Table 1 .■ — Land area classified according to major uses 



Land-use class 



Total land area 



Acres 



Percent 



Forest: 



Productive 



Nonproductive 



2, 656, 500 

 26, 200 



08.2 

 . 7 



Total 



2, 682, 700 



68.9 



Agricultural: 



In cultivation: 



Old cropland 1- 



847, 700 

 91, 000 



43, 800 

 28, 800 

 104, 600 



21.8 



New cropland ^ 



2.3 



Out of cultivation: 



Idles .- 



1.1 



Abandoned * 



2.7 







Total.... 



1,115,900 



28.6 



Other — prairie, marsh, waterways,* towns and 

 villages, roads, railroads, etc . . . 



98, 400 



2.5 







Grand total... .. ...... ... 



" 3. 897, 000 



100. 









' Land cultivated at least 5 years and on which a farm crop was raised 

 within 2 years prior to the date of survey. 



> Land converted from forest to cropland within 5 years prior to the 

 •date of survey. 



3 Cultivated land that has been idle for 2 years or more but has not 

 reached the abandoned stage. 



* Land once cultivated but showing distinct evidence of having been 

 abandoned for agricultural crop production; no attempt has been made 

 to maintain it as improved pasture. 



' Cleared land under fence used primarily for grazing; a real attempt 

 has been made to produce and maintain a sod. 



' Does not include meandered lakes and rivers. 



' Includes 9,262 acres in Pittman Island, a part of Mississippi. 



Table 2. — Total Jorest area ^ classified according to tvpe oj 

 ownership and size of forest-land holding 



Size of forest-land 

 holding (acres) 



Operators 



active 



in unit 



holding 



forest 



land only 



Other 



owners 



holding 



forest 



land only 



Planta- 

 tion 

 owners 



Farm 

 owners 



All 

 owners 



Under 320 



Percent 



2 

 2 

 4 

 13 



Percent 

 2.5 

 5 



3.5 

 10 

 13 



Percent 

 2 

 16 

 12 



Percent 

 12 



Percent 

 16.5 



320 to 1,999 



2,000 to 14,999 



23 

 17.5 



15,000 to 39.999 



14 



40,000 and over 







3 29 











Total 



21 



31 



30 



12 



100 



' Based on data taken at parish courthouses in Louisiana. No com- 

 parable information is available for the 250,200 acres in Mississippi. 

 Probably the character of ownership does not differ greatly from that 

 shown above for the area in Louisiana. 



- Less than 0.5 percent. 



3 This 29 percent of the total forest area is owned by 10 firms; 4 of these 

 hold as much as 60,000 acres of virgin timberland each. 



and timber-holding companies own approximately 

 58 percent of the total forest area. Although less 

 than half of this is in the hands of owners having 

 active logging operations in the unit, these owners 

 hold some 55 percent of the area of uncut old- 

 growth timber. One active operator has about 

 100,000 acres of this class of timberland; another, 

 60,000 acres. The other areas of uncut old-growth 

 timber, one owned by an operator not now working 

 in the unit and the other by a timber-holding com- 

 pany, contain 60,000 to 70,000 acres each. Hold- 

 ings of old-growth uncut timber by agricultural 

 owners are negligible. There is no national forest 

 or organized State forest land in the unit. 



Taxation 



Timberland owners in the north-Louisiana delta 

 are vitally concerned with land- and timber-taxa- 

 tion practices. Two kinds of general property taxes 

 are levied — ad valorem taxes and taxes assessed at 

 a flat rate per acre. In addition, a severance tax 

 is collected on the volume of all timber cut. This 

 varies between 7 and 26 cents per thousand board 

 feet, depending on species. 



Ad valorem taxation practiced here is similar to 

 that generally practiced elsewhere. In theory, rural 

 real estate is assessed at full valuation, but in prac- 

 tice, agricultural lands, farm woodlands, and mer- 

 chantable timberland are assessed in normal times 

 at about 50 to 60 percent of full valuation. Under 

 the depression conditions existing in 1934, the 

 realizable value of this kind of real estate had 

 shrunk to the point where assessed valuation and 

 realizable value were approximately equal. Cut- 

 over timberland and similar wild lands are assessed 

 in normal times at virtually 100 percent of their 

 realizable value. Hence, the assessed value of lands 

 of this class in 1934 was considerably higher than 

 the realizable value for such property. 



Practices in assessing any given class of real prop- 

 erty vary somewhat from parish' to parish. In 

 some parishes, timber and land together are as- 

 sessed at a flat rate. In others, the timber volume 

 is assessed at a given rate per thousand board feet, 

 and the land carries an additional assessment at a 

 given rate per acre. Considering assessments ac- 



1 Parishes in Louisiana correspond to counties in other 

 States. 



