USA > Alabama > Hand-book of Alabama. A complete index to the state, with map > Part 38
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A third variety of soil common in this region is a mixed one-a stiff, waxy, reddish or chocolate colored clayey mate- rial, difficult of cultivation, but fertile, and in most respects similar to the post oak prairie soil of the upper prairie region, which it resembles not only in its mode of formation, but also in its timber, which is mostly post oak, associated with some short leaf pine, hickory, sweet gum and dogwood, all draped with long moss.
The Long Leaf Pine Region .- This region has an area of about 7,790 square miles, and may be subdivided into the long leaf pine hills; the rolling and open pine woods and lime sink region, and the pine fluts.
Long Leaf Pine Hills .- The northern border of the long leaf pine region differs from the rest of it chiefly in being con- siderably more broken. . In agricultural characters this divis- ion does not differ essentially from the next succeeding, and the characteristic soils will be described under that head.
Rolling and Open Pine Woods and Lime Sink Region .- This region includes parts of the following counties: Wash- ington, Mobile, Baldwin, Clarke, Monroe, Conecuh, Escambia,
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
Covington, Coffee, Geneva, Dale and Henry, and embraces an area of 6,570 square miles.
The prevailing soil of this region is sandy, and of a gray or ash color. In the better spots the color is a dark gray. The bottom lands have, as a rule, light sandy, but productive soils.
Upon the uplands throughout this division, the prevailing timber growth is the long leaf pine, associated with little or no undergrowth, but with blackjack, turkey and high ground willow oaks and some hickories, upon the sterile sandy ridges the growth is stunted and scrubby oaks of several species are associated with the scrubby pines. The usual timber growth in the bottom lands consists of magnolia, bay, ti-ti, sweet-leaf. juniper, star anise, laurel, sweet shrub, etc. The open swamps in the region have the richest and most varied herbaceous flora.
The face of the country is in general quite rolling, with no great differences in elevation. The absence of all under- brush in many of the pine forests enables one to see for great distances between the straight trunks of the pines, and over the rolling land thus unobstructed by undergrowth a wagon may be driven in any direction without following any beaten track. The pines shade the ground comparatively little and a great variety of grasses and leguminous plants flourish and give sustenance to herds of cattle and sheep.
Pine Flats .- Towards the gulf coast the rolling pine lands sink away into low pine barrens, in which the true growth consists. of the long leaf pine and the so-called Cuban pine, and with these a smaller growth of several species of ilex, etc. The low, wet margins of the ponds support a varied and beau- tiful herbaceous growth. The soil here is sandy and sour, "- little suited to cultivation, and cotton is not planted. The settlements are confined to the vicinity of the streams.
The coast plain and the islands off the coast have gener- ally a soil of drifting sands, destitute of timber, but support- ing a few characteristic shrubs and lesser plants. The pine flats are limited to the lower parts. of Mobile and Baldwin counties as a body, but low pine barrens of very similar nature are seen further inland.
Products, Climate, Etc .- The soils of the long leaf pine region are light, thin and sandy, as a rule : and. as yet, have no very great agricultural value. Still, there are many fertile
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localities in this section : notably in the richer counties of Butler, Monroe, Clarke, and Choctaw, which amply reward the husbandman for his labor.
These pine lands-thin though they be-are susceptible of great and comparatively easy and inexpensive improvement, . and have of late years very much increased in value for mar- ket gardening purposes, and will continue to increase with advancing railroad facilities, and the demand for early vege- tables for the northern markets. The means of their enrich- ment lie immediately at hand, in the pine straw which falls annually, and the marls of this section which, with this straw, make an admirable and inexpensive compost.
From the nature of its soil, this pine region is peculiarly adapted to the root erops and the growing of vegetables. Sugar cane, which has entered extensively into its economy since the war, is grown here quite extensively, and its products rival, in quality, those of the famous Louisiana cane. The sweet potato may be said to arrive at perfection here-and its fine yoms are celebrated, both for size and taste. No where does the watermelon do so well, except upon the equally as sandy soils of New Jersey. For size and flavor, the water- melons of this section are unsurpassed. The other melon crops do equally as well.
