— 347 — 
lands—a project which is a part of the program of the Natural History 
Survey. 
Speaking of the encroachment of the forest upon the prairie through 
erosion along the water-courses, and of the fact that the organic matter 
in forest soils is only about 25 to 50 per cent of the amount present in 
adjoining prairie soils, Sampson (’21) says: “The farmers of the state 
have been slow in recognizing this effect of floral history upon the present 
value of soils. In my own community in the Southern Illinoisan glaciation 
the clearing and cultivation of forested areas seemed to have an alluring 
appeal entirely unrelated to economic values. Many of the farmers con- 
tinued to clear the forest in spite of the fact that some of the forested 
areas after ten to fifteen years of cultivation yielded no better crops than 
adjacent prairie areas that had been cultivated for forty years. Many 
of the slopes formerly protected by forest vegetation have been cleared, 
farmed for a few years, and then abandoned to the forces of erosion. An 
intelligent constructive forest policy, that can be taught and convincingly 
explained to the farmers, is the only hope for remedying these regrettable 
conditions.” 
GRAZING 
It is not the custom to graze the western section of the highlands 
where the wooded areas are extensive and relatively continuous. Here 
the clearings are fenced, while the wooded areas are not—probably because 
it involves too much trouble and expense. Unless opened up by heavy 
cuttings or repeated burning, the forest normally shades out the grasses 
so that very little pasturage is afforded. A heavy growth of grass or 
weeds indicates to the forester that the stand is not fully stocked, and 
our stand tables of the average acre for the Alto Pass and Jonesboro 
quadrangles, as cited previously, show this condition graphically. There 
is enough lime in the soil to favor the growth of blue grass, Japanese 
clover, blue stem, and sedge, and all of these varieties were found in the 
woods. It is unlikely that this rough wooded section will ever be made 
a field for cattle-raising on a large scale since the woods do not yield 
sufficient forage in dry seasons, and if cleared the extremely steep slopes 
will erode and form gullies. 
Elsewhere in the highlands the woods generally occupy the slopes 
or ravines. Here the forests are more of the wood-lot type or else are 
strips along the slope. These wooded areas are often grazed to supple- 
ment the other pastures. Here grazing may cause serious ultimate loss, 
since the reproduction will be destroyed and grasses encouraged. The 
land has been kept in timber because it is too steep to clear, yet continued 
pasturing results in the disappearance of the timber and with it the top 
soils. 
