^ PRAIRIE SOILS. 67 



22. A specimen of the very rich " cane brake" lands in Marcngo 

 county, Alabama, contained sixteen per cent, of carbonate of lime. 

 This is a kind of prairie, of a wetter nature, from the winter rains 

 not being able to run off from the leve"! surface, nor to sink through 

 the tenacious clay soil, and the solid stratum of lime-stone below. 



23. A specimen from the very extensive "Choctaw Prairie" in 

 Mississippi, of celebrated fertility, yielded thirteen per cent, of 

 carbonate of lime. 



Several other specimens of different, but all of very fertile soils 

 from southern Alabama, and all lying over the substratum of soft 

 lime-stone, were found to be neutral, containing not a particle of 

 lime in the form of carbonate. These specimens were as follows : 



24. One from the valley cane land*'' very wet through the 

 winter, but always dry in summer and after being ditched is dry 

 enough to be cultivated in cotton, which will grow from eight to 

 twelve feet high." 



25. Another from what is called the best "post-oak land," on 

 which trees of that kind grow to the size of from two to four feet 

 in diameter having but little underwood, and no cane growth 

 " thought to be nearly as rich as the best cane land, and will pro- 

 duce 1500 Ibs., or more, of seed cotton, or fifty bushels of corn to 

 the acre." 



26. Another from what is termed " palmetto land, having on it 

 that plant as well as a heavy cover of large trees growing luxuri- 

 antly. It is a cold and wet soil before being brought into good 

 tilth ; but afterwards is soft and easy to till, and produces corn and 

 cotton finely. The cane on it is generally small the soil from 

 four to ten feet deep." 



One more prairie soil only will be adduced, from many analyses 

 which have furnished general results like the foregoing (20 to 26) ] 

 and this one is given because it serves as a fair specimen of a very- 

 large class of the prairie lands. It was selected by Dr. R. "W. 

 Withers, in 1835, and described by him as follows : (Farmers' 

 Register, vol. iii. p. 498.) 



27. Soil of Gueene county, Alabama, " from our open or bald 

 prairie, [i. e. } totally without trees,] which has been cultivated for 

 seven or eight years produces corn very well nearly fifty bushels to 

 the acre are now standing on the ground ; but cotton does not pro- 

 duce so well on it as on poor sandy soil. I feel very confident that 

 this specimen is highly calcareous, as there are many fragments of 

 shells mixed with the soil, and the rock is not two feet from the 

 surface. Of all the specimens hitherto sent, this is the one which 

 will give the nearest approach to the general character of our open 

 prairie land in this part of the country." This specimen was 

 found to contain 33 per cent, of carbonate of lime. 1835.] 



The foregoing details, respecting lime-stone lands, may perhaps 



