OF SOUTHWESTERN MISSISSIPPI. 131 



protect the headwaters and the banks of important streams ; 

 (2) to furnish a reserve source of timber or fuel supply for 

 the citizens of the State; (3) to serve as object lessons of 

 practical methods of forest management and forest regen- 

 eration. Lands for this purpose ma}^ be obtained by- 

 purchase or by forfeiture. Some States provide that land 

 reverting to the States for taxes shall, if suitable, be held 

 for forest purposes. It is strongly recommended that this 

 be done in Mississippi. From time to time, land in almost 

 every county reverts to the State for taxes. Such tax 

 land is recorded in the books of the State Land Commis- 

 sioner at Jackson. After two years it may be sold by the 

 sheriffs of the respective counties. Before being put up 

 for sale a list of the tracts of such land shoiild be submitted 

 to the State Forester, who should, if the location and amount 

 justify, examine them and report to the State Board of 

 Forestry as to their suitability for State forest purposes. If 

 more suitable for agricultural purposes, they should be put 

 up for sale, but if not, they should be retained by the State 

 for forest purposes. Tax land sells for about $1.25 per 

 acre. Usually the timber has been cut off, and the land is 

 seldom very desirable for agricultural purposes. Under 

 State ownership and protection these lands should con- 

 stantly increase in value and produce timber crops for the 

 benefit of future generations. They should be forever 

 held by the State and so distributed as not to be a burden 

 upon any one county. 



Sdwol Lands. — The sixteenth section in each township 

 was originally given by the Federal Government to the 

 State, to be held by it as a source of perpetual revenue for 

 the benefit of the public schools of the county in which the 

 section is situated. These school sections are controlled 

 and administered by the local authorities, and all revenues 

 are devoted to the schools of the township or districts in 

 which the sections lie. They can be divided into two 

 classes: (1) Those that have been disposed of on long term 

 leases, or (2) those that are under the direct control of the 

 county. 



During the middle of the last century many of these 



