46 



A few areas yet show virgin stands. The tabulation from the sample 

 plot on page 47 shows the association, sizes, and yields. In general, the 

 forests are more or less culled. Down to the present, cuttings have been 

 in the larger diameter classes alone, and the same area could be profitably 

 logged at intervals of about twenty years. The recent cuttings have been 

 heavy in the smaller diameter classes with a consequent increase in the 

 interval before another cutting will be profitable. 



Forest fires do more damage in this region than anywhere else in 

 the state. An examination in 33 sections in this region in 1931 disclosed 

 that 12 had been partially or completely burned over in the past three 

 years. An average interval of eight years between fires is insufficient to 

 carry the immature trees to a fire resistant stage. The reproduction is 

 naturally excellent in this region but fires must be controlled before well- 

 stocked stands can be realized. Growth rates vary, but generally aver- 

 age slightly lower than for the same species on comparable soils elsewhere 

 in the state. (See page 47.) 



East of this belt of heavily wooded hills, the Ozark upthrust contin- 

 ues as a divide between Saline River on the north and the Cache on the 

 south. (See Map III C.) The average width is scarcely twenty miles, 

 the average elevation of the divide less than 400 feet above the 

 rivers ; yet this region presents a very broken surface. Generally the 

 divides and spurs show Ijroad tops, breaking abruptly to the narrow val- 

 leys. Clififs are common along lines of faulting and along the gullies 

 cut through the the limestone by streams. 



The ridge tops and rolling uplands are cultivated ; the steep slopes 

 and narrow gulches, wooded. It is a region of relatively shallow soils. 

 Splendid forests originally grew in the protected coves and pockets where 

 soil collected, and this region yet produces some high-grade veneer logs. 

 The arable lands have been cleared, the forests remaining are on thin 

 soils and precipitous slopes. Occasional patches of sawlog timber may 

 be found in ravines and on lower slopes ; but generally the stands are of 

 a pole-wood or sapling nature and are cut closely for mine timbers. At 

 the eastern end (Hardin county) cutting has been less severe than in the 

 counties to the west. Cedar grows in nearly pure stands on some of 

 the bluffs, and a rich mixture of beech, cucumber, hard maple, tulip, ash, 

 and basswood may be found in the draws, but generally the rather poor 

 stands of this interior region are black and white oaks and hickory. 



The soil common to these uplands — yellow silt loam — is more sus- 

 ceptible to erosion than any other common soil type. Much of the upland 

 in this region has been unwisely cleared as the numerous gullied and 

 abandoned fields testify. (See Plate II.) 



