FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. 33 



On areas between the Mississippi River and the levees 

 the species of greatest commercial importance is cotton- 

 wood. The best stands of cottonwood contain from 10,000 

 to 15,000 board feet per acre, while a stand of 6,000 feet is 

 generally considered good. Lumber and box companies 

 seldom cut cottonwood trees smaller than 25 inches in 

 diameter after logging operations. 



Reproduction in the delta is generally unsatisfactory. 

 The failure of the forest to reproduce more rapidly is not 

 due to a lack of seed production, but very largely to long 

 periods of inundation at the season of the year when the 

 seed should be germinating. Lumbering creates ideal con- 

 ditions for regeneration, but these conditions are also 

 favorable for fast-growing shrubs and weeds so that promis- 

 ing seedling stands are often choked out on cut-over lands. 

 In many localities a dense growth of cane retards reproduc- 

 tion. The reproduction following lumbering operations is 

 often composed mainly of undesirable species, owing to the 

 lack of seed trees of the valuable species. 



The delta probably suffers less from fires than any other 

 forest region in the State. During the dry summer and 

 autumn months, extensive fires are prevented by the 

 abundance of green growth, and during the winter season 

 the ground is too wet. During prolonged periods of drought, 

 however, fires are frequently started by sparks from engines 

 and by careless hunters and campers, when young gum and 

 ash suffer badly because of their thin bark. When fires bum 

 in old logs and debris piled against large trees, great scars 

 are made which afford places of attack for worms and decay. 



Management. — It is the general opinion among large 

 timber land owners and sawmill operators in the delta that 

 during the past fifteen years fully 30 per cent of the mer- 

 chantable timber has been cut. Probably half the cut-over 

 land has been placed under cultivation. Upon the re- 

 mainder of these cut-over lands practically all the red and 

 tupelo gum timber has been left. Most large operators 

 intend to go back over the old cutting areas and log the 

 timber which was unmerchantable at the time of the first 



