Fig. 77.—Sketch map of Soil Belts in Northern Mississippi, east and west.
SOIL REGIONS OF NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI,
SHOWING CHANGES FROM EAST TO WEST,
AND LIME PERCENTAGES IN SOILS.
| Lime, p.c. | Soil Character. | Vegetation. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | .40 — .60 | Clay loams, clay. | Oaks, sweet gum, tulip tree, walnut, red cedar, ash, hickories. |
| 2. | .05 — .14 | Sandy loams, sands. | Short-leaf pine, post, scarlet and black-jack oaks, black gum, chestnut. |
| 3. | 1.00—1.40 | “White lime” prairie; clays and clay loams. | |Red cedar, crab-apple, Chickasaw plum, sturdy post and black-jack oaks, honey locust. |
| 4. | .30 — .50 | Mellow red loams of “Pontotoc ridge.” | Oaks, hickories, walnut, tulip tree, ash, cherry, umbrella tree. |
| 5. | .08 — .18 | Heavy gray clay soils, some gray sands. “Flatwoods.” | Scrubby post and black-jack oak, short-leaf pine. |
| 6. | .15 — .25 | Sandy ridges and uplands, broken. | Post, black-jack, scarlet and upland willow oaks, small; some chestnut. |
| 7. | .25 — .35 | Mellow clay loams of “Table lands.” | Fine black, red, post, Spanish and black-jack oaks, hickories, sweet gum. |
| 8. | 2.00—5.00 | Calcareous sandy silt, “Bluff loess” “Cane Hills.” | Oaks as above, tulip tree, ash, honey locust, linden, sassafras, umbrella tree, cane. |
| 9. | .40—1.10 | Mississippi Bottom. | Basket, white and black oaks, ash, tulip |
| 9a. | 1.12— | Yazoo backland buckshot clay. | tree, honey locust, pecan, shell-bark hickory, walnut, hackberry, cane. |
| 9b. | .40 | Sandy alluvium, “Frontland.” | Sweet gum, maple, willow oak, elm, hackberry. |
| 10. | .26 — .40 | Light sandy loam of “Dogwood ridge.” | Dogwood, sweet gum, holly, ash, sassafras, prickly pear. |
Limestone Belt.—beginning on the east we have, first, a narrow belt of limestones of the carboniferous formation, on which there is a fine growth of various oaks, with walnut, hickory, sweet gum, tulip tree and red cedar, and a very productive soil.
“Pine Hills.”—Next adjoining on the west comes a belt of sandy, non-calcareous beds of the lower Cretaceous formation, about 18 miles wide. It has a hilly surface, and outside of the narrow valleys, the prevalent timber is short-leaved pine and scrubby black-jack oak, with some post oak and small black gum, and a few large chestnut trees.
“Prairie” Belt.—Westward of this belt we descend into a level “prairie” region, six to twelve miles wide; the “white lime country,” having heavy black clay soils, underlaid by the cretaceous “rotten limestones;” which are profusely productive. The sparse tree growth consists of stout, vigorous and dense-topped post and black-jack oaks, with clumps of crab-apple, Chickasaw plum thickets, and an occasional red cedar.
Pontotoc Ridge.—West of the prairie belt we ascend into a ridgy hill country, twelve to fourteen miles wide; the “Pontotoc ridge,” formed of the soft limestones and marls of the upper cretaceous formation, and covered with a deep red soil, which bears a rich growth of oaks, with hickory interspersed, and black walnut, umbrella and tulip tree even on the ridges. This is one of the finest agricultural regions of the State.
Flatwoods.—From the Pontotoc ridge and its fine lands and timber we descend to westward into the “Flatwoods” belt, three to eight miles wide; a level country underlaid by heavy gray non-calcareous clays of the tertiary formation, from which most of its soil is directly formed. It bears a pretty dense growth of the same species of oaks that characterize the prairies farther east, but the form, habit and size of the trees is so different that many of the inhabitants believe them to be different species. The black-jack oak looks like small, dense-topped apple trees; the post oak, on the contrary, has an open top of the form of a short-handled, spreading broom. The soil is poor and unthrifty, as are the few disappointed settlers, who bought the land on the strength of its oak-tree growth. (See page 500).
Brown Loam Region. Table Lands.—Adjoining the Flatwoods on the west is a broad upland region, with a brownish-yellow soil and subsoil, extending nearly to the edge of the Mississippi bottom. In its eastern portion it is rather broken and hilly, with sandy ridge soils, a mixed growth of oaks and short-leaved pine, and occasional chestnuts; a fair farming country only. To westward the ridges become lower and broader, assuming a plateau character. The pine disappears, and black, Spanish, red and white oak, with much hickory, largely replaces the black jack and post oak; thus characterizing the fertile brown-loam “table-lands” that extend through western Tennessee and Mississippi into Louisiana, and have long been noted for their high production of fine upland cotton.