ArtTicteE VIII.—First Report on a Forestry Survey of Illinois. By 
Rosert B. Miter, Forester, Natural History Survey. 
INTRODUCTION 
The forest area in I!inois to which this report applies is bounded by 
the Mississippi River on the west and the third principal meridian on 
the east, and extends in a north and south direction from Thebes, in Alex- 
’ ander county, to Chester, in Randolph county. It comprises all of Jack- 
son county and portions of Union, Alexander, Pulaski, and Randolph 
counties, a total of 697,286 acres. It forms the western part of the Ozark 
highlands of southern Illinois (Colyer, ’22), a region which extends across 
the state for 75 miles, with an average width of about 25 miles, from the 
mouth of the Big Muddy on the Mississippi to Shawneetown on the Ohio. 
The highest elevation of this highland belt is “Williams Mountain” (1,065 
feet), in the northeastern part of Pope county, Bald Knob, in Union county, 
coming next, with an elevation of 1,025 feet. The difference of elevation 
between the crest and the base of the Ozarks is often 500 to 600 feet. A 
relief map of the state shows that this entire highland region includes the 
southern parts of Jackson, Williamson, Saline, and Gallatin counties, almost 
the whole of Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, and Alexander counties, and 
a part of Massac county. Reports of the State Soil Survey for these ten 
counties show that the amount of rough and hilly land ranges from 23 
per cent in Gallatin county to 79 per cent in Hardin county. From the 
topography of these uplands and the lightness of their soils, which are 
classed either as yellow-gray or light gray silt-loams, it can be seen that 
the forces of erosion must be at their maximum, so that most of the region 
is in a mature stage of dissection. 
The occupations of the inhabitants are directly related to the topog- 
raphy of the region. The bottoms of the Mississippi, Big Muddy, and 
Cache rivers make very fertile farming lands, suitable for corn when 
drained and cleared, while the steeper cleared lands may be used for mixed 
farming, but are better adapted to wheat than to corn. The narrower 
bottoms of secondary streams are adapted to the raising of berries, melons, 
cucumbers, and tomatoes, for the marketing of which there are good 
transportation facilities. Extensive peach and apple orchards have been 
developed in some portions of the upland because the higher parts often 
escape frosts which are destructive on the lower levels. Some of the 
