ps {yee 
THE OvERFLOW BoTTOMLANDS 
Since a very large proportion of the bottomlands of the Mississippi, 
Big Muddy, and Cache rivers yet in timber will in time be cleared and 
cultivated, the main work here consists of separating those areas which 
can not be drained from those which are true farming soils. Some of 
these stands, after they have been cut over by veneer or lumber com- 
panies, still contain a good stock of bottomland species which grow very 
rapidly and will soon be again of merchantable size. We have been told 
by a large manufacturer of veneer material in the Cache River district 
that he has enough of this kind of land with gum up to ten inches in 
diameter on the stump to supply a charcoal company with wood for ten 
years. Willow and cottonwood will likely dominate such stands after a 
partial clearing of the other hardwoods, and willow can be used for char- 
coal wood or excelsior, and cottonwood is now being marketed for soda 
pulp on the upper parts of the Mississippi and Illinois river bottoms. 
The erection of up-to-date wood-distillation plants and a pulp mill to use 
such bottomland hardwoods might apparently be a good business invest- 
ment and distinctly favor forestry in this region. Besides, there is a 
demand for about 2,000,000 board feet of “softwoods” of the larger 
diameters coming from the veneer mills located in an important fruit- 
growing section of the state; and we have been informed by operators of 
such mills that when the local supply of this bottomland timber is ex- 
hausted, which will probably be within five years, they will be compelled 
to move to Arkansas or Missouri, nearer the source of supply. 
V. Volume and Growth Studies 
The volume and growth of any species are best studied by making 
complete stem analyses of felled trees, since haphazard stump measure- 
ments are of little value, especially if made from a small number of 
trees. It was difficult to find in southern Illinois lumbering operations 
suited to the requirements for growth measurements, but two very good 
opportunities were afforded, one at Ava, and another at Indian Creek, 
near Murphysboro. One disadvantage in following the choppers is that 
logs are not cut by them in the ten-foot lengths preferred by the forester 
and the cutting is not carried up to a certain minimum top diameter, as 
the smallest diameter of the logs depends on the degree of utilization 
characteristic of the region. During the summer, however, complete 
stem analyses were made of 67 black oaks, 68 white oaks, and 33 trees 
classed as miscellaneous, along with many measurements for the volume 
tables. In the Appendix, pp. 367-371, are given the results obtained from 
these stem analyses of white and black oak, but a study of the growth of 
