•[731, 732] PEARL RIVER soils. 335 



the stag-nation of water, and the necessity of drainage. The lands 

 so treated will afterwards, no doubt, prove of remarkable fertility s 

 as in some instances has already been experienced. 



731. Pearl River Soils. — The soils of Pearl River hommackha,VQ already 

 been described, in general (II G62). Those of the portion of the river embraced 

 within the Central Prairie Region do not exhibit any striking difference, as far 

 as observed, save where, as near Jackson, the washings of the tertiary marls 

 come down upon them, when they sometimes become quite stiff, though (as 

 shown by the weeds growing on them), very fertile, and no doubt susceptible 

 of great improvement by the use of the marls so accessible in the neighborhood 

 (TT282). Like most hommock soils, it is very deficient in vegetable matter. 



The soils of the bottom proper, where it exists, are usually light and sandy, 

 often vieing, in that particular, with the Seacoast Hommocks (1T832, 850, ff.), 

 and therefore somewhat drouthy. 



The extensive sloughy bottom which skirts Pearl River on the west at, and 

 for some distance above and below Jackson, exhibits a very singular soil, viz : 

 a gray or yellowish, semi-indurate silt or hardpan, with but little coarse sand, 

 which packs very closely, and approaches in character some of the heavy 

 silicious soils mentioned (U"40-±). On roadsides, in washes, on the banks of 

 sloughs, etc., it is seen disintegrated in rounded, nodular forms, like the Flat- 

 woods Clay (TT165, ff.), and instinctively impresses the observer as though it 

 were a very clayey soil ; when wetted, however, it acts somewhat like the calca- 

 reous silt of the Southern River Counties («n"690), like which in times of drouth, 

 it cracks open ; becoming, however, of a stony hardness. Spots where this soil 

 prevails characteristically, are almost exclusively timbered with small Sweet 

 Gum. 



Near the river banks, where the admixture of sand renders the material more 

 open, these faults are to a great degree insensible, and the timber as well as the 

 smaller growth testifies to the improvement. A great deal can no doubt be done 

 for this soil by the simple admixture of sand, and also, of vegetable matter, in 

 which it is very deficient ; the sandy marls occurring in the river banks (1T205 ; 

 283), however, would undoubtedly be the most profitable material, improving 

 the soil in many respects at once (^417). As to the native fertility of this 

 singular soil, analysis will show how far it can be improved by mere stimulation ; 

 its forest growth is fine, though sparse. 



732. Rankin and Scott. — The portion of Rankin county lying 

 S. of the line of the Vicksburg Group (see map) bears the character 

 of the Long-leaf Pine Region, if we except the belt bordering on 

 Pearl River, and the " Flatwoods" of lower Steen's Creek (1772). 

 In the N. portion of the county, however, we have a great diversity 

 of fertile soils. In passing from Jackson to Brandon, after crossing 

 the bottom and hommock of Pearl River, we ascend into a rolling,, 

 sandy country with a yellow loam soil underlaid by deeply tinted 

 Orange Sand, and strongly suggestive of the second-rate ridge 

 lands in Lafayette county. This belt is here about four miles in 

 width, and skirts the hommock of Pearl River on the E., with a 

 visible width, throughout Rankin, and a portion, at least, of 

 Simpson county. It is timbered with Post, Spanish (" Red") and 

 Black Jack Oak, and well settled, although the soil is rather sandy r 

 and the loam stratum, here at least, is very thin ; it is better 

 developed, and forms large and fertile bodies of land, further S., on 

 Steen's Creek, bordering the Pearl River Hommock. — It yields 

 mostly freestone springs and wells. 



