293 
by our map, 30.8 per cent is wooded, and that portion west of the Mobile 
and Ohio Railroad (which forms a rather distinct boundary between the 
more solid timber and the region of scattered wood-lots to the east) is 45.9 
per cent wooded. This region west of the railway is also different in its 
problems from the region of scattered wood-lots to the east, where the 
tracts surrounded by roads can be better protected by their owners against 
fire. 
In the 131,217 acres of upland forest, the main species and the per 
cent of the stand which they form, are as follows: black oak, 27.6 per 
cent; white oak, 20.8 per cent; beech, 18.1 per cent; hickory, 14.1 per 
cent; and tulip-tree, 5.1 per cent. Miscellaneous species, such as maple, 
black gum, red gum, ash, elm, walnut, and mulberry make up the remain- 
der of the stand. Stand tables compiled for 117 acres at Alto Pass and 
for 65 acres at Jonesboro, both areas of the upland type, show that on 
the former area there were standing on an average acre only 33.32 trees 
of all species 6 inches or more in diameter breast-high; and on the latter 
area, only 43.65 trees of all species of this size per acre. The average 
acre at Jonesboro contained 1,948 board feet and at Alto Pass 2,362 board 
feet, while a combination of the figures for 182.3 acres gave 2,228 board 
feet, or 8.68 cords per acre, counting 90 cubic feet as equivalent to one 
cord. These figures of the number of trees per acre, when compared 
with those for very similar sites which we find in published yield-tables, 
show that these forests are decidedly understocked, because of fires and 
culling. The culling out of the larger specimens has its justification in 
meeting the demands of the market for certain species as they become 
valuable, and does not impair the usefulness of a forest as a protection 
against erosion; but the prevalence of fires is entirely unjustifiable on 
any grounds, and owners should be given assistance and encouragement 
in controlling them along the lines discussed under “Policy and Man- 
agement.” 
Our map shows 16,419 acres of bottomland forests; but not much 
time was spent on the bottoms because only that portion of them needs 
to be considered which is incapable of drainage or which has an imper- 
vious subsoil. We listed 2,894 acres of 1B* cypress on these lands and 
some No. 4* cypress running as high as 13,000 board feet per acre; but 
cypress is mostly in small patches or mixed with bottomland hardwoods. 
Owing to the number of drainage ditches, cypress will not long rank as 
a commercial species, since when cut on drained land its place is taken by 
gums, willow, soft maple, and cottonwood, called locally “softwoods.” 
This latter variety of forest, when situated on land which can not be 
devoted to agriculture for some years because of periodical floods, should 
*See pages 298, 299, 
