374 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [1834, 835 



the French Creoles, " I'herbe a trois quarts ", and is considered as an indication 

 of an excellent soil. 



The area occupied by the "shell hommocks" on the coast of 

 Mississippi, is on the whole quite limited. Usually, the " sand 

 hommocks" come up to the beach, forming a sandy bank from ten 

 to twenty feet high, which falls off rather abrubtly towards the 

 water's edge. It is only in a few places (as for instance, at the 

 Ocean Springs, and about six miles west of Shieldsboro wharf, 

 near Col. Claiborne's residence), that yellow brick clay or loam 

 forms the bank : generally, it is composed of gray sands of various 

 degrees of purity, down to low tide-water. 



834. The Marshes. — It has been mentioned, that the " horn- 

 mocks " exteud inland in narrow strips or bands. These are 

 usually from § to | mile in width, and are separated from one 

 another by small marshes formed by short water-courses which 

 empty immediately into the sea. There are, in fact, few water- 

 courses, large or small, which do not form a marsh at their mouth, 

 on the shore of Mississippi Sound. The Pascagoula, Tshula, 

 Cahawfa, Biloxi, Wolf, Jourdan and Pearl, form very extensive 

 marshes, the reclamation of which, for agricultural purposes, would 

 add considerably to the sum total of arable lands along the waste. 

 The small marshes just referred to, (which form the natural boun- 

 daries, as it were, between adjoining lots, usually occupied, each 

 one, by a residence) afford a good opportunity of studying the 

 several kinds of marsh soil. They differ, however, from the 

 marshes of the larger streams, in that their soil, of whatever kind, 

 is always very sandy ; while in the larger marshes, such as those 

 of Wolf and Pearl rivers, we generally find near to the main 

 stream, quite a heavy soil. The cause of this difference is easily 

 explained. The short streamlets have their origin in the Sand 

 hommocks and Gallberry Flats, a short distance inland, and in the 

 whole of their course, find nothing but sand to carry with them; 

 while the larger streams, as we shall see hereafter, have to a great 

 extent cut their channels in strata of stiff gray clays, which under- 

 lie the superficial sands ; and as a natural consequence, their delta- 

 deposits must be of a heavier nature. 



835. Two kinds of marshes are most generally distinguished on the coast, 

 viz: 1. Those occupied chiefly by the " Cutting rush " (Jonc coupant of the 

 Creoles), a sedge-grass with a triangular stem, with formidably sharp, saw- 

 toothed leaves, which the visitor soon learns to hold in awe. 2. The Round 

 rush marsh, occupied mainly by a leafless, soft, pithy rush, with a round 

 ("terete'') stem (Scirpus sp.), and with it, we usually find the Marsh Milkweed 

 (Asclepias pawpercula), and a large species of Arrowhood (Sagittaria lana'fo- 

 lia). In both kinds of marsh, we frequently see stunted bushes of the Bay 

 Galls [Lauras carol inensis); and the Candloberry (Myrica carolinensis), is quite 

 at home in them. Stunted Pine, Cypress, Maple, Black Gum, etc., are some- 

 times scattered over the smaller marshes, especially those of the " Cutting Rush." 



In the marshes of the latter character, it is oftentimes easy to push down a 

 pole to the distance of eight to ten feet below the surface. The soil is, in fact, 

 a semifluid, sometimes almost gelatinous, mass of black, fetid muck, which 

 acquires a certain degree of firmness through the maze of thickly matted roots, 



