1628, 629 1 , 629-] cure of washes. 295 



drainage by artificial means may become, if not absolutely necessary, at least 

 very expedient and useful (^407, ff.; 413 l ). 



628. It is higly important to the agriculturist, especially when 

 the subsoil or loam stratum proper is shallow, to prevent the 

 washes from penetrating the loam into the underlying sand or 

 hardpan. 



Should the sand be loose, the moment the water reaches it, an undermining 

 process will begin, which will cause the land to waste with greatly increased 

 rapidity. Should it, on the contrary, be an impervious hardpan, as is very 

 frequently the case, the increased mass and velocity of the water will rapidly 

 widen its channel, casting away the sides of the gully. In any case, when the 

 sandy strata are once reached, the space thus laid bare is absolutely lost to culti- 

 vation, unless artifically covered with fresh soil ; for the sands of the sea-beach 

 are not more arid and hopelessly sterile, than are those of the Orange Sand 

 formation. So long, therefore, as the washes remain within the loam stratum, 

 the soil can be recovered for purposes of cultivation, not only in the region of 

 the Marshall and Tippah " Tablelands," but very generally where the, remarka- 

 bly uniform, yellow loam stratum prevails. Old fields cut up with washes need 

 not, therefore, be considered as irreclaimable, unless this loam has been absolutely 

 arricd^away, exposing the sterile sand — which, in general, it is not difficult to 

 distinguish from the subsoil loam, since the former very rarely possesses tints 

 similar to those of the latter. In N. Mississippi especially, the dull yellowish, 

 brown tints of the loam generally contrast pretty strongly with the reddish- 

 brown or orange hues of the sand. 



The loam exposed by these washes, so far from being sterile, is 

 often found eminently fertile, in consequence of the decomposing 

 or " fallowing" action which has been exercised upon it by the 

 atmosphere (1"357). In N. Marshall, especially, striking instances 

 of this kind have often occured. In general, these washed surfaces 

 require to be treated like subsoil fields (1T506). 



As regards the cure of washes already formed, it is oftentimes by no means 

 easy. It cannot always be done by simply filling them up, because the loose 

 material thus introduced is liable to be washed away again by the first hard rain ; 

 unless, at the same time, an underdrain is laid at the bottom of the gully, so as 

 to carry off the water rapidly, without allowing it to set the mass afloat. 



629 *. South of the waters of Wolf River, on the northern 

 branches of Tippah Creek, in Tippah county, the land is generally 

 much inferior to that of the "Table-land" region. The surface is 

 much broken, and the covering of loam thin or almost entirely 

 wanting on the ridge lands, whose soil is sandy, and timbered, 

 chiefly with inferior Post Oak and Black Jack, at first only with 

 occasional streaks of Pine, which gradually becomes one of the 

 regular occupants of the soil ; some Chestnut, also, is almost 

 invariably present. The slopes towards the bottom, however, (as 

 well as the latter themselves) are of good quality, and resemble 

 the " Table-land" soil. 



Very nearly the same condition of things obtains in TT. 5 and 6, R. 1 E., 

 save that the lands often possess somewhat the character of the " Hills of the 

 Flatwoods Region" (1T587) ; so that the country on the Ocklimita is an exact 

 copy of that on the headwaters of Yockney — e. <j., the Potlockney, Otuckalofa, 

 etc., and the same character continues E. of Tippah Creek, in Marshall county. 



629 2 . West of Tippah Creek the country improves, being less 

 broken, the Pine disappearing, the growth of the Post Oak and 