Nearly all the varieties of vegetables can be successfully cultivated upon these soils, and their yield in this respect never fails to excite surprise-producing far in excess of richer but stiffer, and less porous soils. To the experienced gar- dener, This region, wherever railroad facilities are at hand, presents an inviting field for the growing of early vegetables for northern markets. Already, in the neighborhood of Mo- bile, this industry is assuming large proportions .* The lands around Mobile are identical with those throughout the rest of this section. Here, and elsewhere in this section, the season is from four to six weeks in advance of the season in higher latitudes : and there is a growing demand for these early veg- etables-the producers finding no difficulty in disposing of products. The railroads leaving Mobile, recognizing the im- portanee to them as well as to the producers of this growing
. For the shipments of early vegetables from Mobile during the year 1891-92. see page 313, ante.
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
industry, extend to its development all the aid in their power. and by reduced freight charges-which will decrease as ship- ments increase, and in a greater ratio-enable the producer to realize a fair profit.
The growing of early fruits for northern markets is also a promising industry in this region, and the shipments of such show a large increase with each year. The peach is perfectly at home in Alabama, and no where more so than in this pine region. Here, with proper culture and attention, it reaches perfection. Here it ripens from one month to six weeks ear- lier than it does in the north and west; and early shipments find a ready and remunerative sale in those markets. The ·shipments of the earlier kinds commence the last week in May. and are continued, with the other varieties in succession, to . the middle of July. Certain varieties of the pear also do well in this region with proper culture, and shipments of the early kinds to northern markets pay well.
The strawberry grows finely and produces abundantly in this section, and early shipments make remunerative returns. The fig does well here, also; and there is no reason why, in time, this region should not become a large shipper of this deli- cious fruit in its dried state. The little blue fig of this section is unsurpassed for flavor. On the coast below Mobile very fine native oranges are produced. Many other fruits do well in this section : only those for which it is peculiarly adapted having been enumerated above. Cotton, corn and oats also do reason- ably well, with judicious manuring and cultivation. The forest growth of long-leaved or yellow pine affords an abundance of superior and accessible lumber for feneing, house building, etc., white excellent fuel is abundant in the scrubby oak and other groves nearly everywhere interspersing this section.
The roads are smooth and hard : excellent in winter and summer. Its water is abundant, pure, and wholesome; and the health of these high, dry, pine lands equal to that of any region in the world. The exhalations from its grand old for- ests of pine are life-giving, and a sure safeguard against those great destroyers-consumption and cholera. In the beneficent order of nature-an order which d s not give to any one sec- tion all the advantages, and to ar ther all the disadvantages of life -it seems decreed that th we locations the least fertile
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should be the most healthful, and those the richest the most wanting in this regard.
So genial is the climate of this pine belt, its summer heats tempered by the moist, sweet breezes of the gulf, which con- tinually blow over it during the heated term, and its winters moderated by the influence of that great river in the ocean- the warm Gulf Stream, that vegetation is almost perennial, and crop succeeds to crop with scarcely any intermission.
Alluvial Region .- Under this head may be included the second bottoms, or hammocks of the various rivers and larger streams of the State: the swamps and annually overflowed lands, or first bottoms of the same streams; and the sands and saline marshes of the coast.
Second Bottoms-The yellowish loam constituting the upper layers of these deposits often to a depth of ten feet makes usually a soul of great fertility and underlies most of the fine river plantations of former and present times.
Ricer Stamps and First Bottoms .- These deposits have already been spoken of in some detail in the geological article, Part Eleventh,* and little more need be said concerning them. Below the junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, the waters of these streams reach the bay of Mobile by several channels, the principal of which is the Mobile river, but the Tensas and Middle rivers and others diverge from the main stream and form a kind of delta region. low. flat and subject to overflow, generally covered with a growth of cypress. Near the bay this swamp assumes the character rather of a marsh, in which the courses of the stream are often nearly indistin- guishable. These swamps are uncultivated and.have in drier spots, besides the cypress, tupelo gum and several species of poplar, elms, palmetto, etc. In the delta region, and also along the shores of the bay, are found numerous shell heaps accumu- lated by human agency. These heaps are now, generally, either wholly or partially submerged, showing that the sub- sidence of this part of the State is now in progress.
