94 A STUDY OF FOREST CONDITIONS 



New Orleans along the Pearl River. A branch of this 

 line running to Tylertown from Louisiana will carry out 

 much of the timber. 



The timber has suffered severely from cyclones within 

 recent years, but there are stands which still run 30,000 

 board feet per acre. 



As yet there are few timber industries in the county. 

 Turpentining will increase greatly as logging commences. 

 Ties are cut from the townships bordering on the Pearl 

 River that are most accessible to the railroad now. being 

 bujlt. 



The longleaf pine land is assessed at from $10 to $15 

 per acre and stump land at from $3 to $5 per acre. Agri- 

 culture has been but little carried on in these uplands, and 

 the population is scattered. There is much fine agricultural 

 land along the Pearl River and at the base of the uplands, 

 and the larger part of the cultivated land is naturally there. 

 The new railroad through this county will develop the 

 agricultural resources of this section as well as afford trans- 

 portation facilities for the large undeveloped timber supply. 



Lincoln County. — Lincoln County lies almost entirely 

 within the longleaf belt. It was once heavily timbered, 

 but today its timber is practically exhausted. The to- 

 pography is gently rolling to level, and the changes from 

 upland to stream bottom are seldom abrupt. The region 

 is well drained by numerous streams. About 113,600 

 acres are classified as cleared land, while 259,000 acres are 

 uncleared. Of this uncleared area only about one-quarter, 

 or less than 18 per cent, of the entire area now supports 

 a growth of merchantable timber, while the rest has been 

 culled or remains as unproductive stump land, blackened 

 by repeated fires and produces, at best, only an inferior 

 quality of oaks and other hardwoods. The cleared lands 

 consist of ctdtivated creek bottoms, the more level por- 

 tions of the uplands and old fields. These old fields are 

 abandoned because of erosion or impoverishment of the 

 soil, and are now growing up to loblolly pine, which is 

 frequently mixed with young hardwoods. There are no 

 extensive areas of hardwood bottoms which have not been 



