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Studies were made of the soils, their origin and their products, in the field, and selections were made of the typical ones for analysis. In a general way it may be said that the soils of the Lower Cretaceous, or hard limestone region, from Nix, Lampasas county, to Georgetown, Williamson county, except in the valleys of the creeks and rivers, are not so well adapted to agriculture as they are to grazing. The valley lands, however, are better suited for vegetable farming than are the black waxy lands, and are as well suited for the product of the cereals and cotton. The high land in this region has such a diversity of topography that over a great portion of it soil cannot form to much depth.

The value of the soils of the black waxy land is not to be estimated for the product of corn, cotton and wheat. These soils are of endless durability. Their source is a marl which extends from one foot to fifteen hundred feet in depth. Should the surface soil become impoverished by use, it is only needed to go a little deeper and mix it with the marl from which it was derived to restore it to its original fertility. In Williamson county this soil appears at the surface for a width of thirty miles, but on going northward to Red river it widens until it reaches to one hundred miles or more in width.

The soil of the drift deposit referred to above is scarcely separable from the regular black waxy soil, so close is the resemblance between them. Indeed, where the surface is level there is no perceptible difference. Even the small irregular depressions known as "hog wallows" occur in the same manner as on the black waxy land. Because of the ingredient in it derived from more arenaceous rocks than the Ponderosa marl it has, however, an advantage over the marl soil in the better production of fruits and vegetables.

In order that accurate estimates might be made for artesian water, a line of instrumental levels was begun at the western limit of the artesian area and carried entirely across it to the eastern limit of the black waxy land.

From this work estimates can be made closely approximating the depth to which wells must be bored in order to tap the water belt. The results of the work apply not only to the line traversed, but for considerable distances north and south of it as well. So soon as the limits of the rock belts extending north and south of the section line are located and.mapped, any one can estimate at what depth he will have to bore for water simply by consulting the map and locating himself upon the ground. The principal of these rock sheets have already been located by the Survey from the Colorado to Red river.

It is a mistaken idea to think that artesian water can be gotten