22 



below Benton, these true bottomlands are often narrowed where the river 

 has tut through old river terrace formations. The benches of these for- 

 mations are from forty to sixty feet above the river and extend back, 

 occasionally, two miles from it. Generally they are not subject to flood- 

 ing; and the soils are very heavy, clays being common. The forests on 

 river terrace soils elsewhere in the state generally more closely resemble 

 upland than bottomland types ; but in this region they conform more 

 closely to the bottomland forests and are classed with the bottomland type. 



The per cent of the bottomlands which are forested is high (73) 

 and the forested area seems to be increasing in these bottoms. No im- 

 portant drainage projects have developed. The coal companies acquire 

 ownership of the farms, and the forests quickly reclaim the bottomlands. 

 These stands have been closely culled for saw-timber, and show the low- 

 est percentage (5.8) of area in good saw-timber for any bottomlands of 

 the state. The»average yield per acre for all bottomland forested on the 

 Big Muddy is 1,015 B. F. as compared with the 1,393 average for all 

 bottomlands of the state. The stands are very well stocked with saplings. 



Based on measurements taken on 7.8 acres in three counties, and in- 

 cluding both bench and true bottomland sites, the representation by 

 species is in the following per cents : pin oak, 20 ; hickory, 13 ; white 

 oak, 12 ; elm, 12 ; ash, 10 ; swamp Spanish oak, 9 ; post oak, 5 ; soft maple, 

 4 ; honey locust, 3 ; sycamore, 2 ; river birch, 2 ; black gum, bur, Schneck's, 

 and shingle oaks, 1 each, with red gum, hackberry, cherry, black walnut, 

 and cow and black oaks aggregating 4. The various oaks make up 49 

 per cent — a decidedly higher representation for oak than is shown for 

 forests on the other bottomlands of the state. These and the Wabash 

 bottoms are the only bottomlands which show a higher percentage of the 

 so-called "hardwoods," oak and hickory, than "softwoods", gum, maple, 

 elm, sycamore, and woods used in the manufacture of baskets and ham- 

 pers. In the Big Muddy bottoms these hardwoods aggregate 63 per cent 

 of the stand. 



A plot measured in an 18-year old stand on the true bottomlands 

 indicated the relatively high volume produced on these soils. See table 

 following. 



