30 PRELIMINARY STUDY OF 



lumber, cross-ties, box veneers, cooperage stock, and spokes. The 

 greater part of the timber cut comes from the bottom lands. 



Uplands. The upland forests are of two types one in which 

 post oak is the characteristic tree, and another in which the better 

 oaks predominate. The post oak type is found on the higher ridges 

 and upper slopes of the hilly sections and on sandy, sterile flats. It 

 is particularly characteristic of the soil type described by the United 

 States Soil Survey as Lexington sandy loam. With post oak are 

 most commonly associated black jack, scarlet and Spanish oaks, and 

 pignut hickory. The trees are small-sized and short-boled, aver- 

 aging from 6 to 14 inches in diameter and yielding little timber of 

 value. In the southwestern counties of Hardin and McNairy the 

 type is occasionally interspersed with stands of short-leaf pine. 



On the lower ridges and slopes and on gently rolling lands of the 

 soil type described as Memphis silt loam a better group of hard- 

 woods prevails. The principal species are white, Spanish, and 

 black oaks, pignut and mockernut hickories, and scattered chest- 

 nuts. Along drainage lines, tulip poplar, sweet gum, beech, and 

 sycamore are also found. The stands are uneven-aged, and the 

 trees generally run from 8 to 16 inches in diameter. This type is 

 naturally productive, but has suffered from unsystematic cutting 

 and general neglect. 



Bottom Lands. The bottom-land forests reach their greatest ex- 

 tent and importance on the broad flood plain of the Mississippi, but 

 also occur on the various rivers and creeks that drain the uplands. 

 The virgin stands are dense, with tall, clear trees which form an 

 unbroken canopy of foliage. The typical tree is red gum, which 

 makes up about 50 per cent of the forest. Oak, ash, cottonwood, 

 hickory, cypress, elm, sycamore, soft maple, and tupelo gum are the 

 common associates. The black-oak group is represented by red, 

 swamp Spanish, and some few pin and willow oaks. Cow oak is 

 the chief bottom-land white oak. Among the hickories are included 

 the bottom shellbark, shagbark, and mockernut. Cottonwood is an 

 important constituent of the forest on the Mississippi bottoms, espe- 

 cially on low, sandy land of recent origin ; while on the bottoms of 

 the smaller streams the oaks are of greater importance. Some 

 beech is found on low ridges and is one of the few bottom-land tim- 

 bers for which there is almost no market. There is usually a scat- 

 tered underwood of hawthorn, holly, dogwood, and young growth 

 of gum, hickory, hackberry, and other trees. 



Few virgin forests of this type remain, the most extensive of 



