904 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



chanical College of Texas. College Station, Texas. May, 191 /• I'p- 

 47 and 57. 



With these bulletins the new State Forester, as it were, lays the 

 foundation for his work, investigating and analyzing the natural con- 

 ditions of his field of action. Bulletin 3 is a compilation from existing 

 sources and so in part is Bulletin 5, an earnest of more detailed per- 

 sonal studies ''as funds are available." 



Since Texas is as large as all of the Northeastern States, including 

 Ohio, Kentucky, and Maryland, a detail county by county survey, 

 which Mr. Foster contemplates, will take discouraging time to make 

 this first step, which would be proper if any permanency of conditions 

 is to be foreseen. 



It may, however, be questioned whether this step is necessary in 

 many places, if the author's prognostication should hold true, that 

 "the great forest belts of East Texas will eventually become woodlot 

 sections, where the best soils will be in cultivation and the poorer ones 

 devoted to the growing of forests." We are inclined to believe this a 

 likely future, and then the practical issue will merely be to differentiate 

 the line of demarcation between the farm and woodlot soils and 

 situations. To differentiate these should probably be the first step. 



The real timber region will then be found to the westward, on the 

 Edwards Plateau and the foothills and high elevation of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Even with the Edwards Plateau the question may arise 

 whether it or most of it should not be turned rather into grazing lands. 



In other words, there is no assurance in a country hke Texas, in 

 which there is so much agricultural possibility, where the forester 

 may finally find his field. 



At present, the eastern timber area is still the most important, al- 

 though it is already invaded considerably by farms and pastures. 

 In the 40 eastern counties, one-third of the round 21 million acres 

 involved is in farms, one-third is cut-over forest, and the last third 

 is by no means all virgin forest, but interspersed with second growth, 

 culled areas, waste and overflowed lands. 



The bulletin devoted to this section gives brief description?, county 

 by county, with a physiographic outline, classification of the land 

 area, dift'erentiation of forest types, development of farms and forest 

 industries, and general comment. 



The counties are given in alphabetical order, which in the absence 

 of a table of contents or index is desirable, although it destroys an 

 oversight over the natural relationship of localities. 



