REVIEWS 905 



Assuming 9,000 board feet per acre for the 3 million acres of virgin 

 timber, 3,500 feet for the 8 million acres of culled and cut-over lands, 

 and 1,500 for second-growth land, a stand of 56 billion feet is esti- 

 mated, which tallies about properly with the estimate in 191 1 by the 

 Bureau of Corporations. There are 345 sawmills at work; the 66 

 largest, with an annual capacity of 10 million feet, are located on a 

 map too small to be of value. Of other forest industries the box and 

 crate industry is perhaps the most notable, with 14 mills, 5 of which 

 use over 10 million feet of gum. 



In Bulletin 3 a number of small orientation maps assist in the 

 description of the distribution of elevations, geological formations, 

 soils, on which a special chapter is given by the soils agronomist, pre- 

 cipitation, and floral features. 



In discussing the distribution of species and of forest types, the 

 authors very properly find the cause not one-sidedly, as is customary, 

 in the distribution of rainfall, but in contributory conditions of soil 

 and drainage and aeration, temperature, and especially winds. While 

 undoubtedly variation in rainfall in Texas is the most potent influence 

 in determining floral distribution in general broad features, giving 

 rise to a distinction of 10 floral belts, the heavy timber in the canyons 

 of the Edwards Plateau, a region of low rainfall, is accounted for by 

 an abundant supply of percolating waters ; the absence of tree growth 

 on the waxy clay soils of the Black Prairie, in spite of abundant 

 rainfall, is accounted for by lack of aeration and competition of 

 grasses. Such lack in the compact soils accounts also for tree dis- 

 tribution and types of forest in many parts of the coastal plain. Here 

 the absence of forest conditions also plays a role and distinguishes 

 the flora from that farther north and inland. 



In the coastal plain the occurrence of hurricanes and of severe 

 winds has a "profound efi'ect on the history of forest extension and 

 on the form of tree growth and of timber, and must be taken into 

 consideration in the methods of planting and the choice of species." 



An interesting contribution is made by Forest Assistant Krausz on 

 the commercial possibilities of mesquite. 



It is a pity that a species, which so readily propagates itself, over- 

 running almost the entire State like a weed, exhibits so little com- 

 mercial value or possibilities. This is due not only to the character 

 of the wood, which is exceedingly hard and at the same time brittle, 

 restricting its use, but also to the character and form of the tree be- 

 cause it grows exceedingly crooked, so that hardly an average of 



