THE LONG-LEAF PINE REGION. 69 



except an occasional matte of live-oak, and in the silt prairies a few 

 long-leaf pines. 



In fertility the soils vary greatly, the black prairie being quite fer- 

 tile; the others are less so, but none are very extensively cultivated. 

 The whole region is thinly settled. 



The soils are derived from the clays and other sediments of the Port 

 Hudson group, which also yield the soils of the alluvial region of the 

 rivers above mentioned. 



The silt prairies are usually ill-drained and little cultivated. 



A strip of this kind of laud lies between the Arkansas and White 

 Elvers, in the State of Arkansas. 



b. Savannas and prairies of Florida. — These are treeless regions, low- 

 lying and nearly level. The prairies are clothed with a carpet of grass 

 and make the best pasture lands; the savannas are usually covered 

 during a great part of the year with water, and present the appearance 

 of grassy lakes. The Florida everglades consist of a labyrinth of 

 marshes and savannas, intersected by extensive lagoons and lakes. 



None of these are of importance in cotton cultivation, except that 

 upon some of the prairies the sea -island or long-staple cotton is produced 

 to a limited extent. 



c. TJie gypsum lands and stalled plain of Texas and the Indian Nation. — 

 The gypsum lands are slightly rolling, with red loam soils, and are 

 almost destitute of timber. The plain is interspersed with hills in which 

 heavy beds of red clay and gypsum appear. 



The llano estacado and table lands of Texas are in all probability of 

 Cretaceous age, since the Eotten limestone with its characteristic fossils 

 appears in the deep canons of the south. This plain is very nearly level, 

 devoid of trees, and almost of water and grass, with some prominent 

 sand hills or dunes along the north of the region, and also on the east 

 of the Pecos Eiver, 



In addition to the above, the western portion of the red loam region of 

 Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Texas, which rests upon the Carboni- 

 ferous formation , a ssumes the characters of a prairie. See further under 

 "Eed loam region (6)." 



3. THE LONG-LEAF PINE KEGION. 



This division occupies a belt of width varying from 75 to 150 miles, 

 and extending from eastern Texas to Virginia along the Gulf and 

 Atlantic coasts. 



Its two most prominent subdivisions are based upon the proportions 

 existing between the long -leaf pine and the upland oaks among the ^Jm 

 ber trees. These subdivisions are — 



a. The long-leaf pine hills and flats; 



b. The oak and hickory uplands with long-leaf pine ; 



c. The hammocks of Florida, shell prairies, lime hills, and red Ume 

 lands of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. 



