86 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



but such is the fact, that soils composed of the new and old red marls 

 and sandstone are better adapted for fruit trees than any other in Great 

 Britain. 



As we have no formations in this State that correspond very nearly 

 with the red marls and sandstones of Great Britain, we cannot present 

 any very pertinent facts in confirmation of the general conclusions above 

 expressed ; but I may say, just here, that the celebrated fruit zone of 

 Southern Illinois, extending through Union, and thence eastward through 

 the northern portions of Johnson and Pope counties to the mouth of the 

 Saline river, lays upon, and has been largely derived from, a series of 

 ferruginous sandstones, shales and limestone, some of which are strongly 

 colored with iron oxide; and I think it is probable that the excellence of 

 this soil for the production of fruit, as well as those red soils of Europe 

 above mentioned, may be due to the coloring matter originally contained 

 in the rocks, and which has now become a constituent part of the soil 

 derived from their decomposition. There is a limited area in Southern 

 Illinois, embracing all the most southerly counties, and a still smaller 

 area in the extreme northwestern portion of the State, where drift deposits 

 are entirely wanting, or are too thin to prevent the bed rocks from im- 

 parting their peculiar characters to the soil, and there one may readily 

 observe the changes that occur on passing from one geological horizon to 

 another of a different character. 



There is still another variety of soil, covering a considerable area in 

 this State, to which I will briefly allude before closing. This is the 

 alluvial soil covering the flood plains of the river valleys, and popularly 

 known throughout the West as "bottom land." This soil is variable in 

 its character and composition, being sometimes exceedingly fertile, and 

 in other localities sandy and poor. It is in part derived from the wash- 

 ings of the bluff soils from the adjacent high lands, and in part from the 

 sediments left upon the surface by the river floods, and of course varies 

 as the one or the other of these causes has predominated in its composi- 

 tion. The great "American Bottom," extending from Alton to the 

 mouth of the Kaskaskia river, with an average width of three to five 

 miles, is one of the most valuable tracts of alluvial soil in the West, and 

 it was upon this that the earliest settlements in the State were made. 

 This soil is a deep mellow sandy loam, and exceedingly productive. 

 Some portions of it have been in constant cultivation for more than a 

 century, with no perceptible change in its productive qualities, the 

 sediments derived from the periodical river floods keeping the soil con- 

 stantly up to its normal standard of fertility. As a rule, all the alluvial 

 soils of the State are very productive, and for the cultivation of corn 

 they take precedence over all others. As fruit soils they are also excellent, 

 when sufficiently elevated above the flood plain of the rivers, and being 

 usually of a light and porous character, are freely drained of the super- 

 fluous water that annually falls upon the surface. 



I have now reviewed, briefly, the general character and source of deri- 

 vation, as well as the probable methods of formation, of the principal varie- 

 ties of soil to be found in this State, and it is no doubt quite unnecessary 



