FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. 19 



The woods on the hill areas have been heavily culled for 

 fuel, posts and timbers for local use and for railroad ties. 



The soil of the prairies proper is a very heavy dark- 

 colored clay of limestone derivation. The prairies were 

 never extensively forested, but contained small scattered 

 clumps of crab apple, wild plum and honey locust where 

 the underlying limestone is close to the surface, and iso- 

 lated blackjack and post oaks where the soil is deep. 

 These lands very closely resemble the great prairies of 

 the West, and many of their shrubs and herbaceous plants 

 are also natives of the western prairies. 



The bottom-lands of the large streams of the region 

 were formerly forested with fine oaks, hickories, ash, 

 yellow poplar, cypress, red gum and less important species. 

 The best timber has been cut for lumber, staves, cross ties 

 and other materials, until there are very few tracts of 

 virgin timberland left. Some of the best tracts are located 

 on Mantachie Creek, in northern Lee and Itawamba 

 Counties. On Houlka Creek, in Clay County, there is 

 considerable excellent cottonwood timber, and on Line 

 Creek, near Cairo, in the same county, is the largest body 

 of white oak timber in the region, although it contains only 

 about 100,000 board feet. In the part of Oktibbeha 

 County within the prairie region probably the best timber 

 is located in the bottom-lands of Folsom Creek. The bot- 

 tom-lands of the Oaknoxubee River contain a few tracts 

 of excellent virgin timber. The hickory on a tract of 

 6,000 acres, estimated to contain 9,000,000 board feet, 

 was recently sold to a spoke company for Si 0,000. 



The few mills of the region obtain timber chiefl}' from 

 the hill regions on the east and northwest. There are stave 

 and heading mills at Columbus, West Point, Aberdeen, 

 Macon and a few other towns in the region. They draw 

 oak timber from small scattered tracts within a radius of 

 fifteen miles. The available suppl}^ is so nearly exhausted 

 that it is doubtful if, in five years, a single mill of this char- 

 acter will be left in the region. 



Management. — Forestry in this region means the 

 improvement of the stands now occupying the hill areas. 



