68 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
a. The alluvial region of the 21ississippi and other large rivers. — These 
lands have a dense growth, consisting of sweet-gum, water, willow, red 
and swamp chestnut oaks, dogwood, ash, elm, maple, hackberry, &c. 
These alluvial lands constitute a nearly level plain intersected by 
numberless bayous. The highest lands are nearest to the water-courses, 
whence they slope gently towards the cypress swamp, which commonly 
occupies the central parts between two contiguous bayous. Where the 
alluvial plain is very wide, islands or low ridges of uplands, with char- 
acteristic oaks and short-leaf pine, break the monotony of the other- 
wise level plain. Crowley's Eidge in Arkansas may be cited as an ex- 
ample. 
The typical bottom soil is the so-called "buckshot clay," named from 
the circumstance that in drying it breaks up into small fragments about 
the size of buckshot. This soil appears to be the sediment which forms 
the ancient river plain, and it is most profusely fertile. 
Near the larger streams the soil is more sandy, and this sandiness 
decreases towards the cypress swamps, which in general have a heavy, 
clayey soil, somewhat like the buckshot soil, but which, from liability 
to overflow, are very little in cultivation. 
The cultivation of these bottom lands is mostly confiued to the narrow 
strip usually above overflow, lying contiguous to the streams, and called 
the frontland. The baclcland intervening between this and the cypress 
swamp is sometimes also in cultivation, but is rather liable to overflow. 
The quality of the soils varies between wide limits, the buckshot soil 
representing the one extreme, while light, siliceous, silty soils represent 
the other. 
b. The marsh lands. — These are usually devoid of large trees, but 
are occupied by rushes and sedges. They are comparatively little in 
cultivation and need not be further described. 
2. THE LOWER PRAIRIE REGION. 
Under this heading are included, besides the lower prairies of Lou- 
isiana and Texas, the savanna and prairie lands of Florida, and the 
llano estacado and gypsum lands of Texas and the Indian Nation. 
These latter have very little in common with the preceding except the 
absence or great scarcity of timber. 
With the exception of the coast prairies, they are of no importance 
in the cultivation of cotton, and require no special notice. 
a. The central and coast prairies. — In Louisiana these are of threefold 
character — black calcareous prairies, brown loam prairies, and gray 
silt prairies. In Texas the coast prairies are chiefly of the first sort, 
but in the eastern part of the State there are also some of the gray silt 
or pine prairies. 
In these prairies the soil varies from a black, calcareous loam to a fine, 
light colored silt. They are usually nearly level and devoid of trees, 
