1750, 751] TALLLAHALA BOTTOM. 343 



position would seem to rank as of medium fertility. The region in which it 

 was taken, is a continuation of the low, level hammock of the West Tallahala, 

 which, nearer to the stream, possesses a pale, ashy soil, with a heavy clay sub- 

 soil. Where the " Post Oak Prairie " occurs at a higher level, as in the country 

 dividing the E Tallahala and Tallahoma, on the Paulding and Montrose road, 

 the timber is more vigorous, and the soil of a more yellowish tint. The composi- 

 tion of the soil analyzed approaches very closely to that of the underclay of the 

 Monroe Prairie (if 5 18, It'), save in that it contains only half the amount of 

 lime; it is almost entirely deficient in vegetable matter, which accounts for its 

 want of thriftiiies-s. The addition of the latter is probably, next to drainage 

 (If410), and deep tillage (1(503), the most essential condition of the reclamation 

 of the " hog-bed " soil for profitable culture ; and the use of the calcareous marls 

 of the region (H'288), would no doubt, also be found a great improvement, since 

 it essentially requires stimulation. It is deficient in Phosphoric Acid, which 

 might be given it as bones, or superphosphate (Tf433); plaster, also, would 

 probably prove of essential benefit. 



750. The wide bottom of the West Tallahala, in the region where the specimen 

 of "Hog- wallow" soil was taken, possesses a heavy "black prairie" soil, tim- 

 bered almost exclusively with the Chestnut White or Basket Oak; of great 

 depth, and probably of exceeding fertility for corn at least ; it has, however, 

 scarcely been tested as yet, in consequence, it is said, of the unhealthiness of the 

 region, but probably equally as much on account of the absence of water, the 

 Tallahala not having water even in pools for several months. As there can now 

 be little doubt that even artesian bores would succeed in this region (T[325), it is 

 to be hoped that these rich lands will not long remain unoccupied. 



It is on the whole but rarely that, in the region mentioned, the "hog-bed" 

 soil is not found to a limited extent at least, intervening between the sandy 

 ridge soils and the bottom prairies. On the upper Tallahoma, in T. 4, and N. 

 E. corner of T. 3, R. 11 E., as also on Arehusaand Quatalya Creeks in N. % T. 

 4, R. 10 E., the hog- bed soil is but thinly represented, the sandy hills sloping 

 down at once into a black prairie bottom ; and the same is the case as, in West 

 Jasper, we approach the line of the Vicksburg Group (see map). This portion 

 of the county I have not personally visited, but according to the best accounts 

 I have, the sandy Long-leaf Pine ridges are there interspersed with strips of 

 black prairie along the streams ; which in its intermixture with the sandy hill 

 soil, forms small bodies of very fertile land. 



751. East Jasper I have not visited : it is said to correspond 

 closely, on the whole in its agricultural features to the western 

 portion at the corresponding points of the formations, 80 that a 

 general similarity of character is found in a N. W. and S. E. direc- 

 tion (see map). 



On both sides of the Paulding ridge (H651, ff), the lands are, for a mile or 

 two, of the yellow loam character, until we descend to the level, first of the 

 "hog- wallow", and then of the "black" prairie. Near Garlandsville, on the 

 extreme heads of the Suanlovey and East Tallahala CTJ"_i88>, there is quite an 

 extensive tract of calcareous prairie, both of the " black " and " bald " character; 

 which is here, as in S. E. Mississippi generally, termed " shell prairie " in contra- 

 distinction to the " Post Oak" or ■' Hog wallow" prairie. In the bottom of the 

 Suanlovey, there are sometimes, where the upland prairie approaches the creek 

 closely, tracts of a few hundred acres, of jet black prairie soil, two to three feet 

 deep, and characterized by a growth of large Sweet Gum, Ash, Elm, Cottonwood, 

 Maple and Water Oak ; which, though no doubt profusely fertile, has hardly bees, 

 tested yet. The upland prairies, also, are much praised ; it is said that on the 

 bald prairies, where the white 'shell rock" (if 208), is near the surface, cotton 

 "rusts "; this is, no doubt, to be considered as having received an overdressing of 

 marl, and its defects will be remedied in a like manner (1T460) — simply, perhaps. 



