168 



RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE. 



garden crops. Dark-leaf tobacco has proved to be a profitable crop and 

 its culture is being extended. Peanuts on a commercial scale may be 

 grown profitably. Perhaps no other part of the State is better adapted to 

 the production of cowpeas for seed. This is due to the fact that by the 

 aid of fertilizers cowpeas fruit abundantly on these soils, without produc- 

 ing an excessive growth of vine. There is some opportunity also for the 

 developing of orcharding and small fruit culture. 



Overfloiv and bench lands. The overflow and bench soils of the High- 

 land Rim are well suited to cultivation. .They are generally highly pro- 

 ductive corn lands and are much superior to the uplands in fertility. In 

 Perry and Humphreys counties in particular, the lowlands have been used 

 extensively for peanut production, and are rated of high value. 



WEST TENNESSEE. 



Uplands. West Tennessee slopes gradually from the Highland Rim 

 on the east to the Mississippi River on the west. The elevation above sea 

 level varies from 400 to 600 feet. For the most part the surface is gently 

 undulating, and the hilly sections are characterized by lower and more 

 rounded hills than those found in the other parts of the State. Nearly 

 all of the soils are derived from geological deposits which were never con- 

 solidated into rock. Most of them are silt loams containing no gravel. 

 Naturally they were well supplied with all of the elements of plant food, 

 but under cultivation they have, with some exceptions, become poor in 

 nitrogen and humus. This result has come about partly by the kind of 



FIG. 5. West Tennessee landscape. 



