Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/670

 652 MISSISSIPPI its mouth. The Tombigbee river rises in the N. E. part of Mississippi, and flows into Ala- bama; it is navigable to Cottonginport, 10 m. above Aberdeen. Four geological periods, the carboniferous, cretaceous, tertiary, and post- tertiary, are represented. The first occurs only in the N. E. corner, and consists chiefly of limestone, chert or hornstone, and silicious sandstone. W. and S. of this is the cretace- ous, occupying a triangular area, extending "W. along the Tennessee line beyond the Hatchie river (about 35 m.) and S. along the Alabama border beyond Macon (about 125 m.). This formation, which contains many fossils, con- sists of four groups, the Eutaw, the Tombig- bee sand group, the rotten limestone, and the Ripley group. The tertiary occupies the rest of the state, except the W. portion along the Mississippi river, and consists of seven groups, viz.: the northern lignitic, the silicious Clai- borne, the calcareous Claiborne, the Jackson, the Vicksburg, the Grand Gulf, and the coast pliocene. The post-tertiary has four princi- pal divisions: the orange sand, the bluff, the yellow loam, and the alluvial formations. The first consists of silicious sands, usually colored with hydrated peroxide of iron or orange-yel- low ochre, and overlies the carboniferous, cre- taceous, and tertiary formations, though want- ing in portions of the Jackson and rotten lime- stone groups and in the flatwoods. It also oc- curs to some extent in the bluff formation, which coincides with the district already de- scribed as the cane hills, and likewise stretches in a narrow belt along the E. margin of the Mississippi bottom. Deposits of yellow, brown, or reddish loam form the actual surface of the greater portion of the state. The alluvium occupies the Mississippi bottom, and is sepa- rated from the northern lignitic by the nar- row belt of the bluff formation. Except in the Mississippi bottom, where malarial fevers frequently occur in summer, the state is gen- erally healthy. The summers are long and hot, the winters somewhat colder than in the same latitude on the Atlantic coast. The mean temperature of the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, at Vicksburg (lat. 32 23'), was 66'4; of the warmest month (August), 84'6 ; of the cold- est month (January), 42-7 ; total annual rain- fall, 57*77 inches. The mean temperature of the succeeding year at the same place was 64*67 ; warmest months (July and August), 82 ; coldest month (January), 43 ; total rain- fall, 48'04 inches. The number of deaths in 1870 was 9,172, of which 2,883 were from general diseases, 1,043 from diseases of the nervous, 224 of the circulatory, 1,707 of the respiratory, and 1,274 of the digestive system. Among special diseases, measles proved fatal in 272 cases, enteric fever in 333, intermit- tent fever in 377, remittent fever in 256, whooping cough in 159, consumption in 695, dropsy in 192, encephalitis in 283, meningitis in 125, apoplexy in 66, convulsions in 180, croup in 281, pneumonia in 1,177, enteritis in 237, dysentery in 103, diarrhoea in 325, and cholera infantum in 143. The soil of the Mis- sissippi bottom is very fertile. The region E. of this, characterized by the deposits of yel- low loam, is generally fertile, though in places easily exhausted. The N. E. portion, except the prairies, is less productive. The cane hills and the central belt of the state possess a generally productive soil. The S. region has a generally poor and sandy soil, particularly along the coast. The principal forest trees in the uplands of the N". portion of the state and in the bluff region are the short-leaved pine, various species of oak, the chestnut, hickory, poplar, black walnut, locust, beech, gum, holly, basswood, sassafras, elm, and magnolia. The prevalent growth of the sandy region in the south is the long-leaved pine. The islands are partially covered with sparse forests of pitch pine ; this species also occurs on the mainland near the coast. In the. swamps and bottoms are dense thickets of cane and cypress. The prairies where uncultivated are covered with grass during the greater part of the year, and the forests of long-leaved pine have commonly an undergrowth of long grass, which affords good pasturage. Cotton (in the production of which Mississippi surpassed all other states in 1870) and Indian corn are the staple crops. Wheat and other grains are grown in the north, and rice and the sugar cane in the south. All the fruits of temperate climates grow here in perfection ; plums, peaches, and figs are abun- dant, and in the south the orange. The deer, couguar (commonly called panther), wolf, bear, and wild cat are still common. Alligators occur in the Mississippi as far N. as the mouth of the Arkansas, and in some of the smaller rivers ; and most of the streams abound in fish. Paroquets are seen as far K. as Natchez, and wild turkeys and pigeons abound. Oysters and fish are abundant in Mississippi sound. According to the census of 1870, the number of farms was 68,023, of which 11,003 con- tained less than 10 acres each, 8,981 from 10 to 20, 26,048 from 20 to 50, 11,967 from 50 to 100, 8,938 from 100 to 500, 853 from 500 to 1,000, and 233 more than 1,000 acres. There were 4,209,146 acres of improved land in farms; cash value of farms, $81,716,576; of farming implements and machinery, $4,456,- 633; wages paid during the year, including the value of board, $10,326,794; estimated value of all farm productions, including better- ments and additions to stock, $73,137,953 ; value of orchard products, $71.018; of pro- duce of market gardens, $61,735 ; of forest products, $39,975 ; of home manufactures, $505,298; of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter, $4,090,818 ; of live stock, $29,940,- 238. The productions were 66,638 bushels of spring wheat, 207,841 of winter wheat, 14,852 of rye, 15,637,316 of Indian corn, 414,586 of oats, 3,973 of barley, 1,619 of buckwheat, 176,417 of peas and beans, 214,189 of Irish potatoes, 1,743,432 of sweet potatoes, 6 of