FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. 35 



however, forestry in the deha must be confined to those 

 lands for which there is no prospect of sale for agricultural 

 purposes. 



Conservative forest management aims to encourage 

 the most valuable species. Since in the delta region unde- 

 sirable trees occupy ground space on which the best trees 

 should be growing, and, by their shade, check the growth 

 of the valuable trees, one of the most important aims in 

 forestry is to reduce the reproduction of the less desirable 

 or weed trees. In logging operations in the situations 

 unfit for future agricultural vise, the less desirable trees 

 should be cut to the smallest diameter limits at which they 

 can be handled profitably, while provision should be made 

 for the reproduction of the valuable species by leaving 

 thrifty seed trees scattered over the cutting areas. Much 

 of the suppression of yotmg trees through too dense shade 

 can be overcome by judicious thinnings and improvement 

 cuttings. 



The localities in which forestry will probably pay better 

 than agriculture are (i) sandy ridges now covered chiefly 

 with sycamore and (2) lands in the sloughs along the 

 rivers and bayous covered by water for many months of 

 the year. The thin, silty soil covering the sand ridges 

 will produce fair agricultural crops for a few years, but 

 then becomes exhausted. It is excellent forest soil, how- 

 ever, for trees are not dependent on the thin top layer of 

 soil for nutriment, but send their roots deep into the sub- 

 soil. With the coming shortage of hardwood timber and 

 the consequent high stumpage values, land of this char- 

 acter containing fast-growing oaks, yellow poplar and 

 white ash cannot fail to yield its owners reasonably large 

 returns. Most of the sloughs would be difficult to drain, 

 and very little of the badly-intmdated lands will be 

 reclaimed for many years. Cypress usually occupies such 

 situations, and gums will also grow on the outskirts of the 

 cypress ponds, where better drainage conditions prevail. 



Cottonwood is tmdoubtedly the tree to be favored in 

 the region between the levees and the river, since it grows 

 very rapidly, reproduces naturally and abundantly, and 



