9^ A STUDY OF FOREST CONDITIONS 



better drained soils, but cypress always grows slowly. 

 Fire sometimes runs over the drier land in the summer 

 season, but the fire danger is not serious. 



River and Creek Bottoms. — The chief rivers of this 

 region are the Pearl, Homochitto, Black, Bogue Chitto, 

 Amite, Bayou Pierre and Buffalo Bayou. The soil and 

 moisture conditions of the bottom bordering these streams, 

 their tributaries and other creeks vary so much from the 

 surrounding country, and even from the Mississippi flood 

 plain, with a consequent variation in the natiu-e and com- 

 position of the forest, that these bottoms give rise to a 

 practically separate type. In many cases, however, they 

 are so narrow, often only a strip on one or both sides of 

 the stream, that this type cannot be accurately marked on 

 the map. 



The soils of these bottoms vary according to the size 

 and location of the stream, the elevation of the land above 

 the stream level, and the rate of the streamflow; all contain 

 a considerable amount of organic matter and are quite 

 fertile. For this reason much of the type has been cleared, 

 and the rest of it will undoubtedly be used for agriciilture 

 as soon as the land can be successfully drained. 



The forests are composed mostly of hardwoods and 

 differ from those of the Mississippi bottoms chiefly in the 

 entire absence of cottonwood and willow stands, and in 

 the presence of loblolly pine on all but the lowest ground. 

 Cypress, tupelo gum, ash, sycamore and elm flourish on 

 the lower, poorer-drained soils, while loblolly, oaks, sweet 

 gum, magnolia and beech do better on the warmer soils. 

 Growth is rapid, especially on the well-drained soils. Most 

 of this bottomland type has been ctdled over, especially 

 for cypress, the greater part of which has been cut and 

 floated down stream to raarket. There is some old growth 

 loblolly of large size still to be found, chiefly along the 

 smaller water courses, and young growth comes in very 

 rapidly on abandoned old fields, as in the other hardwood 

 types. Oak and gum now form the larger part of the 

 commercial timber in this type, as there has been very 

 little demand for these species for local use, and they can 



