OF SOUTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI. 83 



counties as cleared, and fully one-third more has been 

 cut-over and left to grow up in oak scrub or anything else 

 that can resist the frequent fires. 



The forests of this region fall naturally into five di- 

 visions or types, according to the nature of the trees and 

 the various conditions under which they grow. These types 

 are: pure longleaf, longleaf hills, hardwood hills, Mississippi 

 flood pl^in, river and creek bottoms. 



Pure Longleaf Type. — The pure longleaf pine forests 

 occupy the drier and poorer soils of southwestern Missis- 

 sippi. These soils are in the Lafayette clay formations, 

 in which pebbles are often found in more or less stratified 

 beds; the area includes the entire southern portion of the 

 State as far north as Copiah County west of Pearl River. 

 The pure longleaf type gradually merges into a mixed type 

 of longleaf and shortleaf pine in Franklin and Amite coun- 

 ties to the west. East of the Pearl River the type is gen- 

 eral over the entire southern region, extending nearly to 

 the Gulf of Mexico. The region occupied by the "piney 

 woods" is generally a rolling country, characterized by 

 broad, dry plateaus occasionally cut by creek bottoms. 

 The red or yellow clay is close to the surface over most of 

 the uplands. 



Longleaf pine, in pure, and mostly mature stands, is 

 the chief merchantable tree. It grows tall and straight, 

 without side branches for fifty feet or more from the ground. 



In a mature dense forest of pure longleaf pine there is 

 usually no reproduction. The ground is burned almost 

 every year and no undergrowth will live. The mature 

 trees do not appear to be injured by such fires, but their 

 growth is undoubtedly checked, because of the destruction 

 of the vegetable covering of the soil and the injury to the 

 base of the trees. 



Occasional small saplings or seedlings of oak are found 

 growing beneath the pines, and often the ground is inter- 

 laced with roots of oak, although shade and fires prevent 

 any material growth of brush. When the pine is cut off, 

 this oak at once takes possession of the ground. 



