THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 539 



demand are too insignificant to ho taken into account. In tlio southern portion of this forest the saw-mills on the 

 Sabine river and at Lake Charles have already removed some timber from the banks of the principal streams. 



"The region of long-leaved pine which skirts the eastern confines of the Eed River valley, and which at its 

 southern extremity almost touches the river hanks, may he called the central pine region of west Louisiana. The 

 village of Pineville, opposite the city of Alexandria, is the center of the lumber trade of this region. The high, 

 undulating uplands formed of the Pliocene-Tertiary strata which here front the, river bear a growth of loblolly and 

 short-leaved pine, mixed with upland oaks. A few miles to the eastward, however, upon the hills covered with drift, 

 the forest of long-leaved pine appears. The surface in this central pine region is more broken, the soil poorer, 

 more porous and siliceous than west of the Eed River valley, and the timber produced here is of unsurpassed 

 quality. An average of not less than fifteen trees to the acre, with a diameter of over 15 inches 3 feet from the 

 ground, grow here. The production of lumber is limited to saw-mills situated 7 or 8 miles from the river. They have 

 been gradually removed from its banks as the timber was exhausted on a line 7 or 8 miles in length north and 

 south from Pineville. - The production of these mills amounts in the aggregate to 40,000 feet a day. The lumber 

 manufactured here supplies the population of the Red River valley as far west as Shreveport. 



"The rolling uplands which extend to the edge of the river at Shreveport are covered with a heavy, cold, clayey 

 soil almost impervious to water ; they bear an open growth of oaks, among which the post oak is the prevailing 

 species, finding here the conditions most favorable to its growth. The Spanish oak, invariably called west of the 

 Mississippi river red oak, with fine black-jack makes up the larger part of the tree growth. Hickories, represented 

 by the pig-nut and mocker-nut, are not frequent, and are of small size. The black oak is found in localities with 

 somewhat rocky surface and loose subsoil, while white oaks occur along the base of declivities where an accumulation 

 of vegetable matter has been deposited. The undergrowth in these woods is scanty, and consists for the most part 

 of seedling oaks. Where, however, the forest has been entirely removed, the loblolly pine takes exclusive possession 

 of the soil. These oak forests reach to the northern confines of the state and extend west into Texas. In their 

 southern extremity toward the pine region the soil is better, and the white oak becomes the prevailing forest tree. 

 My attention was directed to the fact that since the removal of the raft of the Red river the drainage of the npper 

 part of the valley has been greatly improved, and many of the lakes and swamps formerly continually inundated 

 are now dry, while the swamp forest growth, including the cypress, is dying, or has already died. 



"Opposite Shreveport the valley spreads out into an extensive plain from 8 to 10 miles in width, descending 

 imperceptibly as it recedes from the bank of the river. These lowlands are mere swamps, often deeply overflowed 

 by the backwater of the river, which finds its way through the numerous bayous and inlets which intersect this 

 plain. The forest growth covering these swamps is of inferior size, and consists of but few species. The cypress 

 occupies the overflowed swamps, but it is always below medium size, and I did not notice a single specimen 2 feet 

 in diameter. The saline, gypsum soil does not seem suited to its full development. The water locust finds here its 

 favorite home. It is very common in moist localities not subject to constant inundation. The wood of this tree is 

 as hard and durable as that of the common honey locust, and is employed for the same purposes; that is, in the 

 manufacture of stirrups, blocks, hubs. etc. The green ash is frequently seen here growing with the wahoo, hornbeam, 

 holly, and privet, and forming broad clumps of great luxuriance beneath the larger trees. After passing Cross 

 bayou the land gently rises, and, with better drainage, the trees of the swamps disappear and are replaced by a 

 more varied and valuable timber growth. The white ash and white and red oaks are the more common trees in the 

 woods which skirt the base of the ridges forming the eastern limits of the valley of the Red river. At this point 

 they are separated from the low hills of the Pliocene sandy loams by a pretty, clear stream, the Red Chute, which 

 runs swiftly over its bed along the base of the uplands; these form long, gentle, swelling slopes, or spread out into 

 broad flats more or less deficient of drainage. The ridges are all wooded with upland oaks and short-leaved pines, 

 while the loblolly pine, with water and willow oaks, sweet and black gums, cover the depressions and damp flats. 

 The tree growth upon these ridges is vigorous. I have nowhere found the short-leaved pine of finer proportions, 

 equaling in size and length of clear trunk the long-leaved species. This region of the short-leaved pine, with its 

 low, heavily-timbered ridges, is similar in character of soil and vegetation to the pine hills of central and northern 

 Mississippi, and might be designated as the region of the pine hills of northern Louisiana. Between lake Bodcau 

 and lake Bistineau the surface of the country is very often imperfectly drained, and there the loblolly pine is 

 the prevailing tree. A few miles back of Bellcvue, in Bossier parish, the level forest is interrupted by a strip of 

 prairie from 1 mile to 3 miles wide, covered with a cold, soapy, gray soil impervious to water. On these natural 

 meadows no tree or shrub is growing, except a peculiar Cratcegus, new to me. (a) It is a small tree or large shrub, 

 forming strictly-defined, impenetrable, dense thickets a few rods or of several acres in extent. In its arborescent 

 form it rises to a height of frem 15 to 20 feet, with a more or less bent trunk 6 or 7 inches in diameter, spreading its 

 crooked limbs at a height of from 4 to 6 feet above the ground. The fruit is said to be as large as that of the apple 

 haw, sweet and edible ; it is eagerly eaten by swine, which fatten upon it. This tree is here called by the people 

 'hogs' haw'. 



a Cratcegus brachyacantta, Sargent and Engeliiiaun. 



