localities in this section: notably in the richer counties of Butler, Monroe, Clarke, and Choctaw, which amply reward the husbandman for his labor.

These pine lands-thin though they be-are susceptible of great and comparatively easy and inexpensive improvement, and have of late years very much increased in value for market gardening purposes, and will continue to increase with advancing railroad facilities, and the demand for early vegetables for the northern markets. The means of their enrichment lie immediately at hand, in the pine straw which falls annually, and the marls of this section which, with this straw, make an admirable and inexpensive compost.

From the nature of its soil, this pine region is peculiarly adapted to the root crops and the growing of vegetables. Sugar cane, which has entered extensively into its economy since the war, is grown here quite extensively, and its products rival, in quality, those of the famous Louisiana cane. The sweet potato may be said to arrive at perfection here—and its fine yams are celebrated, both for size and taste. No where does the watermelon do so well, except upon the equally as sandy soils of New Jersey. For size and flavor, the watermelons of this section are unsurpassed. The other melon

crops do equally as well.

Nearly all the varieties of vegetables can be successfully cultivated upon these soils, and their yield in this respect never fails to excite surprise-producing far in excess of richer but stiffer, and less porous soils. To the experienced gardener, this region, wherever railroad facilities are at hand, presents an inviting field for the growing of early vegetables for northern markets. Already, in the neighborhood of Mobile, this industry is assuming large proportions.* The lands around Mobile are identical with those throughout the rest of this section. Here, and elsewhere in this section, the season is from four to six weeks in advance of the season in higher latitudes; and there is a growing demand for these early vegetables-the producers finding no difficulty in disposing of products. The railroads leaving Mobile, recognizing the importance to them as well as to the producers of this growing

For the shipments of early vegetables from Mobile during the year 1891-92, see page 343, ante.

industry, extend to its development all the aid in their power, and by reduced freight charges-which will decrease as shipments increase, and in a greater ratio-enable the producer to realize a fair protit.

The growing of early fruits for northern markets is also a promising industry in this region, and the shipments of such show a large increase with each year. The peach is perfectly at home in Alabama, and no where more so than in this pine region. Here, with proper culture and attention, it reaches perfection. Here it ripens from one month to six weeks earlier than it does in the north and west; and early shipments find a ready and remunerative sale in those markets. The shipments of the earlier kinds commence the last week in May, and are continued, with the other varieties in succession, to the middle of July. Certain varieties of the pear also do well in this region with proper culture, and shipments of the early kinds to northern markets pay well.

The strawberry grows finely and produces abundantly in this section, and early shipments make remunerative returns. The fig does well here, also; and there is no reason why, in time, this region should not become a large shipper of this delicious fruit in its dried state. The little blue fig of this section is unsurpassed for flavor. On the coast below Mobile very fine native oranges are produced. Many other fruits do well in this section; only those for which it is peculiarly adapted having been enumerated above. Cotton, corn and oats also do reasonably well, with judicious manuring and cultivation. The forest growth of long-leaved or yellow pine affords an abundance of superior and accessible lumber for fencing, house building, etc., while excellent fuel is abundant in the scrubby oak and other groves nearly everywhere interspersing this section.

The roads are smooth and hard: excellent in winter and summer. Its water is abundant, pure, and wholesome; and the health of these high, dry, pine lands equal to that of any region in the world. The exhalations from its grand old forests of pine are life-giving, and a sure safeguard against those great destroyers-consumption and cholera. In the beneficent. order of nature-an order which does not give to any one section all the advantages, and to another all the disadvantages of life-it seems decreed that those locations the least fertile

should be the most healthful, and those the richest the most wanting in this regard.

So genial is the climate of this pine belt, its summer heats tempered by the moist, sweet breezes of the gulf, which continually blow over it during the heated term, and its winters moderated by the influence of that great river in the oceanthe warm Gulf Stream, that vegetation is almost perennial, and crop succeeds to crop with scarcely any intermission.

Alluvial Region.-Under this head may be included the second bottoms, or hammocks of the various rivers and larger streams of the State; the swamps and annually overflowed lands, or first bottoms of the same streams; and the sands and saline marshes of the coast.

Second Bottoms.-The yellowish loam constituting the upper layers of these deposits often to a depth of ten feet makes usually a soil of great fertility and underlies most of the fine river plantations of former and present times.

