OF SOUTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI. 86 



some of these occasional longleaf pines have been left, but 

 the ground is partly covered by worthless scrub oak, and 

 in many places is littered with burned and partly rotten 

 logs. Over large areas of the stump land there are enough 

 remaining longleaf pines to seed the ground if fire is kept 

 out. Still other areas are culled only, and there is enough 

 timber left to pay for another logging. 



Longleaf Hills Type. — The longleaf hills type occupies 

 a strip of country west of the pure longleaf pine area and 

 runs northeast and southwest, from southwestern Copiah 

 County through central Franklin County to wesftem Amite 

 and eastern Wilkinson counties. It is, for the most part, 

 a rolling, hilly country, with deep ravines and steep slopes. 

 Some parts are level or gently rolling, but most of it is 

 made up of narrow abrupt hills. The streams have cut 

 deep channels, and erosion is much more extensive than in 

 the pure longleaf region. 



In these hills roads can be constructed only along the 

 tops of the sinuous ridges, which are sometimes only wide 

 enough for the purpose and drop away each side to narrow 

 ravine bottoms. The soil is usually thin and not as rich 

 as farther west, and the subsoil is a red or yellow clay often 

 mixed with gravel. The more level portions have been 

 extensively cultivated for many years, though the ravines 

 and abrupt slopes are still covered with native forests. 



\ The ravine and lower slopes for the most part are covered 

 vith hardwood forests. Oaks predominate, associated 

 'ith hickory, sweet gum, ash, and others. Loblolly pine 

 i. scattered over these lower slopes, and the upper slopes 

 ad summits of the ridges are covered by shortleaf and 

 logleaf pine with some loblolly and hardwoods. The 

 mce level portions originally had extensive forests of pine, 

 wit longleaf predominating to the east, but decreasing 

 to^v^d the west until it finally disappears entirely, giving 

 wayo the shortleaf, loblolly and hardwoods. 



Sl\rtleaf pine is generally tall and straight, with but 

 very ttle sap wood, and stands of this sort sometimes 

 averag8,000 to 12,000 board feet per acre; but a general 



