PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT.

HERBS
Cladium effusum (saw-grass) Ipomoea sagittata (morning-glory)
Spartina Bakerif (a grass) Hibiscus Moscheutos.
Eleocharis sp. Osmunda regalis (a fern)
Centella repanda Monniera Caroliniana
Sagittaria lancifolia Cyperus Haspan?
Eriocaulon compressum Rhynchospora schoenoides?
Lippia sp. Crinum Americanum
Eleocharis sp. (very small) Dichromena colorata
Pluchea camphorata Pontederia cordata (wampee)
Fimbristylir spadirea / clea.e laneolata (m;ilk weed
There is evidently some peculiarity about the water or underlying soil of this marsh, for several of the herbs listed are species which seem most at home in brackish marshes, and a few also like calcareous places, like the southern end of the Everglades. On the land side the marsh is bordered in part by a low hammock with many calciphile plants; and scattered over the surface of the marsh are a good many shells of the water-snail, Ampullaria, which is common in the Everglades, and occurs in various other limestone regions, even as far north as Wakulla and Jackson Counties. But on the water side there is a fringe of slash pine, Pinus Elliottii, which has little use for limestone, and all the typresses on the marsh are of the pond instead of the river species, which seems strange. The water from a flowing artesian well 6o or 70 feet deep near the edge of the marsh seems to contain salt, lime, and sulphur, among other things, to judge by its taste.
The peat is said to be over 2o feet deep in some places, and it has a peculiar pungent odor a little different from anything else I have seen. At the time of my visit the Crescent Mfg. Co., also under Mr. Ranson's direction, had just erected a plant at the north end of the marsh for the manufacture of fertilizer filler.
EDGE OF RIVER SWAMP NEAR PALATKA.
About a mile south of Palatka the St. Johns River swamp is bordered by a rather steep sandy slope, and the landward edge of the swamp at that point has a rather different vegetation from that of the estuarine swamps described on page 250, probably because the water which seeps out from the sand hill is cooler and purer than that in the river. The two kinds of swamp are connected by imperceptible gradations, but the following plants belong especially to the springy part.

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