SOUTHWESTERN PINE HILLS. 65 



stances, and flow pretty steadily throughout the year. They 

 might be again subdivided into creeks which run all the 

 time, and small branches which go dry in early summer. 

 The water of the smallest branches and a few of the creeks 

 is almost as clear as crystal and perfectly good to drink. 

 There are no large springs, most of the streams taking their 

 rise in small swamps. Nearly all the streams are bordered 

 by more or less swamp, the width of which is roughly pro- 

 portional to the size of the stream. 



CLIMATE. 



This region has an average temperature of about 67 F. 

 and a growing season of about 270 days, varying of 

 course with altitude, distance from the coast, etc. In 

 the extreme northern portion the rainfall is necessarily 

 much like that in the western red hills near by, but toward 

 the coast it is heavier than in other parts of Alabama, about 

 59 inches annually, and at the same time the greater part 

 of the precipitation comes in the warmest months. This 

 tends to balance the evaporation and keep the ground-water 

 level and the flow of streams constant, but at the same time 

 it leaches the soil and retards those processes of weathering 

 that are expedited by alternate wet and dry conditions. 



VEGETATION. 



This is the principal pine region of Alabama. Half 

 a century ago it was covered from end to end, except 

 in swamps, with magnificent park-like forests of long- 

 leaf pine, with very little shrubby undergrowth, and a 

 carpet of grasses and other narrow-leaved herbs in great 

 variety. On high rocky or sandy ridges the pines are some- 

 what stunted, and accompanied by a few species of scrubby 

 oaks, which become more abundant when the pines are cut 

 off, allowing the soil to dry out a little more. In savannas 

 and other damp soils the pines are likewise stunted and 

 scattered, but unaccompanied by oaks. The swamps of all 

 sizes are full of shrubs and vines and hardwood trees, and 

 the slopes near the larger streams have hammock vegeta- 

 tion, which owes its presence mainly to the protection from 

 fire given by the swamp or water on one side and the down- 

 ward slope on the other. For the pine forests are fre- 



8 AR 



