256 . AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [11530, 531 



timbered with a fine growth f "White, Water, Willow and Chestnut White 

 Oak, "Poplar," Sweet Gum, Hornbeam, and Birch. Large Cypress is found in 

 the lower portion of the course. The ridges intervening between the several 

 forks of Yellow Creek, however, are poor Pine Hills, cultivated chiefly in the 

 minor bottoms and hollows. — The same is true in reference to the lands on 

 Indian Creek. In the region around, and S. and S. W. of Eastport, to the M. 

 & C. R. Pi., the surface of the country is very pebbly, and the hillsides come 

 down quite abruptly into the valleys. There are occasionally tracts of good 

 loam uplands in this hilly region, but they are generally small, and cultivation 

 is mainly confined to the bottoms and their slopes — Pine, Post Oak and Black 

 Jack forming the prevalent timber, with which, where the land is of better 

 quality, the Spanish ("Red") and (true) Red Oak mingle. The slaty hydraulic 

 limestone of this region (If 92) might, when burnt, be profitably used as a 

 fertilizer on the loam soils. A great deal of good pine timber still exists in this 

 region ; and plenty of fuel, for the manufacture of hydraulic cement, could be 

 obtained. 



530. The lands of the immediate Bear Creek valley are very 

 fine, and produce abundant crops of corn and cotton. The Pine 

 Hills themselves, as we approach Bear Creek, become less broken 

 and more fertile ; generally (especially in S. W. Tishomingo) we 

 find on the W. side of the creek a level or gently undulating tract, 

 or terrace, elevated 3U or 40 feet above the water, which often 

 comes up to the very banks of the stream ; where there is a steep 

 descent. 



The timber, as before stated, is singularly various ; chiefly Oaks — Spanish 

 ("Bed"), Water, Red, Black, Post, Black Jack and Chestnut White Oak, Sweet 

 Gum, 'Toplar," Dogwood, Pine, and occasionally some Red Cedar — all grow 

 together harmoniously, the soil being quite fertile. The same feature extends, 

 more or less, to its tributaries also. On the pebbly ridges, however, Pine, Post 

 Oak and Black Jack alone prevail. 



On Cedar Creek (Ala.), and on the waters of Mackay's Creek, where the hard 

 siliceous sandstone of the Carboniferous (1[88, ff. ; 96) prevails, the timber is 

 remarkably sparse and generally small ; and the rocky Pine Hills are very poor. 



On the main Mackay's Creek, as well as on the heads of Little Brown's Creek, 

 we have some gently undulating tracts of loam lands, where the absence or 

 scarcity of Pine, and the good size of the Oaks, testifies to the improvement of 

 the soil, which nevertheless, on the higher dividing ridges, is of the Pine Hill 

 aspect. 



531. For the rest, almost all the territory covered by the deep 

 green tint in Tishomingo, embracing the heads of Yellow Creek, 

 the E. heads of the Tuscumbia River, and those of Big Brown's 

 Creek down to the line between townships 5 and 6, is of the Pine 

 Hill character, as above described- -with narrow, though fertile 

 bottoms, and sandy ridge soils which not unfrequenily, however, 

 possess a good loam subsoil, and are susceptible of good improve- 

 ment. Southward of the lino mentioned, the higher points of the 

 ridges only are of the Pine Hill character, while the slopes (on 

 lower Big Brown's, Twenty Mile, Mackay's Creek, etc ), which are 

 but gently undulating, bear a fine growth prevalently of Spanish 

 Oak and Hickory, with which the other upland Oaks mingle more 

 or less. Though not first class lands, these soils, which are 

 generally light, are quite productive and well adapted to every 

 improvement (Till ; 140). 



