142 Harper: Explorations in Georgia 1903 



the region of this formation by other botanists,* and published 

 references to it are scarce. 



As the Aitamaha Grit region (the common name of which^ 

 when it is distinguished from other portions of the coastal plain, is 

 the '' rolling wire-grass '' or *' rolling piney-woods " country), by 

 reason of its many natural advantages, which have only compara- 

 tively recently begun to be appreciated, is increasing very rapidly 

 in wealth and population,! largely at the expense of its once mag- 



''^The younger Bartram and the elder Michaux, whose routes through Georgia in 

 the eighteenth century are pretty well known, could hardly have seen any of the Ai- 

 tamaha Grit region except perhaps the extreme eastern end of it There is evidence 

 that at least some of Abbot's drawings of Georgia plants and insects, published in 1797, 

 were made in this region, but no one knows exactly where. About 1830 Nuttall dis- 

 covered Arenai'ia brevifolia in Tattnall County, presumably on an outcrop of Aitamaha 

 Grit, but very little is known of his movements in Georgia. Croom probably skirted 

 the inland edge of this region on his travels through Georgia during the few years im- 

 mediately preceding his death, but there is no recognizable description of it in liis 

 writings. And since the building of railroads probably as many as a dozen well-known 

 botanists have passed through portions of the Aitamaha Grit region, usually without 

 stopping, or ventured into it for short distances, without knowing how it differed from 

 the rest of the coastal plain, but very few of these have made public any notes or speci- 

 mens from there. It is not surprising, therefore^ that I should find new species in that 

 region nearly every season. But for the fact that most of the plants indigenous to that 

 part of the state are not endemic, but extend into the flat country near the coast, or into 

 other states, a much larger proportion of them would still be undescribed. 



I The nine counties in Georgia which increased in population over 75 per cent, be- 

 tween 1890 and 1900 are all wire-grass counties, wholly or in part. The three show- 

 ing the largest increase (Colquitt, Irwin and Tattnall, with percentages of 184, 116 

 and 99 respectively) are entirely underlaid by the Aitamaha Grit. During the same 

 period the whole rolling wire-grass country increased in population over 60 per cent., 

 the whole coastal plain of Georgia 28 per cent., the whole state about 20 per cent., and 

 the whole United States (not counting islands acquired during the decade) about 22 

 per cent. The, average density of population in the Aitamaha Grit region in 1900 was 

 about 25 to the square mile and that of the whole state 37.5. Fifty years earlier the 

 region under consideration was regarded as almost a desert, and contained less than * 

 four inhabitants to the square mile. Even as late as 1880 the density of its population 

 had not reached ten per square mile. 



This region is remarkably free from weeds, mud, dust, floods, droughts, gullies, 

 malaria, and extremes of heat and cold; all of which cannot be said of some other 

 parts of the country. The topography is undulating enough to afford good drainage, 

 and at the same time level enough to offer no serious obstacles to easy transportation 

 (which is so essential for the rapid spread of civilization). 



The principal source of wealth for this region has been — and will be for many 

 years, if properly managed — Finns palusiris^ which is probably at present the most 

 important tree in North America from an economic standpoint, rivaling in the variety 

 and usefulness of its products the classical palms and bamboos of the tropics. Increas- 

 ing attention, however, is being paid to agriculture and manufactures. 



