to acknowledge the obligations I am also under to Dr. Leidy and Mr. Cassin, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia.

As to the illustrations which accompany this Report, the limited means appropriated to the Survey, and the dearth of artistic skill available in this quarter, have made me dependent upon the early, imperfect, and selftaught attainment of drawing; and which, having been almost wholly unpractised for nearly thirty years, makes an apology necessary for their rude and unsatisfactory

execution.

In making the collections required, the cases in the State Cabinet attest that a reasonable progress has beenmade with the means appropriated to this object, and upwards of a thousand duplicates have been deposited in the University at Oxford, for its cabinet.

When this collection is further advanced towards completion, on the plan I have proposed, it will form, to some extent, a museum of economic geology and agriculture, in which, not only specimens of natural history, the soils, marls, and minerals, may be preserved; but also improved and rare agricultural productions and implements may be exhibited with profit and instruction to the planter, at the same time that the collection will form one of much interest to the scientific visitor, to say nothing of the means of instruction and gratification it will afford to the young and the curious of all classes.

In my travels through the State, on this not very generally understood or properly appreciated mission, it was to be expected that occasionally little either of information or assistance would be afforded. Such, however, has rarely been the case; and the degree of interest which has often been manifested in my pursuits.

ry gratifying, and augurs favorably for the more minute prosecution of this investi

gentlemen whose hospitality and assistance indly and liberally extended to me, on my arsions in different quarters, I can only offer thanks, and express the hope that they may - gratification, if not profit, from the final Survey.

, MISS.

I. HISTORICAL OUTLINE.

In presenting a view of the agriculture of the State, and tracing its condition and progress from the first occupancy of our territory by a civilized race, a brief sketch of the discovery and settlement of the country seems appropriate and necessary. Were a precedent required to sanction the very abridged historical outline here introduced, a distinguished one may be found in the able and elaborate memoir that forms the introduction to the Reports on the Natural History of New York, embracing a much wider scope than is here proposed, and comprehending the political history and social progress of the State.

To keep this sketch within the prescribed limits, and to exclude all matter not intimately connected with the subject, it will be restricted to occurrences strictly within the present boundaries of the State, except so far as may be necessary to preserve the natural sequence of events. It will embrace little more, therefore, than a chronological outline, which, if desirable, may, as far as necessary, be enlarged in the final report of the Survey.

The State of Mississippi lies between the thirty-first and thirty-fifth parallels of north latitude, with the addition of that portion lying between the first-mentioned