12 



early last spring, by devoting every Saturday and the few leisure 

 hours I could spare during the rest of the week from my other pro- 

 fessorial duties, to botanical excursions within the limits of the 

 parishes of East and West Baton Rouge. I visited early in April 

 the extreme western portion of the parish of East Baton Rouge, on 

 the Amite river. The land lying between the banks of the Missis- 

 sippi and the Comite rivers, where it is not Mississippi river alluvion, 

 is composed of the fine silt of the Port Hudson formation, and is 

 very desirable land for the cultivation of cotton. The principal 

 trees, which constitute the predominant growth of the forest, are 

 the water oak, the swamp chestnut oak, the post oak, the willow 

 oak and beech, intermixed with magnolias, hickory, locust and a few 

 scattered tulip trees. But, passing the Comite river, the soil grad- 

 ually changes; it partakes of the nature of the red sindy loam of the 

 upper series of the orange sand formation, and being largely inter- 

 mixed with lime nodules, which, in one particular place, literally 

 pave the edge of the road with their hard and bone like concretions, 

 \the land is still good, and produces fair cotton and corn crops. On 

 appoaching nearer the Amite river, the soil becomes more sandy; 

 the swamp chestnut oak ceases to form the characteristic growth: 

 water and willow oaks and hickory nearly disappear, and the beech 

 alone remains, with black jack and post oak, and an occasional mag- 

 nolia. On the banks of the Amite, where the fossiliferous gravel 

 soil is reached, the pine makes its appearance, but sparsely inter- 

 mixed with oak and a few other trees. This soil is poor, and, unless 

 heavily manured, does not yield good crops to render its cultivation 

 profi able. 



I also made several nying excursions, during the spring season, 

 across the river, in West Baton Bouge; but while I collected many 

 in1er< sting specimens in the vicinity of the Mississippi river, want 

 of time and the swampy naiure of the roads prevented me from 

 extending my botanical excursions into the interior of the parish. 

 The soil in this parish is very rich, partaking of the nature of the 

 Mississippi alluvion, and the sugar plantations present a far neater 

 app< arance than those on the east side of the river. The land on 

 Giosse Tete bayou is considered the finest in the State, and is pre- 

 ferred to the river land, because it is less infested with the nut 

 grass, which taxes so much the patience and industry of the planter. 



