AGRICULTURE OF CENTRAL PRAIRIE REGION. 105 



Of other herbaceous plants belonging to the same campestrian asso- 

 ciation and conlined to the Louisianian area are to be mentioned 

 Poly gala hoykinU and Xylopleuruin speclosiun^ conspicuous on account 

 of their large flowers of bright rose color, common on the prairies of 

 central Texas, southern Arkansas, and northwestern Louisiana and 

 appearing to be indigenous in Alal^ama, and GaiUardla 'pulchella^ 

 Rudheckia amplexicaulis^ and Monarda citriodm'a^ of the same distri- 

 bution but less frequent here, and perhaps adventive by the seed hav- 

 ing come with the seed oats frequently brought from central Texas. 



Sand hills near Montgomery. — A peculiar association of xerophile 

 herbs, remarkable for the occurrence of types not observed elsewhere 

 in the State, is found on the hills with a loam}', sandy soil, rising 

 above the cypress swamps on the eastern banks of the Alabama River 

 near the city of Montgomery. At the base of the hills occur: 



Oi7'duus elliottii. Tsopappus divaricatus. 



Cnicus benedictus (naturalized from Tragia urticaefolia. 



Europe) . 



The sides of the hills are covered with xerophile grasses: 



Aristida dichotoma. Panicum cognatum. 



Eragrostis capillaris. Panicum flexile. 

 Eragrostis refracta. 



The grass is studded with : 



Aster undulatus. AUionia hirsuia. 



Aster- patens. SUene ovaia. 



Kahida eupatoHoides. 



The northern Kuhnia is extreme!}^ rare in the State. AUionia 

 hirsuta is at home in the prairies of the West from Minnesota to 

 Texas. SUene ovata is found in the exposed ravines of these hills. 

 It is also found in the Cumberland highlands of Tennessee, and is dis- 

 tributed somewhat widely in the mountains of the Carolinas and 

 Georgia. 



CULTURAL PLANT FORMATIONS. 



This region constitutes the great agricultural region of the State, 

 celebrated for its large production of cotton. With the decline in the 

 price of this staple crop during late years greater attention has been 

 given to the growing of breadstuft's and forage crops. Broad fields 

 of Indian corn and oats are seen on every hand; and since an increased 

 interest is taken in the raising of stock, the old fields exhausted by 

 the continuous practice of the one-crop system are either being con- 

 verted into wide pastures of Bermuda grass ( Caprlola dactylon) or, to 

 hasten their recuperation, are planted in white melilot {MelUokis alha)., 

 known in these parts as Bokhara clover, which, like red clover, as an 

 ameliorating forage crop for hay and for pasture, has proved of the 

 greatest benefit on the exhausted calcareous prairie lands. In the 

 beginning of the new era in the agriculture of the South, Sorghum 

 halepetise was extensively raised as a perennial hay crop. After it was 



