CULTURE AND CURING IN MISSOURI. 95 



as bluff, bury the glacial drift deeply. The surface deposit is the bluff loam, varying in thickness from a few feet 

 to 200 feet. This deposit is rich in lime, magnesia, potassa, soda, phosphoric acid, silica, and alumina. The bottom 

 prairie, or lower terrace, and the alluvial formations are similar in composition to the bluff, save that the material 

 is coarser and more porous. This district is about equally divided between timber and prairie, the timber occupying 

 the larger area in the river bottoms, and the prairie in the highlands. 



The upland soils were formed of the bluff marls, and the bottom soils of the bottom prairie and alluvial 

 formations of the river valleys. There are several distinct varieties of soil, distinguished by the grasses and 

 weeds in the prairies and by the trees in the forests. 



In the manufacturing district, composed of the counties of Callaway, Pike, Montgomery, Lincoln, and Warren, 

 on the north side of the Missouri river, and Osage and Franklin, on the south side of that stream, the geological 

 and topographical features are greatly varied, but the soils north of the Missouri river resemble those already 

 described, in those counties lying north of the Missouri river the country gradually rises from the month of that 

 river along the dividing ridge toward the northwest. From the water-shed between the two streams the slope is 

 very gentle toward the Mississippi on the east and the Missouri on the south. Numerous tributaries to these 

 streams drain the entire area. The general surface is undulating, with abrupt declivities to the larger streams, and 

 the geological features are much more varied than in the heavy tobacco area. The strata below the surface deposits 

 are composed of the rocks of the coal measures, Subcarboniferons, Devonian, and Upper and Lower Silurian. 



The Quaternary deposits so completely cover these rocks that they have very little influence on the soil save 

 along the bluffs of the streams and the more broken portions of the district. The calcareo-magnesian, along the 

 bluffs of the Missouri, are the most extensive. These warm, rich soils produce a superior article of tobacco. The 

 bluff loam covers all the uplands of this district (save the few areas mentioned above) to depths varying from 5 

 to 100 feet; consequently the upland soils derive their mineral characteristics from it. The alluvium and bottom 

 prairie formations underlie all the bottom lands and form the bases of their soils, and these formations are nearly alike. 

 The district is about equally divided between prairie and timber lands, and a considerable portion lies in the river 

 bottoms. Elm lands occupy considerable areas in Pike and Callaway counties and smaller areas in all the other 

 counties. Resiu-weed lands also occupy considerable areas in the prairie region adjacent to the elm lands in 

 the timber. Clearing up and cultivating these lands has removed the natural growth of trees, weeds, and grasses, 

 which indicate the quality of the soils; but the crops produced on them fully sustain their early reputation for 

 fertility. Hickory and prairie land of the same quality are found in all the counties of the district, and occupy 

 fully one-third of the upland. These hickory lauds are interspersed with and adjacent to the elm lands, and 

 pass by imperceptible gradations from the one to the other, both soils producing large crops of good tobacco. 

 White-oak lands occupy ridges where the lighter materials of the soil have been washed away. They sustain a 

 growth of white and black oak, shell-bark and black hickory, dogwood, sassafras, red-bud, and fragrant sumac. 

 The surface soil of these white-oak lands is not so rich as the last-named variety, but the subsoil is better, as has 

 been shown by analyses at various depths. This soil occupies considerable areas in this district, and a large part 

 of the tobacco is raised on white-oak lauds. The yield ranges from 500 to 1,001) pounds per acre, and the quality 

 ot the staple is better, as a rule, than that produced on richer lauds. Bottom timber lands cover large areas of 

 the river counties, and yield the largest crops of tobacco produced in the district. Many of these counties formerly 

 produced large quantities of tobacco, but in late years the farmers have found other crops more profitable, and their 

 tobacco barns, in many cases, have been left to decay. 



Franklin and Osage counties have a good diversity of surface configuration. The surface was originally an 

 undulating plain, but the Missouri, Osage, Gasconade, Meramec, and other streams have cut through its deep, 

 broad valleys, usually bounded by abrupt and mural bluffs. In places the ascent to the plain above is by gentle 

 acclivities. The geological features are very different from those of other districts described. The consolidated 

 strata are the magnesiau limestone series of the Lower Silurian system, consisting of sandstones and maguesiau 

 limestones, containing many beds and nodules of flint. The bluff loam is well developed on the bluffs of the streams, 

 and is spread more sparingly over the interior upland portions of the district. The alluvium is spread over the 

 valleys of all the large streams. The soils of these two counties are somewhat different from those already 

 described. There, is very little hackberry, crow-foot, elm, or resin-weed land in the district; but hickory lands 

 prevail to a limited extent, more or less modified, and pass into one or the other of the following varieties: White- 

 oak lands prevail on the ridges leading to the Missouri bluffs, and in some of the interior parts of the counties; and 

 post oak lands occupy the broad, flat ridges away from the river bluffs, where the bluff formation is so changed as 

 to be much more compact and argillaceous and less calcareous and sandy. The growth is post oak, with very few 

 black and Spanish oaks, hickory, red-bud, and dogwood. These lands cover large areas, and are highly esteemed 

 for tobacco. They will not prove so durable as the soils already described. Magnesian limestone soils are based 

 upon the magnesian limestone scries or the mineral-bearing rocks of southern Missouri. They produce a great 

 variety of trees and shrubs, among which are black and white walnut, black gum, elms, sugar maple, honey locust, 

 rock chestnut, scarlet, laurel and white oaks, ash, hickory, buckeye, hazel, dogwood, and haws, and grapes art- 

 often conspicuous. 



44 AG 68K 



