5 20 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



developing and from coming through. 



An answer must be sought to the 

 question as to whether fire can be used 

 to remove the soil cover sufficiently 

 to obtain a satisfactory natural stand 

 of pine reproduction and at the same 

 time kill or set back the shrubs and 

 hardwoods to the point where the pine 

 seedlings can successfully compete for 

 the site. 



Other areas that warrant special in- 

 vestigation are the extensive areas that 

 contain few natural barriers and have 

 nearly even-aged stands of saplings and 

 small pole-sized growth. Conditions 

 occur periodically in which fires spread 

 rapidly. Unusually strong fire-fighting 

 forces cannot stop such fires without 

 great losses. 



One solution in the past was to break 

 up the larger vulnerable areas by clear- 

 ing wide fire lanes and keeping those 

 lanes devoid of vegetation an expen- 

 sive practice. We hope that the danger 

 of big fires can be reduced by using 

 a pattern of strips from which the fuel 

 has been removed by careful burning. 



Studies are under way to ascertain 

 the amount of damage such burning 

 would do to saplings in the strips. If 

 the damage is low enough to allow 

 good growth and yield on the strips, 

 such use of fire might be cheap and 

 quick insurance against major fire 

 losses on any one area. 



Of the 183 million wooded acres in 

 the South, 122 million are in small 

 ownerships. Some 100 million acres 

 are in ownership blocks of 500 acres 

 or less. Further, small tracts are 

 owned by some 1,500,000 individuals. 

 In brief, about 66 percent of the po- 

 tential timber capacity of the South is 

 in small tracts that are interspersed 

 and integrated with many farming op- 

 erations, including dairying and rais- 

 ing beef cattle. Some of the herds are 

 large. 



The question is: Can grazing and 

 timber growing be adjusted to a mini- 

 mum of conflicts, so that each can 

 contribute a maximum of benefits? 

 Broadly speaking, the factors in the 

 problem relate to the major timber 



types, to the basic questions of best 

 land use. By and large, each major 

 timber type is a key to an entirely dif- 

 ferent combination of soil, topography, 

 climate, species of grasses, under- 

 growth, and vulnerability to fire. 



In late years, grazing practices have 

 been undergoing significant changes 

 in the mountain shortleaf pine type, 

 the flatwoods shortleaf, mixed short- 

 leaf-loblolly, and (to some extent) in 

 the loblolly type. Twenty years ago 

 most animals were of native stock and 

 improved pastures were rare. 



Usually the animals were turned 

 loose to roam at will over any un- 

 fenced land, even in winter, when the 

 range offered only dead grass of low 

 nutritive value. The stock was so 

 cheap and poor that owners could not 

 afford other winterf eed. A late winter 

 fire would remove the dead forage and 

 be followed by a fresh growth of grass 

 that could tide the animals over that 

 critical period. At best, that type of 

 stock industry must be classed as un- 

 stable and uneconomic. This combi- 

 nation of factors was the genesis of 

 perhaps 90 percent of the incendiary 

 woods fires in the South. 



With the help of the county agricul- 

 tural agents, schools and colleges of 

 agriculture, progressive citizens, and 

 the Department of Agriculture, a 

 program was instituted that included 

 elimination of the Texas fever tick, 

 distribution of blooded bulls among 

 the herds, and the creation of fenced, 

 improved pastures. The program was 

 years in the making, but now it is in 

 practice widely, but in various degrees 

 of application. 



Over most of the shortleaf and lob- 

 lolly areas, herds have been improved. 

 Milk stock is preponderantly of good 

 blood. Good breeding of beef stock 

 has raised conformation and weight to 

 a point where the product commands 

 a high market price. The owners find 

 it profitable to hold their cattle on 

 improved pastures and winterfeed 

 them. In the areas where the progress 

 is more advanced, such as in the Oua- 

 chita Mountain shortleaf part of Ar- 



