LO;.IS!ANA. 



Elsewliere small farms prevail. Here, 

 too, as oil the bayou Lafourche, the culti- 

 vatable land extends within ten or twenty 

 miles of tlie gulf and is succeeded by 

 live oak ridges, which in time give way 

 to the salt marsh nearly at the gulf. 

 This parish has a chain of islands off 

 its coast, the most important being Tim- 

 balier and Last island. They are some- 

 times swept by tidal waves, and not- 

 withstanding the awful catastrophe which 

 visited Last island years ago, they are 

 still visited by pleasure-hunters. 



Avoyelles parish is almost wholly al- 

 luvial, lying squarely in the great dood 

 plain, with the Ited river on its northern 

 and Atchafalaya on its eastern boundary. 



The upland is prairie and blutf, both 

 of similar origin, jutting down betweeo 

 the flood plains of the Ued and Missis- 

 sippi rivers. These are the remains of 

 the great western bluffs, the rest having 

 been removed by the floods and spread 

 over southwest Louisiana. HoUoway's 

 jirairie. beginning in Hapides, runs down 

 into this parish, at the southero ex- 

 tremity of which the Red river termin- 

 ates its own plain and afterwards enters 

 the great flood plains of the Mississippi 

 river. Cut off from the mainland are 

 the prairies of Avoyelles (on which the 

 pari.sh town of Marksville is situated) 

 and Clausee des Grus. 



Southwest of these prairies are Iso- 

 lated patches of blufC lands, extendiug 

 from near Egg bend of Ued river to 

 li.iyou Rouge. The general surface of 

 ihese bluffs and prairies is well above 

 liig'.i water, and their soils resemble 

 those of the bluff lands of West Felic- 

 iana and Bast Baton Rouge. Some of it 

 is grayish silt, while others are of the 

 brown loam character. The alluvial lands 

 of western Avoyelles are like those of 

 Rapides, of which they are a continua- 

 tion. In the Atchafalaya district will ■ 

 be found strata of both the Red and 

 Mississippi rivers deposits, with the lat- 

 ter predominating. 



ALLUVIAL OF RED RIVER AND ITS 

 OUTLYING r.AYOUS. 



The general topographical features of 

 the Red river are similar to those de- 

 scribed under the Missi.*sippi. Two spe- 

 cial features mark this river. First— The 

 great raft in the extreme northwest por- 

 tion of the state, and, second, the falls 

 below Alexandria, due to the river cross- 

 ing the sandstone ledges of the grand 

 gidf group.. 



El<<ewhere Red river Is a fine, swiftly- 

 flowing stream, with solid banks, which 

 has cut its channel deep down into 

 strata of clay, which was deposited he- 

 fore the olrlh of the present river. This 

 clay is of similar origin and date with 

 the buckshot clays of the Mississippi 

 bottoms. The soils deposited by the river 

 are light and loamy, and can be culti- 

 vated up to the levees. In I'.ossier and 

 (^addo paiishes have l)een created spe- 

 cial levee districts, and jnost of the 

 river bottoms of these parishes are now 

 well pidtected from overflow. Dr. Hill- 

 gard classifies the soils of tnis region 

 Into four cia.sses. vl/,: 



If) rst— Front land poi'.s. lyin^ near the 

 fiver and main bayous, and of a reddish 

 or yt'llowish re<l loam, light and easily 

 tilled; deep and very productive. Back 

 from th" banks they become lieavier and 

 more dillicidt to till' and farm. 



Second— Back bottom soils, very pro- 



ductive, and doubtless more lasting than. 

 No. 1. 



Third— Bottom prairie soil. A blaclc 

 calcareous soil fully 12 inches deep, with 

 large ash, water oak, cotton wood, huckle- 

 berry and horn locust occurring about ft 

 In patches. This soil is very productive. 

 A capital soil. 



Fourth— Waxy soil, occurring in patches^ 

 tin exceedingly heavy, close intractable- 

 clay, mostly in low ground. It bears a 

 stunted growth of haekberrv, ash anil 

 elm, witli fine growth of overcnp oaks 

 It seems practically worthless at present. 



The last two soils are doubtless de- 

 rived from the older clay strata seen in 

 the river banks; No. 4 from the stiff red 

 and brown non-calcareous clays, while 

 No. 3, similar to the buckshot soils of 

 Tensas, is derived from the lighter cal- 

 careous clays of the ancient swamp 

 formation. 



A large number of analv.ses of these 

 soils have been made. The front laiul 

 soils contain from 'JO to 95 per cent of in- 

 soluble matter, which is fine sand, and 

 about 2 per cent each of potash, lime and 

 phosphoric acid— goodly quautities when 

 tlie large amount of inert matter is coti- 

 sidered. It rarely has over 2 to 3 per 

 cent of iron in it, and therefore the color 

 is due simply to the line diffusion of 

 this substance through the soil. This is 

 the most prevalent, and therefore tlie- 

 most important, of the soils of this val- 

 ley. It yields good crops, even in ad- 

 verse seasons. 



One characteristic feature of jll Red- 

 river soils is the relatively large amount 

 of magnesia present, frequently reach- 

 ing a.9 high as 2 per cent. 



Soil No. 2 ^•a••ios from No. 1 in a rela- 

 tively larger amount of clay s.nd lime. 



Soil No. 3 is the finest of tlie valley 

 and permeates it as far south as Avoy- 

 elles parish. It contains large percentages 

 (if potash and lime and magnesia and a 

 fair quantity of phosphoric acid. Besides, 

 it is very rich in nitrogen, and therefore 

 produces good "weed," as well as fruit. 



Soil No. 4 is rarely cultivated, being t()(v 

 stiff and intractable for protitahle use. 



It is often asserted that the fertility of 

 the Red river lands is due mainly to the 

 large amount of sulphate of lime (gypsum 

 or plaster), brought down from the Llano- 

 Estacado (or staked plains) of Texas. 



Analysis shows that whatever influence 

 this substance mav have originally pro- 

 duced upon the transporter! materi.-il 

 which now forms the valley, it has teeeu 

 so altered in the effect lu-oduced as t» 

 leave only the lime remaining, since only 

 a small percentage of sulphuric acid has 

 been found in any of these soils. On 

 the othei hand, carbonate of lime exists 

 in them all, and in some to -i large ex 

 tent. In the region uudei ( ,ideration 

 there have been included the Atcliafalay i 

 basin, with the bavous Boeuf, tlocadrie. 

 Courtableau and Teche. The peculiar 

 red tint of the Red river soils is visibl<» 

 throughout the banks of these streams 

 and reveal a common ori.gin. Even in 

 the banks of the Atchafalaya and the 

 banks of the Mississiyii)! river lielow the 

 mouth of Red river the thin, narrow red 

 seams, alternating with giayish deposits, 

 tell of floods f*om Red river, as well as 

 from the Mississi[>pi Even the led tints 

 of the soils of some of the western 

 rivers tell, in unmistakable terms, of a 

 common origin in a remote period. 

 Bayou Vermillion owes its niniie to the 

 character of the soil on its banks, which 

 is in striking contrast to the biown loam 



