71 



rid of them. The houses are mostly aggregated in villages, each 

 village with its sugar-mill. Water for domestic purposes is gen- 

 erall}' taken from cisterns, as in numerovis other fertile regions. 

 The forests are reduced to scattered remnants, mostly along 

 streams. The commonest trees seem to be Salix nigra ( ?) , 

 Populus deltoid es, Liquidamhar, Platanus, Taxodimn distichiim, 

 Ulmus auicricana, and Ccltis sp., in the order named. There 

 are hardly any erect shrubs, but three woody vines, Rhus radi- 

 cans, Tecouia radicans, and Auipelopsis arborca are fairly com- 

 mon. The epiphyte Tillandsia usneoides is the only native herb 

 that is at all conspicuous, the other herbs noted being mostly 

 weeds, such as Ambrosia trifida arid Paspalum Vaseyanum. 



The Cotton Region 



From about Westover to Opelousas, 49 miles, on the Gulf 

 Coast Lines, the country is still flat and alluvial, but about half 

 wooded, with less cane and more cotton than had been seen the 

 day before. Several sawmills were passed, and the forests had 

 been damaged a good deal by lumbering, draining, grazing, etc. 

 The commonest plants in that distance, which is through the cot- 

 ton region of the Mississippi bottoms, seem to be as follows : 



Trees 



Liquidambar Styraciflua Quercus texana (?) 



Salix nigra (?)* Glcditsia triacanthos 



Taxodiuiii disticJiuui Fraxinus americana (?) 



Acer Drmnmondii ( ?) Quercus nigra 



Celtis sp. Hicoria aquatica ( ?) 



Populus deltoides Acer Negundo 



Shrubs and Vines 

 Ampelopsis arborea Cephalanthus occidentalis 



Rhus radicans Tecoma radicans 



Sahal glabra Brunnichia cirrhosa 



* If this is S. nigra it grows taller and straighter here than it usually does 

 elsewhere. 



