26 RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA. 



About 45 per cent of the trees and shrubs are evergreen, 

 which is near the average for the State, but below the aver- 

 age for southern Alabama. The pines are important sources 

 of lumber, and the sweet gum and some of the oaks are also 

 utilized. Lumbering is probably the most important indus- 

 try, and in 1912 there were more sawmills in this region 

 in proportion to its area than in almost any other part of 

 the State. 



The region is too narrow for any statistics of population 

 and agriculture, but the density of population and amount 

 of improved land are evidently below the average, on ac- 

 count of unfavorable soil conditions and scarcity of good wa- 

 ter. The relative importance of the different crops is prob- 

 ably much the same as in the region next to be described. 



There are no towns of any consequence in the flatwoods, 

 but Livingston, York and Linden are close to its edges. The 

 belt is crossed by five lines of railroad, namely, the A. T. & 

 N., the L. & N., and three branches of the Southern (includ- 

 ing the A. G. S.). 



2. Southern red hills, western division. 



(Figures 2-9; tables 1-4.) 



The Eocene region of Alabama, extending all the way 

 across the State, has hitherto commonly been treated as a 

 geographical unit, except for the post-oak flatwoods on the 

 north and the lime hills on the southwest. But recent sta- 

 tistical studies have brought out striking differences in soil, 

 climate, vegetation, population and agriculture between the 

 western and eastern portions of this belt, which was desig- 

 nated the southern red hills in Monograph 8. The transi- 

 tion from one to the other is not abrupt, however, and the 

 line between them on the map is located somewhat arbi- 

 trarily. 



On the other hand, the lime hills, formerly separated on 

 geological grounds, are so similar in soil, topography and 

 vegetation to the western division of the red hills, which 

 they closely adjoin, that they may for most purposes be 

 combined therewith. If there are any noteworthy differ- 

 ences in population and agriculture the census figures would 

 not disclose them anyway, for the lime hills belt does not 

 cover as much as half of any county, and most of the coun- 

 ties traversed by it are among those used to illustrate the 

 western red hills. 



