14. THE MOBILE DELTA. 



125 



The following trees were observed on July 21 and 22, 

 1911, and June 16, 1912, along the L. & N. R. R., which 

 crosses the delta close to its lower end. Upstream the 

 forests of course gradually assume the character of ordi- 

 nary alluvial swamps, so that a section a few miles 

 higher up would give a somewhat different analysis. 



LIST OF TREES. 



There are only two evergreens, the bays, which are es- 

 timated to have made up 13% of the original forests in 

 the lower parts of the delta. Pines and oaks are both ab- 

 sent, the soil being probably too rich for the former and 

 too wet for the latter. Most of the trees visible from the 

 railroad, especially the black gum, have rather crooked 

 trunks, more so than the same species in other habitats. 

 This feature together with the density of the forest re- 

 minds one a good deal of some tropical forests. 



Economic features. — The delta is too wet for cultiva- 

 tion and permanent human habitations, so that at least 

 99% of it is still covered with forests. A great deal of 

 the cypress and some of the tupelo gum and a few other 

 trees has been cut out, the cypress mostly for shingles. 

 Cigar-boxes are said to have been made from the tupelo 

 gum in Mobile, and the chair-factory there probably 

 draws a good deal of its raw material from this same 

 region. The cutting of timber is done mostly when the 

 water is highest, and the logs then floated out. 



Five of the sawmills located at tide-water in Mobile 

 County, with an average capacity of 40,000 feet a day, 



