452 



THE SOUTHEKN PLANTEK. 



[August 



Carolina Bed" of Eocene of lower Soutli 

 Carolina. This is merely mentioned here 

 to prevent any of my remarks being- applied 

 to this more southern or eocene marl region, 

 which, in Alabama, I did not visit. The 

 region of the exposed cretaceous formation 

 includes, wholly or in part, the counties 

 of Russell, Barbour, Macon, Montgomery, 

 Lowndes, Willcox, Dallas, Perry, Marengo, 

 Sumpter, Grreene, and Pickens. When the 

 first settlements of Alabama were begun, in 

 1817, nearly ail this broad space was cover- 

 ed by a thick under-growth of cane, which 

 was the more dense and tall in Marengo. 

 The cane is very like the reed of lower Vir- 

 ginia, and not readily distinguishable from 

 it by cursory observation. Bat those per- 

 sons who are well acquainted with both 

 plants, know the differences. The cane not 

 only grows to much larger sizes, (under the 

 favorable conditions of rich soil and warm 

 climate,) but it also covers, and flourishes 

 on, high and dry, as well as moister lands; 

 whereas the reed grows only on very wet 

 and swampy ground. When the first white 

 pioneers and settlers entered this region, 

 they could scarcely penetrate through the 

 close and general covering of cane on the 

 calcareous and richest land. And at a later 

 time, the most frequented roads through the 

 richest lands were covered across by the 

 leaniuig' and overhanging and interlocked 

 tops of the tall canes, growing on each side, 

 rendering the passage of travellers slow and 

 difficult. Tall trees over- topped the cane 

 growth everywhere, except on the compara- 

 tively small spaces of " bald prairie.'^ There 

 are now but few and scant remains of this 

 former general dense cover of tall cane — 

 and only in such spots as, from some acci- 

 dental causes, have not been cultivated, and 

 yet, being enclosed, are protected from the 

 access of grazing animals. The leaves of 

 the cane furnish excellent food for cattle, 

 and through the winter. Therefore, the 

 numerous cattle introduced and kept by the 

 white settlers, in the course of time, have 

 destroyed and kept down the growth of 

 cane in the woods and grazing w^aste lands, 

 as cultivation has eradicated it on the en- 

 closed fields. 



The only water, then, to be obtained in 

 summer, w^as in a few ponds, or small lakes, 

 which have dried up since the general clear- 

 ing and tillage of the country, and in the 

 small detatched and temporary pools along 

 the bottoms of what had been water-courses 



in winter, supplied by surface rain-water 

 only, and which ceased to be streams through 

 all the dryer and much longer portion . of 

 every year. The scarcity of water forbade 

 the Indians making this region a continuous 

 dwelling-place, or even a long continued 

 camp — and this scarcity presented the great- 

 est obstacles to settlement, and was the 

 cause of long, continued suffering — before 

 being removed — to the earlier white settlers, 

 many of whom still dwell on their earliest 

 clearings, and remember well the former 

 want of and suffering for water. 



The great distinctive feature of thi« 

 "cane-brake," or calcareous region, is the 

 universal under-bed of soft and very rich 

 calcareous rock, or hard marl, which some- 

 times is very near to, or actually exposed at 

 the surface, and more generally is to be 

 reached at a few feet below the surface — 

 and is found almost everywhere within fif- 

 teen or eighteen feet. The upper layer of 

 this rock is usually, but not always, the soft- 

 est, and may be considered as a rich com- 

 pact marl — not too hard to be dug easily. 

 This is of a dingy, yellowish white color. 

 Below this, and usually within a few feet of 

 the surface of the higher, is a universal bed 

 of still more compact marl, or soft marl- 

 stone, of very uniform texture and other 

 characters. This is bluish when moist in its 

 bed, and nearly white when dug up and ex- 

 posed to dry air. Though very c:mpact, 

 and much more difficult to dig, yet when 

 exposed on the surface to the air and rains, 

 this disintegrates completely, and, in one or 

 two years, becomes in texture a finely redu- 

 ced earth. This compact bed of the lower 

 marl or soft limestone, along its northern 

 border, thins out until it is lost, the inferior 

 bed there rising to and occupying the same 

 face. But as proceeding soutliward, the 

 cretaceous rock becomes thicker, and is near- 

 ly, if not exceeding, 1000 feet where thick- 

 est and near the southern line of its surface 

 exposure. The numerous Artesian wells 

 have to pass through this solid bed to obtain 

 water from the sand beds below ; and there- 

 fore the depth of the bottom of the creta- 

 ceous marl has been ascertained in many 

 places, and throughout nearly the whole re- 

 gion. Thus it has been learned that the 

 general gentle dip towards the south, is by 

 no means regular, anxi the under surface of 

 the cretaceous bed is a plane far from uni- 

 form. At Selma, borings of 400 feet bring 

 up water — while in a more soiathern part of 



* 4 • 



