334 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [f730 



interstratified with the sandstone (1T231, ff.), contributes towards the formation 

 of the soil, the Pine is generally wanting, and the Post Oak and Black Jack alone 

 prevail. It is noticeable that almost over the whole of this region, the Long 

 Moss floats from the trees— even from the Pines — which I have never found to 

 be the case on infertile soils, however unpromising their aspect. Near Piaymond, 

 also, Pines are sometimes seen on the ridges, but generally, the timber consists 

 of the Spanish (" Red ") and (true) Pied Oaks, intermingled here and there with 

 Post Oak and Black Jack. The soil has been very much washed, so that the 

 original subsoil is now chiefly cultivated : hence a great lack of vegetable matter 

 in the present soil, which is, nevertheless, quite fertile. In W. and S. W. Hinds, 

 the lands, though not underlaid by marl strata, but by the gypseous clays of the 

 Grand Gulf Group (l[303 3 - ), are quite similar to those of N. Hinds and Madi- 

 son, before described, and the country is thickly settled. It is very likely that 

 some of the gypseous materials found in wells and bluffs (<?. g., Col. Dillon's- 

 neighborhood), would prove a valuable improvement to these soils, which, like 

 those of Madison, are giving out under the same exhaustive system, and may 

 no doubt be similarly, resuscitated (1[726). 



730. Of the extent and character of the prairies in Hinds county. 

 I know but little from personal observation. They seem to be of 

 small extent, and from the fact that crystals of gypsum, and oysters 

 both have been found on them there would seem to exist here 

 a similar diversity of soils, as will be below described in Rankin 

 county (1733, If.). There is also the same complaint of " salty 

 spots' 7 in the fields, which seems in all cases to arise from the 

 stagnation of the water where the gray, lignito-gypseous clays 

 (1214, ff.), which, among others, we observe in the gullies, and in 

 the railroad cut at Clinton, are near the surface. 



In this case, the water abstracts from them their salts, and evaporating on 

 the surface, deposits them there, to the detriment of vegetation, which is 

 "scalded" by their excess, although essentially, they contain the nutritive 

 ingredients of plants in great abundance. 



Nothing short of thorough-drainage can be expected to remedy permanently, this 

 evil where it exists ; it will no doubt, in the course of a few years, by itself remove 

 every injurious excess of salts, leaving behind only those which are useful, and 

 are therefore retained by the soil (IT 378). The composition of the salts thus 

 effervescing on the surface shows, however, that their injurious action can to a 

 great extent be counteracted by the application oilime, or marl, or of ashes ; and the 

 use of these remedies even where thorough-drainage is at once resorted to. 

 because they will aid in retaining in the soil, the nutritive portion of these salts. 



An analysis of the latter, from a salty spot in Dr. Catching's field (1T725). 

 showed it to consist chiefly of the Chlorides of Sodium (common salt) and 

 Magnesium, with the Sulphates of Potassa, Lime, Magnesia, Alumina, and Iron. 



The latter three, which are very prejudicial to vegetation, will 

 be at once decomposed by lime, or marl. It cannot decompose the 

 common salt, however, which must be removed by drainage — a 

 moderate amount of the latter substance, however, is often pur- 

 posely added to the soil, which it stimulates (T435). 



In another instance, a specimen of salts from a salty spot in 

 Squire Batt's field, four and a half miles east of Brandon, gave the 

 following result : Chloride of Sodium (common salt), Sulphates of 

 Magnesia (Epsom Salt), Iron (Copperas), Alumnia (Alum); Nitrate 

 of Magnesia ? quite largely. Here, also, the remedies are evi- 

 dently the same ; the formation of saltpetre proves more strongly 



