86 A STUDY OF FOREST CONDITIONS 



average for the type would be from 5,000 to 7,000 feet 

 per acre. 



These forests have been culled extensively for such 

 products as whiteoak staves, and fence rails, but this prac- 

 tice has not everywhere prevailed, and splendid forests 

 that average from 10,000 to 15,000 board feet per acre, still 

 exist in remote localities. The longleaf pine in mixture in 

 the northeastern part of this, belt has largely disappeared. 

 The country has long been settled and the easily accessible 

 timber removed. Some good stands of longleaf mixed 

 with shortleaf and loblolly pine are still owned by small 

 lumber companies, which are operating along the Yazoo 

 & Mississippi Valley Railroad. In Franklin County there 

 are extensive inaccessible areas not yet exploited, but which 

 with the completion of the Mississippi Central Railroad, 

 will be made accessible. West of the Yazoo & Mississippi 

 Valley Railroad are large tracts of hardwoods and short- 

 leaf pine owned by lumber companies. These have not 

 yet been extensively lumbered because of the difficulty 

 in constructing tramroads into the hilils. 



No extensive areas of this region show the evil effects 

 of recent logging. Reproduction of shortleaf and loblolly 

 pine is generally good, and often a carpet of seedlings is 

 conspicuous under the mature trees. Longleaf, however, 

 does not reproduce very well. Only in a few places, where 

 some of the old timber has been removed by lumbering o 

 other causes, and where fire has been kept out, is thej 

 satisfactory reproduction of this species. There is seedlig 

 and sprout reproduction of the hardwoods all throi;h 

 the forest, but the shade of the pines, where they are p'n- 

 tiful, keeps this growth suppressed. Fires do much dardge 

 to reproduction, but owing to the broken nature ofthe 

 country they are not so extensive or disastrous as r the 

 pure long leaf type. 



Hardwood Hills Type. — Between the hilly cuntry 

 occupied by mixed pine and the flood plain of t^ Mis- 

 sissippi River is located the hill and bluff region >f loess 

 or silt formation. This falls off abruptly to the Msissippi 

 bottom-lands on the west and on the east pass' by im- 



