3 6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



July 



To cope with these various soils and 

 conditions various means are suggested. 

 For the smaller areas improved methods 

 of cultivation and a wider range of crops 

 are needed, and these will come in time. 

 The principal problems and the largest 

 ones lie with -the upland silt loam, to 

 the east of the delta, and with the 

 Sharkey clay in the back country. Here 

 the kindred aids of forestry, drainage, 

 and irrigation must be invoked. For 

 the present, forestry will be valuable to 

 check the erosion of the small streams, 

 which flow directly into the delta drain- 

 age system. These cut back rapidly 

 into the upland soils, and what was once 

 a level elevated plain is gullied and ex- 

 ceedingly rough. At first it will be 

 necessary to bind this as far as possible 

 with Bermuda grass or Lespedeza, and 

 in some places alfalfa would be a suc- 

 cessful crop and would insure a consid- 

 erable return in stock raising. In the 

 localities locally known as Cane Hills, 

 where the erosion has been most marked, 

 nothing short of permanent reforesta- 

 tion will get the best returns. Open 

 forestation would interfere but little 

 with the value of this extensive area 

 for cattle grazing, and Lespedeza, which 

 flourishes in the shade, would afford 

 good forage. 



The most important gains could be 

 attained with a system of drainage to 

 supplement the natural levees along the 

 streams. In many places these streams 

 twist and turn and their banks enclose 

 a large area of the rich bottom land 

 subject to annual overflow. In some 

 cases an artificial levee half a mile in 

 length would complete a large circuit of 

 dikes, enclosing from inundation an 

 area of fertile soil of considerable ex- 

 tent. This planted in cotton would 

 yield in the first year enough to pay the 

 cost of the work and would be peren- 

 nially productive. It could also be ar- 

 ranged to flood it at any time, to aug- 

 ment its fertility, with the silt-laden 

 waters of the rivers at flood periods. 



Also this water could be controlled 

 for irrigation, and with perfect soil con- 



ditions much of the delta land could be 

 profitably grown to rice. This crop 

 would have advantages known to no 

 other locality. In the first place, it 

 would have the inexhaustible water 

 supply of the Atlantic Coast States and 

 would have the same advantage of a 

 direct application from the streams to 

 the lower lands without any expense 

 for pumping. In common with the 

 Gulf States it would have a firm soil on 

 which heavy harvesting machinery 

 could run, thus combining the great 

 advantages of the two most important 

 rice-growing areas. 



The national government does not 

 at present contemplate engaging in 

 reclamation ventures in this region. 

 The Bureau of Soils in pointing out the 

 measures which should be adopted for 

 proper utilization of the resources rec- 

 ognizes that some of the projects are 

 too large in scope to be attempted with- 

 out state or national aid, or at least 

 without the investment of great capital. 

 But some of the reclamation can be done 

 by private individuals and to good ad- 

 vantage. It suggests that proper rheth- 

 ods of forestation in the upland region 

 would make a valuable timber reserve 

 for the future needs of the state, and 

 state aid might properly be enlisted in 

 such forestation. These forests would 

 supply the demand when the timbered 

 areas of the lowlands are all cut over, 

 and the place they once occupied given 

 over to cultivated crops, which, under 

 the drainage and irrigation systems sug- 

 gested, would yield much more valuable 

 returns. 



For immediate benefits less depend- 

 ence must be placed on a single crop- 

 cotton ; the feed for stock, supplies for 

 laborers, etc. , could and should be pro- 

 duced at home. The older plantations 

 should more generally understand the 

 use of fertilizers for the cotton lands 

 with depleted soil resources. Truck 

 farming on the Yazoo sandy loam and 

 the planting of binding grasses and for- 

 ests with stock raising in the Cane Hills 

 would also be particularly beneficial. 



