12 COTTON CULTURE. 



preceding the war, there was a strong tendency among all 

 the cotton planters to transfer their labor to alluvial 

 lands. 



The second class of cotton soils are the rich black cane- 

 brake lands of middle Alabama and the black rolling 

 prairies of Texas. These are generally called the black 

 lands, and cannot be surpassed by any alluvions for the 

 certainty with which they produce crops, their freedom 

 from destructive vermin, the admirable roll of the surface 

 just sufficient for drainage, and the completeness with 

 which every square yard of the soil may be turned under 

 the plow. In winter, the roads through this class of 

 lands become immense black mortar beds, where a loaded 

 wagon sinks nearly to the axle, and six mules can hardly 

 pull four bales, but in spring these formidable sloughs 

 harden, and become polished under the wheel, so as to 

 afford for eight months of the year a road as firm, smooth, 

 and agreeable as it is horrible during the remaining four. 



Another discount on these regions is the badness of the 

 water. In general, however, such lands are considered 

 worth twice as much as the former or red hill countries. 

 In 1860 the price of the former ranged from ten to thirty 

 dollars per^acre, according to the degree to which they 

 were washed or exhausted, nearness to markets and towns, 

 excellence of buildings, and state offences. 



The black lands of middle Alabama, between the Tom- 

 bigbee and the Alabama rivers, were seldom sold at less 

 than fifty dollars, and the price ranged from that to one 

 hundred. Now, (1867,) large surfaces are in market at 

 r.bout half the price they commanded before the war. 



The alluvions or river bottoms are the third and most 

 valuable class of cotton lands. Like river bottoms every- 

 where, the valleys of the Santee, the Chattahoochee, the 

 Alabama and Tombigbee, the Pearl, and, beyond all, the 

 cast areas drained by the Mississippi and its lower tribut- 

 aries have very little inclination, and that little is gener- 



