HARPER: PINE-BARREN VEGETATION OF MississipPI 555 
Lime | Potash Phos. Acid | Magnesia 
Simpson akg sd osc 061 074 .069 112 
re SANE i lines bs ain sa teens | .038 | 169 -041 229 
Pearl iver | ‘hammock es ee rts ee 113 124 -169 Iq! 
MeO Gt ROME... 6 id i ok ok oe ctdaan’s | 054 | 16 059 212 
Jackson Cokite pine mez meadow... .....+5 023 o6r 162t 069 
average in fertility, which explains why this and other pine-barren 
regions still retain so much of their native vegetation. The den- 
sity of population and amount of woodland remaining are pretty 
closely correlated with the soil characters. In 1910 the portions 
of the pine-barren region west of the Pearl River had about 40 
inhabitants to the square mile (which is pretty close to the state 
average), the three coast counties about 25, and the whole region 
about 30. The amount of woodland varies from 69 per cent. west 
of the Pearl River to 90 per cent. east of there, while for the whole 
State it is 64 per cent. 
But notwithstanding the poverty of pine-barren soils in 
mineral plant food, they are easily tilled at all seasons, and respond 
readily to applications of commercial fertilizers, and for the last 
few decades farmers have been taking possession of them very 
rapidly. From 1900 to 1910 the population of the region under 
consideration increased 45 per cent. (over 50 per cent. east of the 
Pearl River, where the poorer soils are located), and similar 
developments were going on in the corresponding parts of other 
southeastern states at the same time, necessitating among other 
things the building of many new railroads and the creation of 
several new counties, and thus keeping map-makers busy. 
Topography and hydrography.—The topography is very similar 
to that which I have already described for the corresponding parts 
of Georgia,* Florida,t and Alabama.{ In the parts most remote 
from the coast it is moderately hilly, and some of the smallest 
valleys that contain permanent streams may be as much as 50 
feet deep. Toward the coast, where erosional forces have been 
less active on account of the lesser elevation, the local relief is 
less, and ponds and swamps are more frequent. In some places, 
_ €specially in Jackson County, the country is almost perfectly 
* Bull. Torrey Club 32: 146. 1905; Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 17: 24. 1906. 
+ Ann. Rep. Fla. Geol. Surv. 3: 218-219. I9I1T. 
t Geol. Surv. Ala., Monog. 8: 114-115. 1913. 