Saline Marshes of the Coast .- These are found only in the counties of Mobile and Baldwin. They are without tim- ber, but have a herl- ceons growth chiefly of rushes and sedges, which is chara eristic. The muck of decayed vege-
· See page 422, ante .
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table matter from the marshes may often be applied with profit to the sandy soils which adjoin them and the marshes themselves in other States have sometimes been reclaimed for cultivation. The area of sea-marsh in Alabama, on account of comparatively limited extent of coast, is necessarily small, and few, if any, attempts have been made towards reclamation.
In conclusion, it may be said, that of the land of the State, a considerable amount is Government land, and subject to entry under the National Homestead and Pre-emption laws, at nominal figures ; while of the land held by individuals, only about one-third is in cultivation, the balance being unculti- vated, or primitive wood-land. Besides this available land lying out, to use a common expression, there are many large and small farms, under good cultivation, in all portions of the State, which may be rented for one, two, three, four, and five years, or even longer, at prices ranging from one to three dollars an acre, according to locality and improvement : or purchased on long time, and from $2.50 to $15.00 an acre. While almost every crop, known and cultivated, can be grown in this State, its great staples have been cotton, corn, wheat and oats. Since the war, in many portions of the State, rice, sugar cane, tobacco, millet, chufas, and the grasses have en- tered largely into the farming economy, yielding fine returns.
The rainfall of Alabama averages about 52 inches annually, and is so evenly distributed throughout the year and over the whole State, that irrigation is not required at all, and our farmers are saved this great and expensive burder which rests & upon the farmers in the northwest. Here, we have not the periodical visitations of the grasshopper as they do in the "northwest, coming as the plague in Egypt to eat up the sub- stance of the land. Nor have we their vast prairies and tree- less plains, with their accompanying northers --- rude blasts from the frigid zone, both in and out of season.
It may be confidently asserted, that in no section of the union, is intelligent agriculture more certain of reward than in Alabama, and while we may not have the richest soils, ours are safe and reasonably sure of an honest return .*
· The material agricultural repor I'M. D., State tien! tew additions, 1: information in reg.
this article have been taken chiedy from the very valuable 'or the years 1881 and 1842 published by Eugene Allen Smith, -1, and condensed by the author of this HAND Book, with some rence is made to this adintrable report for more extended I to the agricultural features of the State.
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PART THIRTEENTH. 1
THE FORESTS OF ALABAMA AND THEIR PRODUCTS*
Originally, the territory of the State of Alabama was, with the exception of a comparatively small area of prairie land and grassy savannahs in the southern portion of its centre, an almost unbroken forest. Much of this forest still exists ; some of it culled of its largest growth, but a very considerable por- tion as yet scarcely touched by the axe. Fully one-half of the land in the State owned by individuals, is still woodland.
The heaviest timbered lands are found in the southern part of the State within the great maritime pine belt, where the forest area amounts to sixty-six per cent .; in the central coun- ties, situated in the prairie region and embracing the cotton belt, it amounts to forty-five per cent .; in the broken moun- tainous part, embracing the mineral region and extending to the waters of the Tennessee river, to nearly seventy per cent .; and in the northern part, with the rich agricultural land in the Tennessee valley, to sixty per cent.
According to the distribution of the prevailing trees, deter- mined by climatic influences, the nature of the soil, and the topographie features of the country, the forests of this State present three characteristic regions. . Distinct as they are by peculiar features, their boundaries cannot be defined by a dis- tinct line-one region passing ahnost imperceptibly into the other.
The first, or lower, region is formed by the great pine belt of the Gulf coast- he continuation of the immense pine forest
* For the prevailing 267-335, ante. See. alsı timber trees in the Sta
imber trees in each of the counties of the State, see pages Part Twelfth," pages 123-Hs, onde, for the distribution of . by divisions.
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
which extends from the eastern bank of the Mississippi to the shores of the Atlantic ocean. It covers the southern part, uninterruptedly, from east to west, and extends from one hun- dred to one hundred and fifty miles into the interior. This area is almost exclusively occupied by coniferous trees-the undulating dry and sandy uplands entirely by the long leaved, or yellow pine, the most important while most valuable of our timber trees, which arrives here at its greatest perfee- tion. On the lands more level and with a substratum more retentive of moisture, it is accompanied by the pond pine, and the loblolly, or old field pine. Following the sandy and gray- elly deposits of the drift, the limits of that formation determine the northern boundary of the pine region, proper. A growth of pine trees, however, prevails wherever the sinceous constit- nents of the drift soil mingle with the outcrops of the tertiary strata. This is the great timber region of the State.
