THE SPONTANEOUS FLORA OF ALABAMA IN ITS 
RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 
The relation of flora to soil has long been recognized by the observing 
agriculturist, who judges the fertility of the virgin soil by the quality 
and vigor of the tree growth which it supports. The consideration of 
the laws which control the distribution of species within certain limits 
which are recognized as the boundary lines of the life zones of our 
continent points at once to the crops naturally adapted to them. 
Directing the attention to the influence of the secondary factors, by 
which species and their associations are restricted to minor areas 
Within the principal zones, recognized as subordinate floral regions, it 
becomes evident that among these factors the physical and chemical 
conditions of the soil are most potent. The character of the vegetation 
becomes thus clearly the indicator of the soil conditions. Guided 
further by practical experience and the teachings of science, the fitness 
of the land for the production of a special crop can often be ascertained 
by the farmer from the character of the vegetation alone, without having 
to resort to costly and time-consuming experimentation. In Alabama, 
as well as in the adjoining States, where the efforts of the agriculturist 
have been and still are almost entirely confined to a single crop (cotton), 
recorded experiences of this kind are greatly wanting. The writer has, 
however, made the attempt to bring together the facts observed by 
him in this direction, which might serve to stimulate the further 
investigation of a subject of great practical importance to the farmer. 
Beginning, in the consideration of the relations of the flora to the 
agricultural interests, with the subtropical part of the State (the Loui- 
sianian life area), the following facts, serving as unfailing guides, present 
themselves. In the Coast plain, where the upland hammocks prevail, 
with their growth of evergreen oaks (live oak, laurel oak) and mag- 
nolias, with their variety of shrubbery—where the Cuban pine in its best 
development has replaced the original heavy growth of long-leaf pine, 
with gallberry bushes for the undergrowth, and the ground covered by 
a dense turf of horn rushes (Rynchospora), tall broom grasses (Andro- 
pogon virginicus, A. glomeratus), Manisuris, Paspalum (P. praecox), with 
golden-rods (Solidago stricta, S. angustifolia, Huthamia graminifolia, E. 
caroliniana), numerous Eupatoriums, blazing star (Lacinaria spicata), 
Aster (A. dumosus and others)—there is always found a soil of light 
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