Prairies of Alabama. 95 



These shells and other decomposing materials appear to have giv- 

 en a peculiar character to the prairie soil, which causes it to adhere 

 so strongly to the legs of horses and to the wheels of carriages as to 

 remain several days in travelling, unless washed or beaten off. Yet 

 when well broken up at the proper season, and regularly ploughed, 

 it remains quite mellow, producing corn and cotton equal to the best 

 alluvial bottoms, with, so far as it has been tried, increased fertility; 

 although from the compact nature of the rock beneath and the tenacity 

 with which it retains moisture, crops are sometimes injured by excess- 

 ive rains, but seldom by drought. 



There being no openings or fissures, except above the rock, by 

 which to convey the water directly to the channels of creeks and riv- 

 ers, there are consequently no reservoirs to contain snpplies for foun- 

 tains and springs. In the winter and spring seasons, the streams over- 

 flow and the land is literally submerged. In the summer and autumn 

 neither springs or wells are to be found, except below the rock ; yet, 

 notwithstanding this scarcity of water, there is seldom a want of mois- 

 ture for the purposes of vegetation. And at times when the drought 

 is such as to produce fissures two or three inches wide, and as many 

 feet deep, the earth will be found quite moist at the depth of two or 



three inches. 



As an evidence of the general moisture of the prairie soil, below 

 the surface, it may be remarked, that crawfishes are so numerous in 

 some situations as to prove very destructive to young corn, cotton and 

 other tender plants. After nightfall, they issue from their holes or 

 dens and commence their devastations. Their holes are of consid- 

 erable depth, supposed to reach to the rock formation, a distance of 

 from ten to fifteen feet ; and on the surface of the ground, regular and 

 well built mud walls, five or six inches high, are erected. The craw- 

 fish is of the crustaceous class, perhaps differing but slightly, except 

 in size, from the sea lobster. Their nocturnal perigrinations show 

 that they differ, at least in their habits, from the common crawfish 

 found in our brooks, &c. 



Much of the soil is sterile, presenting low hills on which there is 

 no timber ; in other places, a small and stinted growth, such as black- 

 jack and post-oak. In some places there are considerable hills, hav- 

 ing a thin stratum of excellent vegetable mould, covered with timber 

 indicating a good soil ; but from the close texture of the substratum, 

 it is liable to be washed away, which has been the case in Washing- 

 ton and Clarke Counties. In those counties, I am informed the rock 



