274 agricultural report. [^"563, 564, 565, 566 



timber is still the same, its growth is sturdier, and the land, whose soil is not 

 so excessively heavy, yields fine cotton crops. The railroad is here very nearly 

 on the dividing line between the two kinds of land (1[555). 



563. In this southern portion of the Flatwoods Region, its western outline is 

 as sharply defined, as the opposite is, further north. From the Noxubee Hills 

 (T[645), about four miles east of Webster, and from the Gholson or Summer- 

 ville Ridge, about the same distance east of Gholson, we descend very suddenly 

 (at the latter place about one hundred feet) from the very sandy ridge (^647), 

 into the level Post Oak Flatwoods, whose soil would often times seem to be of 

 more immediate interest to the potter, than to the agriculturist. 



564. It seems that in N. E. Winston and S. W. Octibbeha counties, the Flat- 

 woods are crossed in all directions by the drainage of the country, viz: the 

 Noxubee River and its tributaries ;* a natural consequence of their situation at 

 the foot of ridges considerably elevated above them. But further north, and 

 up to the neighborhood of the town of Pontotoc, they assume the character of 

 a dividing plateau between the waters of the Mississippi and Tombigbec ; theii 

 general surface being but little below the level of the hilltops of the adjoining 

 country. In Tippah and N. Pontotoc counties, they give rise to numerous 

 tributaries of the Tallahatchie ; further south, the main prongs of the Yokeney- 

 Patafa, the Loosha-Scoona, and Yallabusha take their rise in them on one side, 

 on the other, the headwaters of Chiwappa, Chukatonche, Houlka and Tibby. 

 Some of the waters of the two first named streams, (viz : the Chiwappa and 

 Chuckatonche), cross the Pontotoc Ridge, therefore, after taking their rise in the 

 Flatwoods, at a lower level ; hence the deep ravines which they form in this 

 first part of their course. 



565. In this northern portion of the Flatwoods tract, its western 

 limit is generally ill defined and somewhat arbitrary. In passing 

 westward from the level portion of the Flatwoods immediately 

 adjoining the Pontotoc Ridge, the country gradually becomes more 

 undulating, and frequently passes quite insensibly into a hilly,, 

 pine country, similar in its general aspect to the Pine Hills, further 

 inland, save in that its soil is prevalently very heavy, and its vege- 

 tation more similar to that of the Flatwoods proper. I shall 

 therefore include the description of these lands, which occupy the 

 greater portion of R. 1 E., and large parts of R. 1 W\, under the 

 general head of the Flatwoods Region (1F587, ff.) In South-west 

 Chickasaw and adjoining parts of Calhoun and Choctaw, the west- 

 ern portion of the Flatwoods (as well as the adjoining hilly conn 

 try) is characterized by the snperaddition of the White Oak to the 

 ordinary growth of the Flatwoods, indicating a corresponding 

 improvement of the soil. This region I shall designate as the 

 White Oak Flahooods (584, ff.). 



THE SOILS OF THE FLATWOODS REGION. 



566. It has been mentioned in the Geological Report (1 164, ff.). 

 that the Flatwoods, as well as the hilly country adjoining them to 

 the westward, are generally underlaid by the stiff gray clays of 

 the lowest, lignite stage of the eocene Tertiary. Outcrops of these 



*For information concerning this portion of the Flatwoods Region (which I 

 have not personally visited) as well as for other favors, I am indebted to G. G. 

 Snedecor, Esq., of Louisville, Winston county. 