The products of this forest of yellow pine are assuming every year a greater importance to the business of the Gulf ports, and the exports from Mobile of sawed lumber, square timber, spars, shingles and naval stores, shows annually a rapid increase .*
The average height of the yellow pine in the virgin forest is from sixty to seventy feet, with a diameter of twelve to eighteen inches for two-thirds of its height. It is of slow growth, par- ticularly at the later periods of its life. According to the num- ber of annual rings, trees of the above dimensions must have preached an age of sixty to seven years. The reproduction of a tree from the seed, furnishing an equal supply of timber, would at this rate take about two generations. It is a poor seeder. In unfruitful years, a forest of hundreds of miles may be ransacked without finding a single cone. Taken from the flat and moist lands, and it is replaced almost exclusively by the pond and old field pine: the hilly, broken, dry upland, denuded of the grand old pine forest, is with surprising rapid- ity covered by a dense and serubby growth of blackjack, tur- key oak, scarlet and upland willow oak, above which, seldom a young yel w pine raises its head, crowned with its large white-fringe terminal bud. Full of resinons juices, through all stages o ts life, the young trees are not as able to with-
. For exports of these articles from Mobile in the year 1891-92, see page 343, ante.
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THE FORESTS.
stand the raging fires that annually devastate the woods, as the less resinous species, and the deciduous leafed trees; be- sides that being of much slower growth, this noble tree is doomed to extinction, if not protected by the aid of man. On traets sheltered from the invasion of fire, groves of young trees, from fifteen to twenty feet high, can be observed around Mobile, testifying that its existence for the future can in some measure be secured, if protected from these destructive in- fluences, unnecessarily caused by man.
The other species of pines found in this region are of little importance to agriculture or commerce. Of considerably smaller dimensions than the yellow pine, and of a soft and sappy wood, they have, as .timber trees, but small value. On account of their rapid growth, they are, however, important resources of fire wood, and of a lumber of interior quality, fit for ordinary purposes, as the manufacture of boxes, etc.
Next to the yellow pine in importance, follows the cypress. It grows in great abundance on the perpetually overflowed banks of, and in the marshes skirting, the rivers in the tide water region, as well as the deep inundated swamps in the pine region from which issue the feeders of the innumerable creeks that water the pine belt. Here, it reaches gigantic di- mensions -- trunks from a hundred and more feet in height, and from twenty-five to forty feet in circumference above the conical base, are frequently met with in the forest swamps of the Tensas river. Logs, of three to four feet in diameter, are often floated down to the shingle yards and saw mills of Mo- bile. Its lumber finds a variety of application. It is mostly sawed isto planks for exportation, lately in increasing quan- tities : much of it is used in the manufacture of doors. window- sashes, and other cabinet work, and in that of shingles. For posts, it is searcely rivaled, resisting the action of water for ages.
The juniper is found in great perfection on the low land skirting our great rivers, and in the large forest swamps of the low pine arrens, preferring a partially inundated soil. Soft, light, ea ly worked, of a fine grain admitting of high finish and ple ing hue, when well seasoned its wood offers the finest materie particularly for the manufacture of hollowware.
The live oak has ceased to be a source of timber here. The
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HAND-BOOK OF ALABAMA.
excellent qualities of its wood, particularly fitting it for ship building, has, like everywhere else on the Gulf coast, led to a rapid destruction of the stately groves that extended along our seashore.
