drained Portsmouth 
soils and the higher and better drained Norfolk soils. The surface 
soil is essentially similar to those of the Portsmouth types, while the 
subsoil resembles very closely that of the poorer drained areas of the 
Norfolk fine sandy loam. 
The Scranton fine sandy loam occupies positions intermediate 
between the low-lying, flat Portsmouth fine sand and the more ele¬ 
vated Norfolk soils. The surface is flat, and only a few feet higher 
than the adjoining flatwoods country. The drainage, while de¬ 
cidedly better than that of the Portsmouth soils, is in many cases 
insufficient for the best results with crops. 
After a few years of continuous cultivation the organic-matter 
content of the surface soil becomes depleted and the material as¬ 
sumes a much lighter color, in which case the type becomes more 
like the Norfolk. As in the case of most soils of deficient drainage, 
the Scranton fine sandv loam shows an acid reaction when tested 