River Swamps and First Bottoms.-These deposits have already been spoken of in some detail in the geological article, Part Eleventh,* and little more need be said concerning them. Below the junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, the waters of these streams reach the bay of Mobile by several channels, the principal of which is the Mobile river, but the Tensas and Middle rivers and others diverge from the main stream and form a kind of delta region, low, flat and subject to overflow, generally covered with a growth of cypress. Near the bay this swamp assumes the character rather of a marsh, in which the courses of the stream are often nearly indistinguishable. These swamps are uncultivated and have in drier spots, besides the cypress, tupelo gum and several species of poplar, elms, palmetto, etc. In the delta region, and also along the shores of the bay, are found numerous shell heaps accumulated by human agency. These heaps are now, generally, either wholly or partially submerged, showing that the subsidence of this part of the State is now in progress.

Saline Marshes of the Coast.-These are found only in the counties of Mobile and Baldwin. They are without timber, but have a herbaceous growth chiefly of rushes and sedges, which is characteristic. The muck of decayed vege

See page 422, antr.

table matter from the marshes may often be applied with profit to the sandy soils which adjoin them and the marshes themselves in other States have sometimes been reclaimed for cultivation. The area of sea-marsh in Alabama, on account of comparatively limited extent of coast, is necessarily small, and few, if any, attempts have been made towards reclamation. In conclusion, it may be said, that of the land of the State, a considerable amount is Government land, and subject to entry under the National Homestead and Pre-emption laws, at nominal figures; while of the land held by individuals, only about one-third is in cultivation, the balance being uncultivated, or primitive wood-land. Besides this available land. lying out, to use a common expression, there are many large and small farms, under good cultivation, in all portions of the State, which may be rented for one, two, three, four, and five years, or even longer, at prices ranging from one to three dollars an acre, according to locality and improvement: or purchased on long time, and from $2.50 to $15.00 an acre. While almost every crop, known and cultivated, can be grown in this State, its great staples have been cotton, corn, wheat and oats. Since the war, in many portions of the State, rice, sugar cane, tobacco, millet, chufas, and the grasses have entered largely into the farming economy, yielding fine returns.

The rainfall of Alabama averages about 52 inches annually, and is so evenly distributed throughout the year and over the whole State, that irrigation is not required at all, and our farmers are saved this great and expensive burder which rests upon the farmers in the northwest. Here, we have not the periodical visitations of the grasshopper as they do in the northwest, coming as the plague in Egypt to eat up the substance of the land. Nor have we their vast prairies and treeless plains, with their accompanying northers-rude blasts from the frigid zone, both in and out of season.

It may be confidently asserted, that in no section of the union, is intelligent agriculture more certain of reward than in Alabama, and while we may not have the richest soils, ours are safe and reasonably sure of an honest return.*

The materials of this article have been taken chiefly from the very valuable agricultural report for the years 1881 and 1882 published by Eugene Allen Smith, Ph. D., State Geologist, and condensed by the author of this HAND BOOK, with some few additions. Reference is made to this admirable report for more extended information in regard to the agricultural features of the State.

PART THIRTEENTH.

THE FORESTS OF ALABAMA AND THEIR PRODUCTS*

Originally, the territory of the State of Alabama was, with the exception of a comparatively small area of prairie land and grassy savannahs in the southern portion of its centre, an almost unbroken forest. Much of this forest still exists; some of it culled of its largest growth, but a very considerable portion as yet scarcely touched by the axe. Fully one-half of the land in the State owned by individuals, is still woodland.

The heaviest timbered lands are found in the southern part of the State within the great maritime pine belt, where the forest area amounts to sixty-six per cent.; in the central counties, situated in the prairie region and embracing the cotton belt, it amounts to forty-five per cent.; in the broken mountainous part, embracing the mineral region and extending to the waters of the Tennessee river, to nearly seventy per cent.; and in the northern part, with the rich agricultural land in the Tennessee valley, to sixty per cent.

According to the distribution of the prevailing trees, determined by climatic influences, the nature of the soil, and the topographic features of the country, the forests of this State present three characteristic regions. Distinct as they are by peculiar features, their boundaries cannot be defined by a distinct line-one region passing almost imperceptibly into the other.

The first, or lower, region is formed by the great pine belt of the Gulf coast-the continuation of the immense pine forest For the prevailing timber trees in each of the counties of the State, see pages 267-338, ante. See, also, "Part Twelfth," pages 423–448, ante, for the distribution of timber trees in the State, by divisions.