336 BOTANY AND PALEONTOLOGY 



shale is soft, easily penetrated by the roots of the trees, and easily decom- 

 posed by atmospheric action, it makes an excellent ground for the growth 

 of the trees, and consequently for the culture of fruit trees. While the 

 north counties of Arkansas scarcely cultivate any fruit, in these western 

 counties nearly every plantation on the red-upland is surrounded by a fine 

 orchard of peach and apple trees. 



Most of the too extensive flat lands of this division are prairies, which, 

 underlaid as they are by impermeable beds of shales or of fine clay, are 

 generally marshy. Their soil is too strong, hard, cold, acid, and scarcely 

 cultivated. In Washington County only some of these prairies underlaid 

 by red shales have a soil more permeable to water, and are partly cultivated. 

 South of the Arkansas River, they are used only as natural meadows for 

 cattle raising, and some of them pass to bottom-flats, characterized by some 

 trees, — the Water Oak, the Willow Oak, the Pin Oak, and still the Post- 

 Oak, all species which, except the last, are found also on the deep, fertile 

 bottoms of the rivers. 



Around Fayetteville, Washington County, the prairies show the peculiar 

 character of a complex formation, that has been already mentioned, page 

 57, and described by the Principal Geologist in the first volume of the 

 Report, page 112. The vegetation, as well as can be distinguished now, is 

 nearly the same as that of the high prairies, and still shows the influence 

 of the limestone. The shrubs are the Sumachs, the Hawthorns, the 

 Brambles, and the Winged Elm. Some of the coarsest species of the 

 prairie plants — the Ragweed, the Ironweed, the Basil, the Boneset — grows 

 there in abundance. Part of these prairies are in cultivation. But the 

 best land around Fayetteville is the red-upland, particularly good for the 

 culture of cotton. It gives also fine crops of corn and of wheat ; but it is 

 not so good for tobacco. 



Around Fayetteville and south of Washington County, through Craw- 

 ford County to the Arkansas River, the hills are high, steep, and all of 

 Millstone Grit formation. Where the top is flat, or at least unbroken, it 

 is generally cultivated. The soil of the Millstone Grit, though it has no 

 limestone, is richer than could be supposed from the porosity of the sand- 

 stone. It is light, sandy, permeable, and produces from twenty-five to 

 thirty bushels of corn, or fifteen to twenty bushels of wheat per acre. It 

 is still better for tobacco, giving, on an average, one thousand pounds per 

 acre.* This soil is soon exhausted, and should be carefully manured. In 

 dry seasons the crop is very short. Good springs are found at the top of 

 the Millstone Grit, even on hills of small extent ; but, generally, water is 

 scarce in summer. 



* These data were taken at the top of hills five hundred and fifty feet above Mill Creek, a 

 branch of the Middle Fork of White River. 



