280 



THE BEST COTTON SECTIONS-2. 



ALABAMA 



The best cotton soils of Alabama are found in a belt extending across the 

 State east and west, including Montgomery, Oahawba, and Selma within its 

 boundaries, and in the alluvial region bordering upon the Alabama and Tom- 

 bigbee rivers. There is also a considerable aggregate area of fertile land in the 

 course of the streams of northern Alabama. For the greatest production of 

 cotton the counties of this State are named in the following order, giving but 

 ten of the entire list of fifty-two : 



Counties. 



DaUas 261,130 



Marengo 244,821 



Montgomery ' 2-57, 602 



Greene ! 277,462 



Lowndes j 239, 667 



Wilcox 1 179, 143 



Perry 1 194,592 



Barbour 209,150 



Macon 224,419 



Kussell 230,121 



Bales of 

 cotton. 



63,410 



62, 428 

 58, 880 

 57, 858 

 53, 664 

 48, 749 

 44, 603 

 44,518 

 4], 119 

 38, 728 



Bushels of 

 com. 



352,961 

 384, 616 



586, 480 

 311,535 



288. 722 

 011,359 

 074, 257 

 909, 973 



972. 723 

 776, 985 



In this central belt are some of the finest plantations in the South. The 

 " canebrake lands, " very similar in composition and productiveness to what 

 is commonly known in the parlance of the planters as ihe " rotten limestone " 

 region in Mississippi, (in Hinds and Warren counties,) with a soil remarkable 

 for the state of comminution in which it is found, and underlaid by a soft, 

 yellowish-white limestone of the tenacity of dense chalk, which contains about 

 seventy-five per cent, of carbonate of lime, the superincumbent soil itself hold- 

 ing only a minute proportion of lime, with potash, soda, and magnesia. In a 

 former description of this soil the writer of this said : " Its minuteness of sub- 

 division is extraordinary, with no stones or gravel, and few particles larger 

 than one-fortieth of an inch in diameter, giving an enormous surface of these 

 atoms in proportion to mass or quantity. It is so fine as almost to seem im- 

 palpable dust when dry ; remains long in solution without deposition ; contains, 

 moderately dry, one-third weight of water, and nearly one-sixth when air- 

 dried ; in the heats of summer it becomes hard, and in roads polishes with 

 friction, while in the rainy season it is a stiff, plastic mud ; its cohesion is twice 

 as great as that of common clays or pine- woods sandy loam ; its adhesive 

 power is in still greater excess ; it attains a higher temperature and cools more 

 slowly than other soils ; water percolates through it less rapidly; its capillary 

 power acts more slowly, but with longer duration, bringing water from greater 

 depths and raising a given quantity to a higher altitude ; absorbs aqueous vapor 

 more tardily, but one hundred per cent, more in quantity than clay or light 

 sand, and has an astonishing power of absorbing ammonia, condensing more 

 than fifty times its volume of aramoniacal gas." It is worth while to be 

 thus particiilar in giving a condensed analysis of its qualities as a guide in the 

 selection of a soil for cotton culture. Such a soil is naturally in a condition of 

 tilth that could scarcely be exceeded in common soils with great and ex- 

 pensive labor of the plough, cultivator, and harrow. One valuable peeuliarity 



