102 A STUDY OF FOREST CONDITIONS 



kinson County, and practically all the lumber cut has been 

 for local use, except on the Mississippi bottoms, where it 

 has been floated or shipped on the river. One line of rail- 

 road enters the county, a branch of the Yazoo & Missis- 

 sippi Valley Railroad coming up to Woodville. Along 

 this branch, and near the eastern border of the county 

 close to the main line, ties are being cut in considerable 

 quantities, mostly from loblolly. The production of white 

 oak staves has for some years been the largest lumber in- 

 dustry in the county, but now there is little accessible tim- 

 ber left suitable for this purpose. 



Adams County. — The eastern part of Adams County is 

 rough and hilly, and characterized by the steep ridges and 

 narrow ravines of the hardwood hills type. To the west 

 the land becomes more rolling, cut by deep ravines and 

 marked by excessive erosion. Bordering the Mississippi 

 River the general level of the land drops abruptly to the 

 bottomlands by a range of steep hills, or "cliffs," extending 

 through the county. The overflowed Mississippi bot- 

 toms are chiefly in the southwest part of the county where 

 the river backs up into the Homochitto River and floods 

 large areas, sometimes during the entire year. The soil 

 of the county is everywhere influenced by the silt or loess 

 loams which increase in depth near the cliffs. Alluvial 

 soil occupies the area between the cliffs and the Mississippi. 



Much of the hill section of the county is still heavily 

 timbered with pine and hardwoods. The difficulty of 

 logging the inaccessible ravines and ridges has thus far 

 prevented lumbering, except for selected logs for export. 

 West of the hill section, once entirely hardwoods, the county 

 has been largely cleared and cultivated. Immense plan- 

 tations are common surrounding Natchez, and much of 

 this land is without much tree growth. Old field pine, 

 however, as elsewhere on similar lands, takes possession 

 of abandoned fields. The bottomlands along the Mis- 

 sissippi are either in cultivation or occupied by stands of 

 Cottonwood, oak, gum and other hardwoods. Through- 

 out the Homochitto overflowed lands, there are still seme 

 splendid bottom-land forests of cypress, gums and oak. 



