PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT.

TRIBUTE ARITES OF THE LOWER ST. JOHNS.
On the estuarine part of the St. Johns River and its tributaries there are some interesting peat deposits which are quite unlike each other or anything else I have seen. Two of them are much deeper than the average, are situated on navigable waters, and have been worked to some extent.
JULINGTON CREEK.
The first is at the confluence of Davis and Julington Creeks at the southern edge of Duval County, about five miles west of Bayard on the Florida East Coast Railway. At this point each creek is bordered on one side by a narrow strip of cypress swamp, but between them there is an open marsh covering about 200 acres, passing gradually into pine land eastward. On Dec. 18, 1908, the following herbs were observed in this marsh:
Spartina Bakeri (a large grass) Sagittaria lancifolia
Erianthus sp. (a tall grass) Andropogon sp. (broom-sedge)
Cladium effusum (saw-grass) Rhynchospora caduca?
Osmunda regalis (a fern) Eryngium praealtum?
The grass Spartina Bakeri, although it is common around many of the best peat deposits in Florida, does not usually occur in great quantity; but at this place it is more abundant than all the other vegetation combined. Besides the plants above listed, Pontederia cordata grows along the water edges of the marsh, but is now almost choked out by its near relative the water hyacinth. Ceratophylhlum demersum grows beneath the surface of the water, and a few shrubs and small trees, such as Acer rubrum (maple), Ulmus sp. (elm), Myrica cerifera (myrtle), and Baccharis halimifolia, are scattered along the banks of the creeks.
The peat here has a decided sulphurous odor, and over loo of ash, but this does not materially affect its value for either fuel or fertilizer purposes. (See analyses under locality No. 6 and miscellaneous Nos. 2 to 5.) It is said to have a maximum depth of about 30 feet, and to contain rotten wood in its lower portions. This possibly indicates that at some former period, a few thousand years ago, perhaps, when the land stood higher than it does now, this place was a swamp. Just why it should be treeless now, when the other sides of both creeks are well wooded, is not obvious. In South Florida treeless wet places are very common, perhaps because there are not many trees down that way which will grow in water; but in this latitude (a little north of 3oo) fresh marshes are rather unusual.

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