78 COTTON CULTURE. 



strong. In some cases they are subject to overflow, and 

 in others the drainage is defective, especially on the Tom- 

 bigbee. 



But near the centre of the State is a tract of land extend- 

 ing about forty miles in each direction, giving something 

 like sixteen hundred square miles, or more than a million 

 acres, which, all things considered, is the best cotton land 

 in America, and probably in the world. From a large 

 county of that name these are frequently called the Marengo 

 lands. 



The soil is deep, rich, and black, covered, in its natural 

 state, with a dense growth of cane, rolling so as to give 

 sufficient drainage, yet never steep enough to wash. Every 

 square foot is capable of culture. The Tombigbee on the 

 west, and the. Alabama on the south-east, both navigable 

 the greater part of the year, give prompt and cheap access 

 to Mobile, the export town. Entirely above overflow, and 

 remote from lakes and marshes, it is a much healthier re- 

 gion than the cotton fields of the lower Mississippi. The 

 most of this favored section lies between the thirty-second 

 and thirty-third degrees of latitude, the very centre of 

 the cotton belt, where the length of the season is exact- 

 ly adapted to cotton. More of these cane lands of Ala- 

 bama, in proportion to the whole area, are in cultivation 

 than is the case with the other cotton fields on the Missis- 

 sippi and west of it, which have been described. They 

 produce always a bale, and, in the best seasons, a bale and 

 a half to the acre. The rains of winter convert the roads 

 into quagmires, but in summer they become hard and 

 glossy, as firm as a floor, and entirely free from dust. 



The productive capacity of this part of Alabama alone 

 cannot be much less than three-fourths of the whole num- 

 ber of acres, for, allowing two acres in cotton for one in 

 corn, these cane lands would yield seven hundred and fifty 

 thousand bales. . 



The bottoms of the Alabama, near Montgomery and 



