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lend themselves readily to cropping after drainage, almost every acre of 
them has been cleared. An exception, however, is the gray silt loam on 
tight clay along the Big Muddy River. This does not drain well and may 
be classed as an absolute forest soil. Among the other bottomland-soil 
types are the yellow fine sandy loam, the brown sandy loam, brown silt 
loam, and drab clay loam. Cypress swamps seem to predominate on this 
last variety of soil. ater 
At Chester, on the upper boundary of our area, the annual rainfall is 
45.18 inches and at Anna the mean temperature is 57.3 degrees F. The 
mildness of the climate at Anna can be judged by the fact that Magnolia 
grandiflora flourishes as a street tree. At Cairo, just beyond the lower 
boundary of the region, the mean annual temperature is 58 degrees F. and 
the annual rainfall 41.6 inches. From this it can be seen that both rain- 
fall and temperature are favorable to tree growth; and only rarely is there 
a total loss of fruit due to spring frosts. 
II. Milling and Logging Operations and Wood-using 
Industries in Southern Illinois 
The sawmills of this region, portable and stationary, range in their 
daily cut from 2,000 to 20,000 feet. According to Seerey (’18), the 
smaller cut mentioned would rank a mill as belonging to Class A and the 
larger cut would indicate a Class B mill. : 
Portable mills are usually equipped with rack and pinion or cable 
drive and friction or belt feed or a combined belt and friction feed, though 
many in this region are run with a traction engine. A 25 horse-power 
engine, if properly handled, will keep a circular saw working to capacity 
and at the same time will run a small planer and edger. The owner usually 
has a circular saw, ranging in diameter from 54 inches upwards, with 
solid or inserted teeth. According to experts the diameter of the saw 
should be approximately one and one-half times the diameter of the largest 
log to be cut, that is, a 36-inch log needs a 54-inch saw and a 40-inch log 
a 60-inch saw. For very large logs in large mills a double circular saw 
must be used, that is, a smaller saw above the larger one, revolving in the 
opposite direction, commonly called a top-saw, so that the sawdust from 
the top-saw will not be thrown into the lower one, otherwise, in cutting 
large logs, the saw will not cut through the top of the log and the slab 
must be removed by means of an axe, resulting in much loss of time. 
According to Seerey the life of a portable mill may be placed at 2 to 
i5 years, the maximum time it is operated each year being about 150 days. 
The amount of lumber secured from a log depends upon several 
things—such as the condition of the saw and machinery, the defects in the 
