76 KEPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



The ridges which divide the complex trough are composed of the chert 

 of the limestones, aud have siliceous soils, and are therefore more par- 

 ticuhirly spoken of under the next head. In the narrow anticlinal val- 

 leys which run parallel to the Coosa Valley, in Alabama, the brown and 

 red loam soils are of the same character as those just mentioned. Along 

 the edges of these valleys, on each side, there is usually a narrow strip 

 with yellowish loamy soil based upon the limestones of theSubcarbon- 

 iferous formation. These belts are generally in cultivation, and yield 

 good crops when properly cultivated. 



In Alabama the Coosa Valley is largely planted in cotton, but in Ten- 

 nessee its continuation (Valley of East Tennessee) is devoted less to 

 cotton and more to grain crops. 



These valley lands are not level, but are rolling and ridgy, and the 

 timber growth upon them is quite varied. 



On some of the rich red lands large white, red, and Spanish oaks, 

 hickories, sweet and sour gums prevail. 



Along the flinty ridges and at their bases where the soils are more 

 sandy and less fertile, post and black jack oaks and short-leaf pine be- 

 come characteristic, and in some portions of Alabama the long-leaf pine 

 is of constant occurrence, not only on the ridges, but also on the rolling 

 lands underlaid by the siliceous limestones. Such is particularly the 

 case in the vicinity of the Coosa Eiyer. 



(3) Tennessee Valley in I^orth Alabama. This division, like the 

 Basin of Tennessee, rest6 on limestones, which, however, belong to the 

 Subcarboniferous formation. The surface is slightly undulating, with 

 low, rocky knolls timbered with post and other oaks, the remnants of 

 a once universal forest of oaks and hickories. The greater part of this 

 valley is cleared and under cultivation, the exceptions being the flinty, 

 rocky knolls above mentioned, and glady places covered with red 

 cedar. 



The prevailing soil is a rather stiff loam of red to brown color, and it 

 is highly fertile in its virgin state. 



Notwithstanding the high latitude t)f the Tennessee Valley, a large 

 percentage of its area is devoted to the culture of cotton, as may be 

 seen from the map. 



b. Red loam lands icest of the Mississippi. — (1) Eed loam uplands and 

 prairies of Arkansas. These lands, as already stated, are based upon 

 the shales of the Coal-measures. The uplands are rolling or hilly, and 

 are timbered with a fine growth of red, scarlet, black, yellow, chestnut, 

 and laurel oaks, sweet and black gums, wild cherry, shell-bark hickory, 

 and other species. (Lesquereux.) 



The red upland soils are considered the most fertile of those occur- 

 ring in the western part of the State. Where the land is level or flat, 

 prairies are found, which, when the soil is close and clayey, are badly 

 drained and marshy and not in cultivation, though they make excellent 