The black jack, turkey oak, Spanish oak, upland willow oak, and a more or less scrubby growth of black and red oaks, with a sprinkling of hickory, form the second growth on the denuded dry pine land. These furnish the supply of hard fire- wood. The growth of these trees on the poor looking lands is indeed surprising, forming, after fifteen or twenty years, when protected from fire, fine large groves. The water ash, growing with the sweet bay and juniper, in the low, inundated swamps, must be mentioned as one of the trees furnishing much of the fire wood. The light, yet tenaceous, wood of the sweet bay, is much used for broom handles. The grand and sober monotony that characterizes the pine forest, finds a pleasant relief in the thickets and glades of evergreen shrubs and various smaller trees which fringe the water courses and swamps. The red bay, sweet bay, small gum treet, wax myrtle; with a dense growth of the ti-ti, interspersed by dahoons, hollys, and red maple, intertwined by a variety of climbers and vines, thorny, like those belonging to the different kinds of smilax, adorned with flowers. as the yellow jessamine, the graceful wistaria and peculiar crossvine, form impregnable thickets. The lands above high water, in the maritime plains of the pine region, with a soil richer in vegetable mould, are the home of the lofty magnolias, the live oak, water oak, associated with the pond pine. These are called hammock lands. They harbor an un- dergrowth of shrubbery unsurpassed in variety and beauty. There the sweet illicium, and the calycanthus, or spice shrub are found, withi rich blooming andromedas, blueberries, azalias, and the gorgeously blooming kalmia, or sheepslaurel. There the fragrant storax shrubs, the delicate halesia and fringe tree with the cyrilla, stuartia and clethra, unfold their snowy flowers, with many others, delighting the eye, by the richness of t .ir bloom, from the earliest beginning of the spring to the end f the summer, offering a lasting feast to the bee, which for ie largest part of the year is here found to gather the swe t treasures, distilled in the flowery cups. As a honey pro- dueing country, this district can be scarcely rivaled.
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THE FORESTS.
Where the limestones and the marls of the tertiary and cre- taceons formation begin to prevail, free from the cover of sandy drift soil. the second forest region of the State is entered Here the evergreens give way to the largely preponderating trees with deciduous leaves, and the pine is confined to the poor ridges and thinnest soils. The forest growth is originally interrupted by more or less extensive savaimas. The post oak covers, in extensive tracts, the stiffer calcareous soils. White oaks, the overeup oak, and the willow oak, with ash trees, elms, walnuts and hickories, cover the richer black lands, com- posing fine woods, full of useful timber of large dimensions. As a timber region for export, it has yet no importance, only a limited quantity of oak staves reach the seaboard by the Mo- bile and Tombigbee rivers. The richest agricultural districts of the State are embraced in these regions. At its northern limits it borders upon a deposit of drift, which traverses the State from northwest to southeast, four to five miles wide at its southern, reaching gradually towards its northern end a width of thirty to thirty-five miles. Like the great coast pine belt, it is covered with an almost continuous forest of the yellow pine, whose products so far serve only to supply the demand of the surrounding country.
Beyond this drift belt, in the eastern half of the State, the generous red lands of the metamorphic region are covered, where not deprived of it by cultivation, with magnificent oak forests. Here, at an altitude of from 800 to 1,200 feet above the level of the Gulf, the types of a southern vegetation are missing, but the occurrence of the water and willow oak, the overcup and Spanish oak, as well as the frequency of large yel- low pines, which cover the crests of the elevated rocky moun- tain ranges, and the more barren hills with a rocky, siliceous soil, still impress on this region, a southern character. The latter tree is replaced, gradually, towards the north, by the short leaved pine, which furnishes, in the upper district, a great part of the lumber of excellent quality. The more sterile and broker mountainous country, east and west, embracing the minera ands of the State, is covered with dense forests of black and i oaks, the smooth hickory, sparsely intermixed with sernb ines. In the more elevated ranges, the mountain- chestnut oaks, and the chestnut tree, prevail. the latter rapidly
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dying out. The numerous fertile valleys are harboring fine woods, composed of trees delighting in a richer soil.
The third and most northern sylvan region of the State begins with the limestone formation of the Tennessee valley. Species of the woody vegetation, characteristic of the lower latitudes, are no more seen, or when met with, as dwarfed « stragglers. The maples, the tall hickories, the stately elms, walnuts, wild cherry, hackberries, nettle trees, with shady groves of beech, make up the forest growth, bearing the same character as the forest flora of the western declivity of the Appalachian mountains, south of the Ohio river. The south- ern magnolias are represented here by the umbrella tree, the cucumber tree, and the mighty white poplar, or tulip tree.
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