FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. 



31 



price paid for yellow poplar logs delivered at the railroad 

 varies according to the quality of the timber from $8 to $20 

 per 1,000 board feet. 



There are many stave mills along the railroads, which 

 cut the timber from small holdings. Companies usually 

 buy the stumpage or purchase stave bolts at the mills. 

 The usual stumpage price for oak is $2 per 1,000 feet; for 

 stave bolts deUvered at the mills, the prices are $5 per cord 

 for red oak and $8 for white oak. Many thousand carloads 

 of choice white oak staves have been shipped from the 

 region for export to Europe. Occasional small tracts as far 

 as 30 miles from a railroad are even yet exploited for 

 staves. High prices are paid for these choice staves, but the 

 waste in cutting them is so large and the expense of market- 

 ing so great that only meager profits are obta ned. 



Veneer companies generally secure the best oak and 

 poplar timber from small tracts. 



There is considerable hickory in the bottom-lands of the 

 streams, but the spoke companies have bought most of it 

 that is good hickory and accessible to the railroads. One 

 spoke company recently purchased the hickory suitable for 

 spokes and wheel rims on two tracts of 1,000 and 800 acres 

 on the Big Black River, paying $1,400 for the timber on the 

 former and S800 for that on the latter. From the largest 

 tract 225,000 spokes were obtained and from the smaller 

 140,000 spokes. The value of spokes deUvered at the rail- 

 road is $16 per 1,000. 



The average value of first-class virgin loblolly and short- 

 leaf stumpage is $2 per 1,000 board feet, while second- 

 growth sap pine can usually be purchased for Si per 1,000 

 feet. 



7. Yazoo Delta Region.— The Yazoo Delta region, the 

 great alluvial flood plain of the Mississippi River, covers 

 an area of about 6,000 square miles. Its eastern boundary 

 is the line of high bluffs which form the border of the north 

 central plateau. The topography of the region is remark- 

 ably level, the highest lands being the immediate banks of 

 the streams. There are a great many large, sluggish, and 



