FOREST CONDITIONS OF MISSISSIPPI. Gl 



with interest on the amount. After two years the land 

 may be sold by the sheriff. 



A. forest law should be enacted which would provide 

 for examinations of lands of this character by a State 

 Forester, and reports regarding their suitability for forest 

 purposes. There should be a provision in the forest law 

 whereby certain tracts can be retained and managed as 

 forest lands, if the report of the State Forester indicates 

 such action to be for the best interests of the people. The 

 counties should be reimbursed for such lands from a fund 

 which should be established from fines and penalties origi- 

 nating under a forest fire law and from receipts obtained 

 from the management of the State forests. 



The Chickasaw and Choctaw school lands were given 

 to Mississippi by the United States for school purposes. 

 The Chickasaw lands lie north of the Chickasaw boundary. 

 These lands were sold in fee simple in 1857, and the pur- 

 chase money kept in the State Treasury. The interest, 

 which in 1908 amounted to approximately $61,000, is 

 annually disbursed for school purposes in the counties 

 included within the Chickasaw boundary. The Choctaw 

 school lands include the sixteenth section of every town- 

 ship lying south of the Chickasaw boundary. These lands 

 were never sold, but have been leased. Prior to 1890 

 the usual term of lease was ninety-nine years. A great 

 deal of the lease money was lost following the war, and 

 to diminish any further risk, it was decided, in 1890, to 

 limit the term of lease to five and ten-year periods. 



In the counties of the longleaf pine region, school lands 

 were leased for a nominal sum for ninety-nine-year periods. 

 Before the development of the lumbering industry, these 

 lands were exploited for naval stores and used as pasture 

 lands. With the invasion of the region by great lumber- 

 ing concerns, and the consequent rapid rise in timber 

 values, the leases of school lands were eagerly sought, and 

 their holders began to exploit the timber. The State 

 authorities claimed that the lessees of school lands had no 

 right to cut and sell timber from the lands, and the Court 

 of Appeals has rendered a decision upholding this opinion. 



