PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT.
Bradford and Alachua Counties. The western edge of the region is about 200 feet above sea-level (and everywhere higher than the hammock belt which borders it), and along the eastern edge of Baker and Bradford Counties there is a similar elevation along a remarkable topographic feature which has never yet been explained, known locally as Trail Ridge.* About a dozen miles east of this, and parallel to it, there appears to be a smaller ridge, which is not easily detected without the aid of surveying instruments, but is pronounced enough to send the St. Marys River about 30 miles to the northward before it cuts through and takes a direct course for the coast.
The soil of the East Florida flatwoods is nearly everywhere from one to several feet of sand, resting on clay. In nearly all the cuts through Trail Ridge, however, both in Georgia and Flor.. ida, can be seen immediately under the sand a blackish hardpan much like that described above as occurring near Apalachicola. And east of the small ridge just mentioned many of the creeks must have cut their channels down through the clay, i.f the occurrence of lime-loving plants is any indication. Limestone or shell marl is said to be exposed in a few places along the St. Johns River amfl some of its larger tributaries in this region.
The most conspicuous features of the vegetation in these flatwoods, as in most others in Florida, are long-leaf pine and sawpalmetto. From nearly every point can also be seen pond cypress and slash pine in the cypress ponds, and sweet gum and black gum in swamps.
The cypress ponds contain no appreciable quantities of peat, for the reasons previously given; but the St. Johns River is an estuary for its whole course through this region, and besides it is never muddy; consequently there are some important peat deposits along it and some of the connecting waters. As this river is at the same time an important highway of commerce, conditions are very favorable to the economic development of peat along it, which has already been worked in 'at least three different counties. Some of these workable deposits will be describedd in detail in a subsequent chapter, and analyses will be found farther on, under localities 6 and 8, and miscellaneous Nos. 2 to 5.
*For a map and description of part of this ridge see Popular Science Monthly 74" 6Ol-604. "June" (really published in May) Igo9.

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