24 RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



REGIONAL DESCRIPTIONS 



1. The post oak flat woods. 



The northernmost of the regions to be described is a belt 

 six or eight miles wide extending into Alabama from the 

 west about fifty miles. It is more extensive in Mississippi, 

 where it curves northward and nearly reaches the Tennes- 

 see line, keeping approximately the same width all the way. 

 It is underlaid by a non-calcareous stratified clay of Lower 

 Eocene age, the Sucarnochee or Black Bluff formation, 

 which commonly weathers into a stiff clayey soil. The to- 

 pography is comparatively level, with gentle slopes near 

 streams, a few shallow ponds, and almost no springs. 



Less than half the area is covered by recent soil surveys, 

 so that accurate statistics of soils are not possible, but it 

 appears that the principal texture classes are clay, fine sandy 

 loam, loam, and silt loam. Chemically the soil seems to be 

 moderately fertile, but it contains a rather excessive amount 

 of magnesia, which is detrimental to some plants; and its 

 stiffness in most places is an obstacle to profitable agricul- 

 ture. The fine sandy loam areas, about one-third of the 

 total, are relatively free from the latter drawback, how- 

 ever. 



The average temperature is about 65, with a growing 

 season of about 240 days. The annual rainfall is about 50 

 inches, pretty evenly distributed through the year, except 

 for a deficiency in late summer and fall. 



The whole area, as far as we know, was originally cov- 

 ered with forests, mostly rather dry and open except along 

 streams, and about three-fourths of it is still wooded, though 

 a great deal of the best timber has been cut out. As long 

 as so much remains uncultivated, however, the forests will 

 renew themselves pretty rapidly, and the timber promises to 

 remain an important resource of this region for a long time. 



The commonest woody plants are about as follows : 



