PAPERS ON BIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE 99 



miles is unfit for any sort of agriculture. This is mostly 

 in forest and "brush" and its economic utilization presents 

 a series of most troublesome problems. Most of the forest 

 has been culled and very little virgin woodland remains. 

 Many of the cutover hill sides are in forest that shows little 

 tendency towards the production of a valuable stand because 

 it is being grazed and bush fires run through it so often that 

 the most valuable species are killed and it is becoming 

 changed into a black-oak hickory type, since sprouts of these 

 species are more resistant and light conditions favor their 

 introduction. Areas with better standing timber also show 

 the effects of fire and grazing so that little or no reproduc- 

 tion is found (Figure 2). It would be no exaggeration to 

 say that one half of this 80 square miles is quite unsuited 

 for anything except the growth of forests and yet scarcely 

 a square mile is in good productive condition, while no at- 

 tempt is being made to improve its productivity. Further 

 it is evident that similar conditions prevail throughout the 

 most of the hill region of southern Illinois. 



Wood Using Industries 

 a. veneer industry 

 The region under discussion lies between two consuming 

 centers for veneer logs, one at Anna, Jonesboro, Cobden and 

 Alto Pass using about a million and a half board feet every 

 year and one farther south, at Karnak and Cairo, Illinois. 

 At Karnak w^e have a very large plant operated by Main 

 Brothers who specialize in material for egg and other crates 

 while at Cairo more "hardwood" logs are worked up into 

 veneers for sewing machines and furniture. 



The term "veneer" covers wood in thin strips or slices 

 used for berry boxes, hampers, tomato and egg crates, for 

 a cheap form of "package." Hardwood logs, such as oak, 

 can be put into sawed veneers which are glued over another 

 cheaper wood, as in veneered furniture; or so-called "soft- 

 wood" logs, such as elm, sycamore, red and black gum, 

 maple, beech and tulip, can be veneered by the rotary pro- 

 cess for packages which are veiy essential in the fruit, 

 berry and vegetable trades. There is a good market for 

 both varieties of logs in this region and the bottomlands are 



