1 



456 THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



thus selected, and such as were the most 

 sure to settle the disputed question, which 

 it seemed I had now raised. In ail these 

 trials, of ^' post-oak" soils of various shades 

 and qualities, and including some which 

 (from their value and qaalities) the intelli- 

 gent proprietors were most confident of be- 

 ing highly calcareous, there was not one 

 specimen examined by me, or brought to my 

 notice that contained the least intermixture 

 of carbonate of lime. And before I had 

 provided the means for thus readily testing 

 specimens, and exhibiting manifest evidence 

 of the absence of all carbonate of lime, I 

 had felt assured of that general proposition, 

 by the character of the forest growth, the 

 appearance of the soil, and still more by the 

 tact that I heard, that there was no difficulty 

 in making and burning bricks of the " post- 

 oak" soil. Any notable quantity of carbon- 

 ate of lime, in burning, would be made 

 quick -lime, and slake afterwards when re- 

 ceiving moisture, and thereby, necessarily, 

 would cause bricks to burst open or crum- 

 ble. 



The earliest French travellers and settlers 

 on the Mississippi and its branches, when 

 seeing lands bare of trees, and covered by 

 tall grass, called them " prairies," (mea- 

 dows.) This term has become universal 

 in all the western states, (though usually 

 disguised by a corrupted pronunciation, as 

 pararah,") for all new lands destitute of 

 trees. Here, these former naked spaces 

 bore but a very small proportion to the great 

 extent of land upon which tall forest trees 

 over-shadowed the dense under-growth of 

 cane. The naked, or true prairies, in this 

 region, were rarely more than a few acres 

 in extent. Bat the peculiar and remarka- 

 ble visible qualities of the soil agreed pre- 

 cisely with those of all the fther neighbor- 

 ing or surrounding black land, (all being 

 caused by the abundant though unequal quan- 

 tities of lime in both kinds.) Therefore, 

 though these forest-covered lands wanted 

 the very mark of distinction implied in the 

 name, yet to these also was extended the 

 name of " prairie " — and the two varieties 

 were distinguished as bald prairie " and 

 " wooded prairie.'' The trees covering these 

 wooded prairies, were such as thrive best on 

 calcareous and the richest neutral soils, as 

 black-walnut, ash, shell-bark hickory, po- 

 paw, &c. Scarcely any of this always very 

 fertile soil now remains uncleared^ or bear- 

 ing its original forest cover. 



[August 



All the terms, used by the residents (as 

 above stated, and also others,) to designate 

 and distinguish these soils are unsatisfacto- 

 ry; and the distinctions (and agreements) 

 of qualities, designed to be thus indicated, 

 are founded on erroneous grounds. Also 

 the terms are different, or the same terms 

 are applied differently, in different localities. 

 It would be better to arrange all the soils 

 first into the two great divisions of calca- 

 reous, (or such as will effervesce on the ap- 

 plication of diluted muriatic acid,) and the 

 non-calcareous — and of which latter much 

 also is neutral soil. All of the so-called 

 " prairie " lands, of both kinds, so far as I 

 have tested these soils, are calcareous — gen- 

 erally highly so — containing usually from 8 

 to 20 per cent, of carbonate of lime — and 

 the " bald prairie " lands are excessively 

 and injuriously supplied with carbonate of 

 lime, having sometimes 50 per cent, or more, 

 and the soil thereby is rendered much less 

 productive, and, in extreme cases, nearly 

 barren. The second great division embraces 

 all the lands called post-oak," of many 

 shades and qualities, and the most distinctly 

 marked reddish and yellowish surfaces. As 

 said before, I have found none of these to 

 effervesce with acid — and therefore they 

 cannot contain any carbonate of lime — not- 

 withstanding the general and heretofore un- 

 disputed opinion of the residents and plan- 

 ters to the contrary.* 



Thus, after recently testing a number of 

 different soils, and by carefully selected spe- 

 cimens of soils seen in their natural places 

 — as well as formerly having more carefull}' 

 analysed (for the calcareous contents only,) 

 many hard specimens sent to me and des- 

 cribed by other persons — I now venture to 

 assert that all of the high-lying black soils, 



* It is proper that I should admit that, though 

 perhaps not positively and directly, yet indirect- 

 ly, Mr. Tuomey's Reports seem much more to 

 oppose than to sustain my opinion, of the gene- 

 ral absence of carbonate of lime in the " post- 

 oak " soils. He has not, indeed, distinctly 

 affirmed the opposite opinion, as a general rule; 

 but it would seem to l3e indirectly asserted, in 

 such soils not being mentioned as being excep- 

 tional to the stated general rule of the highly 

 calcareous constitution of the soils of this re- 

 gion in general. But there is also some direct 

 evidence of this opposing opinion. First, Prof. 

 Tuomey calls these soils "post-oak prainesy 

 At page 140 of First Report, he said, The 

 stratum from which the soil of the post-oak 

 prairies is derived, it is probable, was never 

 continuous, but was deposited, as I have already 



